The Imaginary Birds

I often wonder at the imaginations of children. How do they so effortlessly create magical worlds out of nothing? How is it so easy for them to string together innocent word dew drops to form honey so sweet you have no choice but to buy into it? I don't know how they learn to stretch the truth or flat out lie so convincingly. I think I read somewhere it has to do with survival of the fittest. They teach themselves to lie in order to make it through the rough existence of crayons and endless recess I guess. Now for adults, lying is second nature. It is a form of survival of the fittest, more so siding with societal self preservation. We know what it takes to make it in this world, fighting hard to conform and fit in. Making sure we appear sane and lucid when really we are just livin on a prayer. Heck, it's hard enough trying to figure out what to wear to pick your kid up on days you work from home (most of the time sweatpants still win) so you don't offend the other parents and administrators without having to constantly lie to keep the weirdness of your family from being known by the good folks at your child's school. Unfortunately, these specific set of circumstances collided and I found myself a co-conspirator in a fantastic imaginary world as designed by my three year old.

And so the story goes that one warm, sunny September afternoon I picked up Emma just like every other day (only this day was an office day so I was wearing appropriate, mature adult attire). Emma was playing near her new teacher. I smiled and did what I always do, prepare an elaborate scheme to get Emma to leave without throwing a fit. Today gave way to a surprisingly easy departure and we waved good-bye to her friends as we made our way into the school to grab her lunch box and the large quantity of art projects, beginning of the year school forms, and other random bits of paper that only ever make it to the front seat of my car. On this particular day, unknown to me, we were followed inside by her teacher taking another kid to the bathroom. This detail will become important later so keep it in the back of your mind while I host a brief intermission to provide a short back story.

Emma changed classrooms this year which meant all of her belongings in her cubby moved to a new cubby outside her new classroom. Now I'm not one to question cubby space usage, although I did notice a week or so ago that there was a box in her cubby that I hadn't put there. I questioned it at first but then it just blended into the wooden siding and it never crossed my mind again...until....

I reached in and grabbed that day's mountain of paper. Emma reached her hand in after and pulled out the box. It was a colorful box. It was heavy and made a noise when you shook it. "Look mommy it's our bird food!" "Oh you mean for the birds in your classroom." "No mommy, for OUR birds." Before I could even process what was going on...

*Enter Emma's teacher* "Oh yeah Emma told me you guys have birds. We don't have birds in the classroom any more so I gave her the food to take home to your birds." Had her teacher not been in the hallway at that exact moment my fried after work brain would have shaken off Emma's story and the bird food would have ended up back in her cubby, but at this point there was a lucid adult involved in this scenario. I also might not have mentioned this in detail but my brain logic and reasoning is diminished from working all day so at this point I'm not at my peak for adult conversation. Ok, maybe this is a lame excuse for what happened next because I have no idea how this happened except to assume it was a verbal reflex. Like at this point in my day I am reduced to responding "yeah yeah" to all of the cries of "look at me" and "watch this." So somehow having complete knowledge of the fact that we do not own birds as pets and never will with 4 dogs, I responded, "Oh yes, the birds. Thank you." It's like my mind went into autopilot and I entered the world of mindless agreement only this time I entered into the dangerous world of a toddler lie without fully understanding what was going on. I had somehow grabbed my toddler's outstretched hand and followed her through the looking glass. I had just let my child lead me into a very real lie. We had created imaginary birds.

Of course later that day I had to come clean with my husband when he came home and saw a box of bird seed sitting on the counter (pictures above.) After laughing hysterically for a while I got a bit of a (well deserved?) lecture. How could I lie about having birds and deprive some very deserving, well meaning birds from this food?!?! Little Billy or Jane at school might have birds that could have really used this food. At this point, I knew what had to be done but how does one undo a vicious lie about made up birds? I could not see a way out of this without dragging the Patterson name through the mud.

I ended up speaking to Emma about why she said we had birds. She said she wanted to get some birds to feed. I thought back to the birds at our local pool who we feed a couple of times and decided that was it, she had remembered our fine feathered friends at the pool and was just thinking of them. So in a way, we DID (?) have birds...to feed that is. Not a lie necessarily, just a small technicality. We did have birds to feed, just not any that reside at our house.

