Our darling Emmersen is 6! She challenges us every day. At times it seems hard to believe she's six already and other times I need to remind myself, she's only six. Emme is full of spunk and attitude mixed with a gentle sensitive heart. She often acts without thinking or does things she should know better and yet, rarely is she intentionally misbehaving.
I have seen so much growth in her this past year. She is beginning to have more control of her emotions (beginning is the key word here, lol) and she tries her best to behave as asked. I watch her many times and she is trying to contain herself, to sit nice in church, or obey someone's rules and yet it seems like there is just an energy inside her that needs to get out, that she might just erupt if she doesn't act on whatever urge she has in that moment. It's funny to watch her process life and observe what is going on. She is so inquisitive and needs to understand every detail of what is going on and why. It's a characteristic that at times drives me crazy, but I am sure it will serve her well as she gets older, as long as we can train her to understand what types of questions are a little too personal!
It has been a lot of fun having her home again this year. She brings a whole new dynamic to our homeschooling experience. Emmersen is always surprising me with how quickly she learns and how differently she learns things. It has been challenging in some ways trying to teach Emme as she learns quite different then I do, however, in other ways things come surprisingly easy to her. If I can keep her focused math is a cinch for her, however, if her mind is distracted that morning for whatever reason math is like pulling teeth. She also has a knack for trying to figure out the easy way to get things done. In her mental math worksheets she will sometimes just go through and fill in whatever number she wants, or she will fill in a pattern she thinks she has figured out to get it done quickly in hopes that I won't mark it right away and she can go play. It is surprising how many times it has worked out for her too, although she always has to redo them the next day. Emmersen loves to read and learn but also likes to voice her opinion about not liking school. She says she doesn't want to do school, and yet gets absorbed by what she is learning and seems to love it when we are actually doing it. I think it's her way of trying to act like she's in control, her personality is one that likes to be in control at all times, lol.
Emmersen has a thing for not wanting to do what is expected or obey the rules. If there is a rule that seems ridiculous or arbitrary she has to challenge it. She doesn't seem to go along with the "because I said so" or "just because" answers. She has to understand the reason, the why behind it. We are working on teaching her that sometimes she just has to follow a rule simply because it is a rule, without stamping out that need to think for herself, to question, to choose her own path. She is also teaching me to think about my answers before I give them, and to make sure that I am paying attention to what I am saying or that I am not coming up with random rules simply because I am too lazy to listen and give a true response. She also has a strong sense of there being one right way to do things, and of course that right way is the way she would do them, lol. It drives her crazy if her sisters play a game wrong or don't use something the way it was intended. It makes her pretty good at doing what's right though, and if she takes the time to think before she acts this makes her more likely to ask before she does something she knows we may not let her do, rather then doing it and seeing what the consequences are.
Emmeresn has her own sense of style, in many ways she seems to walk to her own drum beat. She is a fan of animal prints, pretty dresses, and wearing the hood on her hoodie. She won't wear mismatched socks because that's not right, but four different patterns at once is just fine.
She is loving gymnastics and completed her level 1 badge this fall. It's funny watching her try and learn the moves once she gets them down she's awesome but it seems to take her awhile to figure out the coordination. She also learned to water ski (on training skis) this summer and even took a good wipe out and got right back up again. We have recently started cross country skiing. So far she's enjoying it, even if she has to let us know she doesn't love her lessons (part of her rebellion against authority and doing what's she asked rather then just getting to do whatever she wants, lol) but that she loves the hot chocolate they give her at the end.
This past year with Emme has been a ton of fun, she's learned new things, grown up a ton, and brought so much joy and laughter to our family. We love her so much. She is such a blessing to us and I can't wait to watcher her grow this next year.
Our birthday interview, thanks to
Ladybugs n' Latte's for the idea!
Favourite Colour:? violet
Favourite Food? Birthday Cake
Favourite Show? Cinderella
Favourite Book? Cinderella
Favourite Toy? Cinderella Barbie
Favourite Song? Away in a Manger
What do you want to be when you grow up? Fashion Designer
What are you good at? gymnastics
What are you excited about? going to Auntie Betty-Lou's
What are your favourite memories from being five? learning to water ski, last year decorating the tree, camping, kindergarten, jumping on the trampoline, going to Sonkids, and first day of homeschool,
What is your favourite memory verse this year? Those who live in the shelter of the most high will find peace in the shelter of the almighty Psalm 91:1 (it melts my heart to hear what verses they choose, especially when it isn't the one that we are working on now. I love that they are hiding God's word in their heart!)
What is one thing you would like to say to the whole world if you had the chance? God loves you
It felt like Emmersen had three birthdays this year, between her actual birthday, her party with friends, and her party with the extended family.
We celebrated her actual birthday with sprinkle pancakes and allowed her to choose the meals for the day. We ate fat pancakes, hot dogs, and waffles.
For her party she told me she wanted a fashion girl birthday. I was a little thrown by the request and wasn't sure where it came from. Apparently she read a Barbie story about a fashion show so that's where the idea came from. After thinking about it for a few days I decided it was actually quite a fun idea and enjoyed planning the little details. It's too bad for her that her birthday is at a crazy time of year and many of her friends couldn't make it but she had a ton of fun with the few who came!
The cake took me the longest to decide on, but it was actually really easy once I found fashion designer Barbie. It was also my first attempt at fondant, still not a fan of the taste but it turned out pretty good for my first time.
For lunch we ate purse and high-heeled shoe sandwiches
The girls performed makeovers on each other (and Mason)
and after one parent told me of their experience taking nail polish off eyelids, I performed the manicures, lol.
and after the makeovers the girls chose their outfits and put on a fashion show
The little fashion models. After they were all dressed up we did head shots of each girl.
my beautiful birthday girl!
We played pin the jewel in Barbies necklace (I love the mask), designed bracelets, and had the girls practice being fashion designers by designing fancy dresses.
Later the family came over and we had another party and a whole lot more chaos!
