The most wonderful time of the year

 I really do love this time of year, even though everyone is a little busier and the weather can be crazy.  I love the way people remember to be kind, think of others, and to spend time with family.  The traditions that we start help form memories for years to come.  Emilee loves the countdowns that we do.  Yes I said countdowns, we have 4 different countdowns. 

We have a chocolate chain, this is a tradition from my family.  As a Child I loved getting a little piece of chocolate each day.  Now it's Emilee who reminds us every morning that we need to eat a piece of chocolate. 

 We have an Advent Calendar that I love.   Adam bought it for our family a few years ago.  It's fun and sometimes hard to think of different activities to do each day.  Emilee loves opening the doors to find what we are doing for the day.  Some of the activities we do have become traditions.

I love books, I am very lucky because my Husband also loves books.  We buy Emilee a new Christmas book every year to read on Christmas Eve. Thanks to that tradition and the books that we bought before she came into our lives we have a lot of books.  Last year, thanks to pinterest, we started a new tradition.  We wrap the books we have, place them under Emilee's tree and unwrap one each night.  It's a great way to make sure you keep reading the books you have bought in previous years. 

 

This year we wanted to do more to keep reminding us of the True Reason for Christmas.  We decided that we would buy a large picture of Christ.  We covered the picture with 24 squares a card stock with a date on them.  Every night Emilee takes down a square eventually to uncover the whole picture.  We read a scripture, sing a song and then read a story to remind us of Christ and his kindness.  Emilee has been trying to guess what the picture is since day one.  I love the traditions we have in our family.  I know that the traditions will change and grow as our family gets older.  I hope that Emilee will always have fond memories, and maybe want to carry on at least one of these traditions when she is older. 

Box Tops

Our school (like many others) collects box tops.  I knew that I wanted to help our school by collecting them, I also knew that I had two problems.

Problem #1:  I knew that I would lose track of them.  Things in our house seem to just disappear.

Problem #2:  We don't seem to buy a lot of things that have box tops.  I would need help collecting.

I made these boxes as a solution to both problems.  I keep one in the cupboard it gives me a place to store them after we cut them out.  It also serves as a reminder to Adam and I to look on the things we buy.    We also made one for Grandma and Grandpa.  They said they would help us, so we decided that we should make them a box too.

It was fun and easy to make these cute boxes.  We went to Hobby Lobby and picked up two of the Paper Mache boxes they sell.  Emilee wanted to decorate the one for Grandma so we let her pick the color of paint   and the stickers she wanted to use.  After painting we sealed it with a fun sealer with glitter in it.  Emilee did a really great job decorating Grandma box.  When I painted ours I used a stencil  I created with my Cricut.  It is great having a place to keep our box tops, we have collected more than I thought we would.

Tooth Fairy

We noticed Emilee finally had a wiggly tooth sometime in July.  She is not like other kids, she would not touch it or even wiggle it.  She kept telling us she didn't want to lose her tooth.  About a week later we noticed that her big tooth was coming in behind the baby tooth, she still wouldn't wiggle her tooth.  Around that time she had a dentist appointment so we asked about her teeth.  She was told if the tooth didn't fall out by the time she came back to fill her cavities he would pull her tooth.  Her tooth never fell out, so the dentist was kind enough to pull her tooth. 

 Unfortunately Emilee has a small mouth and big teeth, like her parents.  The dentist noticed that her new tooth was taking up the spot of 1 1/2 teeth, so she ended up having another tooth pulled to help make room.

   Moms and Dads start thinking now about the Tooth Fairy, you never know when you will get a surprise visit.  Thanks to Emilee not wanting to wiggle her tooth we had enough time to make the Tooth Fairy a door to come through.  

I still want to make a pillow for future visits, we want to make sure that tooth doesn't get lost.  If you are looking for ways to help make the Tooth Fairy visit special there are lots of ideas floating around on Pinterest. 

 A little note:  We have noticed Emilee has another tooth close to coming in, and the baby tooth is not even close to being loose.  She might have to have some more teeth pulled.  We will have to wait and keep watching.  

A New Chapter

Emilee started Kindergarten yesterday.  She was so excited, she woke up at 5:30 a.m. and would not go back to sleep.  She was so cute, she kept telling me it was time to go.  I walked her into school, they had an assembly to start the day so we found where her class was suppose to sit.  It was really cute, some of the older kids where welcoming the kids to school.

She sat down and was so brave, she kept telling me I could go home.  After the assembly was over they found where they hang up their backpacks and coats, then they went to their desks.  I was so proud of her, even though at times you could tell she was nervous, she never let it get the best of her. 

 When I finally left, I cried a little on the way home.  We went to lunch after she got out of school and she told me all about her day.  It was wonderful to see her happy and excited.  

Yes, she is wearing a uniform.  Emilee was able to get into American Preparatory Academy.  It's a charter school that we have heard great things about.  When I took the school tour I was really impressed with the way the kids behaved, what they where learning, and so much more.

