Emma Victoria: 8 years old

8 years old - how can it be?

At 8 years old, Emma is 45 pounds and 47 inches!

1.  What is your favorite color?  purple

2.  What is your favorite toy?  Scrunchies-making kit 

3.  What is your favorite fruit?  raspberries

4.  What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  corn

5.  What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Cheerios 

6.  What is your favorite thing to eat for supper?  peas

7.  What is your favorite thing to drink? root beer

8.  What is your favorite snack?  Goldfish 

9.  What is your favorite show? Tom & Jerry 

10.  What are your favorite clothes to wear? pajamas (She likes long nightgowns the best!)

11. What is your favorite animal?  giraffe

12.  What is your favorite song? "Ariel" (I think she means "Under the Sea" or "Part of Your World")

13.  What is your favorite book?  "Anne" (I think she means an Anne of Green Gables child book we have.)

14. What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy?  date

15.  What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy?  cleaning

16.  What is your favorite thing to do outside? scooter

17.  What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas

18.  What is your favorite thing to take to bed with you each night? Samson

19.  Where is your favorite place to go?  Sonic

20.  What do you want to be when you grow up?  a mom

(She also recently told me she wants to be a baby nurse when she grows up, and she said she will "look for Randy and Fabian" when she's a nurse.)

Emma lost so many teeth this year!

One of my favorite times of the day is when we read and snuggle together at bedtime.

sweet girls in coordinating Matilda Jane 

looking at samples for customers with Daddy on a Saturday morning

Emma's 8th Birthday

We celebrated with a #8 pancake for breakfast!  Pop and Mom-o joined us that weekend for a birthday dinner with homemade ice cream cake.  She put all the sprinkles on top herself.

We had a balance the ping-pong ball game at Emma's party!

 We celebrated with some of Emma's friends a few weeks later!  Dave and Isaac were at Frontier Camp, so it was a perfect weekend to have a house full of girls.  Emma woke up early and wanted to wear this dress from the Daddy-Daughter Dance.  She wanted to write out out signs for her cupcakes!  The girls played a relay game and painted initial canvasses.  

Valentine's Day Memories

Valentine's Day!  <3 span=""> 

Eight years ago today, I received a match call from our adoption agency! I started the call with tears in my eyes...and, I was weeping by the time I understood that the match was for a baby girl due in just two weeks. Once the counselor and I talked through all the details, I called Dave at work. He was absolutely speechless. He finally told me that he was kneeling in the dirt at his jobsite, and he asked me to do the same at home. Over the phone, we cried and praised God for such a beautiful and gracious answer to many prayers. Emma Victoria was in our arms just six days later. We love our little Valentine to pieces and are so grateful to her dear birth family--and, ultimately the Lord--for graciously giving us the gift of Emma Victoria.  <3 span="">

My beloved Grandma Dolores passed away 6 years ago today.  <3 span="">Valentine's Day was her favorite holiday, and she always reminded us that she wasn't going to die--she was going to be born again for all of eternity! I was privileged to spend the last three days of her life with her. I held her hand and sang hymns for hours and hours. These are precious memories! I'm thankful to the Lord for scores of memories with her through so much of my life!  My sister and I had the incredible blessing of growing up just one mile from both sets of our grandparents, and we spent so much time together.  Like her, I love playing Scrabble, leaving (saving!) cold cups of coffee in the cupboard, singing hymns at the piano, looking at pictures for hours, and eating burned cookies and toast. She was full Swede, so "Children of the Heavenly Father" was one of her favorite hymns, and we are singing it in church this Sunday. I miss her deeply. Grandma Dolores' mother (my great-grandma) was also named Emma Victoria, and I'm thankful she was able to know and love my Emma Victoria for nearly two years.  <3 span="">

Kickoff to Disney World! Day 1 ~ Epcot

After a late night of packing, we set our alarms for 3 am!  The kids woke up on their own around 3:30 am, and we left a bit after 4 am.  I had a near panic attack on 114 that I had forgotten the inhalers, so we pulled off on the side and searched through suitcases.  Emma finally said, "They are in my backpack!"  I was so relieved.  It was absolutely freezing here in Texas!  Our windchill was in the teens.  We flew out of Love Field for the first time and parked at the farthest parking lot from the terminal to save a bit of money.  The walkway to the terminal (which covered 4 lanes of traffic) was closed due to construction, so we ran outside all the way to the terminal.  Poor little Josiah was in his shorts and windbreaker and pulling a suitcase--so cold!  One suitcase was 8 pounds overweight, so we quickly rearranged a few things.  I threw Dave's toiletry case into a backpack, but then when we went through security his razors were thrown away!  Oh well!  We made it to our gate just in time and walked right onto the plane.  We all slept all the way to Florida.

on the plane at 5:45 am!

We landed and boarded the Magical Express to WDW!  Yeah!  

We got to our hotel, checked in, and receive leis!  Our hotel was gorgeous!  Our room wasn't ready, since it was only 11am, so we ate at Cap'n Cooks at our hotel.  Then, we hopped on the monorail and went to Epcot! 

We had several fast passes and rode Spaceship Earth.  I had heard on the CC page that this ride incorporated much of the history that we study in CC, and it was neat for the kids to see historical events that they've studied (Alexander the Great, the Phoenicians developing the alphabet).  The ride takes your picture and then at the end flashes it up on the globe showing where you live.

We walked over to Norway and rode 'Frozen Ever After," which was spectacular!  

We also stopped at the American Pavilion and heard Voices of Liberty, an 8 member vocal ensemble! We loved their performance.  Do you see how closely Emma scooted toward them to listen? After their performance, we shared a few cookies, and then I took Emma and Josiah back to our room for a rest.  We had been up over 12 hours at this point and it was only mid-afternoon.

We were so excited to check out our room!  Our room was absolutely gorgeous!  Emma loved her pull-down bed!  We had two bathrooms (one was a vanity and a shower, and the other was a full bathroom).  We could see the castle from our balcony, and it was so fun to see how they changed the lights/colors on it throughout the evening.  We could also the nighttime fireworks at the Magic Kingdom!

The kids and I met Dave and Isaac back at Epcot.  They really wanted to try Soarin'!  In all the pre-ride warnings/explanations, they kept emphasizing that if you have a fear of heights, you should disembark.  I also thought we'd be sitting on a platform that would raise up to the screen, not individual swings.  At the last minute, I left with Josiah.  Dave, Isaac, and Emma came out and raved about it so much and convinced both Josiah and me to try it, and it ended up being a favorite of the whole trip!  We loved it!  On Soarin' you feel like you're hang gliding around the world as you soar above the Matterhorn, the African Savannah, Paris' Eiffel Tower, the Thames River, The Taj Mahal, which are all shown on a massive omni screen in front of you.  (They soar your swings up in front of the screen in three levels, so everyone has a "front row" view.)    It was so incredible, because they also added in scents for some of the rides (jasmine at the Taj Mahal, dust/grass as the elephants stampeded on the African Savnnah, salt water over the ocean).  It was phenomenal!  

We watched part of the new Epcot fireworks show, but didn't have a great spot.  But, we ended the night with amazing pastries and desserts at the French bakery over in France.  Our great friends, the Stoneciphers, told Isaac a few Sundays ago that this was the best thing to eat!  Isaac didn't forget, and we were the only ones in the bakery since it was so late.  It was so sweet--literally and figuratively--such a fun way to end the day talking and eating such delicious food!