My little Jane Austen fan

Over the weekend, Emma and I were surfing channels, trying to find something other than Animal Planet (her favorite channel) to watch, when we came upon the 2007 film of Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightly. Jane Austen is my very favorite author, so we watched a bit of the movie. I told Emma that my favorite film version of Pride and Prejudice was the BBC miniseries starring dreamy Colin Firth (although I told her it starred the guy who plays Harry in Mamma Mia - that's where she knows him from.) I have it on DVD, so she asked if we could watch it. Geez, it's like five hours long, but since we were snowed in over the weekend, I let her start watching it.

Well, to say that she absolutely loves it is an understatement! Over the past several days, we've watched all but the last hour of it. Every day when she gets home from school, she starts pestering me about "when can we watch more of Pride and Prejudice?" She also wanted me to show her the book - I got out all my Jane Austen novels and pointed out that one of them is entitled "Emma", which is one of the reasons I picked that name for her. She asked if I could read her some of the books sometime - HECK YES!

I didn't start swooning over Jane Austen until I was in college...I'm getting such a kick out of the fact that she's become a fan at such a young age.

Seven-year-old checkup

Emma had her annual check-up yesterday. At age seven, she's 45 inches tall and weighs 37 pounds (she's gained 3 pounds in the last year.) She finally made it to the 10th percentile on the American weight charts - double digits! She is definitely a skinny little girl, but our pediatrician was raving about how healthy she is. She's had one cold in the past year and we had to go into the doctor one time this year for a rash thing. But other than that...smooth sailing.

Must be all those veggies I make her eat (HAHAHAHA!!!)

Spring break '09

Well, we made it back from our brief spring break trip to Minneapolis. We hit the road Tuesday morning and made it to the Twin Cities in just under seven hours. The weather was surprisingly mild for March and we had such a great little vacation.

Wednesday was our American Girl day...we went to the Mall of America American Girl store. I let Emma pick out a doll...her second American Girl doll (she got Julie two Christmas's ago.) She said she wanted one of the Just Like Me dolls...so she chose a doll with long black hair. So meet the newest member of our family...Gwen!


After getting Gwen's ears pierced ($14!), we had lunch at the American Girl Bistro. It was quite lovely and they brought Emma a little bag with AG goodies because we were celebrating her birthday (a little late!)

I just have to inject here...I am pretty sensible about money, but something happens when we're on vacation...money suddenly has no meaning. I somehow felt it was necessary to spend $24 on a little backpack for Emma's new doll. I would never spend $24 on a backpack for Emma, but somehow spending $24 on a teeny tiny backpack for this 18" doll is not a problem! In my defense, the backpack did come with a teeny tiny cell phone and a teeny tiny three-ring binder and a teeny tiny day planner. So really, it was a bargain.

Anyway, after the American Girl doll experience, we wandered around the Mall of America for a little while and played a round of mini-golf at the course there. After playing one hole and shooting in double-digits, we wisely decided not to keep score and had a good time...


We did a bunch of other stuff while we were in Minneapolis...we went to the aquarium and the Nickelodeon theme park (Emma's first ride on a rollercoaster!)

We were so excited that we got to meet up with Julie and Tess one evening while in town. I've been reading Julie's blog for like five years - it was so fun to finally get to meet her and Tess in person. We tagged along with them when they were getting Tess' pictures taken. After awhile, the photographer asked if Tess wanted to take a few with her sister (Emma!) We thought that was hilarious, since the two girls had met for the first time like 5 minutes earlier. But Emma jumped in and the two girls had their picture taken together...


They were quite adorable, I have to say.

Anyway, that was our nice little spring break...we had such a fun time. At one point, Emma said "Mommy, this has been the best day of my life." That makes it all worth it!

Our Great Wolf Lodge adventure

Well, after being postponed once because of the weather, we finally had Emma's little birthday celebration at the Great Wolf Lodge this weekend. She invited her two best friends, Emme and Sydney...we left about noon on Saturday, stayed all night at the GWL and came back early Sunday afternoon. There were a few dicey moments (about two hours after arriving at the lodge, Sydney starting sobbing that she wanted to go home.) But we got through that and everyone ended up having a good time.

Here are the girls outside the T-Rex cafe where we had Emma's birthday lunch...


