Emma's 6th Birthday

 Yes- she turned 6.  I don't wanna talk about it....

On the day before her birthday, we had all the Goodman cousins and aunts and uncles in Utah come over to celebrate with cake and ice cream and dinner type things.  She decorated the cake herself.  With all the sprinkles we own.

 That is a 6 in the middle, and notice that Jack helped to sample the cake in the bottom right corner to make sure everything was good.  Very nice of him.  Also notice the Halloween sprinkles- I wasn't kidding when I said she used all our sprinkles!

 Gena and Troy gave her some fun stickers, card games, bubbles, and other fun items with Princesses all over them.  She loves it all.  Notice Jack's awesome slippers...

 Melissa and Jim brought her a giant purple ball that isn't shown, but is well- used and adored.

 Jack was shocking Jake with a flashlight.  Jake played along very well. 

 Guess what Jack was in need of at this point. . . . :)  He loves belly tickles!

We had a good time sitting around and chatting while all 11 kids ran around like crazy.  They had so much fun together, and that makes my heart happy.  We love cousins!

On Emma's actual birthday, she was so excited to go to school, get her crown, and pass out her birthday treat.  I didn't let her.  She was sick.  The cold she had been kind of fighting for a few days became full-blown that morning with hacking and wheezing, and there was no way I could send her to school like that.  She was heart broken, but tried to understand.  We told her how fun it would be to get 3 days of birthday fun because of the cousin party, her party that night, and then the birthday girl fun when she went back to school.  That cheered her up a bit, but what really did the trick was letting her pick what she wanted for lunch.  She wanted Old McDonalds.  I deserve a medal or something because I HATE that place, but I took her anyway and got them both a happy meal and didn't complain once (although I did try to change her mind a few dozen times...)

 They wanted pictures with their twin bear toys.

For her second cake, Emma asked for, "Two chocolate cakes on top of each other."  Because I am a glutton for punishment, we scrounged up some more sprinkles and let her decorate her cake again.  She put on a big 'E' (because Emma starts with E, in case you couldn't tell...)

 When she was done with her E, she tried to put a big circle around it, but couldn't complete it because we ran out of sprinkles and had none left at all because of the sprinkle amazingness display on her other cake.  Oh well, it was still very nice and tasted yummy.

We had a fun party the night of her birthday with my family and some friends.  Emma was happy.  See-

 Jack got her hair clips.  He has good taste.

 Grandpa Jones got her a Tinkerbell movie.

 Caulene got Jack a Flynn Rider barbie.  It was nice of her to make him feel included- Jack really appreciated it. . .

 Caulene also got Jack some pink sparkly shoes.  I think she was confused about who we were celebrating, but she has been busy with school lately, so we let it slide. :)

 Ross and I got her some princess accessories (something that we found in our closet that day that was supposed to go under the Christmas tree, but it worked just as well as a birthday gift.)  The minute she opened that, she ran to get on her Rapunzel dress.

 OK, this is cute.  One day, Emma came home from school all excited to tell me about a new book she had read at school.  She was in raptures about how funny it was and how proud her teacher was of her for being able to read it. "Mom, it is about this blue guy named Grover and he is so scared because there is a MONSTER at the end of the book and he keeps trying to make it hard to turn the page, but it doesn't work and then at the end it is so funny!  Mom, can I have that for my birthday?!" 

I was touched by this because The Monster at the End of the Book just happens to have been one of my very favorite cherished books from my childhood, and somehow I just hadn't thought of it in years.  My mom would read it to us all the time, and we thrashed at least 2 copies of it between the 4 of us.  I contacted my mom later that day to send on Emma's request because I had a feeling she would want to be a part of the introduction of that literary love in our house. 

It took some snooping, but she finally found a copy, and Emma was THRILLED when she opened it.  Good work, Grandma!

 Dana got Emma this bunny.  She made the dress for it herself.  Emma named her Blue and she and Jack have had some property issues over her. . .

 Heather made Emma that cute purple purse.  She loves it and has it with her every time we go to the store now.  It is always stocked with some snacks, a book, and chapstick.  She learned that from me! :)

 My friend Emily, who made the trek all the way out here with her husband Chris, got Emma some fun hair flowers.

 Finally, the big present of the day was this play kitchen/laundry center/ restaurant/ grocery store/ doctor's office/ whatever their little minds cook up.  Our last play kitchen had been well loved and destroyed, so it was time for a new one.  Just when we were ready to start looking for another one, the Church ended up having to get rid of all their big toys and needed a new home for this one. 

This was a long post.  Sorry.  I am trying to get all caught up.  I love this little girl, and am so proud of the young lady she is becoming.  She is such a big helper, and has shown maturity beyond her years (interspersed with fits worthy of a child in the terrible twos, of course...), and I couldn't be more grateful for the huge part she has in my life.