Emma is a double-digit now!

Emma just had her 10th birthday!  Ahhh, where did my baby go?!?  It makes me tear up thinking up how it has gone by in a flash.  And as one of my friends said, soon enough, we'll be sending her off to college.  Come what may and love it, though!  I love having little ones, but having big kids, and pre-teens, teenagers, young adult and adult children will all have their special perks.  It really feels like just yesterday she was a little babe.  Now she's my pre-teen babe!

Emma's main present from us was a trumpet.  Here in our school, they don't offer string instruments, which she was a little bummed about.  But they just do wind and brass and percussion.  So we told her she could keep doing individual violin lessons or start a new instrument.  She listened to samples, looked at different instruments, and we told her to think and pray about it.  A few days later, she came to us and told us she said "I thought and prayed about it, and I want to play the trumpet!"  So it came in the mail.  She picked a cream/gold one, it's a pretty one.  The first time she played it, the kids giggled and said "It sounds like a toot!"  I tried it and wasn't much better but told her what I remembered from my band days.  Daddy got home and helped a lot, he was a champ tuba player back when.  Her sound got really good really fast once he helped her.  She's excited to practice and loves it so far!

We started off her birthday with chocolate waffles at her request.  Emma took some funfetti oreos we made together to her class to celebrate.  She said the kids were saying those were the best birthday treats they'd ever had and loved them.  Then they got to have an extra recess to celebrate.  And I guess around here, it's a popular day to be born.  3 other students in the elementary celebrated their birthdays that day and you could hear the birthday song ringing down the halls that day.

She's been asking for several months to do a Studio C birthday party.  At first, I wasn't sure how to pull it off, but by putting our creative juices together, we had a great time.  Emma is a great little planner now.  We turned Studio C into Studio E for her invites, decorations and cakes, since this was Emma's party.  Her invitations turned out cute.  And though only two friends knew what Studio C was coming in to the party, all knew going out and couldn't wait to get home and check out some more videos.  The mom who knew and loved Studio C said she loved those invites.  Do you see her picture in the top left corner?

We had a good turn out.  Ten friends (appropriate, right?) came to celebrate with us.  There are some really cute and sweet girls Emma's age and there abouts around here.  Em picked out her top ten favorite Studio C videos on YouTube.  Then after each one, we did an activity to go along with it.

First, we watched "Bop It Extreme" and played Bop-It.  When it got around to Cov, he actually licked it like the video.  The girls were giggling up a storm.  We watched "Shoulder Angel" and ate hamburgers, fries, fruit and drank raspberry lemonade.  We then watched "Captain Literally" and played the game Bubble Talk, watched "Ritalin Flirting" and ate M&Ms while doing a staring contest.  "Cupcake Wars" and ate cake, "Bad Karma" and ate ice-cream, "Scott Sterling" and played soccer, "Worst Birthday Card Ever" and opened presents, a little of "How to Make Studio C" and then the girls had turns to come up with their own skits.  We were going to watch "Susan Weebers" and paint nails but ran out of time.  There were lots of laughs and giggles and good times.  One of the girls told me: "This is the best birthday party I've been to this year...and I've been to a lot of birthday parties!"  Funny gal!  Emma handed out little goody bags for the girls and they were off.  She loved being with all of her friends.  She was cute too, she said "Mom, thanks for all of the time you spent making this party for me!" and gave me a huge hug.  So sweet!  It's nice now that she's starting to notice all of the things I do for her.

 

She got calls from Grandmas and Grandpas and other family members, thanks for calling!

When I asked her how it feels to be ten, she said "Same".  Typical pre-teen.  :D  Emma is so fun to be around.  She is so sweet and a great helper.  She's refreshingly mature for her age.  She's a kind and selfless sister and friend.  She's very smart and a deep thinker.  She tries her hardest to be her best.  She's got the cutest freckles and beautiful smile.  She's receptive to the Spirit and has some great insights.  Emma girl, we love you now and forever!

10-Year-Old Emma

In her spare time: Play with Jazzy, reading, playing with friends, riding bikes
Best friends: Ivy, Kenedy, Joy & Anna
Favorite color: Mint green
Favorite books: Fablehaven 
Favorite food: Shepard's Pie
Favorite treat: Angel food cake
Favorite thing to play with: Monster High dolls, Legos
Favorite subject at school: PE & Band
Favorite TV show: King Julian
Favorite movie: Jurassic World
Favorite song: All songs
Favorite game: Bubble Talk
Favorite season: Winter
Favorite animal: Cats
Favorite sport: Football
Thing she's best at: Playing with Jazzy
Wants to be when she grows up: Doctor 

New school year, new school!