We hit the water park at the GWL shortly after we got there...here are the girls right before they jumped in the water...



It was so incredibly crowded there, it was not too enjoyable for me - although the girls didn't seem to mind. The water was nice and warm and they had a good time running around. That place is so loud, I had a splitting headache by the time we left.

For dinner, we just ordered a pizza and I actually got everyone in bed by 10 and after a little giggling, they were out like a light and no one woke up until 7:30. Everyone wanted to go to the water park again before checkout. It was so much less crowded first thing in the morning and everyone (including Emma) had a much better time.


Then it was time to pack up and check out...the girls were starving so we made a quick McDonald's run before I dropped everyone off. Emma and I are both tired, but she has horseback riding lessons later this afternoon. Thank goodness next week is spring break. On Tuesday, we'll be heading to America's spring break playground...Minneapolis (most people head south...we head north!)

The tutor

For the first time ever, Emma is struggling in school a little. She's doing well in all her subjects except one...reading, which admittedly is a big one. Part of it is that she goes to a French immersion school and is taught all day in French, with the exception of one hour of English reading every day. When we enrolled in the school, they told us that many parents panic because their children aren't reading well by the end of first grade and that almost everyone would catch up by second grade. And, of course, I am now panicking because Emma is not reading all that well in English (she actually reads better in French.)

I talked to her reading teacher and she said although she was sure Emma would catch up next year, if I was that concerned, she could recommend a reading tutor who works with a lot of the kids in our school. We met with the tutor last night and after evaluating her, she said Emma is obviously very bright, but that she was having some problems with long and short vowels and some consonant combinations. So we're going to start going twice a week and the tutor said Emma would almost certainly be reading at grade level by the time school starts next fall.

I'm sure some will think I'm overreacting. But I would rather be proactive and not take the chance of her falling further behind. I just want her to love reading so much.

On a more positive note, here is what Emma wore today...because it was 80 DEGREES OUT!


Of course, it's not going to stay that warm (I wish!) It's supposed to be about 60 tomorrow and rainy. But that's sure better than snowy and 20, which is what it was last Saturday!

The best laid plans....

Today was supposed to be Emma's birthday celebration. I had reservations to take Emma and two of her friends to stay one night at the Great Wolf Lodge so they could play at the indoor water park there. But then this morning, we woke up to the biggest snowstorm of the winter here...nearly six inches! The snow was at its peak when we were supposed to head out to the hotel, which is about 15 miles from here. There were accidents everywhere and I did not want to take the chance, especially with such precious cargo. Fortunately, I was able to change our reservation to March 14th, so we still get to go. The girls were all disappointed, but took it in stride.

So we stayed pretty close to home most of the day. Eventually the snow stopped and I spent about a half-hour shoveling out the driveway, with my little helper...


After digging out, we made a run to the grocery store and I let Emma pick out any restaurant to eat dinner. As I feared, she chose the world's worst Chinese buffet, which is her very favorite place to eat. Tons of deep fried food that has sat under heat lamps for hours...what's not to love? Well, she was in heaven.

Now we're watching the Spiderwick Chronicles movie, which is Emma's current obsession...we have read all the of books and she wanted to see the movie. I find the movie really intense...but Emma says it doesn't scare her. Hopefully she won't have nightmares tonight!

I'm seven!

As Emma explained to me this morning, seven is a BIG birthday. Because when you're six, you're still a little girl, but when you're seven, you're just a regular girl. I'm afraid she's right - WAH!

My little gap girl

Well, Emma has FINALLY lost one of her top teeth. This tooth has been loose for six months - and I am totally not exaggerating. Some children, when they get a loose tooth, wiggle and twist it until it falls out. Emma is not one of those children. She would run away in terror if I even suggested she wiggle it or if I asked to take a look at it. "It will come out when it's ready," she would say.

It was hanging by a thread this week when, as she was chewing a piece of chicken, it fell out. Emma was actually very excited!


Her other top front tooth is also loose now. So, according to my calcuations, it should be coming out around Halloween (or Christmas, if Emma has her way!)

Emma and D.J.

This weekend we met my parents in St. Louis for a short weekend getaway. They had in tow my niece and Emma's cousin D.J. Emma and D.J. have the same birthday, so it was also a bit of an early birthday celebration. D.J. will be 16 next Tuesday and Emma will be 7, but even though they are 9 years apart, they still love hanging out.

