4 Years Already

"I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk..., I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head."
Ezekiel 16:10-12

Emma got to get her pictures taken on her actual birthday which was a huge hit for her because it meant she got to dress up and go to a store which was almost a present in itself. (She would like to wear gorgeous clothes everywhere we go, but sadly she has a more practical-ish mommy who won't let her.)

I was surprised at how red her dress turned out in the pictures. In real life it's more of a purple burgundy and less of a scarlet burgundy, but I'm not going to complain about something being too red. We went back to the same studio that did Ricka's pictures and to my delight, the same photographer was able to take Emma's pictures as well. She took one look at Emma, and came up with about six stunning pictures in less than three minutes. That always makes it hard to choose when you have to narrow it down to only one or two poses.

But narrow it down, we did, and I ended up ordering a sheet of wallets in two different poses from the package pose. This picture with the white background and the big one in the collage below.

Emma is always busy - usually organizing her siblings in complex plays or playing dress up/quick change act where she appears waltzing past me in a different outfit every 5 minutes. Some days (usually when the older kids are at school), I'll be at my computer and suddenly I'll notice she's on some great story/narrative with Butler as her faithful assistant - him either being the quietly listening audience or (on cue from her, of course) interactive participant. This is when I try to type out as much as I can hear/understand. Here's one I recorded last week:

Emma: Ok, Butler, can you get dat wittle chair?
Butler: Yah.
Emma: Ok, come with me. Hurry up! Clickaly! (quickly, they march to the living room with plasic chairs from the bird room)
Ok, go on that side, it's meeting time. Sit down. I gonna get hats... (she darts off to the bandanna basket)
Butler: I get hah too!
Emma: No. You don't need a hat.
Butler: K.
(they get seated at the coffee table)
Emma(whispering): Butler, pick a song.
(he starts whisper-singing 'Jesus Loves Me')
Emma: No! wait, we have to pray first. (He stops singing, she prays)
Emma: (in a strong preaching voice): A man told Noah to put da animals into da ark.
And da elephants went into da ark first.
Can you hear me?
(aside to Butler)No.
Butler: No!
Emma: And nobody did could unnerstand.
It was very sad. Nobody was laughing.
Butler (sympathetically): Yah.
Emma: Noah was right by da other people.
He was dare and Noah put da animals in da ark.
God made a rainbow and...
(voice change and volumed as to be coming from the back of the congregation)
30.... Chapter 1.
(another voice change - closer to the front)
289!
(normal voice again) Ok!
(and they sing something resembling a Gregorian chant).

And it's time to go get the kids from school... so I should post this before I get distracted again.