Emily's 10th Birthday!

Emily, our youngest child turned 10 this week, on March 17th - yes, she was born on St. Patrick's Day. She is energetic and socially butterflistic. She never saw a stranger, and is a blessing to all she knows. She loves all physical activities that she has tried, loves all games, and will talk your ear off if you'll let her. She is almost always laughing or crying. She doesn't do well when there is no scheduled activity. Almost every night at the supper table, Emily has two questions; 1) "Can we have ice cream?" and 2)"So, what are we doing tonight?" I always tease her by replying to the second question with the same words every night, "We are doing it - you know, eat supper, then do the dishes, then take baths. Any more questions?"

We took this picture for a particular reason; in Janet's childhood, it was a tradition for the children's birthdays to have an old 8mm (before Super 8!) silent movie of the birthday party, and each year the child (parents did it for the babies) would hold up how many fingers, so that they would always know what year it was. We were remembering that when I took this picture, and asked Emily to hold up her fingers to show that she is ten. I made it sepia, just to look old fashioned, even though those old silent movies were Kodacolor!

Emily loves to have friends, and this year she has gotten acquainted with Amy. When they can be together, they love it, but several times a day they are online - emailing, google-talking (chat session), or on the phone. They each seem good for the other.

On her birthday, our friends, the Cruzes, (only three of them were available), came for supper and birthday cupcakes and ice cream, and of course, energetic game playing.

On March 19th, in honor of Emily's birthday, Amy, her brother Daniel, and Emily's cousins Hadassah, Sarah, and Kwani, along with Jeffrey and Jason went ice skating at an indoor rink near us. They mostly had a great time, though they pulled a few muscles. (Sorry Sarah, we failed to get you in a picture!)