I shared the details of Emery’s Baking Party here. I thought you might want to see it played out….

Emery invited 9 girls to her birthday party.

Why 9 you may be wondering? Because we found some cute plates on clearance and there were only 9, so she decided she could only invite 9. Who am I to argue? Once it got close to her day, I began to get VERY worried that no one was going to show up.  She invited several girls from her class and I only heard from one…and she texted me the day before to say her daughter had gotten sick and wasn’t sure she would make it. Our other friends from church were at soccer and a family birthday party. I literally was praying, “Lord, please do not let her have the experience of having NO ONE show up at her party….plus I have gone to a lot of effort…so please let some girls show up!”

I am sooo spiritual, I know.

Needless to say, she had five little girls show up and it turned out fabulous!

Here are some highlights:

Here are these cute little girls with their equally cute aprons…

We started with decorating cupcakes. This is the instructional part of the birthday party where I am telling them all about icing cupcakes.

The girls were eager to get started with the icing of their cupcakes…

so they could get to the eating of their icing..I mean cupcake.

I seriously adore this girl.

Look how….pretty! It’s like the face only a mother could love.

Bradley and Parker were so sweet and were all about their sister. They let her enjoy her day (for the most part).

Next,  we made our jar cookie mix. I loved this. Each girl had their own bowl and was able to mix her ingredients together. It was fun to see them concentrate on the recipe and measure it all out. We made Emery’s mix for small group and they were really good! Measuring properly is such a learned skill, so hopefully they added the right amount of flour and baking soda.

We made an assembly line around the table and they really were so great and patient.

This is Abre’s finished product.

Lastly, they made their own pizzas…or I should say Jason and I frantically rolled out their dough and they piled on the toppings. The dough wasn’t cooked any before adding the sauce and cheese, so they were a little doughy. Oh well…buy pre-done crust is my word of advice.

We really had a fun two hours and I enjoyed having these sweet girls in our home. Their conversations are so interesting and fascinating. I was reminded that Emery is growing so fast and not a little girl. She is such a joy and I am so blessed to be her mom. I hope her party brought her joy and a memory for years to come.

I love planning parties…I mean seriously, I really love having people in our home, planning our family nights and prepping the environment. The web is just a plethora of ideas and information. I rarely come up with ideas from scratch, I just make other’s great ideas my own! For Emery’s birthday party, she decided on a Baking Party. She loves to cook with me and we had informed our kiddos we were going smaller scale this year, so a house party it was!  Here are some great sites I used for ideas: One Charming Party, TomKat Studio, and Pizzazerie.

This is how we greeted our guests, by inviting them into Emery’s Bake Shoppe…

Jason added the vase with roses from our rose bush…I know..I married a good man. I added white plastic eggs to my farmhouse basket. Don’t notice how faded my cushions are…

Here is the birthday girl with our Custom sign….I painted a canvas and then used  my awesome friend, Kristi’s, Sillouette to cut our the letters. It is kind of hard to see but really, so cute..

I also made these candlestick jars from old glass jars. I spraypainted the glass candlesticks from the Dollar Tree and glued them together. I was able to take advantage of the after Easter clearance sales to get some candy and these cute buckets. I also found some cute half aprons at Michaels. I had inteded to make these bandana aprons, but then found these and changed my mind!

I added some cooking supplies and the berries with chocolate and that was the dining room table!

Our first station was icing/decorating cupcakes. I made these sweet cupcakes and found these cupcake wrappers at Walmart after Easter and added them!

These are my custom cupcake stands that I made from the Dollar Store, as well. I got the glass candlesticks, silver trays and superglue. I spraypainted it all with these fun colors and then glued them together. FYI- the superglue did not hold and I am going to try a sturdier glue.  I found the tutorial here.  I also invested in the supplies for icing cupcakes/cakes. I bought the bags, tips, and couplers. We had 4 different bags of icing and it was perfect for the girls to decorate their cupcakes with. They each did two cupcakes.

Baking Station #2

Our next station was making cookies in a jar. I debated back and forth about what to make, but settled on these. We had an assembly line and off they went.

Here is the recipe I used:

All in all, it was a fun, successful party and our future baker LOVED every minute of it!!

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to have a fun day with Ms. Emery.

Bradley tagged along too, but when you have multiple children,  you can still do fun things that focuses on just one child.  We are in the midst of “it’s not fair” and “she gets to, so why can’t I” phase at our house.   I am sure you hear it, too! We want our kids to know that a bad day for them, is a heaven sent day for most children in this world. And I am okay telling them that life isn’t about fairness, it is about Jesus, His grace and mercy…..more importantly about giving those things when you don’t feel like it!

My dad had signed Emery up for a golf camp where he is a member.  He was going to take her each day and have fun with Poppy.  Sadly, Poppy had to go to Mississippi to be with my precious aunt who was in the hospital.  So, Mom and I took Emery to golf camp. She was a little apprehensive, but she quickly got in the groove.  Parker is also in a golf program, called the First Tee.

The First Tee is a program designed to get kids interested in golf and teaches, not only skills in playing golf, but also values such as honesty, courtesy, and perseverance.  She goes twice a week for an hour and so far, is enjoying it.  Emery has taken to golf easily and is loving it! Jason and I are all for the girls playing golf and are hoping this is something we can do as a family as all the kids get older.

Emery with her golf visor she received at registration….She can rock the visor I must say!

Imagine I am talking in a low whisper….Emery Stewart lines the ball up. She has studied it from every angle, will she make it to win the tournament….

And she hit the line beautifully, and she bottoms it!!

