Emma is a Young Woman!

Emma turned 12 on the 22nd (yesterday).  She is excited to be in Young Womans finally.  :)   She was a bit nervous about going into YW but, the YW president came and talked with Emma.  She gave Ems her Personal Progress book along with a ton of other goodies.  Emma has been wearing her YW necklace every time we go anywhere now.   I also told her now that she is in YW, she is allowed to wear make up.  Just not too thick of make up!  haha  I had found her some sparkle eyeshadow and she was excited to wear it yesterday.  It's not too sparkly and not too noticeable.  :)

She received a lot of gifts.  Mainly because I tend to wrap EVERYTHING!  haha  I know she likes opening gifts, so I wrap everything into as individualized packages as possible.  This year she was lucky enough to unwrap a few gifts that she picked out and was told to "forget about until her birthday".  She did a good job with her surprised face.  Mike didn't even know.  haha

 This was a particularly fun gift.  The boys helped with the wrapping and Jake was determined that this tiny gift should have a big bow.  Emma made a comment about it being small with a huge bow on it.  Mike then said something about "Emma, you never know.  There could be a huge diamond in there."  I shot him a "What are you doing" look.  Once Emma opened it, she found a big diamond heart necklace with a pair of diamond earrings.  They don't have to know that I found it on sale months ago.  haha  The look on Emma and Elaina's face was priceless!

Emma made out like a bandit.  She got a new church bag, the diamond set, some pendants for her necklace making (she has been making a lot of beautiful necklaces and bracelets lately), a sewing kit for a pillow case, new shoes, and some red sugar crystals for her cupcake making (she has enjoyed getting creative with making cupcakes as well).  

Then, being the super nice mom I am, I let Emma decorate her birthday cake.  :)  Actually, I was going to do it, but she really wanted to.  She is getting really creative lately.  I am not very creative, but I try to encourage her whenever I can.  She is a LOT more creative than I will every pretend to be.  :)

I am thinking I will have her make the cakes from now on.  ;)

We got new furniture!

So, it's not new to us, and we've had it for a couple of weeks, but we are SUPER happy!  Alright.  Josh isn't happy, but the rest of us are.  Josh says he doesn't like all the furniture (in the kitchen and living room) because we are taking care of it.  In other words, he isn't allowed to destroy it.  haha  Actually, I don't know why he is upset.  He isn't the one who usually destroys things in our house.  :)