Well the next day when I went to pick Emma up, apparently she had shared our bird conversation with her teacher who is no fool (in fact being a preschool teacher she is sharp as a whip). Her stern, yet forgiving eyes looked up at me as I approached, "you guys don't have birds, do you?" There was no hiding and only a small window with which to save face. "No, we don't have birds but we do feed the birds outside."  "Ah, ok." And just like that, it was over. Emma has not been shunned and I managed to take a "misunderstanding" and revert it back to a happy ending Mary Poppins song. And next time, I will stop and think before blurting out whatever rolls off my tongue in a mindless afternoon haze.

Nighttime Difficulties

Well folks we haven’t discussed behavioral issues around these parts for a while so I guess we are overdue. To cut to the chase, basically, Emma is getting up in the middle of the night every night. I think she is in a phase where she is scared of the dark/ monsters but it has gotten so bad I am at a loss for what to do about it.

We changed her crib to a big girl bed a few months back and everything was going ok until probably the end of July. Ever since then, every night she has been getting out of her bed and either sleeping on the couch in the living room, bringing one of the dogs into her room to sleep, or coming into our room to get in our bed. We have had many, MANY discussions about the whole thing. She knows not to get out of bed. We have discussed at length the fact that monsters are not real. We originally also went back and forth about having a pull up on her at night but finally decided after changing wet sheets for several nights in a row that the pull up needed to stay on. She is comfortable with it on but that problem persists.

We got her one of those pillows that lights up and that seemed to work for a while but all of a sudden it was not enough to “keep the monsters away.” So we got her a little lamp. All that seemed to do was ensure she was wide awake in the wee hours. And I am now at my wits end. I am exhausted and sleep deprived and there seems to be no end in sight. We are going to see about getting a smaller night light to see if that works but after that I have no clue what to do. Everything I have read says just to walk the kid back to their bed until they get the hint. Well I’m hoping my kid will get the hint before college because I can’t live like this for the rest of my life and I know not getting an uninterrupted night of rest is not healthy for Emma.

Has anyone gone through this? Any recommendations?

We Made it This Far

Last week was Emma’s first week in the full time preschool classroom. She is still at the same school but has moved from the two year old classroom to the 3/4 year old classroom. Already after a week, I feel like her vocabulary has exploded even more. In fact just the other day, I asked her to come to the table for dinner. She spun around and looked at me and using air quotes said, "mommy I am working on a “project” right now. I will be there in a minute.” Ummm who did she learn air quotes from?  Don’t get me wrong, the 2 year olds were fun and all, but these older kids are real chatter boxes, full of questions and opinions. They are certain of themselves and hold such a refreshing (yet sometimes hard to work with) self-confidence. I hope they don’t let life ruin that wonderful quality.

I look back on the journey we went on to get here and while it has only been 3 years in the making, it has nonetheless been a journey of major milestones, heartbreaks, and incredible accomplishments. I remember back to Emma’s first few months at daycare and how I couldn’t bear to leave her. I would visit her on my lunch break every day and race to pick her up the minute the clock hit 3:30pm. She wasn’t a very good napper and she had to always be sitting up to see what was going on. In many ways, being a baby didn’t agree with Emma. I understand it wasn’t her thing but I also feel like I didn’t get enough time with her as a baby. She walked at 10 months and started talking right around then too. And as soon as she started moving she never stopped.

I remember the last time I went to visit her at daycare during my lunch break. She was going through separation anxiety and I knew I would not be able to stop in and see her during the day anymore because it caused both of us too much emotional stress. It was a sad but necessary moment. We finally cut the invisible umbilical cord to live our separate lives. It's true if you think about it no two people, no matter how much time they spend together encounter the same life experiences and I didn't realize it until after I had her but we were destined to live our own experiences. Drop offs went from easy to difficult, to nearly impossible, and then back to manageable again. Eventually, she moved into the toddler room. Sometimes I would catch a glimpse of her class at the playground out the window of my building. I loved watching her run and play and seeing her interact with the other kids. I got the opportunity to see her enjoying her day when I otherwise wouldn't have. The next thing I knew, she moved into her first two year old classroom. At this point, she had become fiercely independent. I remember going to see her for their Halloween party and she was upset that I came. I wasn’t supposed to be there I guess. Well, who really understands the logic of a two year old?

