Ember turns 4!!

Ember is 4 years old!! It is amazing that every year it gets harder and harder to believe how big our girl is getting! And it is more and more amazing how God is shaping and forming her into a unique, personality-filled, beautiful little girl! 

Here are some pictures of the big 4 year old! 

Ember is now 30 lbs and 6 oz (13% for her age) and 38.25 inches tall (20% for her age). Ember is still sleeping in her toddler bed at night but now in a room all to herself in the new house. She has a quiet time every day where she usually just sings and plays well by herself. She takes a nap about 2 times a week. 

Ember is still very full of personality and very social. She is constantly talking to kids, adults, babies, herself, and to her toys. Ember is definitely an entertainer at heart. She is very particular with how she would like most things done. She is highly independent and assertive  marches to the beat of her own drum. She is usually super helpful and goes out of her way to do something nice for someone in the family or our friends. She can be very dramatic about the positive and negative things that happen in life and just has days where she wakes up on the wrong side of the bed. But this little girl makes life much more joyful and we are so blessed to watch her learn and grow.

Some of Ember's favorite things are preschool where she loves singing songs, doing centers, playing outside, making new friends, and the parties that they have for every holiday. She loves eating meals and some of her current favorite foods are eggs, pancakes, waffles, banana, berries, apple, hot dogs, mac n' cheese, "cold" sandwich, veggie straws, pretzels, cashews, Zuppa Tuscana soup, pizza, hamburger and fries, and mint chocolate. She loves going to parks, taking walks, The Summit, going to the movie theater or having a "Family Movie Night." She loves to go on any trip whether it be to Sedona, Phoenix, or Mexico. She loves going out to eat to a restaurant or going to someone's house for a play date or dinner. She loves to sing ALL THE TIME. Her current songs on repeat are "Amazing Grace," "Away in the Manger," "O Come, Emmanuel," "Hark the Harold Angels Sing," and "Thy Will be Done." She loves to go to "little church" and still loves to pray at mealtime. She loves Chick-Fil-A still as well. She enjoys wearing her apron and helping me cook whenever she can. She likes her "jobs" of putting her laundry away and sorting silverware. 

Some of her favorite things to play are games! She loves Feed the Woozle, Candy Land and Zingo. She also loves and is very talented at doing puzzles. She even got some 10+ pieces in Mommy and Daddy's 750 piece puzzle. There are so many games that she loves playing with Reece. They will run in circles around the dining room table giggling. She will be the waitress and Reece will be "Cook Cook" and he will hand her things to cook with from the play kitchen. Ember will also build things for Reece to knock over. Ember absolutely loves doing crafts. She loves tracing stencils, writing letters and words she knows, drawing pictures, cutting and gluing things, and making cards for people for almost any occasion imaginable or no occasion at all. She plays a game with Daddy called "Tickle Bridge" where she crawls under Daddy's legs and he tickles her. It is sometimes turned into "Cuddle Bridge." Ember loves playing Hide and Seek. She will often disappear for a few minutes and come back dressed in a princess dress and shoes. She also loves playing Super Hero and "saving" toys or Mommy and Daddy when we need rescued. She will also play church up on the catwalk and sing church songs (Reece is usually the pastor).  

There are also some things that Ember dislikes and does not enjoy. She doesn't like being sick - when her nose just keeps running and running. She doesn't like water in her face or her toys or clothes getting dirty. She doesn't like sleeping with a night light anymore because of the "scary shadows" on the wall. And she isn't a fan of Reece messing up something she is building or doing.

Ember is not one who likes being alone. She constantly wants someone playing with her or just sitting near her while she does an activity. At night, once she is tucked in, she often calls up "Daddy/Mommy, come touch my fingers," and lays on the floor by the door with her fingers sticking out until we come up and lay down and touch her fingers back. She just wants to talk one last time before going to bed. 

Ember is an interesting combination of fearless and shy. She will sing "Amazing Grace" in front of her whole class for fun but then be afraid to try something new or be shy in a large group of people at first. She is very nurturing and motherly to other kids... especially those younger than her and especially Reece. She will help him if he needs help doing something. She will try and distract him if he is getting into trouble or hug him if he is hurt. She also needs reminding that she is his sister and not his mother as she tries to tell him what to do many times as well.

And let me tell you - this girl is silly and goofy! She says it is just the way God made her :) The names that she has for her toys are very unique (Baby Chee Chee, rainbow leopard, Tickle). And she will make up funny stories about jumping over signs and falling out of trees. She is also really great at goofy faces! Whenever we see a Silver Pilot on the road, she says "Silver Pilots Unite, woop woop!" (Her Daddy is responsible for that one)

Ember is very thoughtful and asks some great questions and makes some great observations. We have a thankful journal that we continually add to and it is becoming easier and easier for her to think of things. A few examples are "I'm thankful for the icicles that are pretty to look at" and "I'm thankful that the road is plowed so we don't get stuck."  It is also so fun to hear her perspective on why God does what he does. One day she said "I think God made it windy today so everyone could watch everything wiggle." It is inspiring to experience God through the eyes of a 4 year old. 

Ember will have us teary eyed from saying something sweet and tender one moment and the next moment be challenging our patience and grace. Through it all it is obvious she is truly beautifully and wonderfully made by God and we can't imagine our lives without our big 4 year old - Ember Renee.

This is Ember's birthday present

She wanted chia pudding with a candle in it for breakfast

The birthday girl on her new bike (that she still needs to grow into a little more)

We went to her favorite place today to play - The Summit

And then onto Chick-Fil-A for lunch

Ember's birthday celebration at Mima and Pappy's

Ember's 4 Year Interview:

Favorite color? Pink and purple

Favorite toy? Tickle and Reece

Favorite food? pancakes, macaroni, pizza, apple, veggie straws

A food you don't really like? Onion

Favorite thing to watch? Frozen

Favorite place to go? The Summit

Favorite book? "Where the Sidewalk Ends" and Jesus Storybook Bible

Favorite song? "Let it Go"

Favorite restaurant? Picasso's 

Favorite thing to do each day? Ride Plasma car

Favorite thing to do with Mommy? Play with Reece and play outside

Favorite thing to do with Daddy? Play Zingo together and play games

What makes you happy? When Daddy let's me go downstairs and get Pink Leopard if I forgot her

What is something scary? The thing in the entryway at Mima and Pappy's around Halloween and the mat that screams at Uncle Lee's house

What are you really good at? Preschool, driving the Plasma car, walking on the retaining wall without falling, putting the silverware and my laundry away, singing "Amazing Grace," "Hark the Herold Angels Sing," "Away in the Manger," and "Let me Call you Sweetheart"

Who is your best friend? Addi Mews, Evelyn Kayser , Evi Drayton, and Brynlee Trujillo

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a dentist, a nurse, and a mom

What do you think about before you fall asleep? That I want to go and say "Daddy, come touch my fingers" and then I actually do that.