Graduation

In May Emilee graduated from Preschool.  Emilee was excited for weeks before graduation she kept telling me about about the parts she was going to perform.

She was the Old Lady who swallowed a fly, and she was going to be the Lamb in Mary had a little Lamb.  She couldn't wait to be the Old Lady, she was most excited to die.  She did a great job dying and she was the cutest little Lamb.

I had a hard time knowing that she was graduating from Preschool.  I had all of the emotions you could imagine.  I was experiencing my oldest, my youngest and my only leaving Preschool and growing up.  It's really hard watch her go through these milestones.  I am proud of her and excited for her, but I get sad.  Emilee has been sad lately knowing that Miss Janae isn't her teacher anymore.  Every once in awhile she will start crying.  We will ask her whats wrong and she tells us that she misses Miss Janae.

Thank you Miss Janae for being a wonderful teacher.  Emilee learned a lot and grew so much in your class.  You were such a positive influence in her life, she tells us she wants to be a little kid (Preschool) teacher when she grows up.

Mothers Day

I just wanted to tell everyone that I had a great Mother's Day.  My husband was wonderful he did everything he could to make my life easier.  He woke Emilee up while I was in the shower and together they made me breakfast.  He took care of Emilee and got everything together before church, all I had to do was make sure I was ready.  After church he made me an awesome dinner, even if he didn't think it was good.  We spent some time visiting our Moms and enjoying being with family.  It was a great day not having any stress and relaxing.  It was just what this Mom needed.   

It was such a great day we had a fish that decided she wanted to become a mom on Mother's Day.   Anyone want some guppies in a couple of months?

And wiser too!!

I can't believe my baby girl is 5.  She had lots of fun celebrating her birthday this year.  We celebrated with her Grandma and Grandpa, her Aunts and Uncles, and all of her cousins on my side of the family the first Sunday of the month.  It makes it easier for everyone to be there when we get together once a month.  In February we celebrated hers, Grandma's, and baby Raleigh's birthday.  We had a birthday party for her about a week before her birthday.  The Sunday before her birthday we celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa, her Aunts and Uncles, and all of her cousins on the Yorgason side.  Adam had her birthday off this year, so we spent the whole day celebrating her.  We let her decide what we did for the day.  We went to the library, to the Disney store, to Build-a-Bear, and to Target.  We also went to The Sweet Tooth fairy and let her choose a cookie or cupcake, then we went to Five Guys for dinner.   Later that night we opened presents, and sang Happy Birthday.  We had fun celebrating with her.

Emilee is a wonderful daughter.  She has brought Adam and I such joy, we know that we are blessed to have her as a daughter.  She loves to play and has the most wonderful imagination.  When she feels like it she will spend hours in her room playing with her toys coming up with the most creative stories.  She loves to color, paint, and take pictures (one reason we had an art party).  She loves reading books, doing puzzles, and going to school.  She is so loving and caring, she cares about everyone and everything, and she gives the best hugs.   She loves getting older and tells us all the time that she is a big girl, and loves doing things for herself.  Everyday she keeps getting more and more amazing, I can't wait to see what each new day will bring.   We definitely love our Princess.

She's one year older......

February went by so fast, we spent the month getting ready for Emilee's Birthday.......mainly her Birthday party.  This post will be about her Birthday Party.  She had an "Art" party, it was so much fun.  There were so many options of things that we could do.  When the kids arrived we let them choose the color of apron they wanted.  Then the fun started; we made hand prints on canvas, painted foam, colored on the wall, played with marbles and paint, colored on the table,  painted jars with glow in the dark paint (suppose to be stars).  They ate pizza then had cupcakes and sherbet.  We sent the kids home with a party favor as a "Thank You", I was happy with how the favors turned out.  We found a small craft caddy at Target and filled it with art supplies, we also gave them a coloring book and some stickers.  Emilee had lots of fun with her cousins and friends, she was so excited to finally have a birthday party.

Her colorful Cupcakes

Party Favor

Coloring on the walls

What a cute group

Painting on foam boards

blowing out the candles

Coloring on the table

Winter Break is over

Emilee returned to school on Wednesday, she was so excited.  Every day during break she would wake up and ask me if it was "school day" (except on Christmas).  While she was in school on Wednesday it was time for mommy to play.  I took the time to clean and organize her room.  It was so nice to get rid of some toys that she had out grown, and to put all of the Christmas toys away.

Spring?

Does it feel like the beginning of Spring to anyone else today?  Will Emilee ever get to build a Snowman? I keep waiting for the winter and snow, yet it never comes.   Some years come and go without me even noticing the passing.  This year already feels like a new beginning.  Nothing big or exciting happening in my life, everything is just the same except for the feeling of something new in the air.  Maybe it's because of the new goals that I am excited to work towards, or maybe its the feeling of accomplishment for keeping most of the goals from last year.  Here's to looking forward to the surprises and challenges that the coming year will bring.  

Happy New Year!