Non-stop birthday fun!!

Emma turned 4 on Saturday, and the party started Thursday! My friend Allison came into town with her 2 boys, Tyler & Parker. They couldn't stay through Saturday, so we celebrated Emma's birthday with them on Thursday. Allison picked up some clown cones from Baskin Robbins, yum! Tyler and Emma's friend Hunter came over too...We had fun!
Then, on Saturday was the party! We had such a blast! We borrowed PK & Amy's huge waterslide, and set it up in our neighbor's yard! (Our yard would have been big enough, but we have too many trees, so we opened the gate between our yard and the neighbor's yard, and it worked out great!)...It was a little stressful at first. The party was from 4 to 6pm, and at 4:02pm, it started thundering and lightning....It hadn't rained in 9 weeks!!! So we sent the kids upstairs to the playroom, hoping that the bad weather would go away...I hadn't anticipated to have 12 kids and 20 adults in Emma's playroom, but it worked out OK, and didn't last long...after about 30 mintues, the sun came out, and the kids went back out... They had a blast!!
Enjoy the slideshow!

Recital!

On sunday evening, we got ready for the actual recital. Nana, Yaya, Mammaw and Heather came over (with their significant others) to help with hair and make-up. It was quite an ordeal: Heather took pictures, while Nana and I put make-up on. Yaya was on "entertainment" duty, and kept Emma busy the entire time...


I hate mascara!

How do I look?

Emma's little group did a great job at the recital! I was actually a little nervous for her! The poor kiddos were lined up backwards when they got on the stage, and got confused, but Emma found her spot like she was supposed to. They were so funny, and everyone in the audience cracked up the entire time. Uncle Chewy was in tears from laughing at the end of the performance!

Everyone showered Emma with flowers. The little boy in her group gave each ballerina a flower, how sweet! Heather & Chewy got Emma some beautiful roses (and for me for mother's day), and an adorable little ballet backpack as well as a "good luck" balloon. Poppy & Yaya, and Nana & Pops got Emma flowers as well. What a lucky and well-loved little girl!

Ballet Rehearsal, cont'd

Ballet Rehearsal

On Saturday, Emma had her ballet rehearsal. We had to do full make-up, hair, and costume. What fun! I had to go buy red lipstick, pink blush, aquanet (hair spray), and a million bobby pins. The dance teachers told the moms to "put on more make-up than you'd ever want to put on a 4 year old"...Well, I did, and it was an experience. Emma was okay with blush and lipstick, but eye shadow and mascara were IMPOSSIBLE. She would squint...Anyways, we managed to put the make-up on, and made it to the rehearsal a few mintues late...Emma looked so adorable! A true ballerina! We were able to take lots of pictures, and film her dance (cameras were not allowed at the actual recital). I was suprised and she did really well. She told me before she went on stage "Mommy, I will try my very best!", and she did! She remembered "most"of her moves! Too cute!

Trip to the farm

A few weeks ago, Geoff, Emma and I went to visit one of Geoff's business clients. Dr. Smith and his wife live a couple of hours north of Austin. Dr. Smith is semi-retired, and sees patients close to his house. In his "off" time, he and his wife run a small farm. Geoff thought that Emma would have fun spending the day out there, and so we decided to make a Saturday out of it! Emma had a blast!!! Among her favorites were the white kittens and the miniature horse, Apache, who belongs to the couple's granddaughter, also named Emma! Dr. Smith and his wife, Pat, were so welcoming. We really enjoyed our visit! Here are some pictures:

Emma leading Apache

Walking through the fields

Love those kittens!

Kite Festival, March'08

Here are some pictures of the Kite Festival here in Austin. It was so incredibly windy, but Emma still managed to fly her ladybug kite all by herself. She did pretty great!

Easter 2008

Finally, here are some "recent" pictures of Emma at Easter. I'm going to try and update the blog more regularly...I uploaded the pictures to the blog with PICASA and it was SOOOOO much easier...