Emma at 4!

There are times when Emma seems so much older than 4 years old in the way she speaks and acts. At the same time, she does have her moments when she is definitely 4 years old. She is so analytical in that she has to know the how and why of everything. For instance, with our Elf on the Shelf, "how is he magic?", "how does he get to Santa?", etc. She wants to know the ins and outs of everything, which makes me a little concerned that she'll be drawn towards the sciences as a career. However, while she does have to break everything down, Emma is also very creative and loves to draw, color, make crafts, sing, play instruments, and dance. I would definitely say that dance class is still her single most favorite activity. Emma also loves puzzles and games. She has easily mastered 24 piece puzzles and moved on to 48 piece puzzles, which also don't seem to present much of a challenge. She is loving learning how to write all her letters and numbers and likes to make lists. Her fine motor skills are excellent and she always tries to color inside the lines and is none too happy if she gets out of the lines. According to her teachers, she still does have an issue with gross motor skills but when you're a "growing machine" as Emma puts it, that is to be expected. I didn't get the exact measurements at her appointment last week but I think they said she was 41 1/4 inches tall (80th percentile) and just shy of 35 lbs (50th percentile). Assuming the girl grows into her feet, she is going to be tall. With that, here is our most recent Q&A with answers that have given previously denoted by a "*."

What is your name? Emma Grace Schnackenberg
How old are you? 4
When is your birthday? November 6th (close)
Where do you live? In Arkansas
Who is your best friend? Libby*
Who is your favorite friend (stuffed toy) to nap with? Baby Wilwy (I should note that poor Baby Lily was been banned from school since she is a total distraction to Emma during nap time. She was allowed to bring her back after doing well with napping and after one day, got her banned again.
What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Work puzzles & play games*
What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Watch shows
What is your favorite thing to do with Josh? Play*
What is your favorite thing to eat? Pizza*
What is your favorite breakfast food? Pancakes
What is your favorite fruit? Pineapple
What do you like for a snack? Fruit snacks
What is your favorite treat? Smarties*
What do you not like to eat? Couldn't think of anything but if you ask me, I would say anything I cook in the crockpot is immediately turned down
What is your favorite place to eat? The Purple Cow*
What is your favorite animal? Monkeys
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play games with Josh outside
What do you like to play with? Josh's toys
What is your favorite toy? Games
What do you like to watch? Dora* & Barney
What is your favorite book? "I Spy"
What is your favorite song? All the songs from the movie "Annie"
What is your favorite Bible story? Jesus healed the lepers
What is your favorite color? Pink & purple & yellow*
What makes you scared? Thunder*
What makes you sad? When Josh hits me
What makes you happy? When we go somewhere new
What is your favorite place to go? Downtown
What do you want to be when you grow up? A Mommy
What will you do in the winter? Play in the snow
What is your favorite game? I Spy
What makes you proud of yourself? When I try something new
What do you like to wear? Hello Kitty stuff
If you could have any pet, what would you choose? A Cat
What is your favorite movie? "Annie"

Emma's Birthday

After several events in the week leading up to Emma's birthday, we finally celebrated the big number 4 last Saturday. The poor little girl felt tortured most of the day as she was dying to unwrap her presents. The way things went, she got to open a few here and there in the morning before finishing things up later in the afternoon. In addition to opening presents, we went to see Happy Feet 2, which Brad and I enjoyed. Emma thought it was good while she was paying attention and Josh said it scared him. Still not sure what was scary but then he is scared of the penguins at the zoo. To round out the day, our good friends, Mr. Win and RiRi came over for dinner and birthday cupcakes. All in all, I think Emma had a good 4th birthday although I for one still can't believe she is 4!

Sugar Plum Ball

Emma and Brad attended CARTI's Annual Sugar Plum Ball tonight! I tried to get some photos before they left but let's just say that somebody (Emma) was a little too excited to take a nice picture.





