Emma turned nine years old today. We had a wonderful party for her yesterday with friends over and today was a wonderful, special day as well. The birthday interview is at the end and it's got some funny parts, so hold out for it!
Emma had her party all planned out: what we would eat, what we would do, and who would attend. We were a little worried about the weather in the morning yesterday, as it was rainy, but by the party time rolled around, it all cleared up and we were able to eat outside and everything! Wonderful!
The kids spent quite a bit of time playing outside in the yard, then we ate a burrito bar for lunch, had a pinata, tug-of-war, a talent show, then presents and cake and more playing outside to top it off. We love having parties where the whole family is invited because it is so much fun for us to spend time with our friends!
Here are pictures of the party yesterday:
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| The pinata |
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| Picnic tables in the shade |
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| Emma made the pinata almost all on her own. |
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| The birthday girl taking a swing |
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| Spectators |
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| Kenneth throwing the candy up after the pinata was broken |
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| Gathering the spoils |
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| Tug-of-war |
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| Jacob reciting a poem for his talent, Kate climbing up to see the baby. She is very into babies lately- hopefully it will last for a few more months! |
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| Kate holding the second baby at the party |
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| Grant shooting his bow and arrow for his talent |
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| Arianna's puzzle-building talent displayed and Keaghan and Laiken's drawing |
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| Kate's talent on the piano. (He he) She had about 4 turns sharing her talent. Between all the others she would run to the piano shouting, "My turn!" |
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| Aleah playing Fur Elise |
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| Sariah playing the piano |
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| Matthew sharing his 6th grade recital piece with us! |
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| Opening gifts |
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| The crowd gathered for gift opening |
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| Cake time! Emma requested a pound cake. I also had a carrot cake in the freezer from Easter which I got out to share too to make sure we had enough. Oh, and coconut cream laraballs. Yum! |
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| The pound cake |
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| Another cake shot |
Of course, after the party, we had to work our tails off getting the house all prepared for the packers to come on Monday. Kenneth and I were up til 1 am and still did not get everything done. Oh well, it will all work out, I suppose.
Sunday, Emma's actual Birthday, was an incredible day! Boy, am I so glad that it is a day of rest, because heaven knows I could have worked all day to get ready for the packers, but we just put that all aside and enjoyed Emma's birthday and being together as a family. The Birthday butterfly came for breakfast- along with eggs and cinnamon toast. This morning, we had a special stake meeting and Elder Holland, of the quorum of the twelve was there! Wow! As it turned out, I happened to be out in the hall walking with Kate before the meeting started and was in the foyer when Elder Holland walked in the door! He shook my hand and said hi to Kate and told her she was cute. I felt very blessed to have been in the right place at the right time! The whole meeting, including the music, was very uplifting. Elder Holland's talk was incredible! He was so encouraging to all of us who feel broken, who feel afraid. He encouraged us to never give up, to never forget that the Savior loves us and we will always be okay, no matter what we may have to go through.
In the afternoon, Kenneth conducted the Birthday interview. Then, we went on a walk on the nature trail right near our home. It was beautiful! We are loving spring around here.
Then we came home and ate a dinner of Swedish meatballs, salad, and sparkling cider with ice cream cake for dessert. Delicious! Emma opened gifts throughout the day- One from mom and dad, Grant and Arianna's in the morning, Grandma Pilz's at lunch time and another one from mom and dad this evening.
Here are the pictures:
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| Hello, Birthday Butterfly! |
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| Birthday Breakfast |
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| Kate thinks its her birthday! |
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| Gift from Grant- he made her a barn and house for her little leopard |
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| Here's the cute little guy that Grant bought for her with his own money |
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| Opening Arianna's gift |
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| Arianna made her 2 little dogs |
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| Grandma Pilz sent A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book One. When I said goodnight to Emma she was already on page 60. She's loving it! |
These next several pictures are of our walk this afternoon. We didn't discover this trail (which we can walk to from our home!) until just a few months ago. We knew we wanted to go at least once more before we moved. I am so glad we did. It was beautiful.
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| Visiting our horse friends on our walk. We will miss these horses! At least our new neighbors in Georgia have horses that are on their property part of the time. |
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| Feeding the horses grass. |
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| I love to see Kenneth with the horses- he is so good with them! |
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| Kate, loving life on the trail. |
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| Throwing rocks in the stream. |
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| Looking at the tadpoles in the water. They never did catch one. |
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| Did you know Kansas could look like this?! Beautiful! |
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| Big teeter-totter. The kids love it! (And me and my big belly) |
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| Birthday dinner with sparkling cider |
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| Kate was delighted with the plastic stemware I found for her to use. She loves the 'spicy' cider! |
Here is the Birthday Interview:
How old are you today? Nine
Do you have a nick name? No. Well, my sister and brother think I do, but I don't. What do they think it is? [Grant] Like Lemon. She likes it when I call her Em. No I don't.
