Emma's Baptism

This sweet, beautiful girl had a wonderful day on April 20th, 2013.  She was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  

A friend of ours who was raised in the church until she was 12 was quizzing her a bit to see if she understood what she was doing and called to tell me how impressed she was by Emma's answers.  Phew!  Emma is super smart.  She has had all 13 Articles of Faith memorized since she was 6 years old  and loves going to church.  She is very sensitive to the spirit and tries to lift others and be more like Jesus Christ. She understands the power of prayer and is learning the importance of reading her scriptures.  

This girl is packed full of faith.  She is trusting and loving.  She loves helping children and is considering being a teacher when she grows up, but first and foremost, she wants to be a mom--and a good cook.  I can't help but be flattered.

Emma loves her father and would do anything for him.  She had her baptism planned way back by the end of January.  She asked Steve to baptize her, Braxton and Grandma Alleman to speak, Evan and Carter to pray, her grandpas to be the witnesses, Aunt Mandi to lead the singing, and Grandma Bird to play the piano.  We also found a beautiful song "My Baptism Covenants" for all 5 of the kids to sing.  It was beautiful.

Emma is so loved.  Her baptism was held at the stake center, which has never been done in our ward for over 10 years, but the usual building was occupied.  Still, many friends and family ventured out to support her.  When I thanked people for sacrificing their Saturday afternoon to come, they would reply, "It's for Emma.  We had to come."  Emma has drawn pictures and made cards for certain men in our ward and wrapped them around her little finger (Bishop Holyoak, Courtney Redmond, Dan Oscarson).  My sister, Mandi and her family came from St. Louis as well as Steve's sister, Julene and her kids from Indianapolis.  My parents also flew out for the special occasion.  I feel awful that the Birds aren't in any pictures, but they left too quickly.

So happy Grandpa and Grandma Alleman could come.  It wouldn't be the same without them. It's a wonderful tradition that they've decided to be at every baptism of their grandchildren--no matter how far.

My magnificent eternal family!  We are so blessed!

This trio is unstoppable.  Our neighbor Sydney loves playing with both girls.  They always get along and have a great time together.

Emma's cousin, Max, really wanted a picture with her.  What a sweetie!

My girl.

Emma's Birthday Party

Emma knew she wanted a "late-over" (a modified sleepover) for her birthday party for over a year.  So, we invited a million of her friends and had them come over for some fun.

 We started with decorating pillow cases with fabric markers.  Some of the girls drew designs, some had all the girls autograph their pillowcases.  It was cute!

Then it was time for crepes.  We had stuff for dinner crepes (meat, cheese, tomatoes, etc.) or dessert crepes (strawberries, bananas, nutella, apples & caramel, peanut butter, whip cream, sprinkles, the works!)  I thought they looked delicious.

 While everyone finished up, the balloons became the entertainment and we actually released 24 balloons into the sky with a wish for each of us.

 Then our dance diva came over (Emily Oscarson) and taught the girls a dance to Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me."

 Cupcakes and ice cream and loud singing

Then they all went to the basement and camped out to watch the movie "Wreck It Ralph".  I popped popcorn and took candy downstairs for the next hour and a half.  It was like a bunch of velociraptors. The contents of the bowls would be gone within minutes! Girls sure do love their sugar!  I hope they all had fun because Emma did.  She said it was the best party EVER! Score! 

Easter with Kool-aid

Easter was so fun this year.  We decided to dye our Easter eggs with Kool-aid (thank you, Pinterest!).  It was great!  The colors were beautiful (except Grape) and our table smelled fruity instead of like vinegar.  I would definitely do it again.

 I also had everyone use a sharpie and put their names on their favorite egg so that there would be no confusion when it came time for the Egg Roll.

 Here are the best 12

Our Easter bunny hid all 125 eggs around the house!

After the hunt, it was time to clean up for the important part--church

All slicked and ready.  Carter is sporting his pink tie that the Easter bunny brought him in his basket.

I call this pose my "cell phone bars". 

I caught Lizzie organizing her candy in rows.  I think she may be a math genius. :)

 Here she is kicking Grandpa's butt at the egg roll. She totally cracked his egg. :)

 There was a lot of trash-talking between these two.

 My egg stayed strong and remained whole.

But Braxton's Rumplestiskin egg reminded everyone that "Magic Comes with a Price."  He is a little obsessed with the TV show "Once Upon a Time", but it came through for him this time as he won our family brackets.

"With great power comes great responsibility"--Evan is off the hook this year since spiderman was overtaken by Emma's Princess egg.

He's bummed he didn't win, but this face makes him look creepy.  I'm glad it wasn't my egg that took his out. 

 Lizzie rocked it again to the semi-finals.

 The grand finale was a beautiful carrot cake cheesecake.  Mmmmmm!

I guess I was feeling fancy cuz I even embellished the top! Yes, I surprise myself sometimes.

Springfield, IL

After Minneapolis, we gave our dad a day to get caught up at work and then we left again on another mini-trip.  Our house was having its floors redone and we had to be out for 24 hours, so we decided to go to Springfield, IL and the fabulous Lincoln Museum.  Our first stop was his tomb.  We got to take the tour inside and feel the reverence surrounding his burial place.

 We need some luck, so we all rubbed his nose, but Lizzie took it one step further...

 Inside the museum, pictures are only allowed in a few areas, so we took advantage of getting a few Lincoln/Bird family photos.

Lizzie loved dressing up and playing pretend with the old-fashioned clothing and in the rustic kitchen.

Carter had to show off his "lincoln log" home while wearing the Lincoln mask.

Evan was excited to be almost as tall as Robert.

Emma had fun in every room.

Evan also demonstrated how to play with many of the toys.  I guess all our historical site vacations are paying off!  They are learning something!

Carter got to meet up with his good friend.  When these 2 are together they are constantly laughing.  Too cute!

Funny story.  Carter thinks he's pretty tough and can handle hot things.  He set himself up for a hot sauce dare at the Mexican restaurant we ate dinner at and was surprised how hot HOT really is. :)