Happy NanaDay!

Emma & Thane have the best Nana ever. She is the epitome of the storybook Nana that I used to dream about knowing...always smiling, singing songs in a sunshiney voice, a house that always has yummy candies and foods , and of course, all of the favorite toys. She is always ready to hold a baby, change a diaper, or feed a hungry tummy anytime of the day and does it with love. Emmie and Thane have only known life living a half hour from their Nana and Papa. Life is full when you have a Nana to love and love you back!
Mom, we love you. We are SO GLAD we get to live near you and share these precious days with you. We love your example and your love for your family. Thank you for being our support and our favorite escape on the weekends. We love you SO MUCH!

Going back in the year...our visit to Grampa's house in January!

While Spence was in Cambodia,

Emmie, Thane and I went to NY to visit Dad. We had a great time with Grampa even in the cold weather( less than 10 degrees). Emmie went on daily walks with Grampa and Ace. We also got to read stories, scriptures, dance and sing songs with Grampa. He was a really fun Grampa for Emmie and Thane--this was an extraordinary trip.

We played outside when we could and we made up games to play inside. Grampa even played SORRY and Memory with us. One of the best parts was also getting to see the Giles. Karyn, Andre, Nan, Andy, Logan and Jacob taught Emmie how to ride down the driveway on a bike in the snow...Daredevils??!..and how to take a hard hit and then shake it off. We love being with family and loved being together in NY while Daddy Spence was gone. It made missing him on the other side of the world a little easier.

The times when we were outside sledding it warmed up to a balmy 13-15 degrees, hence all the pictures are of totally covered children. We loved working on wood, playing in the snow & getting warm afterwards making yummy varieties of lemon treats. I also enjoying going to the temple with Dad and Karyn in a session, and doing family sealings for Great Aunt Ruth and others. We ate well, worked hard and played late every night.

We hope to plan another trip to Grampa's house soon. I think I am feeling brave enough to fare the long journey again but it is a long way. I love my Dad and love that my kids love him and know him. Emmie asked me yesterday if we could have him come over for family night. I told her we could invite him but he probably wouldn't make it since it takes at least two planes to get to our house. Wouldn't that be great if we could just staple the states together and visit across the country that fast?

Emmie's Very Special Day

What a wonderful 3rd birthday Emma had! In preparation for the big day we asked Emma what things she wanted and not surprisingly, she had some specific, and peculiar requests. She told her mother that she wanted "Cinderella fruit snacks and a pink flute". (She still hasn't seen the princess movies.) As for the celebration, she wanted to play with her friends and have a "chocolate butterfly cake".
It has become a mini tradition in our house for special days to start with breakfast-in-bed. This was a first for Emma since she recently made the transition to her "big girl" bed. We could tell by the look on her face that she thought it was the greatest. Not only did her breakfast have her favorites: waffles, grapefruit and chocolate-banana shake, but it also had the Cinderella fruit snacks she was wanting. (I have no idea how Saralyn found them).
I took the afternoon off and joined all the moms at an indoor play land for a little cake and play with several of Emma's friends. They had a BLAST in that place and it was lots of fun being together. We sang to Emma and we all shared delicious butterfly cupcakes Saralyn and Emma made. (Saralyn again worked her motherly magic and turned an ordinary cupcake into a butterfly masterpiece with just some jellybeans, frosting,licorice, sparkles, and pretzels...she is amazing.)
Emma has the greatest group of little friends and we have grown close to their families. It will be difficult seeing so many of them moving away this summer. We will miss being close to them, though luckily a few are sticking around with us for a while.
After 3/4 of the family got a quick and necessary nap we went to the community center for some family fun in the pool. This was TD's first experience in the pool and he seemed to love it. We all had fun swimming around and going down the water slide. Emma even got her face painted...she loved it.
The Campbell Clan had a marvelous day. Emma loved her "wonderful day" and felt very special. In the 2 days since her birthday, she has asked at least 5 times, "Is it still my birthday?"
We love her so much and she has been a very special blessing in our family.
Thank you to all the friends and family who made our little girl's birthday wishes come true. We love you!

