Emmalee's Big Day

Emmalee had a really big day yesterday. It started off by picking up Grandma around 9:30 A.M. and driving to church in Richmond, where we sat with Gamma, Pappi, Uncle Brian, Aunt Brandi, Dylan, and Alli for the church's Christmas cantata. Once church was over, Grandma, Gamma, Emmalee, Flat Stanley (a school project for cousin Dylan), and mommy loaded up into mommy's car and headed off to Crown Center.

Once there we wandered around for a bit while we waited at a table at Crayola Cafe, Emmalee's favorite restaurant there. We took some photos of Emmalee with Flat Stanley so we could send them back to school with Dylan at the beginning of the new year. We ate at Crayola Cafe and then roamed around a bit more. Here are some pics of our time at Crown Center.

Here is Emmalee braving the bitter cold to get a pic with Flat Stanley in front of Crown Center.

Here are Emmalee and Gamma at Crayola Cafe.

Grandma and Emmalee

Emmalee and Flat Stanley

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We left Crown Center and headed to the main attraction for the day...

...Emmalee's first professional ballet!!! She said it was like a dream come true!

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Ever since Emmalee was born I have patiently (okay, not so patiently) waited for her to reach the age when I thought she was old enough to enjoy and remember attending The Nutcracker. Since daddy declined attending and decided to take Tori duty (I knew she was NOT ready to sit that long), I decided that it would be extra special for the grandmothers to be a part of such a big day. Emmalee woke very early Sunday morning and was giddy with excitement all day about seeing the real Sugar Plum Fairy (this is my special nickname for her).

We decided to take one more picture with Flat Stanley in front of the Music Hall despite the bitter cold. Flat Stanley was quite a trooper!

We arrived an hour early so Emmalee could get her picture taken with some characters from the ballet. She was very photogenic and sat for a picture by herself with Sugar and Spice and then sat for one with both grandmothers. She was thrilled to be there and couldn't wait to get to our seats. After a quick stop at the gift shop, where Emmalee walked away with lots of fabulous mementos of her big day, we finally found our seats, but not before another photo op with Flat Stanley inside the theater.

Emmalee and Flat Stanley inside the Music Hall in front of Christmas tree.

Emmalee enjoyed the entire ballet and there were certainly priceless moments as determined by the looks on her face at certain times. It was everything I dreamed it would be for her! She got a little restless right at the very end, but the grand finale pepped her right up and also turned out to be the best part, according to the look on her face. (I won't spoil it in case any of you plan to go). She was tired at the end of the day, but she was also extremely happy. It was the perfect day!

Emmalee agrees!!!