Emery's Prayer

We've been working with Emery to make her prayers more meaningful. This is the fruits of our labors from tonight: "Please bless my daddy that he will get home tonight with his head on. He's my special daddy and I want to keep him."

Missing picture

Here's another picture I had wanted to post of Gavin a few months back when I did the post of what he does when he's not lawyering. It's of the Spartan race he ran in Austin back in May. 

Fancy Tea Party

Emery's little friend had a cute tea party for her birthday on Saturday and it was so fun! It felt like an extra Halloween because we got to dress up fancy and eat sweet treats again. Emery looked so cute so I snapped a picture before we went since the hairbows never seem to last very long these days. It's also so hard to get this girl to look at the camera for longer than .2 seconds.

And then here she is at the party:

The cuteness of this tea party was overwhelming. My friend who threw the party for her daughter is so talented. I felt like I had walked into a whimsical world of fanciness and rainbows. It was incredible--perfect for little girlfriends (and the one brave boy who came. He was a good sport!).

My Baking buddy

I was making calzones for the missionaries the other day and Emery wanted to help me every step of the way. It doesn't matter what I'm doing at that counter, if I'm standing there, Emery will go grab a chair, push it over, and declare, "I want to help!" It's sweet, and sometimes a little exasperating, but in those tiring times I just try to remember how fleeting these precious moments are and summon some extra patience. It's worth it when I look over and watch her little hands pushing on her piece of dough as hard as she can, with flour smudges over her entire face and arms and flour spilled over her toes and the floor.

When we were done she decided she needed to sit on the counter too. You know...just in case there was more flour to get covered in.

My baking buddy. I couldn't ask for a better one!

These sweet moments really are priceless. They fill my soul in a way that so few things do. I'm really grateful to stay home with her and have this extra time to teach her new things and watch her learn.  

Tricks and Treats

Halloween was a much bigger deal for us this year now that Emery is 3 years old. A friend of mine gave us a Sleeping Beauty dress and a Cinderella dress. Emery was "Aurora" and her little friend was the Cinderella. Emery was really excited to be a princess with her friend.

Our Halloween festivities started on Thursday with a trick or treat at Gavin's work. Emery was pretty shy and took awhile to warm up, but the fact that she got candy if she said trick or treat was pretty good motivation to be somewhat friendly.

At Dad's work. Aurora and Prince Philip!

Right after Gavin's work we headed to our church for the annual Trunk or Treat. Gavin had the young men he is in charge of design our trunk the day before. I think they did a pretty good job! They were really proud of it and came and set it up and hung around the car admiring their work. I'd be sooooo happy if it became a tradition to have them do our trunk every year...I don't love decorating it. 

On Halloween we went out to dinner with some friends then Gavin took Emery trick or treating around our neighborhood. After 3 trick-or-treats in a row, Emery is loaded with candy. I let her pick some pieces and we put the rest up. She is a sugar fiend so I can't let her have it all at her disposal or it would be gone in an hour.

At IHOP, with a free pumpkin face pancake since she came in costume. 

 The Beautiful Aurora! She loved that dress so much and was in heaven that she got to wear it two days in a row. 

It was a fun and festive Halloween over here. Hope yours "treated" you well too!

Deliciousness

I can't get enough of this chili:

Sweet potato chicken chili

It's a perfect fall soup. Not that it really feels like the fall here...but soup is always a good idea! Plus you can make it in the crock pot and it only takes the crockpot, a cutting board, knife, and vegetable peeler. Very little mess!

Birthday Shenanigans

This girl just turned 3! 

We were so lucky to have a cousins here to party on her birthday after church. Even her cousins from Kansas were here. It was a great day. 

She had so much fun playing with her cousins and opening presents. She couldn't quite get the candles blown out by herself, which is  not for lack of lung strength (you should hear this girl throw a tantrum!), so I guess we'll need some practice.

She cracked me up during the present opening. I don't think she said a single word for the entire opening process, but every time she would unwrap a gift she would gasp loudly and get this face:

Every. Time. Her enthusiasm was sweet. Happy Birthday, Emery girl! We love you!