All about Emily

Emily turned 11 not too long ago.  She had a birthday party, which involved I think 4 friends sleeping over, they were up late or should I say early in the morning, but they are all such great girls. 

For her birthday I decided I was going to make a bunch of mail for her.  Everyone likes mail right.  Well I did about somewhere around 25-30 letters for her.  Somewhere from Samantha and Amber with pictures on them.  Some just said, "You are AWESOME" and some where long letters from Father Time, Mother Nature, and some other people.  Lauren did one from her "secret admirer" she was thrilled when I asked her to get the mail and then she saw what it was.  She was saying, "Oh I got a letter, I got another one, and another....."  She was cracking me up!

She had two friends here already and Lindsey and Laruen (and one of their friends) were eager to see and hear all about it too.  Emily read through almost all of them except a few that were really long. 

Emily got her hair cut.  She was telling me before that she was going to cut her hair when she was like 12 or in 7th grade or something.  I can't remember exactly what she had said.  It suprised me then when she asked for her hair cut.  She told me she wanted it to about her elbows she thought.  I cautioned her on it, I can take it off but I can't put it back on.  Obviously it will grow back but I just didn't want her to be mad at me about it if I got it too short.  I ended up taking off about 8-1/2 to 9 inches of the back.  Her hair seems to grow really uneven so it is all evened up again now.  I think she was a little disappointed no one really even noticed that she cut her hair.  You would think with that much getting taken off you would, but her hair is still SO long. 

Emily received for Christmas a book on CD of the Tennis Shoes among the Nephites series.  I think that is what it is called.  The CD was the 11th book.  For her birthday she got the first 5 books, and currently today she is reading the 5th one.  She will be done with it I am sure by the end of the day.  She is such a book worm!  It is good and bad.  She is so consumed with it sometimes, she won't sleep and then we all suffer her rath as she is a angry bear the next day.  It can be pretty bad!

It seems like such a long time ago that we had Emily, and yet in another view it seems like such a short time ago we were calling family saying that our water broke and we were headed to the hospital.  As I was on the phone with the dr. telling them that I thought my water broke, Rob says, "do you think I still have time to take a shower?"  I didn't know.  He did shower and it all seemed okay.  We arrived at the hospital around 6:30am and she was delivered at 9:16am.  Robert was talking to a guy in the hospital elevator when he went to go get breakfast, and the other dad was so excited about them having thier first too.  He asked the guy how long they had been at the hospital, which was sometime the evening before.  Robert didn't want to tell him we got there this morning and he already his baby. 

10 pounds and 1 oz of total girl!  Emily is such a GIRL in everything.  She tries to tell me she isn't, she doesn't really care for pink and she doesn't like real fu-fu-y things, but she is a girl 100%. 

There was no doubt why we got Emily first.  She is such a great help and for the most part (unless she was up reading the night before too late) is such a pleasure to have around.  She loves to organize and design things.  She is so fun to create things with.  She has always been an obedient child.  She loves rules and follows them mostly.  I remember in Kindergarten, she was telling some girl that she should put a shirt under her dress because it was immodest.  She is more cautious now maybe on stating her mind among her peers, but she has no problem telling us how she feels at home.  She will correct the twins on their eating habbits, the way they drink, or even sit on a chair too slouchy.  It is tiring sometimes and causes contention as well. 

Emily is getting old enough that she isn't really requesting any cake.  She requested that it be Lemon flavor and that was it.  One of her friends came and stayed the whole weekend with us.  She arrive before Emily got home from school, and she helped me with the flowers and candles.

She has been excited to start babysitting.  It has been kind of a struggle for us.  Emily is getting old enough that most those we have come babysit are just a few years older than she is.  Robert made a good point about getting babysitters, "we are just hiring her friends to babysit, why not have her do it?"  I still kind of am uneasy about it.  Robert keeps prepping me for it, "soon she will be our babysitter."  It is kind of weird, I don't worry about the neighbor girls knowing what to do in the event of an emergency, but I wonder about Emily.  The only difference would be perhaps the neighbor girl would have her parents at home she could call for help.  I know, not much different.  I did have a nighmare one night that we had Emily babysit and the house caught fire, she didn't know it and she and the twins died.  I remember in my dream crying for my girls, and poor Emily, and how aweful it would have been for her to live through it and possibly feel responsible for it.  In my dream I was thinking perhaps it was best for her to perish.  I woke up crying, trying to grasp the reality of things and if that was a memory or a bad dream. 

Emily is such a great helper to me.  Often she is one I can go to and joke around with, tell her things like I would tell a friend such as experiences through the day or what one of the girls said that was funny.  I try to be careful too because I don't want to influence her of my opinions of things that maybe she should make her own mind up about. 

I have enjoyed all 11 years we have had together, I look forward to some more wonderful years.  I can't believe she is 11 already.  Where did the time go? 

This is Emily at age 2.  The twins were about 3 months old, we were holding onto their clothes to keep them sitting up.

The picture above is how I picture her when I talk to her on the phone.  She still has that little small voice when she is on the phone, or maybe it is just me?