Happy Birthday Emma!

Today is Emma's 4th birthday. I can't believe she's already 4 years old. Every time I look at her I am flooded with images and memories of our time together so far. I love her so much and don't know what I'd do without her. I am so grateful that she is my daughter and that I have the wonderful privilege of being her mom. That is my favorite word. Mom. I love hearing her sweet little voice calling for me. I love feeling her arms around my neck. I love when she becomes a kissing monster. I love that she equally enjoys playing with princess things and trains and pirates. She has such a wide variety of interests. I've never known anyone who enjoys everything in life more. She just wants to do everything. She is the friendliest child I've ever seen, and always has fun with other kids. She loves reading. I'll go in late at night and she'll be sitting on her bed with a pile of books she gathered. First thing in the morning she's reading in her room. She loves writing her letters and numbers. She's not perfect, but she loves learning. She loves singing. She's just like me in that she's always humming or singing a song. Recently she's been singing lots of Primary songs. I've served in Primary for over 8 years and I've never heard a Sunbeam sing so many of the songs so well. She even knows the sign language the kids are learning for Families Can Be Together Forever. I know I've been sort of rambling, but there is just so much that I could say about Emma. It just comes spilling out and doesn't always take on the most organized form. I could go on forever, but for now I will just share something that I've recently been thinking about. There are a lot of things I would like to do in this life. So much would be interesting or fun. But at the end of the day, what ALWAYS tops my list, is being Emma's Mom. There is nothing I would rather do or be, no matter what benefits or perks anything else might include. Emma beats them all.
Last Friday we had a party for Emma. She has said she wanted a princess party, so we obliged. I had been planning on making a pretty princess-y dress for her to wear, but I was only able to finish half of it in time, so we went and bought one for her. We took her to get her hair cut and styled all fancy, and she had her nails painted (I think she thought it was weird having someone besides me do it). She looked so cute, and she thought it was awesome! She wanted pizza and cupcakes and presents. Last week someone asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she said "presents". They asked what kind of presents and she said "toys". Seriously, no one could have an easier person to shop for. It was a fun party, and thanks to everyone for the great gifts they gave her.
Since we already had her party, I wanted to do something else fun with her today. This morning we went to a discovery garden for children. We looked around, climbed on just about everything, and met up with her cousins for a while too. Then we left to get some lunch. We were sort of in a hurry because I was trying to make the 2:00 showing of Monsters vs Aliens. We hadn't seen it yet. Emma seemed to enjoy it, but my review? Meh. Definitely won't be buying that one. We came home and made a cake. She already had cupcakes, but I wanted to make another cake with her on her actual birthday. While it cooled we played some games. Eric was able to come home earlier than we expected, so the evening was great. We gave Emma a couple more presents we had for her, ate some cake (after singing to her of course), and then it was time for her to go to bed. Wow. I am tired. But Emma had fun, so it was all worth it. What can I say? I just love that girl.