Happy Birthday Emmaline- a "Lucy" adventure

Emmaline's birthday seems to always be a bit forgotten somehow. We are either on vacation, at a family reunion... summer birthdays are just hard. To combat this, she decided to give out invitations to her friends before school ended . We had to make quick work of deciding what kind of party to have and making the invitations at the last minute.

Raging Waters seemed a good choice since they have a Monday night deal where you can get 8 people in for a cheap price. What is it they say about the best laid plans? She came home from school admitting that she was pretty sure the invitations were getting passed around and she wasn't certain how many kids where coming. Luckily it had an "RSVP by" date and we found out that only 12 kids were planning to come (some of the parents called saying... "My child tells me they have been invited to Emmaline's party but we aren't sure about the date, time or location." Hmmm.)

The day before, I began getting calls from parents asking if their kids could catch a ride. "Of course," I thought. Tyler can help me... as long as I don't have EVERYONE to transport (the invitation asked that they meet me at the water park). It becomes clear around the time that we need to leave that Tyler isn't going to make it so I load 9 kids into my car and ride as carefully as possible to the party to meet the other guests (my car holds 6 kids- don't ask). As we are unloading, I realize I've forgotten the cupcakes and the camera. I get all 12 kids, plus Savannah and Emmaline into the park and make a dash for home with my boys (luckily 5 minutes away- that's what lifeguards are paid for, right?) and witness an AWFUL car crash and say my grateful prayers it wasn't me with the carload of kids several minutes before.

After that, the party was really a breeze. I think everyone had fun and it was great to see Emmaline with so many friends.

This kid and his hair... what can we say?!!

He claims he was "massaging" her with the flashing gummy yo-yo's we used for party favors. Aren't little brothers the best?! =)

All told, she got $115 in cash and gift cards in addition to various gifts. I didn't know you were supposed to give 11 year olds a twenty for their birthday. YIKES- we've been skimping.

And luckily Tyler was there to help me transport them home... and give Tucker a napping place as well.

Emmaline is a little ball of energy. She is the one in our family that comes up with all the ideas- whether it be crafts, games or activities. I think it frustrates her that the rest of the world can't usually keep up. It has been fun to watch her this year as she works to overcome some of her challenges. We love you, Emmaline.

Featuring: Emmaline Huntzinger

Remember this "Steam Rolling" activity? They are having a show of the event at the Salt Lake City Public Library. They happened to have taken photos of Emmaline making her print from start to finish and since she's so cute, decided to feature her in a poster displayed by the door to the show.

It was so exciting for her! Tyler's print is also in the show and one person wrote in the visitor's book that he thought it was the best in the show.

Caution!

I am so far behind... I'll guess I'll use the excuse that my laptop hasn't been functioning correctly. Since Jaim was here to fix it, I guess I have to catch up now. You'll notice a lot of posts with old post dates- that's so they will work correctly when I put them into my blog book, not so you'll think I've been posting all along and you've just missed them.

Our summer is super busy. I have the girls and Oliver in private swimming lessons first thing in the morning and the girls in swim team for the early afternoon. Then we have track in the evening. We'll all be fit by the end of the summer! Emmaline has already decided that she isn't having as much fun as everyone else and I'm the meanest mom ever. So really, I guess nothing has changed! She is so used to being good at everything she tries, swimming is being a struggle. She did have exciting news yesterday. She moved up a level in Kumon. I think she only has one more level until she is up to grade level! I have the kids do Summer Bridge workbooks during the summer so their brains' won't turn to mush over the break. The other day I realized that she is actually better at multiplication than Savannah. Maybe they can motivate each other now!

Oliver turned 5!

This year was Oliver's year to have a family party. He got lucky since we had lots of extended family here for a visit. We met Neal's family and Leslie's mom at Tuscano's in the Gateway for lunch. Oliver especially liked the quail eggs!

Then we were off to "Build a Bear Workshop". Oliver settled on a "snow leapord".


He named him "Aim" which is also the name of one of his imaginary "army guys".


That night we got together with Daddy Jeff, Issy, Martha, Morgan, John, Georgia, Kevin and Johnny at Laird Park.

Some of us really enjoyed the cupcakes.

Oliver is such a great kid. Sometimes when he is downstairs and I am upstairs, he will call over the intercom, "Mama, I love you!" He is so easy to love and so much fun to be around. We are so happy to have him as part of our family.

Preschool Graduation

Preschool graduations always seem a bit ridiculous to me, but since Oliver is such an adorable kid, I thought I'd better post the pictures.

He had a very interesting teacher. This was her first year as a preschool teacher after something like 20 years teaching junior high. She absolutely adored Oliver. She was amazed by the buildings he built from blocks (she even displayed a picture of one of his buildings he made at the district). I felt bad for some of the other kids, she spent so much of the graduation talking about him! He is pretty excited for kindergarten. We can't wait to see how he'll do! (We might send him twice since he's got that tricky summer birthday.)

Don't shoot your eye out!

Tyler's working on teaching Oliver to shoot with a BB gun.

How do you like that aim?

He's also teaching the girls. Savannah shoots like me. Jeffie probably remembers begging Daddy to not give me a turn to shoot the skeet since it was a waste- I always missed! Emmaline is, of course, a natural!

Daddy Time

Tyler has been working on the prophet's apartment. When he bid the job, he asked for 2 months- they gave him 10 days! He has been mostly spending the night there to finish the job. Tucker has definitely been missing his time with him.

Guinea Pig Lover

We recently lost our guinea pig and as I was checking Emmaline's email account (I try to check it about once a week) I found this little conversation. Yeah- we've got to have another talk about email safety, but this is hilarious.

hi my name is emmaline im 10 and i am a guinea pig lover. my MOM says that i can have a new guinea pig.I think that one of these little guys would be perfect.

SINISTERLY,

EMMALINE AND HER MOM

P.S MY 12 YEAR OLD SISTER WANTS A guinea pig FOR MY SISTER

have your mom write me and let me know exactly what you want or you can call me at 4xx-217-4xxx. Thanks name is Erin

dear Erin I will talk too my mom when shes in a better mood. I two little brother and an older sister AND my little conses are for a week. So my moms in a bad mood

please write back Emmaline. how much do one of those little guys cost$

That is fine they are 10 bucks a peice. Let me know what your mom says and just get back to me.

Erin

I will work hard to earn the 1o bucks and show my mom that I am responsible.But I am not shore that it will work out because I live in salt lake city Utah and if you live far i am how we would get them here. where do you live

Emmaline

I live to far. I live in Clyde, Ohio. Sorry.

Erin

For the record, I do NOT want another guinea pig (the death toll in our household is astounding) and I think the "wait for my mom to be in a better mood" was a ploy to talk me into it. What a funny girl!