You are my Sunshine Emmie! Happy 3rd Birthday to you!

Emma Nanette is a joy. Some people scatter sunshine wherever they go, Emma makes her own!

She has sunshine to give away and still manages to have plenty left! She loves people,family, plants, animals, strangers, friends, talking, singing, brushing her teeth and well, pretty much she LOVE'S everything.

I get excited when I get to wake up with her in the morning or get her up after a nap because I know she will be excited to do something( pretty much anything!), and she will tell me about her ideas with so much anticipation! How did I ever live without her?

Her smile has captivated me since she was born. She has always been expressive and has a flare for drama. She is observant and a good listener. She often uses words that she hears such as "my sister-in-law", and "actually". She loves to be a mommy...to her dolls, to her brother,and to her daddy and mommy sometimes too.

Emma has a tender heart. As a tiny little almost 18 month-2 year old she helped me through a tough year in 2007. My heart was pretty heavy for a while and she would often play with me and tell me, "I love you Mama." She would also on occasion bring me a picture of the Savior from her room and hand it to me, as she told me that she loved me, and reminded me that He did too. Yup...she is a sweetheart, with a HUGE, compassionate heart!

She loves dancing, all music, and songs. Unsolicited, she will sing "I am a Child of God" or "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission" in any supermarket, bank, or Costco. Street preaching can be done by children...especially ones who like to be the leader.

Emma has always been creative. She loves to paint and get messy anyway she can. She loves to make drawings and collages, and her imagination is ENDLESS! Often she plays with whatever she has on hand and make them into friends, babies, animals etc. Just today, in the car, I heard her saying "No fighting you two, you are not being nice. Let's see how we can work this out." I asked, "Emmie, who are you talking to? Who is being unkind?"

She said, "oh, I was just pretendin'. (giggle giggle) I was talking to my feet!" (Eruption of giggles from the back seat and simultaneous kicking in my back.)

She also makes up games. One of my favorite's is called Sleeping Beauty. She has never seen the movie mind you, but nonetheless, it is very real to her! We played a lot when I came home from the hospital with Thane. She would get me blankets and tell me to put my head down on a pillow and I was permitted to close my eyes. Sometimes she would comb my hair and put every single hair thing she owned in my hair. Other times she would let me rest and wake me up with a kiss. Maybe we can play that game again soon...

Emma is the sad police in our house. If Thane even looks slightly uncomfortable, she will find a way to try to cheer him up--tickling, laughing, and telling him stories. She has been great at finding a toy to help him and will report to me the entire time she thinks he is showing even a hint of discomfort. (It takes A LOT to make TD cry.) Her first reaction if he seems sad is to make him laugh. Ok, well, that is her first reaction to life...Emmie loves to be funny. It seems like she was funny last year too, but she understands more and more about humor. She likes to call her Aunts by the wrong name, knowingly. She likes to put her jammies on her head, sneak into weird places to surprise me, and to force out a chortle whenever possible by doing "the froggy dance", or any other contortions that may rouse laughter. She is a blast to be with each day as I am never quite sure what will happen next.

I thoroughly enjoy this baby girl of mine every day. There are hard moments (temper tantrums, sleeplessness, power struggles etc) and sometimes they seem especially long as far as moments are concerned, but really, they aren't. She really is as good as it seems.

I love her hugs. I love her smiles & her laughter. I love her prayers for others, for our safety, and for our car etc. I love her love for her Dadda--it melts my heart! I love her faith in God. I love her crazy, tangly curls and her gooey kisses. I love her wild ideas and her energy. If I could bottle up one day with Emmie and the feelings that come with that day we might just solve our energy crisis and have a lot more smiles in the world. I want to always feel so rich in health and in love.

We love her. We love our Emma.

She is our joy.