Beach Party

Jon and I have decided that a birthday party every other year is plenty! This was Emma's year for a party. She was very excited about her "Indoor Birthday Beach Bash"! It was fun to put together. The girls all got a lei, a grass skirt and a flower when they came in. I made a fake sandcastle cake and Grandma Clark provided the girls with Sand dollar cookies served with rainbow sherbet in glasses with little umbrellas! The girls made a craft, played limbo and other games, went on a treasure hunt and had a lot of fun! I'm just glad I don't have another party to plan for 2 more years! :)

Our little Hula Girl

The Sandcastle Cake

Sand Dollar Cookies

Making crafts

Playing "Pass the beach ball"

Waiting to open presents

"Make a Wish"

YUMMY!

Limbo

Dancing Girls!!

Emma Turns 6!!

I can't believe Emma is 6! She had a great birthday this year! On her birthday she picked to go to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. She was excited that we let her order her very own steak (we usually just share with her) and she picked green beans to go with it! She was also excited to sit on the saddla and have the restaurant yell "YEE-HAW" to her! :) She had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Clark who brought her a new Cinderella Barbie with a sparkly horse, which I was told grandpa picked out! Grandma also made her a new "bluey". Bluey was Emma's blanket that Grandma made her when she was about 3. But it had seen better days, so grandma made her a new one..."purpley"! Emma was very excited! Her big gift from Jon and I was our old digital camera. We were going to buy her one when we remembered we still had our old one. She was super excited about it and has been taking tons of pictures! Happy Birthday Emma!!

The birthday girl!

Yee-haw!!

Purpley!

Cinderella and horse

Emma and Derrick with Grandma and Grandpa Clark

A new scripture purse

A Fancy Nancy book

Derrick was so excited to give Emma the Polly Pocket set he picked out

Emma was excited to receive it! :)

Paper Dolls

Magic Light paints

Her very own camera!!

11 Years Down!

On August 13th Jon and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. Time has gone by so fast! We went to dinner at a place called Tomaso's in Phoenix. It was delicious Italian food. I would definitely go back. After dinner we decided to just talk for a while. It was a good talk and I'm glad we had it. It's hard to get in good conversations with 2 little kids interrupting all the time! We missed the movie because we ended up talking so long, so we just walked around the mall for a bit. It was a good night. I love Jon more than ever and am looking forward to the rest of our lives together!

1st Day of School

On August 11th Emma started 1st grade. It's crazy to think she is that old already! She had a small meltdown a few days before school started. She was worried she wouldn't know anyone and she was sad she would have a new teacher. But, she is loving it! She really likes her teacher and her best friend from preschool is now in her class. (She went to a different school for kindergarten). Her best friend from kindergarten is not in her class, but they play everyday at recess! 2 weeks in and she is doing well. Hopefully we are falling into the groove of 1st grade mixed with ballet class and music class during the week. Emma is one busy girl! But, she is really enjoying everything she is in. On the first day of school Derrick was missing his sister. He asked if he could take his nap in her bed. I let him and was tempted to take a picture but I didn't want to wake him up. But he looked so cute snuggled up in Emma's bed! They are so close and miss each other when they are apart!

July

So, I have resorted to lumping months together in one post. Things have been busy and I haven't been blogging much.
For the 4th of July weekend we went to Young. We drove to Heber to watch fireworks as we have done for the past 3 years. I love doing this! It is nice and cool and we have a cookout at the Seminary building across from where they shoot off the fireworks. This year the show was great with 3 finales! The kids loved every second of it and especially loved being with their cousins. The next day we drove to Vernon for Jon's grandma's funeral. I wouldn't say it was a particularly sad day, as we got to spend time with some of Jon's family we don't see often. I know he enjoyed sharing memories and reminiscing with his cousins. It also gave us a chance to visit with Andrea and Blake before they made the big move to Alaska. After the luncheon we dropped Emma and Derrick off at the Young road to ride home with Grandpa where they spent the next 4 days. They had a blast! They went on a zip line, played baseball, swam in the creek and went crawdad fishing. They can't wait to go again next year. We were so happy that they were able to spend that time up in Young. I know they are making precious memories! While the kids were away Jon and I were trying to adjust to the fact that we didn't have any kids at home. It was very strange. This was the first time we have been at home without them. We have left them to go on vacations before but being at home was a whole new experience. I would walk by their rooms and feel like I had to check on them. Trying to fill our time, we went swimming and watched a movie with Ron and Sarah and another night we went to see a band with some guys from Jon's work play at a bar in Tempe. It was...interesting! The week was a nice little break from the kiddos though and I know they had a ton of fun!