And finally now, she is in a preschool room at a new school where she will learn her letters and all sorts of new exciting things. They have a hamster, turtles, birds, and fish in her classroom. They will be doing show and tell once a week to develop their public speaking skills. They will go to the pumpkin patch and have a Christmas pageant and all sorts of wonderful other activities that big kids get to do. She has become so well adjusted to her school that I actually feel bad picking her up now because I am taking her away from time she has to play with her friends. She has real little friends! I never thought we would get to this point. I am definitely going to hold onto these next two years. I understand this is a special time before homework piles up after school and classmates become overwhelming, before she is just a tiny fish in a huge system, before the number of sports and instruments she plays is a big deal, before her thrift store clothes are no longer good enough, before she doesn’t want me to kiss her good bye. But for right now, I am proud of us all as a family, we made it this far.

Summer Vacation and the Cautionary Tale of Jungle Jim’s

I am so thrilled that this summer has been so positive and that I have the means/ energy to blog about our summer vacation which I did not have last year. This year we visited the Eastern Shore (Delaware to be exact.) Last year we went to the Gulf Coast which was amazing as well. But the best part of this year’s trip? Going with family. It was great to spend time with my mom, my sister, her husband, and my niece. The week really flew by so fast and I find myself daydreaming of the ocean breeze and warm sand when I’m trapped in my cubical under the harsh fluorescents. It really reminds me that sitting inside all day long to work is totally unnatural but it’s a means to a way so anyways…

We arrived to the beach on Saturday afternoon and despite leaving at 8am in the morning, it ended up taking us almost 4 hours to get there rather than the normal 2.5. Needless to say everyone else was ready to head out of town the same time we were. Also to note, 4 hours in a car with a 3 year old when you lose the remote for the dvd player in the car is no fun. I only heard second hand/ saw the aftermath because I was peacefully cruising along in my mom’s car for the ride. Sorry Emma, not that I didn’t want to ride with you in daddy's car but Nana needed me to drive (and maybe it was nice not to have to dig out snacks and crayons every 2 minutes).

The house we stayed at was so spectacular, Emma called it the GRAND new house (instead of brand new) and proceeded to tell us she never wanted to leave. With an open floor plan, large island, and jetted tub in the master bathroom (also duel shower heads in the shower) mommy didn’t want to leave either. This also added fuel to my redecorating our house fire (post on that hopefully to come.) I almost felt bad because I know in my heart of hearts that unless some magical lottery winnings pop up, we will never own a home like that. But I know it’s not the house itself that makes it a home but rather the family in it.

 (But just in case you were wondering, here is just PART of the incredible bathroom. So big all of us and the dog fit in there with room to spare. Yes, it's bigger than our current bedroom.)

Of course we hit up the beach almost every day and the cousins played together well for the most part. I can’t wait until Emma’s little cousin can run and play with her even more! The other big thing we did was go on the rides at the boardwalk. Last year, when we visited the beach for a few days with friends, Emma was unsure about the rides. This year…well she could not run and hop on them fast enough. She rode every ride there she was big enough to ride…twice! Seems as though we have a thrill seeker on our hands. Thankfully, but somewhat terrifyingly, Emma is not scared of heights. I’m grateful because I am deathly afraid of heights and I feel like I’ve missed out on some experiences because I have mild panic attacks even one floor up and I don’t want my kid going through that. On the other hand, it worries me that she has no fear, like um you should not be thrusting your body out of a high flying ride…

There was a gorgeous little playground on the other side of the house that had a turtle pond and we spend quite a bit of time there as well. There were lots of fish and probably 20 or so turtles (even a giant grandpa turtle!) Emma had to go visit them almost every day!

So besides that, we spent our time eating a ton and walking around town a whole bunch and that pretty much sums up summer vaca 2015…except for the story of Jungle Jim’s...

It wouldn’t be a Patterson/ DeCaro vaca without some oddity encroaching on an otherwise mundane trip. And this oddity is a duzie…it is none other than the mysterious curse of Jungle Jim’s. Now I’m quite sure if you google it a picture will pop up…heck maybe even a website dedicated to “fun beach side attractions” might rear its head but don’t be fooled. There are those of us who know the truth about Jungle Jim’s, the sad, scary truth, and I’m here to share it with you. It is a cautionary tale so beware. I should probably start this story back from the beginning…15 years ago, with two girls and a dream…

