Emily's 1st Bank Account

On Friday afternoon, January 22nd, I took Emily to Greenville First to open her first bank account. The excitement had been building for her and she was pleasantly surprised by the big fan fair the Bank made for her. When we arrived, everyone knew who she was and being Emily, she asked "how do you know my name"? In a very cute, and shocked way =) She had been saving her coins and bills for a while, so Mr. Eddie and Mrs. Allison helped her roll all of her change. (I had discussed us bringing it that way, but Emily really wanted to bring her bank as it was.) Once they had rolled all her change ($67), I had prommised her that I would match everything she had in her bank so I wrote her a check to go with her coins and bills. Afterwards she proceeded to Mrs. Liz's office where she signed all of her important papers. Mrs. Allison then proceeded to take Emily to the Pineapple Stool where she could give her money to the teller. After getting her official receipt and sticker, she then proceeded with Mrs. Allison to the "Treasure Box" where she where she was able to use the key to open it and pick out her prize.

It was a great experience that left Emily wanting to go back to the Bank all the time =)

Emily's Drama Performance at School 12-12-08

On Friday morning, December 12th, I arrived at Palmetto Prep around 9:30 in order to see Emily's drama performance. For 10 weeks, she had been enrolled in a drama class offered at school that was through the South Carolina Childrens' Theater. I headed to her class where they were getting ready to head outside. I followed the class out to the playground while the kids played until Kathy Jones (ast. director of the school) came to get Emily and the other kids that were in the performance. I then waited with the other parents in the lobby of the school while the kids were preparing in the theatre. Once it was time we were escorted in the theater and took our seats.

The play was a fantacy story bassed about some village maidens and some

dragons. The story was narrated by Traysie Amick, a teacher at the SC Children's Theater and a cast memer of Cafe and Then Some. The story started by Emily's group of maidens coming out to pick flowers. They were soon scared off by the group of dragons. After the dragons were gone, the maidens came out again and say that the dragons were in trouble and went to help them.

After the performance was over, they all said their names and took big bowes. It was very cute!! After we were leaving, we spoke with Traysie Amick and she thought Emily was just like her at that age and thought EMily would love going to some of the classes.

Emily's Birthday

On Thursday, December 4th, Emily turned 5. Since it was her birthday, she wanted to wear her princess dress to school and take the cupcakes for her class that we made the night before.

Emily's Moving Up to the Next Class Party at Palmetto Prep

On Wednesday afternoon, August 13th, I made my way over to Palmetto Prep around 2:30. Since this was the last week Emily's classmates would all be together before kids moved up into the other building for the older pre-k class, they were having a "Moving Up" party. When I arrived, Mom was there along with some of the other parents. Emily was having a great time. Since it was gymnastics day, she had on her leotard and told me all about what she had done in gymnastics. It was getting close to time for the kids to eat. The night before, Emily and I made cupcakes with pink icing and sprinkles for her party. She is really growing up, because this time when we made cupcakes she iced half of the cupcakes herself as opposed to just helping me a little and putting on the sprinkles. After the plates were handed out, Emily very proudly helped hand out her cupcakes. All her friends were very excited about getting them. The kids started to dig in as the teachers and parents helped hand out the other goodies. While the kids ate, us parents talked some. After Emily was through, she cleaned up her plate and then the two of us went over to the kitchen area to play. We had a great time playing. After we played for a long time, we got her stuff and headed to pick up the little ones from their class.

Emily's Parent Teacher Confrence with Ms. Doyle

On May the 12th, I attended the parent/teacher conference for Emily. When I arrived at 2:00 I met Ms. Doyle in the computer room where the kids were having their computer lesson. Emily was very excited to see me. Ms. Doyle then took them to music class and we headed to her room for the conference. Overall she said Emily is doing great!! She gave me a list of all the items she has been able to observe Emily doing and has evaluated her on. She said she is a leader in math (go figure =) ). She has also made great strides in her maturity and social interactions since being at Palmetto Prep.

Emily at 4 Update

At four, Emily is doing the following/has the following interest:

1. She likes to say she wants to "take a rest" when she is tired
2. Very inquisitive
3. Asked why God made me her Mommy
4. Loves to be at home and ask to go home
5. LOVES sweat stuff
6. Favorite place to eat is McDonald's
7. Favorite foods are pizza and chicken nuggets
8. Wants to put sprinkles on all foods and dip anything in ranch dressing (including her pancakes)
9. Her favorite candy is smarties
10. Likes to say "Sure" and "Well"
11. Loves to swing, go camping, and always wants to go with us to our work
12. Her favorite tv shows are The Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Club House, and Dora the Explorer
13. Favorite color is pink
14. Loves to play dress up and always wants to wear dresses
15. She wears a size 11 1/2 wide shoe and size 5T or 6 in clothing
16. Dances around all the time
17. Her best friend is Regan Webber from school
18. Still sleeps with "blanket" and gymbo
19. Can write her name
20. Likes to take pictures with my camera
21. Is very dramatic

Emily's 4th Birthday

Today was Emily's 4th birthday. In ways it is hard to believe four years has passed by so quickly, but yet so much has happened as we have watched Emily grow into a little girl =) Birthdays are always a time of reflection. This birthday of Emily's makes me think of this time four years ago and how much our lives were changing and how much we had no idea of the happiness and hard work that was to come.

