We’ll close up Emmie’s birthday posts with some fun pictures we took a couple of weeks before her birthday.
With surgery looming, we knew we didn’t want to miss out on anything. For the first time, we decided to do a series of pictures for her first birthday. The result…absolutely adorable.
Of course, a few kids needed to photo bomb.
This was her first big cupcake. And she devoured every single part of it!
We celebrated Emmie’s birthday a couple more times with Papa & Grandmere and then with Ge & Granddaddy. 
Malachi was serving us “apples.”
Music and animals are her current loves. Ge and Granddaddy found the perfect gift that fit both!
Books and Grandmere just go together.
Grandmere sweetly offered to help make a dress for Emmie. We were looking for a few that she could wear over her brace and after sending a link, Grandmere came up with a beautiful one!
Emmie approved.
I know I have said multiple times but it is completely true. This year would have been even harder had we not had these four people walking this road with us too. They have prayed and cried and dropped everything to do what they could for us and their grandchildren. I would not trade them for anything!
Emmie turned one in May! We thought we had a rough first year with Bryant. While Emmie’s first year has been full of a lot of shock and awe, we have been able to savor the beautiful moments. The sweet first smiles and laughs. The way she dives for me whenever we say “mama’s milk.” Her resilience and goofiness and her love for animals. Yes. It’s been hard. But it makes her normal babyhood moments just as beautiful.
To celebrate, we knew we needed to invite her people. Her sidekicks. So, invite we did. All told, we had about thirty people come over for ice cream and cake. She enjoyed the people, a bit. I think by the time cake time rolled around she was ready fro bed and didn’t want people staring at her enjoying her sugar fest.
We decided to give her the birthday gift from the family before the crowd came. She was more than happy about that.
Yes, animals are instant smile hits but splashing water also brings a smile. A water table was just what she needed!
Bunnies seem to be Emmie’s animal. She has her Babbit (Shel Silverstein’s Runny Babbit…Such a billy sook to read to your kids!) as her cuddly. About halfway through her year, we found the book Audrey Bunny from a suggestion in our NF Moms group. Once I found out what it was about, I ordered it really fast. It’s a beautiful story about a little girl who chooses a stuffed bunny with spot on it. She knows the bunny has the spot but the bunny doesn’t realize it and tries to hide it. In the end, the rabbit realizes the girl loves her spot and all. It is written by Angie Smith who walked a hard journey with her daughter Audrey Caroline. As soon as I got the book in the mail, I read it. In tear. It is Emmie’s special book.
With all of that going for her, bunnies had to be the chosen theme.
Bunny rear cupcakes for our guests!
Josiah requested strawberry cake with strawberry cream cheese icing.
Present time!
I found a tutorial on Pinterest for a fondant bunny. It was in another language. Thankfully, there were lots of pictures and google translate almost helped. I think I did an okay job on it. I added an “Emmie” touch by putting pink polka dots on the bunny (with enough fondant to make a number 1).
She thought the bunny was cute!
But preferred eating the marshmallow and gum drops to the actual smash cake. Don’t worry, a few days later we pulled out the smash cake and devoured it!
But birthday night, she thought it looked better in her hair.
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We have discovered a wonderful trail system just five minutes from our house. It’s beautiful and has several different trails to walk and explore. The kids enjoy climbing the low hanging trees and giant rocks. It’s a fun after dinner trip and we headed over there in May. The only complaints I have are the mosquitoes were vicious and we met a baby copperhead. The mosquito attack was thwarted by our bug spray and the copperhead made sure he stuck to the side of the trail far from us.
Saving the day by retrieving the bug spray!
What’s this?! A raging river?
Nope. Just a bunch of rocks over the creek. Low enough to enjoy exploring.
For the past several years, we haven’t take the dogs with us anywhere. Mainly, because our goal is to not lose a kid. But, the kids are older and they enjoy running with the dogs. Ginger is our “nervous” dog and gets carsick so she can’t really go out much. But Sunny, is always up for a ride. Our Sunny girl loves to run with the kids and explore. She will be 14 in November and doesn’t have a problem keeping up with even Malachi!
Our family tradition of attending our local symphony’s pops concert brought lots of fun. This time we were able to enjoy the event with several friends and bar-b-que. I totally remember last year being as big as a house and waiting ever so patiently for Emmie to make her entrance. This time we had a wandering almost one year old who devoured the popcorn and all she could find. Every year, this event reminds me what an awesome area we live in!
