Granny

We had a weeklong visit with Granny leading up to Emily's birthday, such a treat for all of us to have an un-rushed visit.   As usual, she read about a million stories.  One day while Adara was napping, Granny and Emily had a date to look at fish & birds at the pet store and have hot cocoa at Panera.  She also brought us some mint plants.  

worms!

opening presents

 

I had to take this picture, because it reminded me so much of this one from three years ago.

Four.

Emily didn't have as many life changes this year as she did last year, and still enjoyed many of the same activities (Romp & Stomp, gymnastics, playgrounds, reading,), but no question that she's grown up a lot!  She's come out of her shell quite a bit, comfortable being left at friends houses or her classes, and begun to really enjoy playing with her friends.  She has taken a real interest in the idea learning to read, often asking for help sounding out words or writing letters.  She does still love her independent play time, staying outside happily for long stretches of time (playing with the cats or her imaginary friends). At her doctor's checkup today she measured in the 90th percentile for height.  She's polite, sensitive, affectionate, and smart, and loves Westport, swimming, skiing, gymnastics, her cats, and stuffed animals.  Her memory amazes me, referencing an offhand comment I made months later or talking about a small detail of an event from a year ago.

A few interview questions with the birthday girl, asked over the course of a few days. 

Who is your best friend? Alex, and Rosalie

What is your favorite color?  Purple, and pink, and all the colors God made... but not gray.

What is your favorite book?  My new Curious George book   [most nights she asks for a Bible story before bed]

What is your favorite animal? Giraffes and everything that goes to the zoo.

What is your favorite food?  Everything that you cook me.   [ha!]

What is your favorite game?- Tug of war [I've never seen her play this, but she tells me that Austin taught her.]

What is your favorite song? Sin is Broken

What is your favorite thing to drink?  cocoa milk

What's your favorite thing to do outside?   Race around and have my birthday.

What animals do you sleep with? my special purple unicorn

What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Ride the bus, and dance with him.

What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Cook.

Emily's Westport Trip

Emily tagged along to Westport last weekend with my parents and Mike's family.   :)

 making s'mores with Uncle Mike

 driving Papa's boat

watching a show

Eowyn & Ben's Wedding - Part Three

The day after the wedding, Eowyn & Ben came back and joined us all for a family brunch at the hotel.   I got to catch up a little more with my parents and Mike & Bekah & Nick (so fun to have both of our families at the same wedding again!).  That afternoon, we went out to the house the Groves cousins had rented nearby, and just relaxed, grilled lunch, played pinochle and talked.  Very peaceful. 

  (The girls with 2nd cousin Moriah.)

 And then, the long drive home. 

We arrived home at 2am Monday night so that we could spend Memorial Day cleaning up our flooded basement.  (So grateful to the friends staying here for pumping it out while we were gone!)  Most of the water was on the unfinished side, so hopefully we will be able to save the carpet.  But this week our lovely playroom has looked like this:

Eowyn & Ben's Wedding - Part Two

The only time the girls slept well on the trip was the night before the wedding - thank you Lord!  We had breakfast at the hotel, and my mom came on a last minute Walmart run with the girls & I.  Then, it was off to the church to join everyone else in getting ready.  The girls were fascinated by all the bridesmaids doing hair and makeup, and most of all by Eowyn and her dress.  (And of course, by the snacks.)  My parents (to the rescue once again!) drove Adara around for an hour so that she would nap before the big event began.

The ceremony was beautiful!  The girls did great. They walked well down 3/4 of the aisle, when Adara stopped and put down her basket.  Emily looked up like a deer in the headlights, unsure what to do with this deviation from the plan, but eventually they continued down the aisle without the basket.  She came up to me at the front, and started telling me what had happened, but was shuttled easily off to Mimi to sit quietly for the rest of the wedding.  Adara made it most of the way, and Papa took her out just for the end.  Eowyn was stunning, Dave Goneau and the Greens spoke well, and I just thought the whole thing was a great representation of Ben and Eowyn.  

By the time pictures rolled around, the girls were definitely past their prime.  (We realized later we should have let them go and done some wedding party pictures without them - for some reason that didn't occur to me.  Sorry Eowyn!)

The reception was lots of fun, including great toasts, a goofy song by the Groves family, an amazing poem by Ben's mom, and blueberry pie instead of cake. And then they danced the night away...  

 They were both on the dance floor until the end, Emily sticking close to Uncle Alden, Daddy and Granny, and Adara wandering through the crowd, lucky not to get stepped on too often.

Many more photos here.

Eowyn & Ben's Wedding - Part One

I'm going to break this post up into sections - it was a big week!  After over year of this wedding being way out in the future, it finally happened!  We drove down to PA on Wednesday afternoon, making our best time ever and discovering a nice Burger King with a playplace just where we needed one.  We stayed with David & Nan Powlison (and, most importantly to the girls - their dog Bailey) since Heather Lane was full of much of the rest of the wedding party.

(breakfast chez Powlison)

Thursday morning Alasdair had meetings at CCEF, and the girls and I visited Amanda L and her girls.   When I got to Amanda's, we decided to take the girls to the zoo (Emily has been asking to go ever since we went for her birthday last year, so I couldn't resist), so after a flurry of moving carseats and packing up snacks, we piled into her car and had a lovely quick tour of the animals.  We were able to have some good catching up time around the chaos.    (I really wish God would call them back to New England too!)

Thursday afternoon we joined Eowyn and a bunch of the wedding party, who were at Heather Lane making preparations for the big day....packing up food for the reception, creating decorations for the church, last minute errands, etc, and that night Granny sat with the girls while we went to the bachelor/bachelorette parties.  

(Shawna watching the girls so we could help without their 'help' for a bit.)

Friday morning Alasdair went along with everyone else to Lancaster to spend the day transforming the basic church gym into a beautiful site for the reception.  I was amazed at what they accomplished with a lot of white lights, tulle, and candles.  My job was to keep the lovely flower girls out of the way, which was our excuse to spend the morning with Katie and Luci at their new house.  We've been trying to convince Katie she should come work for CCEF New England, but she & Chris seem to think they are called to be in Philadelphia too.  Boo.    

(3 small children sitting still, smiling, and looking at the camera!  Clearly I was not the one taking this photo.)

Friday afternoon was a trip to the mall to pic up Alasdair's tux and a little impromptu dancing for the girls.

That evening we arrived at the church a little early for the rehearsal to get the girls warmed up to the idea of walking down the aisle.  To my surprise, they were really into it.  We had prepared Emily, but Adara was a bit more of a wild card.  She loved holding Emily's hand and all the praise she got for walking down the aisle, and wanted to do it again and again and again.  The night, my parents watched the girls in our hotel room so Alasdair and I could go to the rehearsal dinner.  

Sleepover

Last month, we kept some good friends kids for the weekend.  The girls loved having their friends here all day, and especially having them sleep over!  (Not in the same room though - we did actually want to get some sleep. :)  We were amazed and grateful that all four kids did sleep through the night.)  

The E's are a big part of our life here - Jill is a good friend, and since our kids are the same ages and get along really well, we do a lot together.  We swap kids once a week as well, and the kids spend so much time together that Emily sometimes calls Alex her brother, and their names were some of Adara's first words.  (I am in complete denial that they will move away in a year after her husband finishes med school.)