To start the day out, John and I got up at our normal time, 5:45 to get ready and woke Ansley and Bailey at 6:30 to get ready for school. Around 7:10 Emily work up, late for Emily. Since I was taking the day off for just the two of us to have a special day for her birthday, we had not woken her up. John left at 7:25 to take Ansley and Bailey to school and Emily and I started our big day. The first thing she wanted to do was to make a cake. So we pulled her chair up to the counter, got the ingredients out, and I let her put the various ingredients in to the mixer. Once she had put all the ingredients in she turned it on and we watched it mix up. While it was mixing, Emily picked out a small heart shaped pan for her cake and I got the cup cake pan out. Emily helped me by putting the papers in the pan. Once the batter was ready we filled the pans up and put them in the oven. While the cakes were cooking, I make pancakes for Emily and myself. After Emily and I ate and she watched a little bit of TV (Santa Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), it was time to take showers and get dressed. Once we were ready, we loaded up in the car to get ready to go to my office. For a while, Emily has been asking me to go to work with me. So for a birthday treat, I promised her I would take her to work. Since it was still a little early and I did not think she would want to stay for a long time, we stopped by Babies R Us to let her pick our birthday and Christmas gifts for Bailey and Ansley. For their birthdays, she picked out a set of colorful passies for Ansley and some special crayons made for one year olds. For Christmas, she made it over to the stuffed animal section and picked out these very soft white bunnies for each of them, and managed to get one for her birthday also =) Once we checked out and made it to the car, she came up with the name Lolly for her bunny. We then drove to my work. Emily decided she wanted to ride the elevator up to the second floor where my office was located. When we walked in, she was immediately drawn to the big Christmas tree in the lobby. After she oohed and aahed for a little bit, we walked around to Joy's office to say hi. We then slowly made our way around to my desk, stopping to say hi along the way. At my desk, Emily had the best time, drawing on my dry erase board, drawing on various pieces of paper, and sticking tabs on the papers. She was so excited to be at my work. Also while we were at my desk, she wrapped up Lolly in her coat since she thought she was cold and sang two songs for me, "Deep and Wide" and "Twinkle, Twinkle". Around 11:15, I thought it was time to get Joy and us head for lunch. Since Joy needed to run a few errands afterwards, we took separate cars. On the way out, we stopped by Karen's desk for her to see Emily. Between Emily's charm and Karen's love of kids, Karen gave Emily a big box of crayons, some gum, and several tabs (Emily thinks of them as stickers). We then drove over to Rafferty's to have lunch, we picked a restaurant so that Emily could have happy birthday sung to her. While we were there, Emily colored, took pictures with my camera, ate her chicken nuggets, gave us a little dance show of her "interpretive" dance. Towards the end, we asked about doing something for her birthday, but it turned out they did not sing, but they brought her out some ice cream. Once she was done, we headed for the car. Within a few minutes of leaving the restaurant, I got a call that Bailey had pink eye, so we went to the school to pick her up. When we arrived, Ansley was asleep and I was thinking I would have to take Bailey to the doctor, so we let Ansley stay. Once we were on the say home, I received a call back from the nurse letting me know they could call Bailey something in for her eye so we headed home to let the girls nap. After Emily was awake, she helped me ice her cake and put on the sprinkles. We then headed for the pharmacy to pick up Bailey's medicine. While we were going, I called John and he said he would be running a little late, so we headed to pick up Ansley after going by CVS. On the way home, we also picked up pizza from Little Cesar's since that is what Emily wanted for her birthday dinner. Once we got home, I fed the little ones while we waited for John to make it home. When he arrived, we had pizza. Emily was so excited to open her presents, I brought those down from the office and let her dive in. She started with the present from Ansley, a Honey Bee Hop, then it was on to Bailey's gift, a house that she could draw on, and then she opened the one from John and I, an easel. She really liked the gifts and was ready for her cake. I lighted the candles, we sung Happy Birthday, and she blew out her four candles. Of course, the birthday girl was the first to get a piece, then I cut one for John and Bailey, and then one for Ansley and myself. As soon as I sat down, Ansley quickly reached out and grabbed the whole piece. It was so funny to see cake all over her. Emily laughed hysterically =) After cake time, I bathed Ansley and Bailey, while John worked on putting together the easel. Once the girls were dressed, I also worked on putting together her Honey Bee Hop. She loved coloring on her easel and then jumping over her Honey Bee Hop. Once the little ones were put to bed, I then worked on putting together her house. She was so excited to color on it and go in and out of the door once it was together. We then found a place in the dining room for her to keep her house and she took a lot of her little toys into her house. After a long day of fun, it was time to get ready for bed and after watching a few minutes of TV to settle down, and giving John a hug goodnight, she wanted me to carry her to bed. I then tucked her in with Lolly and Blanket (something she still needs to sleep with ever night). It was a great day!!