Last August, we received a notice about a group called American Heritage Girls. After doing some reading and researching, I mentioned the group to Zoe to see if she was interested. She definitely was. However, we had some waiting to do to see what we were going to need to do concerning Emmie.
We finally got Zoe signed up in November. And we had a quick crash course in what AHG was all about. She loved it! Zoe is the organized, goal-oriented child…so, yeah, she loved it!
We squeaked by this year, still trying to figure the club out and enjoying what we could between medical appointments. May brought her awards night and we all got to see her hard work paid off.
And make some goofy faces.
All of those awards hanging down her vest is the result of her hard work. I mainly offered suggestions and provided material to help her earn badges. She did the rest!
Goofy pictures are necessary in an awards ceremony.
So are big smiles and laughs!
Zoe “leveled up” for next year and Ceili Rain is going to join her in the younger program. We’re excited to be participating in such a fun group!
In May, Mark and the kids gifted me with a full weekend. It started with an evening out with nothing but my laptop and Starbucks. I was able to make some progress on Emmie’s baby book, catch up on blog posts and get a small bit of shopping done. It was heavenly and I think will be a regular treat/work day for me too!
Saturday brought breakfast and cards and sweet wishes for the day. 
Then we headed to the pet store to do something insane. But I think we all agree it was much needed. More on that tomorrow.
After that, Zoe, Ceil Rain, and Emmie and I attended the Mother-Daughter picnic at our church. It was such a blessing to be with these amazing women who have lifted our family up in prayers so much this year. Emmie enjoyed meeting a friend who is only a couple of days younger than her.
Here is our monthly smathering of photos for April…Enjoy.
Isn’t she just super adorable!
Ugh! He is too!
And then when you oldest son grabs up the youngest and takes her on a slide. My heart!
Buddies for life!
I know it’s hard to tell but they had seven of eight on or in the car. 
Emmie enjoyed her chocolate chip muffins.
Zoe is our activities director but sometimes they need Mom’s help to learn new games. Like Red Rover.
Emmie just enjoys watching.
Or riding her trike…with her diaper blowing in the wind.
If you are a bit confused…this is not part of our permanent bunch. We borrow him from my best friend Kristina from time to time!
Washing dishes is serious work.
Bryant and Malachi practiced their phonics blends “climbing ladders.”
This was after a very traumatic fall followed by two hours of nonstop crying and a trip to get x-rays. She was fine. Just super tired and in shock.
Even cute kids have crazy hair days.
Malachi was upset because he wanted his magic shirt. I was quite upset because I didn’t know he had a magic shirt and I wanted one too.
This was his magic shirt.
Cookies in daddy’s lap.
He asked for his hair to be like this.
One of my favorite pictures. Emmie loves her brothers and sisters and they simply adore her.
The end.
Right before Emmie’s surgery, we attended our local home school organizations Farm Day. A wonderful family opened up their dairy farm to the whole organization for the day. Honestly, I didn’t want to go. I had so much to do at home. But, there was that nagging feeling that I knew if we didn’t go we would miss out on some great, fun family quality time. So, Mark took the day off and all ten of us headed to the farm.
We had such a wonderful time learning about a working farm, petting animals, playing in corn, and visiting with friends. It was just what we needed the day before we had to leave for Emmie’s surgery. I definitely don’t regret going!
Please note that I left out the random picture of cow…um, stuff and yes, my children took their shoes off to run across the hay bales. That’s how we roll on my side of the family.
Emmie’s first brace destruction warranted a trip to orthotics two hours away. I knew that a fifteen minute appointment with eight children meant we needed to find something else to do while we were there. After a quick search the day before, we landed on the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.
It was a pleasant and educational surprise in the heart of Atlanta. If you have a couple of hours to kill, I would definitely recommend visiting this museum and library.
One of the many gifts President Carter received after the Camp David Accords.
This was at the end of the museum. A pretty amazing portrait of President Carter and all of his accomplishments while in office.
Zoe and I enjoyed seeing the replicas of President and Mrs. Carter’s wedding clothes.
Not only was the museum interesting, we also enjoyed the scenery around it.
We rounded out the trip with the orthotics appointment and Emmie’s second brace. We spent less than five minutes to get it. As we were gathering to leave, they came in and told us to head to an inner room because of a tornado warning.
They found something to pass their time though.