The hotel had a pool and the two girls had fun splashing around together...





We had such a nice time...D.J. is such a wonderful girl (really, she's a young lady now!) We are so lucky to have her in our family.

Back at last

I can't believe it's been two weeks since I posted anything. I guess it's been a combination of things...we've been busy, we've been sick and I haven't had anything interesting to say (I know...that has ever stopped me before.) I've also been in a terrible photography slump. I mean, I can't seem to take a decent photo these days. My lighting is wrong and the focus is off...and I know it's me, not my camera. It's probably due in small part to the fact that the sun hasn't been out forever and there's not much natural light to work with (I hate using the flash.) But I suspect most of it is me and my lack of inspiration.

Anyway, we're still here...trying to survive the winter blahs. I always look forward to spring, but never more so than this year. We're just counting the days...

Tomorrow we're heading to St. Louis for a day to meet up with my parents and Emma's cousin DJ. Both of the girls were born on February 24, so we're celebrating their birthdays - a little early.

Here's one unexceptional photo of Emma...maybe the sun will actually come out this weekend and I can snap a decent picture!

We are the champions, my friends!

Emma was in her second horse show today (she participated in her first this past November and finished second in her class, which was thrilling.) I was not optimistic about her repeating her good showing this time around...she had been bumped up from beginner class to intermediate and she hasn't ridden very much the past two months because of the cold weather and being out of town.

Anyway, this will give you an idea of how she did this time around...



First place in her class!!! I couldn't believe it...she beat a 15-year-old and an 11-year-old, among others. I was worried because at one point, one of her feet came out of the stirrups and she had to bend over to get her foot back in. But I guess the judge missed it because when they announced the standings, she had won!

The mother of the 15-year-old, who finished fourth, was not thrilled. After the class was over, she said in a loud stage whisper "Well, of course she won...she's so tiny and cute." Sarah, our trainer, overheard her and said "The only reason she won was that she rode better than anyone else today." The woman looked a little chastened but gave me a couple more glares. I swear, some equestrian moms can give pageant moms a run for their money.

But it was a wonderful day. It's kind of bizarre how excited you can get when your child performs well at something. It's not like I did anything...except pay for the lessons!

The home fires burning...

A few weeks ago, a fellow mom and I were discussing when it was that kids stopped having big birthday parties. Last year, it seemed that Emma was invited to some huge all-class birthday party every other weekend. This year, I think we've been to two parties so far. My friend and I agreed that it was in first grade that most kids (or more likely, their mothers) decided to forgo big birthday bashes in favor of much smaller affairs or no party at all.

So, of course, Emma promptly gets invited to two birthday parties this past weekend...so much for my theory. She went to a slumber party Friday night and then went to another party Saturday afternoon at one of those big gymnastics places. Needless to say, she was pooped by Saturday night. She went to bed at 8 and didn't wake up until almost ten this morning. We skipped church (since she pretty much slept through it) and ended up going to see "Hotel for Dogs" (really cute) since it was too cold to do anything else.

When we got home, probably because of the cold, on total impulse, I decided to build a fire. I haven't used our fireplace since adopting Emma. Fire and young children just didn't seem to mix and making and tending a fire is a lot of work. But much to my surprise, I got a fire going in a short time and Emma was thrilled. I snapped a couple photos of her in front of our blazing inferno...



Unfortunately, we didn't have any marshmallows to roast...but it was still fun. Now I'm sitting here waiting for the embers to die down so I can close the damper before I go to bed. This is the part of having a fireplace I don't like!

Oh, Happy Day!

Horsey pants

I bought Emma her first official pair of jodhpurs for Christmas. I somehow tracked down a retailer who had a pair of size 4's. Emma was supposed to be in a horse show on Saturday and was saving her new horsey pants for that special occasion. But the show was postponed because of the cold weather. So Emma decided to wear her jodhpurs to her lesson on Sunday. They're a little big, but I think she really looks cute in them...




She really looks like a real equestrian in her pants. Next, she'll want an expensive pair of tall riding boots (not until her foot stops growing two sizes every year!)