Derrick going to the big rock with Uncle Sean

Emma on the big rock with dad

Emma wanted to take a picture of dad

Emma, Derrick and Maddie

July 31st was my 30th birthday! I never thought it would freak me out, but it kind of did! Jon had arranged with his mom and stepdad to have the kids spend the night at their house. We dropped them off on Friday morning and went to Wet and Wild water park for the day. It was a lot of fun! Although, there was a crazy flying ant infestation on one of the slides. That was pretty gross! That night we had Italian for dinner and some delicious gelato for dessert. We also saw Inception at the Cine Capri theater. It was fun! We stayed at a hotel in Scottsdale that was just ok. I was trying to cut corners, which I will not do again! Our hotel shared a parking lot with a bar/club so we got to hear the drunks all night long! It was a fun little getaway though. Almost a month later I am pretty much over the fact that I am 30. Life goes on!

June

The month of June consisted of swim lessons, Jon's birthday and trying to fill time. It was an adjustment having Emma home again all day, but her and Derrick sure have loved spending time together.
This was Emma's 3rd year in swim lessons and Derrick's 2nd. After the first 2 weeks their teacher moved Derrick up to Emma's class, as he was quickly progressing. Emma was more scared than ever and Derrick was ready to swim his little heart out! Derrick left off trying to learn to take his own breaths. And Emma was working on gaining more confidence. I have been trying to take them swimming since lessons have been over. Last week we finally made some progress. Derrick started taking breaths on his own and Emma was starting to realize she CAN swim! It was such a proud parent moment! Now we just need to go again and keep the momentum!
Jon also had his birthday in June. We celebrated by going out to The Keg with the kids. This has become our tradition. Jon is on their email list for a free meal the month of his birthday. Emma loves sharing her daddy's medium rare steak (gross) and Derrick is starting to branch out and eat foods he never has before. Steak being one of them!
Emma has become so creative in her playtime and Derrick is following suit. Sometimes I just love listening to them play together. They've had dance shows, weddings, pool parties (in the house), school days, restaurant play and several other pretend play games. Emma will often ask me to take pictures of her in whatever she is doing. We are thinking of getting Emma her own camera for her birthday. She has really gotten into taking pictures lately.
June went by fast and now July is almost over. Hopefully the awful weather goes with it, although the last few days have almost been nice! I have recently been questioning why I live here...but it's home!

My kids growing up too fast!

Emma and Derrick with dad on his birthday!

Emma showcasing her dolls and animals that she dressed up!

2 Teeth Down!

Within a month Emma lost her 2 bottom teeth. She was so excited for the first one to come out! It was a bit of a struggle (as you can see from Jon's face in the pictures) but he finally got it out with minimal crying from Emma! The first tooth came out on June 2nd. Emma couldn't wait for the tooth fairy to come! She had been saving her money for an mp3 player and was $3 short. So, the tooth fairy helped her out with $3. Kind of an odd number, but now we're stuck with it! :) Emma got her music player and loves it! The next tooth was lost on July 9th. We knew it was loose but I didn't think it was close to coming out. I went to pick up some dinner that night and Jon called me to tell me Emma's tooth was bleeding as she was eating her popsicle. I told him I wanted to look at it when I got home. A few minutes later I got a picture text with Emma and her missing tooth! Jon said he went to check it and it came right out! Again, we had a very excited girl! She keeps trying to tell me she has other loose teeth, but I think that's it for now. Emma is very excited for school to start. She told me last week, "Mom it's almost time for school to start. I've been waiting my whole life to be in first grade!" Silly girl! I am having nightmares again about what teacher Emma will have again. It worked out last year, I hope it does for 1st grade too!

Last picture with her bottom teeth

Dad is checking it out

Dad is trying to pull it out! (I love this one!)

All done!

The first toothless grin

Putting her tooth under her pillow, where she slept with her hand touching it! :)

Money from the tooth fairy!

2nd tooth gone and I don't think I've ever seen a bigger smile!