The story starts with my sister and her high school friend to be exact, two innocent vacation goers who were looking for some water fun that did not involve going in the freezing cold, choppy, shark infested (eh ok might have put that one in there for dramatic effect) waves of the Atlantic. It was any normal kid’s dream really…enjoying the non-salty, non-threatening waters of a water park. The first year they drove down the attraction filled main drag leading to the beach they saw it, Jungle Jim’s (or so the sign read.) From a great distance, erected into the cloudless summer sky, the monstrous, multi-colored water slides can be spotted defying gravity, magically floating above the Earth. And much like the gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretel, the park beckoned them to come. Well it turned out that that fateful year, one thing lead to another and before the girls realized it, their week at the beach was over and it was time to go home. They never made it to the water park. Somehow, with all of its magical, kid friendly appeal, Jungle Jim’s had fallen off their radar. It was almost as if it was a dream, something they conjured up in the moment. They ended up leaving the beach and with it, Jungle Jim’s unexplored, in their rear view mirror, without too much of a thought. It was all but forgotten.

I would discuss the girl’s trip to the beach the following year in as much detail but the end result was the same…the promises of refreshing, man made water fun, while high on their priority list of things to do…never. got. done. And every year as they rode out of town in that old blue Honda Civic the same haunting words were uttered, “Well, we’ll go for sure next year.” And yet year after year, Jungle Jim’s was discussed but never visited. It became a silent, colorful shrine to the unknown. A place full of untapped potential and wonder that no one would completely understand. It almost seemed like the place, well, wasn’t real. For a not so well known philosopher once said “If you don’t go to Jungle Jim’s does it even exist?”

Fast forward the story to the present day to a pleasant extended family vacation to the beach. A new generation of girls takes the place of the teenagers. These girls, toddlers, and their doting fathers found themselves in the same dreamy vacationer frame of mind...they wanted refreshing water fun for their children away from the burdensome ocean. A place where their daughters could frolic freely without any concern for their safety from the unpredictable elements of the ocean. Finally, one of the dads casually says,"I saw a place on the drive in...Jungle Jim's...I think we should take the girls." Slowly, my sister and I glanced at each other sideways. Our eyes met in a look of all knowing horror. And in a twisted tone of disgust, my sister spoke what we know to be the truth..."Jungle Jim's...DOES NOT EXIST." 

This of course led to a 6 day battle of the spouses. "Of COURSE it exists! We saw it! There's a website for it too!" "That means nothing!" I shouted back. "Like the quest for the Holy Grail, Jungle Jim's is a mystery to never be solved. Something that for all intents and purposes SEEMS tangible but is not there." "It is a mirage that waits you in the East Coast sand." And my sister explained it best of all, "Jungle Jim's is the matrix, get too close and you will see that it is a figment of your imagination!" 

On day two of the trip the husbands were determined. By day four, they were still set on going, our voices falling on def ears. By day 6.5, something happened. A quiet had settled over the house. And just like every year before...Jungle Jim's was...forgotten. Something that meant so much suddenly vanished from the realm of possibility without anyone realizing where the desire to go went. My sister and I had known what was to come. And once again at the end of that fateful week...we left Jim's in the dust. 

So there you have it, a little long winded but the truth, the cautionary tale of Jungle Jim's.

What Was Going to be a Prologue

I thought I would prelude this post with a few quick updates, mainly, we got a computer! It is used/ two years old but I am super thrilled to finally be able to post pictures again and hopefully post more often! Blogging on a phone is really difficult and small, everything it so freakin small. Also, I have been doing some other various projecty type things. I am attempting to learn how to sew. My first attempt was not a complete failure but I learned my lesson and will not be “eye balling” patterns going forward. I made Emma a planets dress (pictured below because yeah bad ass computer haver here).

I started working from home two days a week which is awesome however… I was sitting at home one day and  the walls of my abode started attacking my peripheral, and all of a sudden, I had a freak out because the house is a cluttered mess and literally the walls were closing in and I couldn’t take it anymore!  So later that day, I halted everything and in mid-dinner prep, I decided all of the pictures on the walls needed to come down and new art work needed to go up. I painted these all in like an hour and a half because my hands just needed to move and create.

