As of today, Emma is beginning a new decade of her life as she turns 10 years old!! She has entered the ‘double digits’ and couldn’t be more excited!
In the last few years we’ve had a family outing to celebrate Emma’s birthday but this year she decided she’d like to have a ‘girl day’ with one of her friends. They decided they would like to go ice skating . . . so I took all 6 of us to the ice rink for public skate hours. Thankfully it fell on the same day the homeschoolers have a special session there so the kids found other friends they’ve met (and some they hadn’t) to enjoy skating with. Cami enjoyed the first hour of skating but was DONE after that!
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Afterwards I took the kids out to McDonalds for lunch before getting back to reality.
Emma’s chosen birthday dinner was pepperoni pizza, bread sticks, and salad WITH croutons. Chris arrived shortly after dinner so she opened her gifts. I wish I could capture Emma’s facial expressions in their true form because each gift was welcomed with pure looks of surprise and delight. Then we all enjoyed her cake – she requested all chocolate. I held my personal thoughts to myself when she picked it out at the grocery store knowing that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy them as much as everyone else (I don’t really care for it!). So, I made cupcakes and ‘lumped’ (this is what it truly looks like) them together to form a horse’s head because she loves horses right now. It wasn’t the prettiest cake but she enjoyed all the chocolate ‘goodness’ and then some.
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So, in honor of Emma’s 10th birthday, here are 10 things we love about her:
1. Emma is ALWAYS happy! This isn’t always a good thing as she is overzealously happy at inconvenient times, but she is happy, nonetheless.
2. Emma loves to act and put on plays. She has a hard time getting her participants (siblings) to listen to her directions but she continues to try to incorporate them in her plays nonetheless.
3. Emma LOVES animals! She loves horses and dogs, specifically, but has started to try to convince us that having any sort of reptile would appease her desire for a pet. She’s basically wasting her breath on that argument but someday we’d like for her to have her dream of having a dog.
4. Emma loves to read and it shows in her vocabulary. Sometimes this is the first comment we hear from people we’ve just met.
5. Emma has always had an outgoing personality. Chris and I believe she needed that to help us get out of our comfort zones. She has definitely helped me come out of my shell – we’ve come a long way from the 3 year old Emma finding me a mom to talk to at the park while she played.
6. Emma loves to make-up stories. One of my favorite memories is driving back from PA with just Emma and Cami in the car. While Cami slept Emma and I told stories, each adding on to them piece by piece. We came up with some good stories – I wish I would have had a tape-recorder.
7. Emma has a thirst for knowledge. When her interest is peaked about something, she will research and research. Lately she’s been interested in Native Americans. She has read a number of books from the library on them and gives us oral reports as she shares the interesting facts she’s unearthed.
8. Emma loves geography. She loves looking at the world map and finding different countries. She actually requested this as a subject to include in our normal school day – I’m still trying!
9. Emma is always willing to participate in any way she can. Last week was our Primary program and I had asked a sister to play her flute with one of the songs. After a practice she approached me and asked if Emma would like to play it with her. I didn’t think Emma would want to because she hadn’t practiced it and the program was the following week! I did ask her though and to my surprise it was an emphatic ‘yes’! She practiced all week the most I have ever heard her practice and she did a great job for the program.
10. Emma is a planner and list-maker. She has already decided on several occupations and has lists of how she will accomplish everything. With her desire and heart working together I am sure she can accomplish anything she decides to do.
We love you, Emma! Happy birthday!
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