What do you enjoy doing most? I have no idea. I don't know. Is it being outside, playing the piano, eating, going to church? Doing stuff with my family.
What is your favorite book? I cannot tell you that. Why? Because I don't know. What do you know today? Okay, chapter books.
What is your favorite animal? [Grant] Horses. What kind of animal? Stuffed animal? Toy animal? No, real animals. A leopard.
Since when? Since about two months ago.
Why? I have no idea.
What is your favorite color? The colors of the rainbow Any one more than the others? No.
What is your favorite food? Sweets, maybe. I don't know.
What is your favorite treat? Pound cake. Is that what Mom made for your birthday? Yes.
What is your favorite song? Colors of the Wind.
Can you play it on the Piano? Yes. Did you know that's Dad's favorite piano song you play? Yes, that's what you always say.
What is your favorite movie or show? Probably Spirit.
Where is your favorite place to go? Maybe the farm.
Have you ever caught a fish? No, but I've tried.
What is your favorite toy? I cannot answer that too, but I don't know. Because I have too many favorites. Can you name a few? I cannot.
What is your favorite sport? Soccer.
Are you going to play soccer on a team? If you really need me to.
What is your favorite time of the day? When you come home.
Why? I don't know, Aw come on, think hard. Okay, because I love you so much.
Who is your best friend? Nani.
What do you want to be when you grow up? Be a mom.
Are you going to go to college? I don't want to.
Why not? I don't know, I just don't want to.
[Mom] What? But it's wonderful! You learn so much and experience so many wonderful things. [Grant] Yeah, I'm going.
Who is going to pay for your college education? I'm only paying $10. You're paying the rest, Dad.
Who loves you the most? You already know the answer to that question.
What talents have you discovered? The Piano and bla bla bla. Is that all? Yup.
What's your favorite talent? The one I just said. Not the bla bla bla.
Mom and Dad are very impressed with your Piano playing. How did you get to be so good? It starts with a P. then R and A and whatever. [Grant] Practice.
What have you learned in your years of experience so far? Things about strangers and fires. What about them? What to do if they come across you. What do you do if a fire comes across you? I don't know because we don't have a meeting place yet. If we do, I don't know about it.
Anything else? Can we be done? Almost.
What grade are you in? 3rd
How is school going for you? Good
What do you like most about school? Learning
What's been the most interesting thing you've learned this year? About my body.
What was your favorite project or science experiment? An egg soaked in vinegar. Why? Because it was exciting.
Does Mom do an excellent, incredible or awesome job homeschooling? Excellent.
What would you like her to do differently? Nothing.
Are you a mammal, an amphibian or a reptile? I'm a mammal. I had that question last year.
How many marbles have you eaten this week? Zero.
How soon will you seek employment to help pay the family bills and fund this operation? What are you talking about? How soon will you start working? When I'm 22.
On what day of the week were you born? Wednesday. Are you sure? Yes. How do you know? Because you told me.
If you encountered a chicken crossing the road, please describe what you would do first: If there weren't any cars coming, I'd go get it. If there were cars coming, I wouldn't. [Grant] You could make a stop sign.
What has been special about your birthday thus far? A Party. That was yesterday, what about this morning? Seeing an apostle - Jeffrey R. Holland.
What else will you do today, for your special day? Take a walk and beat Dad in chess.
What does Dad do for work? He's a mechanic. Well, I think so. Wait, no, he's an engineer.
What does Mom do for work? She takes care of the house and us.
Are you stressed about moving to Georgia? No way.
Will you miss Kansas? Yeah.
What will you miss most? My friends.
What excites you the most about moving to Georgia? Getting bunnies. And having a swimming pool close by. But you can't swim. Oh, I'll learn.
Are you going to let the packers pack all your animals? I have all my animals that I want picked out.
Do you still miss the chickens? Yes
Which one do you miss most? Peepy
Do you treat your siblings well? I think so.
Do you love them? Yeah.
Emma, how would you describe yourself? A girl. With a lot of challenges. What kind of challenges? Oh, all sorts of challenges. Are you handling them well? I guess. Will they go away soon? Yes, but then I'll get new ones. Anything we can do to help? Not really.
What would you like to accomplish this year, before you turn 10? Making new friends in Georgia. Anything else? Yeah, but I cannot think of it.
Any last words for your Birthday interview? No, except that I'm tired. [Mom] I thought you asked that question like 10 minutes ago? What happened? Buzz off, Mom. Emma was a deep thinker. I feel like going to sleep.