I’m somewhat pleased with them although I am sad my white paint ran out so I might do some touch ups later after a trip to the craft store. I am close to pulling the trigger on bright colorful pillows for the couches. I am also
on the hunt for a bench to replace the huge comfy chair that I love so but never gets used. We keep it covered so the dogs don’t get on it and ruin it (in fact if you have ever noticed chairs on top of furniture in my pictures in the past it is to save everything from the dogs.) So basically we have had this huge lump just sitting in our living room for over a year and it takes up so much space and we basically use it to throw junk on so it’s a huge junk lump and I finally snapped and it HAS TO GO. Other various organizational projects will happen in time around the rest of the house but I’m hoping this new organizational energy is being gifted to me from the universe as a sign that we will be moving soon. As in my urgent need to declutter will perfectly sync up with finding a new house. By soon I mean within the next 6 months to a year. The clock is ticking and we really only have t-minus two years until Emma is ready for kindergarten aka: we need to be in a better school district by then. Once again, I have been lazily clinging onto our house for the convince of the location only. There is no way we can move anywhere nearby as everything is way to pricey around these parts.

Once we move it will be crappy commuting for all and I’m really REALLY trying to avoid that. I am planning on writing a farewell to our neighborhood once we leave or possibly a post on the advantages of living in the neighborhood we do but that’s for another day. Anywho this prologue seems to have turned into a post in and of itself as I describe in detail my homebound psychotic meltdown and subsequent ramblings on about the geography of where I live (my cartography skills are amazing I know.)

We are getting ready to depart for a week to the beach and while I’m hoping to write, I am also hoping to rest, to not stare at any computer screens, and to eat lots of boardwalk food. Have a good week everyone!

3

Once again it happened, my kid turned another year older. I reread my post from her 2 year old birthday and it seemed like that birthday was just yesterday. It seems time has merged into the fast lane and I have little chance of catching up with it. Maybe it’s a good thing since I can’t seem to remember my age for the life of me, I’ve given up on holding onto my own youth, but find myself now chasing after Emma’s. It’s been quite a year. A talkative 2 year old grew into a three year old who needs to know how things work and understand the concept behind something. I can no longer just tell her the neighbor is mowing his lawn, I have to explain that grass grows and how it grows and how as a community we are responsible for keeping that growth under control. The “whys” seem never ending but I love them. I want her to question everything and everyone. She also grasps concepts quickly and her vocabulary is out of control. She speaks like an adult most of the time. The other day she looked up from eating and exclaimed, "This sandwich is fantastic!" And now she uses fantastic to describe everything...and I love it! 

She also has a really goof sense of humor. She makes funny voices and loves playing goofy games were we make up ridiculous words.I mean who sticks crayons in their toes on an hour long car ride...yeah my kid :)

Three seems to also be the age when independence and defiance set in. I am beginning to understand I have to let go a little bit more and let her make mistakes on her own in order to learn. I do this to a point, only telling her no when danger is involved, which of course it’s involved in everything she wants to do. Run across the street, jump down a set of concrete stairs, stick play doh up her nose, jump off the highest point at the playground…the boundary pushing seems to never stop. I feel like these next few years will turn me into more of a veteran mom. I’m at least hoping I can make it through the mental toddler minefields. 

Three also brought the glorious potty training (well more like 2.5 or so)! There are still kinks to work out…yes you always have to wash your hands, no it’s not sanitary to bring food into the bathroom, put your pants on when you are done, and so on. She still wears a pull-up on every night but one diaper a night verses 10-12 in a day from when she was a newborn…I’ll take it. Her father has been the champion of introducing new independence for her. I was very worried and nervous to change over her crib into a big girl bed and was surprised that daddy took the lead and one day when I came home from the store, the crib was no more. I know we could not leave her in there forever but I winced inside as that part of babyhood was gone forever. Her dad has also been really great at working with her to get herself dressed and brush her teeth by herself. I had been setting out her outfits for the week since she was born mostly because it was one less thing to have to do in the morning as we ran out the door. Well dada convinced me to give that up, one less thing for me to do and one more opportunity for Emma to gain independence and pick out her own outfits. I really thought I would be the one pushing for her to do more on her own but I guess a part of me wants to baby her forever (plus it is WAY faster to get out the door if I get her dressed ect.) I know that these little pieces of independence are going to add up to not needing mommy anymore which is simultaneously wonderful and sad.

That all being said, here are some firsts and favorites from year two:

First Plane Ride:

First time Ice Skating:

First time going to a new school:

First school pageant:

First time going fishing (mommy’s first time too):

First time going on a Farris Wheel:

First time seeing fireworks (didn't get a picture but it DID happen!)

