Celebrating Our Emma

Emma's birthday now falls in the busiest time at work for me and I had a lot of (undue) stress of about what we would/would not do and how it would all come together.  She asked for a family party plus going to snowy mountain... well the day before said visit to the snowy mountain, she was throwing up.  So we threw those plans out the window (hopefully we will still be able to go at some point) and went with a more low key day telling her that she could pick whatever she wanted to do.  Here are a few pictures if you would like to look... 

^ Wes found these balloons on tao bao - and we are in love - I stayed up on Saturday night blowing them up (with a pump) ^

^ I think they make a pretty big impact ^

^ I also pulled out the banner of fabrics that I normally use for birthday parties and strung it on the fire place.  I put all of the 'extra' balloons in a bin so the girls would have plenty to play with. ^

^ We decided to give her the presents from Nonni and Papa George on Sunday and then we would give her the presents from us on her actual birthday. ^

^ I love that this banner is made from fabric that I bought for her before she was born (for some of her first monthly photos). ^

^ I knew she would be particularly excited about this balloon ;). ^

^ I was still sleeping when Everly woke up and discovered the balloons (she thought Snowflake, our elf, brought the balloons for Emma) and she immediately woke Emma up - they were so surprised! ^

^ Excitement? ^

^ My two girls cannot see a pile of presents and not dig in - I have to say Emma was pretty sweet letting Everly open one of her presents, but Ev's doesn't quite understand the 'open but not keep' philosophy. ^

^ my girls ^

^ Emma opened up lots of crafts ^

^ and sis loved checking out each and every one of them! ^

^ Nonni sent a few presents for Everly too (we brought them back with us when we came back from Christmas) that she got to keep! ^

^ Emma has requested a princess Sofia cake and Wes came through for her - he figured out how to order it and everything (no small feat in China!) ^

^ she was pretty pleased that this cake was for her - she couldn't wait to put the candle in it ^

^ that grin ^

^ when I reflect on their childhood, I will always remember 4 - 5 as the princess obsessed time of our lives (let's hope maybe this is just a phase?) ^

^ getting to work on cutting out some things from one of her craft kits ^

^ sister hugs from Everly because Emma said she could keep some of her balloons ^

^ poor Evsie's had a rough morning, she loves the excitement around birthdays, but does not understand how to cope when it is not her birthday.  I caught her up here pretending to read a card from Nonni and Papa George while she said, "don't worry darling, it will be your birthday soon. love, Nonni and Papa George".  Talk about breaking your mama heart! ^

^ and just like that, we headed out to a donut shop run by expats in the city ^

^ the girls picked out their donut and were delighted to have it all boxed up and ready to take to the park ^

^ sister love. and yes, Emma picked out her very own birthday outfit ;) ^

^ we were pretty pumped to head to our favorite playground ^

^ pretty proud of her donut with a candle ^

^ can you even believe that my baby is turning five?!?! sometimes i just sit here and think about where the time has gone.  i am so intentional about making sure we have lots of family time and the girls get lots of different types of experiences, but it feels like i blinked and five years went by. time is so tricky, i love watching them grow up and every stage is better than the last, but sometimes i also just wish i could freeze this moment in time and keep them little forever. ^

^ her new smile she proudly displays for the camera ^

^ my crew ^

^ me with my first baby ^

^ play time ^

^ every time she climbs on the balance beam, I dream of her being a gymnast ^

^ best daddy ^

^ me and my girls getting ready to slide ^

^ when they got in the swing together, my heart soared ^

^ they really are the best ^

^ wheeee! ^

^ this little one is getting sneaky - she knows she is not supposed to be picking flowers, but she got away with it while we were not looking. i realize that i should not endorse this behavior by photographing it, but i just couldn't help myself ^

^ pretending she is still my baby ^

^ after three hours of play, we had to tear them away from the playground, but we had a fun surprise for them - we went to a strawberry farm! ^

^ the girls loved picking strawberries ^

^ especially my strawberry lover ^

^ I am pretty sure she ate more than she put in her basket ^

^ when we got home, Wes gave the girls baths and then it was time to sing Happy Birthday and blow out candles ^

^ we did it twice so i could have a video and pictures and she was so so so happy ^

^ just look at that smile! ^

^ gosh, we sure do love her!^

^ getting so big she can even help to cut her cake ^

^ our little cake lover and Everly bear were pretty happy with how the evening played out ^

We sure did have a great day celebrating our girl, but even though you see happy smiles - not pictured are the meltdowns that came from the three girls throughout the day.  Yes, me included.  I want their birthdays to be perfect and I had a few meltdowns about how it would have been more perfect if we were living at home.  Emma kept talking about her four year old party and how she had the best time with her pink princess bounce house and I just knew her five year old birthday would not live up to that.  At one point all three of us were crying as we were leaving Starbucks (at this point, I can't even remember what it was about) and I realized that birthdays don't have to be perfect.  They just have to be filled with lots of love.  And that is one thing we have - so much love between all of us!