The kids have been a little sad to see summer go, a little nervous to be starting a new school, and a lot excited to see what this school year holds!

In the morning, the kids woke themselves up and were getting dressed and ready.  When I came upstairs, Emma was combing Lucy's hair, awe!  I packed lunches and we had a special breakfast, provided by Daddy who thought this might make the morning less stressful.  We walked the kids to school (just 3 blocks away), which was fun and dropped them off!  The school is a K-12 campus, each of their classes has about 20 kids in it and one class per grade, except kindergarten and a few other grades have two classes.

Emma was looking forward to school probably the most, though she said she's bummed summer has reached an end this year.  But she had a great first day and enjoyed her class and teacher.  She came out smiling big.  She has the opportunity to begin band this year (no orchestra, no violin), so she thought about it and prayed about it and decided on the trumpet as her chosen instrument.  She's way excited to begin learning.  It's either band or you can go to study hall every other day.  All of the kids here pretty much do band, all of the kids in her class does.  Her teacher came out to meet me and seems very sharp and Em really likes her.

Callahan is hoping to find some boy pals to play with at school, as most of those we've met who live right by us his age have been girls.  He said he liked it and was impressed by the library.  And he thought it was cool he could play with Lucy at recess, though we talked about how they can play with each other every day so they should play with friends at school most days.  His teacher is enthusiastic and seems like she'll be great for Cal.

 

Lucy was very nervous and has been saying she just wants to stay home and play with me all day. Sorry, sweets!  She got a great teacher but wasn't convinced after coming home, though I could tell she liked it.  The second day of school, she didn't want to get out of bed and she exclaimed "but I don't like kindergarten, Mom!"  As the week went on, she talked more about it and told me Friday that she really likes kindergarten.  Lucy's theme at school this year is a superhero one.  Her classroom is adorable, and on Friday, the kids made their own capes and masks.  Lucy told me she was "Super Marker Girl" and she threw markers at the bad guys which exploded like bombs on them.  Ha ha!  I hope she likes it!  The fourth day of school, we had a hard time getting her out of bed and she said "I don't like school, I just want to stay home with you, Mom!"  Dave told her she'd better get used to it.  Then she didn't follow the kids and walk to school and refused to come.  So I drove her and dropped her off and when I told her to have a great day, she looked at me and said "I'll have a horrible day!"  WOW!  What to do with this girl?  She and her classmates also made the paper, lil' cuties!

Cov was excited to get to have me all to himself!  He enjoyed the day doing Mommy preschool (letter hunt, apple painting, reading, hide and go seek and little assessment the first day) until about lunchtime and then asked if we could go pick up Cal.  When I told him we'd have to wait until after naps, he started thinking up excuses to pick him up.  "But mom, it's raining outside.  We'd really better go get Cal from school."  When we picked them up at the playground, Cal came out and gave Cov a big bear hug, which he was excited about.  He's been having fun though, and especially loved when we had a car day and made this Lightning for him to drive around in.

When the kids got home from school, we had cookies in their new school colors and talked about their day (the one day I actually have a great after school snack lined up).  Lucy was less than enthusiastic, but the other two loved it!  As time's gone on, Lucy's getting better about school and liking it more.  They even love the cafeteria food, though they are mostly home lunchers we let them choose one lunch a week and it's totally good stuff here.  They are excited and making new friends and getting used to everything.

Dad was glad the kids are getting back to a regular structured schedule and routine again.  The night before school, Daddy gave them all Priesthood blessings.  It's amazing how all of their blessings were so different and individualized to them and what they need.  Truly, the priesthood is God's power and He allows men to act in his name and gives those who hold the Priesthood the words to speak.  As they open their eyes and get up after their blessings, they always look so happy and fulfilled.  We are thankful to have the Priesthood in our home, blessing us "every hour".

Mommy was excited for them, as I always was growing up - loved school.  I was sad to be seeing them go, but held back the tears and was brave!  Sending them off is hard, but we try to send little reminders that we love them and make things great for them.  We made "Spartan Cookies", the Swig sugar cookies with the school colors of yellow and blue.  They thought they were great!  We also delivered some to the neighbors that day, which was fun. Being at school is good for them and I'm excited to see what this year will bring!