The "b" word

Emma has used the word "bored" several times in the past week or so. Last weekend, after we spent the day running errands and just hanging out, she told me she was bored and wanted to go over to a friend's house (not any particular friend...just any friend.) Then the next day, when I asked her if she wanted to go to the park, she asked if we could ask a friend to go too.

She used to be content to spend all her time with me, but I can see that time is coming to an end. I think I'm still her favorite person to be with, but I'm no longer the ONLY person she wants to be around. And I know a few years down the line, I will be the last person she wants to be with. Her friends are taking an increasingly bigger role in her life.

I understand that this is normal and it's a good thing. But it's really making me a little sad. It's the first sign that she's gaining some independence and that soon her life will not be my life. It's one of the most difficult thing a parent has to deal with. You love this little person so fiercely, but all too soon, it's your job to start to let them go and become their own person. I just wish I could hold her so close to me forever and never let go, but that is not the right thing to do.

Anyway, here's a photo of my squeaky-clean, not-so-little-anymore girl.

My award-winning daughter

At Emma's school today, they had a little awards ceremony for the kids. In every class, the teachers named a number of students to be recognized for being outstanding school citizens...kids who were kind and helpful to their fellow students and who did an exceptional job of following school rules. I was so happy that Emma was one of four students in her class who were given the award.

Here she is with her friend Emme, who was also recognized...


The girls also got special hall passes that mean they can go get a drink of water or go to the restroom whenever they want. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is to a first-grader.

Anyway, I was pretty proud...I'm glad that Emma is a smart little girl, but I'm even more pleased that she's a NICE little girl!

Okay, enough shameless bragging for now...

Mini-Christmas report

Because of the break-in, I haven't really had a chance to post anything about our Christmas. Outside of becoming crime victims, we really had a nice holiday. We spent several days at my parent's house - Emma loves being with her grandparents!

As is the case every year, although I try to keep it reasonable, Emma had quite a haul when it came to presents. But one gift was clearly her favorite...



Yes, despite my insisting to her for the past year that we would never be in possession of Butterscotch, the three-foot tall robotic horse, we are now the owners of Butterscotch, the three-foot tall robotic horse. I don't know if any of you have ever seen this horse, but it really is quite amazing and LARGE! My parents got an incredible deal on this thing, so it was hard to say no. And, of course, it is right in the middle of our living room, depsite my efforts to keep it in the playroom. Emma absolutely loves Butterscotch, though, so it is worth it. And it's cheaper than a real horse, which we will never own - unless I win the lottery or something equally unlikely!

Sorry for the absence...

...we had a wonderful Christmas, but not so much after that. When we got home this weekend from spending the holiday with my parents, we discovered our house had been broken into (along with several of our neighbors.) My computer and a bunch a camera stuff was stolen. They also slashed the phone and cable lines, smashed our motion detector lights and crow-barred the window open so that it's damaged and we can't close it now. All out drawers were emptied on the floor and there were muddy footprints all over, so that was a mess too.

But we weren't there, for which I am grateful, and are safe now, which is the important thing. The possessions can be replaced. The only thing I am heartbroken over is that nearly every picture I have taken of Emma was on my computer. While I have printed many of them and have some saved on CDs, most are gone forever. It's sad...

Anyway, I'll be having a fun couple of days on the phone with insurance folks, the phone and cable companies, etc.

I'll try to post some of our Christmas photos from my work computer when I get time. Hope you all had a fun (and safe) holiday!

Snow day

We got four inches of snow dumped on us last night, so Emma's school was closed...our first snow day of the winter!

I, of course, still had to get up at 6 a.m. to see if school was cancelled. I let HRH Emma sleep until 9 a.m. We puttered around all morning, cleaning house, baking cookies, making art projects, watching tv. Then after lunch, out to shovel the driveway (the fun never ends in my life!) While I was shoveling, Emma took advantage of the snow and the small hill in our backyard to do some sledding...


The snow has pretty much stopped now, so we'll no doubt have school tomorrow. But the forecasters are predicting an ice storm on Thursday (ugh!) so this may not be our last day home this week.

Hope everyone else is staying warm!

Six years ago today...

...I was in a hotel meeting room in Changsha, China and a woman handed me a scared little 9-month-old baby...


Honestly, has it really been six years?

Emma has been the most wonderful blessing in my life and I can't wait to see what the next six years will bring!