Final Preparations

The past couple of weeks I have been pretty stressed and worried about our upcoming performance of The Music Man. I don't know if it's just been a long time, or if it's different now that I am not in High School with all the support of my buddies, but I think it has mostly been the pressure I have been putting on myself to not let everyone who has worked so hard on this down. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH NO PRESSURE THERE!! I truly need to chill out. At this point I am just ready to get it started so that it will eventually be finished. It has been fun and everyone has been wonderful, but I miss my family. I hate the feeling of not wanting to leave them and yet still having to be gone from them every night. Mike has been such a great husband and father, holding down the fort, but it's time for my kids to have a mommy and a daddy again. :) At this point the thing I am most concerned about is not getting sick. Emma has come down with a really nasty cold and I am just dreading the thought of getting sick and not being able to sing. Any prayers you could send my way would be greatly appreciated. So the countdown begins. Only 5 more days until opening night. We are also so grateful to those who are sacrificing so much to come out here and support. We can't wait to see you.   It should be a fun performance.  Here's a sneak peek.  I am pretty excited about my costumes.  They are beautiful!

San Francisco

Every few months Mike has to go up to Oakland for work. This time we decided it would be fun it we went up with him. We have been wanting to head up to San F rancisco for awhile now and it was the perfect opportunity since all our expenses would be paid for since it was a work trip. It was a quick trip, we left Monday afternoon and came back 24 hours later. The first night we went to Fisherman's Wharf and got some wonderful Sourdough Bread Bowls for dinner. We just enjoyed walking around the Piers and looking at all the tourist shops. I was even lucky enough to get a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Carmel Apple. Yummy! That night, as was expected, Emma had a hard time getting to sleep. I thought maybe now that she's getting older that she would do better, but it is just really hard for her to have us in the same room with her. She just wants to play and get our attention all night. She finally crashed a little after 11:00. Vivian was a real trooper the whole trip. The next morning we went to the San Francisco Zoo. We love going to the zoo as a family, and it was a beautiful day. We even were lucky in the fact that we got lost and it took us across the Golden Gate Bridge. (Nice $6 detour) While Mike finished up his work we took naps and then Emma got an ice-cream cone. I think it's a lot of fun that her daddy makes ice-cream for a living. It was nice to get away and we wish we could've stayed longer.

Purple Princess Party

So Emma's party went well and it is so nice to have that over and done. She has been looking forward to it for a long time now. She had been to so many parties and kept asking when it was going to be her party. We met at a park and just had some finger foods, Crown and Sword making, a Princess Castle Pinata, and a game of "Duck, Duck, Goose" provided by Daddy. She originally wanted a princess cake, but I was easily able to convince her to have just cupcakes instead. She was so excited to have all of her friends come and was surprised when people brought her presents. She was so excited and grateful for all of the nice gifts she received. She sure was spoiled. We had around 15 kids there, including most of their parents. Emma is just so friendly that everyone she has any contact with is instantly "her friend". We're lucky to have such an outgoing and friendly child. She teaches her parents a lot

Our little girl turns 3!

I can't believe that Emma is 3 years old today.  It's amazing how quickly she has grown up and she sure brings so much joy to our lives.  She has been looking forward to her birthday for a long time and was so excited to wake up to the balloons that decorated our house.  "It's my birthday"  she exclaimed.  We are having a pretty low key day today because on Friday she is having a friend birthday party at the park.  She wanted to have a purple princess party and she just can't wait.  I'll post pictures after the festivities.  I have a ton of posts that I need to catch up on so expect a few coming your way.  For Emma's birthday she got books from her Grandma's, some little princess dolls from Grandma Marla and a play vacuum from Mom and Dad.

  I also went a little crazy and made her a couple princess dress ups.  She loves Cinderella, but I think the "Tangled" dress turned out so cute.  Pretty good I should say for not having a pattern.  :)  Luckily I found some cheap fabric and had a lot of help for this cute lady. Dress Tutorial

*Bless her heart she thinks that saying "cheese" involves tilting her head and closing her eyes for all of her pictures.:)

Here are some things we love about Emma:

• She is so social and just loves people
• She is very positive and I love to hear her say thank you. 
• She is the best cheerleader.  At play practice she is the one you can hear clapping and shouting Yay!!  Good dancing mommy!
• She is a wonderful sister.  She is always willing to help Vivian.  She helps cheer her up, keep her out of trouble and just loves on her.
• She is finally becoming potty trained!  A work in progress, but we are 2 days down.
• She loves animals
• She wakes up (and wakes us up) extremely happy.
• She has a wonderful imagination and loves to pretend and make up songs and stories.
• She enjoys arts and crafts.  She loves to color and paint
• She is very good at puzzles and loves to play games and read books.
• She is usually a pretty good eater, but right now she has been in love with hot dogs of all things.
• For a 3 year old she is a pretty good listener and helper for mommy and daddy.
• She is a good friend and thinks about other people. 
• She loves Jesus
• She gives great hugs and kisses

Here she is with curlers for the first time. She was excited to look like Grandma.:)

We are sure loving conference as well and have enjoyed being able to spend some quality time together as a family.  We have all been so busy lately that it is so nice just being together.  Tomorrow Mike has to work up in Oakland so we are heading up for a trip to Sanfrancisco as well.  Hopefully the girls will do well.  It will be nice to see another part of California as well as the San Fran zoo.  Pics of that trip to come. Me and my girls!