Happy Birthday, Emma!

We celebrated Emma's 5th birthday Friday! What a fun day!! She has been doing the birthday countdown for a month. Every day she will ask me, "Mommy, how many more days until my birthday?" She could hardly wait! We started the day off with some girl time. Emma, her grandmothers, and I headed out for a fun girl day. We had pedicures, followed by lunch at Blessings Cottage and then went to paint pottery. Emma picked out a puppy piggy bank to paint. She painted it pink and it turned out so adorable. She was very proud of it! There was another lady painting there and she even gave Emma a quarter to put it in. It made her day!! We had family over that evening for a cook out and cake. Emma wanted a Camp Rock cake so Daddy saved the day by finding some Camp Rock decorations at the Disney store. It was adorable and she loved it! Her face was too cute when it came time to open presents. I think she had a ball and thoroughly enjoyed every single second of her special day!

My little fours!

For a few weeks I actually have two four year olds. Emma and Will think it is so "cool" that they are both 4!! They are so proud to tell people. Emma is starting to realize more and more that her birthday is just around the corner so now she says "Me almost five". Will and Emma continue to make me smile so often. They love to play dress up during the day while Big Brother is at school. Today they asked to play dress up and came out all fixed up with huge smiles on their faces. Today they told me they were "Gravis" from Star Wars (although in Pirate attire..ha) and Emma said she is "Mommy named Nicole". So, here they are all dressed up and having fun!

Emma Szu Yu in Action

 
 
 

I wanted to give you all an update on Emma Szu Yu and a little glimpse into her life these days. She has been home with us for 4 1/2 months now and I continue to stand amazed each day at how well she has adapted and transitioned into our family. It truely is a GOD THING as I like to say! Since day 1 she has acted as though she has always been a part of our family. She has the cutest, bubbliest little personality and 99% of the time she is laughing and smiling. She is a sweetheart. Since April she has grown so much--emotionally, physically and academically. Her English is super! She now speaks English about 85% of the time. She can write about 80% of the alphabet and recongnizes about 80% of the alphabet. We continue to encourage her to speak Mandarian as well--we don't want her to loose her native language. She and Eric usually speak only Mandarian for about fifteen minutes at night. She doesn't always want to--she says "In English, Daddy" but then she does. We hope to have her take a class in Atlanta in the winter to help her continue to develop her Mandarian speaking skills and even her writing. She starts preschool soon so we are really excited for her. I think she will enjoy it. She is getting more confident in her English skills which has made her much more confident in social settings. At first she hung back with Mommy and Daddy or her brothers when we were in social gatherings but I have noticed in the last two weeks she is branching out more and feels more confident doing that. It is great to see. She has so many interests and loves right now--she is enjoying playing with her dolls, dressing up (and dressing up her brothers, grandparents, mommy, daddy, the dog---anyone she can), playing playdough, riding her bike, swimming and playing games. Here are some recent pictures of her that are just too cute. One is a picture of her and her bridge she made for Will out of playdough clay. She loves to help Will--he needed a bridge for his dinos so big sister got right to work on that. One picture is just a cutie pie close up shot and the third picture is so funny---she was leading the group (her Meme, Bop and Wilson) in a game of ring around the rosies followed by duck, duck, goose. Thank you to all of our precious friends and family who contiue to pray for Emma and for us. As I have said in so many other posts--your prayers are felt and GOD IS GOOD---All the time.

Fun For Everyone

I just love this picture of Emma and Wilson that I took this week. They both have different things they like to play but have creatively figured out how to intertwine their favorites--for Wilson it is dinos and for Emma it is baby dolls. Here is Emma as "Mommy" pushing the baby stroller with her baby in it...which is Will dressed up as his favorite, the green T REX. She thought Will was her baby and he thought it was cool to ride around and say, "AARRGGHH, I'm a T REX". They were happy and having fun so it worked! TOO FUNNY!!

Samuel's First Day of Kindergarten

 

Samuel started Kindergarten today. He was so cute this morning. He could hardly wait to leave for school. He came into my room at 7:10 and said, "Mommy, it's 7:10. That's when you said I could get up for school so I'm up." He ate a great breakfast, got dressed and had his backpack on ten minutes before it was time to leave. I did great--no tears! ha! I did get a little misty eyed watching him getting ready in my bathroom. He looked like such a big boy brushing his teeth and fixing his hair. It is hard to believe he is six already! Wow! Seems like yesterday we were coming home from the hospital with him as a newborn and were trying to learn how to give him a bath and change diapers! Before he left for school he and I were talking and he said, "Mommy, do they have bathrooms at school? " I said, "Yes". He was so serious and replied, "That's good." Oh me..so cute! Eric took him to school today and Eric said he did great when they arrived. He hopped right out at carpool and said "Bye, Daddy" with a big smile.
He rode the bus home this afternoon which was a HUGE deal to him. He could hardly wait to do that! He told me all about his day. It was so cute to hear! The funniest thing he told me was about lunch. I asked him what he ate for lunch at school and asked if the food was good. He said, "Mommy that lunch was really good today. I liked it." Then he said, "Are we going out to dinner tonight or are you coking?" I said, "Mommy is cooking spaghetti." He said, "Oh, I wanted to go out. But that's ok, because I got to eat lunch out today--at school. You know that means I get to eat lunch out everyday. So, I'll need you to keep sending money so I can keep doing that. " He said riding the bus was his favorite part of the day.
I am so excited that he enjoyed it and had a great experience! Mommy has been praying for this day for a long time! :)

Clear the roads

Clear the roads......there are some wild Harley drivers out there. The kids had a blast today after church pretending to drive a Harley Davidson Motorcycle--their Daddy loved that!! Maybe he will have some riding buddies one day.

Family Time

About three years ago Eric's family started a new tradition--a family weekend at the lake. All of Eric's family comes to the lake and we spend the weekend together. It is always so much fun! There are lots of kids and they are all close in age. They play almost as much as the adults do!

Sweet Summer Fun

Summer break is coming to a close. The kids will be starting school soon. We had a wonderful summer! We enjoyed the pool, the lake, sleeping in, and lots of playing! I always love the relaxed schedule of summer. It is nice from our normal pace during the school year. During lunch last week I asked the kids, "What was your favorite time this summer?" Wilson said, "The Big Slide in Florida", Samuel said "Fishing" and Emma said "The Pool". I agree with all three!! Here are a few of my favorite Summer Shots.

Happy Birthday, Samuel

Samuel had a GREAT 6th birthday!! We had a wonderful (and HOT) evening at the pool with friends and family. Samuel was smiling the entire time! He loved seeing so many of his friends. The kids splashed, swam and ate lots of Spiderman cake! A perfect evening in the eyes of a six year old boy!

Happy Birthday, Wilson!

Wilson had a wonderful 4th birthday! We celebrated at his favorite place--Chuck E Cheese with family and friends! He loved every second of it!