First Baseball game:

Love playing outside:

Love doing arts and crafts:

Love cooking/ baking:

Love playing instruments:

Love being a superhero:

Love Trucks:

Love gymnastics:

Love Family:

The Third Birthday

Well folks I am pleased to announce (however late) that all people involved survived Emma’s third birthday party! In fact, I think it was a super enjoyable experience and less stressful than last year! That’s always a win in my book. Actually I should back up to Emma’s actual birthday, which was on June first. I wanted her to celebrate on her actual birthday (her planned party was two weeks later due to swim team schedules at the pool). Thus began my long drawn out thought process on what to bring for afternoon snack/ bday treat to Emma’s school to celebrate. Not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but there are several kids with allergies in Emma’s preschool class which make it difficult to figure out what food to bring for any holiday or event. I was initially going to go the cupcake/ cookie route but it’s hit or miss with gluten free baked goods and I wasn’t feeling brave enough to go down that path. Fruit crossed my mind a few times as well but I could just see the looks of disgust and open mouthed shock from the kids as I pulled open baggies of grapes and strawberries. Finally, I came up with the solution that was the most simple, flavored frozen water (aka popsicles)! I actually took it up a notch and opted for Italian ice! Man am I glad Emma has a summer(ish) birthday! Italian ice every year from now on!

I also decided not to over think her present this year. She had been doing a lot of independent play about super heroes and such so I decided to make her a super Emma costume! I almost hit up the working mom’s friend Etsy but in the end, I braved the sewing machine and I’m so glad I did! I’m really considering making more for us to all go as super heroes for Halloween! We shall see…

I think having a little bit of extra time this year until Emma’s party helped. I also knew what to expect somewhat from last year and decided not to deviate too much from the menu (except to include some allergy friendly options.) I thankfully only had to go to one Costco for the cake and pizza, and I made everything else that morning. It was pretty straightforward and I only freaked out once when we went to pick up the cake/ pizza from Costco to discover I had lost the Costco card! Of all days to lose the darn card I lose it the day of the party! But being a friendly type place, Costco had us back on track in no time and even that potentially stress inducing lost card disaster seemed like a small blip.

Emma picked out the party theme herself. For months she had talked about nothing but having a Doc McStuffins birthday (google it if you are not familiar but it is all the rage with the 3 year old set). Then the day came to pick out the decorations and she ended up coming VERY close to picking out a Monster’s Inc. bday theme (poor McStuffins got trampled by some loveable looking troll things). But then it happened….(que angelic mood music). I’m not sure if the light bounced off a piece of glitter at the right moment or if the dreamy princess eyes locked onto Emma’s but all of a sudden, Emma made a b-line for none other than the Frozen décor! It was as if she suddenly found her way into the arms of an old friend and OF COURSE she had to have an Anna and Elsa birthday! I was sort of hoping Frozen was over but nope, apparently no movie obsession is complete without an afternoon drenched in paisley pink and turquoise décor with a thousand cheerfully mischievous eye balls staring back at you from cheap plastic. Of course I one upped the party store decorations…the more glitter the merrier as far as I’m concerned.  This year I did the annual bday banner, which came out awesome but literally took weeks. And then the team of M. Patterson and D. Patterson (mommy and daddy) churned out another Frozen castle masterpiece to complete the ambiance.

The actual logistics of the party set up ect. went fairly well. Although the old adage you pay for what you get rang true as I rushed to set up and clean-up (with 15 minute only grace periods for both.) It basically felt like throwing food onto a table and throwing decorations at people to set up and then cramming everything into bags at the last minute and stuffing them into the car. For the sake of laughing at myself, if you really want to know what goes on before you see the smiling faces and are greeted with open arms at a birthday party then hear you go….

Swimming went really well too….until someone puked in the pool and they had to shut it down to clean it. Luckily, our party peeps had been swimming for a little bit so by that point it was a good time to go home. I have to say that this year went by faster than the last as did the party, but I was so grateful to actually get a few minutes to chat with friends. Emma really enjoyed herself this year at her party and I’m so glad she did. Next year will finally be the year that Emma choses who comes to her birthday party. She actually ended up requesting to have her friends from school come this year but it was after I had already sent out invites to everyone else. I’m sad but also happy she is growing up and making her own choices. Cheers to 3!