Meeting the guy in the red suit!!!!

Well we did it. We braved meeting Santa this year. We talk about it all the time but they are always afraid to just meet him. Well, this year at the District Education Center ( the same place Emma goes to preschool) the local American Legion holds a Christmas party for the kids in the area and Santa comes. I was excited that Mrs. Claus was there too. She looked great, Santa, well he needed a little work. Anyways, it was a great because there was no one there. We walked into the room and Evan spotted Santa and was very nervous but he noticed that Santa had candy canes. Oh how he wanted one. Santa said "you need to come see me first". Up he went on his lap. He was so nervous the whole time. (Emma was still working on getting her coat off.) Sorry, the picture is blurry but you can see Evan was a little scared.

This picture shows his expression more clearly. HE really wanted to get down but he sat there for a few minutes.

In comes Emma and she walks right up to Mrs. Claus and sits on her lap. It was very sweet.

I am pretty sure Emma is telling Mrs. Claus a thing or too. Evan, still scared.

Well Santa wanted her to sit on his lap so up I put her and she was a little nervous too but sat there enough to get some pictures. Overall I thought they did great. They also had balloons and homemade cookies. The kids loved the cookies.

Here are a few pictures of my kitchen. I hope to post more of my decorating throughout the week.

Close up of the hutch in the kitchen. I did snowmen and red and green in the kitchen/family room area. Very happy with it.

Another view of the hutch from a distant.
Well we are in for another big snowstorm today, possibly another 5-8 inches. YUCK!!! It is going to be a VERY long winter. If we get another 12 inches (including todays storm) we will hit a new record for snowfall in December. Isn't that something to be proud of? NOT!!!!

How can she be 5?!

****Warning...... this is very heavy on pictures, I mean HEAVY! ******

It is hard for me to imagine as I reflect back 5 years ago. I had no idea what life had in store for me when I was given this precious little girl. Oh the challenges we faced then seemed like nothing we would ever get through, endless trips to the hospital, would she every get off of oxygen and a feeding tube. WOULD SHE EVER COME HOME? It all seems like a life time ago now but when we were in it, it seemed like we would never get through it. Here is Emma almost 5 years ago to the day. ( actually a few weeks younger.) Oh she was so small.

Well here she is 5 years later and although she is still a peanut I cannot believe how she has grown. Needless to say, I have grown too. Although the challenges have changed and gotten harder, I will never be less grateful for this precious girl. Oh how she teaches us!!

On to the birthday...... no birthday in our house would be complete without a little dancing. Evan and Emma danced to Elmo. ( I realize maybe I should have gotten them dressed but it was early and our day off from running. This is the actual birthday day!)

Here is the little cake we got her for her birthday.

Emma and her cake. She loved that we sang to her. Evan helped blow out the candles.

We gave her a few gifts that night. She got a 3 foot doll and a tent. Evan loved helping her.

The next day her preschool class had a little party and the parents can come and volunteer that day. We went for a little while and her is Emma showing us her classroom.

The kids all get in a circle and they put a crown on Emma and they all sing Happy Birthday! very cute. I think she was a little nervous being the center of attention.

This is Emma's little friend. She is the sweetest little girl. She waits for Emma to get off the bus and makes sure she gets to circle time. Here she is giving Emma a hug. It brought tears to my eyes to know someone cares that much for my little girl.

Here is the class doing the "Snowey Pokey". Emma was giving it her best effort and her little friend was trying to help her too.

Here we are enjoying a snack with Emma and her class. We brought in cookies.

On to the party day. Here are some pictures of the decorations. Nothing too fancy.

The table. No one sat at it until I made them eat cake at it. I thought it turned out cute.

Aa guest entered, the candle was Birthday cake (thanks Sue.).

Thanks again Sue for this idea. Books with their characters.

The birthday girl enjoying her presents.

The cake, it was hard to get it to look like a book. I could have gone much fancier but I didn't want to a fortune for a cake.

Getting ready to blow out the candles.

Here we are helping her. She wanted to touch the candles. Ouch!!

Here is her stash. In case you can't tell, we had a book party. Emma loves books and she got lots of them. It was fun and easy to do.