December - pre Christmas :)

December.

I love and loath this month.

It is already ridiculously busy with all the Christmas hustle and bustle, but we also have two birthdays to shop and plan for (Jemma on the 15th and Brandon on the 24th) every year...and then this year, it was just completely INSANE!

The first Sunday in December, we FINALLY blessed Emmy.  I made her dress.  With NO pattern.  I'm not completely insane...I actually had one I used when I made Jemma's, but we waited so long to bless Emmy that it was too small.  I figured that out after I had sewn the entire bodice.  Typical.  So, I  improvised and used a dress in her closet to try to get the right size for the bodice, and just winged the rest.  Eesh.  So much stress over a little dress they wear ONCE!

Anyhoo - she looked darling!  And, because we waited so long to bless her, she had already outgrown  her baby acne and looked 10x cuter than if we had blessed her the month before.  :)  I'm just sayin'!

I LOVE her cheeks.  So.  Much.

Jemma turned 8 this year, so that compounded the birthday craze - it was a party year for her, plus we decided she could get her ears pierced, PLUS she got baptized! - And broke her wrist amid all of that.  Awesome!  She was pretty excited about her pink cast until it started itching...and smelling.  Fun stuff.

She was super brave when she got her ears pierced and has been very responsible about cleaning and caring for her ears ever since.  No tears for this girl!  Brandon was the only one to tear up.  hahaha!  It still weirds me out to see my little girl with earrings.  Makes her look so much older!  

Jemma wanted a Rainbow Magic Fairy birthday party...it's a book series that Jemma LOVES.  She had quite the collection.  :)

The girls (and Carter - Brandon was going to take the boys to the park or to hit golf balls since the birthday was pretty girly, but it was raining...) decorated their goodie bags, made bracelets, painted nails and got fairy eye make-up.  :)

Jemma made out like a little bandit and has a supply of earrings that I might have to dip into - tons of cute stuff!  :)

Left:  Jemma and Ri-Lee  Right:  Jemma and Kylie

Jemma and McKinley

Aubrey, Jemma and Courtney

Jemma really wanted a cake in the shape of a "J" - I tried to talk her into all of these other cute rainbow inspired cakes I saw on pinterest, but she just kept saying, "no thanks...I just want a "J" cake".  So, a "J" cake she got.  I didn't get a close-up of it.  :/  Not too big a shame since cake decorating has never been a strong point for me.  :)

We let Jemma open her birthday gifts from us the morning of her birthday, mostly because she was receiving something she could use that day at church - cutest, most sweet girl ever - every time I asked her for ideas for her birthday, she would tell me she just really wanted her own set of scriptures.  What 8 year old child asks for that?  I think I expected I would get them when I turned 8 because I was getting baptized, but I don't remember having them on my birthday wish list!  Anyway,  we did get her a personalized set of scriptures and tote to carry them in for church and  her reaction when she opened them was priceless!

Makes me cry just thinking about how GENUINELY happy she was to receive that gift.  What a gem this girl is!!!  So glad she's part of our family and so grateful for the example she sets for the rest of us!