Meanwhile, Josh and I watched a little Sesame Street and then I cleaned out my closet after he went to bed. Do the boy and I know how to have fun or what? Speaking of bedtime, the normal routine for Josh includes some crying for this reason or that as soon as we leave his room at night. However, on Thursday nights, when Emma is at dance and it is just him and Daddy, there is no crying and he prays well and then off to bed. Apparently it is Mommy who makes bedtime harder since I got the usual crying and needing this, that or the other thing tonight.

Elf on the Shelf

We have jumped on the bandwagon and have a new friend at our house for Christmas. Our Elf (or Elk as Emma likes to say) on the Shelf was waiting at our front door last night when we got home. Thankfully he brought along a book for us to read that explained everything. After much deliberation, he was finally given the name Doodle. In case you don't know about the Elf on the Shelf, they are magical elves that keep watch over kids everywhere. You can't touch him or his magical powers will disappear. After everyone has gone to bed each night, he makes a quick trip to the North Pole so he can report whether the kids have been naughty or nice. After his trip, you never know where you'll find him so every morning kids have to search their house to find their elf. This morning we found him hanging out in the lamp in the living room. We can't wait to see all the places he'll end up before Christmas arrives. Hopefully he won't cause too much mischief. Welcome to our home Doodle; we wish you luck in keeping Emma and Josh on the straight and narrow!

Birthday Week Begins

We kicked off Emma's birthday week with a party with many of her friends. Emma wanted an Ariel cake this year so we went with an "Under the Sea" theme. There was "Dance Party with Sebastian", "Snarflak Blowing (Bubble blowing)", "Fishing for Flounder", "Mermaid Races", and of course, there was the play house, and whatever else Emma and her guests found to entertain themselves. Thankfully we had good weather for playing outside for the third year in a row and we definitely took advantage. I know Emma and Josh enjoyed themselves and think everybody else did as well. One thing was certain, the four of us were completely wiped out afterwards.

Thankfulness

In honor of Thanksgiving tomorrow, this morning, Emma gave me her list of things that she is thankful for. It started like this:

You (Mommy)
Daddy
Josh
My Cousins
God
Jesus
Swimming pools...

I just love that swimming pools made the top 10. Other items that made their way into the list included water and soap to wash up, bathtubs, blankets to keep her warm, buckle seats (car seats) to keep her safe, roads that the cars can drive on, stop lights to tell us when it is safe to go and so on! We hope that everybody has a Happy Thanksgiving!

A Few Notes

I was pretty sure that this last round of teething was going to do us all in. Poor Josh was in a bad way with those upper molars and turned into a child that nobody recognized. Let's just say that there was lots of crying and needing to be held by Mommy (all at inopportune times). Everything sort of came to a peak about a week and a half ago after a particularly terrible day that included spitting at his teachers and basically being totally non-compliant with every request. I kept trying to reassure myself, Brad and anyone who would listen that this was not Josh and things would get better. Thankfully I was right and the very next night, we had our boy back. He was laughing, being silly and just generally fun to be around again. Hooray!

Yesterday morning we were the greeters at church. One guy that likes to mess around with Josh a bit was giving him a hard time and I guess Josh had enough because he told him "Go away to church." Another usher overhead and asked if that was how we greeted people around here. Guess it is when we're on duty!

Somebody in our house is getting ready to celebrate her 4th birthday in less than two weeks and we are going to party with her friends this weekend. The issue that I have is I don't recall us telling her she could grow up so quickly. The weekend before last, we went shopping to find Emma a dress for an upcoming dance. Not thinking, I grabbed what I thought was the right size off the rack and didn't have her try it on first. Lesson learned because when we did try the dress on at home, the waist was pretty much up at her chest and the sleeves were easily two inches above her wrist bones. I am a little afraid that Emma is going to outgrow all the pants that I bought her by the first of the year. Look for a bigger update on our soon to be 4 year old on her big day.