This is what Bradley did for an HOUR while we waited.  He is a lefty but swings his club/bat right handed. We figure we will let him get comfortable and good with his right hand and then,

turn him around to the left, that way he can switch hit! Or, he may play the piano, who knows!

After lunch, we headed to get Emery’s ears pierced. She has been BEGGING for about a year and we told her she could on her birthday. She was playing soccer so we waited until she was able to keep them in for the full six weeks. We got the store and she was NERVOUS! She ended up bailing and we went to Target to get a few things. She had decided to wait until the weekend when two people were working. After Target, she asked to go back, so after assurring me she was ready, we went back. Sure enough, she was ready to go.

She was still a little freaked! Can you see the tension in her face??

Two minutes later….

How precious are these little earrings?

Emery you absolutely light up our days with your amazing grin! I love seeing you excited over the small things. You are a beautiful girl and I pray that you always celebrate those special things that are apart of being a girl! May your love for Jesus always draw people to Him!

Today, my sweet, unexpected blessing that rocked my world, turns 7.

That sounds soo much older than 6.

I have mentioned once, or 896 times that Emery was not in our plan….her sister was 8 MONTHS old when we found out we were pregnant, again.

But, she was always in His plan and such a reminder of the amazing Sovreignty of God and His perfect plan for us.

This weekend was going to be all about Emery Kate, and for the most part it is, but there is also something we are dealing with called the Great Flood of 2010, so some things have shifted.  She loves to be out and about and we were able to go to church and out to eat.  My sister had to turn around since they live in Franklin and roads to our side of town were water drenched everywhere.  Please pray for Nashville….it is truly indescribable.

Emery is the child that I struggle to understand the most.  She is still a mystery to me in a lot of ways.  I think I have her figured out and then, she reacts or responds in a different way, and BAM, I am back to trying to figure her out.

She is shy but outgoing.

She is full of life, but a wall flower.

She is happy, but sad.

She is an attention seeker, but doesn’t like attention.

She is loud, but quiet.

She is passionate, yet apathetic.

She is laid back, but routined.

She is strong, yet vulnerable.

She is moody, yet joyful.

She is friendly, yet cautious.

She loves to joke, yet doesn’t like jokes (on her).

She loves to teach, yet loves to learn.

She is competitive, yet understands she can’t always win.

She is loving, yet, standoffish.

She is a giver, yet seeks to get.

She is confident, yet insecure.

She is all of these things…..and I wouldn’t change her for the world.  We are learning that she needs more of us, yet expects the least from us.  My greatest prayer for my typical middle child is that she will find her joy, her purpose, her security, her passion in JESUS.  I know that what she truly needs, I can not give her, I can only show her by example and point her to the One who can.  Then, isn’t that true of all of us?

Emery- you are pure light to me.  Your smile transforms your face and truly lights up a room! You have such great potential to be an amazing woman of God. He has gifted you in so many ways and I know that He has an abundant life planned for you.  I pray you chase hard after Him, that you turn neither to the right or the left of Him and bring Fame to His Name.  I am so excited and blessed to be your mother.  I feel such a burden for you and I pray that I don’t fail you.  Do great, hard things sweet Emery.

A few weeks back, Emery had her first dance recital.  She has been taking ballet and jazz this past year and has LOVED it.  She is constantly dancing around the house and asking her daddy to dance with her.  She can also provide her own music, which is quite entertaining, I must say!  If you knew me growing up, gracefulness is not a term that could be used to describe me.  I loved all things sports, so to have a kid interested in the artsy stuff, is out of my element.  But, it isn’t about me, it is about Emery, so we started dance to see how this interest progresses.  So far, I think we will be continuing in dance.

I talked to a lot of people before choosing a dance studio.  Many families from our school go to this studio, so I felt comfortable with the choice.  The owner is also Emery’s dance teacher.  I think her picture could be under the word ballerina in the dictionary.  She doesn’t walk, she floats across the room!  She was pregnant most of the year and I kid you not, she was doing splits while 7 months pregnant.  Pretty sure I thought my babies could fall out any day when I was seven months pregnant!

Emery was dancing 2 dances and the recital had a Beatles theme.  I must admit we almost did not do the recital.  I am not a fan of paying a fortune for two costumes she will wear once and paying for dance lessons for her to learn 2 dances, as oppossed to technique and actual moves.  But, Jason and I decided that if she is truly interested in dance, we have to give her the opportunity to be on stage and see if she likes it.  Which, um, she did!

Emery did great.  She knew her dances and smiled, huge, the whole time.  She was loving it.  Having her hair and makeup done all up didn’t hurt either!  I also must give a huge thanks to my mom, who took Emery to the dress rehearsal because J and I were in Atlanta.  It lasted forever, or so she told me.  She is a trooper!

The recital went well. We sat through about 30 dances and this was the first of three shows. They are broken down into ages so we were with the younger ages and they were cute.  I thought a couple of the solo dances, which were older girls, were a little to0 flashy.  I mean seriously, a 10 year old dancing to “You give me fever.”  After talking with other families, afterward, we were in agreement, that it was over the top.  That was really disappointing.

Doesn’t our camera do a great job with no flash, in the dark?

Emery after the show in her ballet costume.

Nana, Poppy and LuLu came for the show.

She insisted on being “lifted.”  I told you she is dance crazed.

Trying to get a family picture. We left Bradley with friends and were so thankful we did!

During VBS last week, she also was on the praise team and helped in the big worship time.  She loved it and did great for a 6 year old.  I look forward to seeing how this dance thing plays out!