Happy Birthday, Emily...

I'll never forget when I found out I was going to be an aunt. It was a little over five years ago, and I was a freshman in college, working at some event a few weeks before our semester break. I didn't have my cellphone with me because a)the event was in the gym and I didn't get signal and b)my phone was broken half the time. SO imagine my horror when a friend came and found me to tell me that my sister had called another friend and needed me to call her. Of course my first thought was that something terrible had happened, so I left my post and booked it across campus to my dorm room, where the number of missed calls on my phone further aroused my rising panic. When I called back, Amanda answered the phone with a chipper "Hey!" to which I answered a huffy, "What's going on?" She casually replied, "Oh, I just wanted to tell you what you could get me for Christmas." Um...really? I snarled back, "Are you serious? You gave me a heart attack just to tell me about a Christmas present?" And she started laughing and said, "You can get me MATERNITY CLOTHES!" And of course I screamed and laughed and cried and told everyone I passed for the rest of the day.

Fast-forward about seven months and a beautiful, dark-haired, perfect little girl was born and I became an auntie to Emily Marie. And I think our whole family can agree that life changed dramatically after that day. (Sometimes I wonder when we're all together what in the world we all did before the kids started coming!) As a baby her little personality started showing immediately (so many crazy faces!) and almost immediately after she began talking we all wondered where in the world the child came up with this stuff. It's been that way ever since... and I don't have kids but it's hard for me to imagine loving any children more than I love my nieces and nephews. 

Look at the little papoose!

Love at first sight!

Various adventures...

Like auntie, like niece...

Um... can you say beautiful baby?

One of my favorite pictures from my wedding day. However, this tender moment was shared BEFORE she tried to throw my whole ceremony into upheaval by running around the stage... oh well. Forgive and forget.

First birthday!

At Magic Kingdom... our favorite place!

Sweet girl.

Princess Emily (just ask her. =)

Sweet sister...

Sweet (and sometimes bossy =) oldest cousin...

This girls LOVES her Uncle Jonathan... and I'd say she's got him wrapped pretty tightly around her fat little finger.

Just last month on vacation... best buds! 

Oh, this girl... Emily has been described by more than one person as my mini-me. She is certainly precocious and talkative like I was as a kid... not to mention smart and adorable. =) Really, though... she is just about the most unique child I've ever met. So funny, so outgoing, so creative, and so able to remember just about any line or song from a Disney movie (obviously, my sister and brother-in-law are fabulous parents.) She is so sweet, so loving, so stubborn, and makes me laugh almost every day. And the fact that she is turning five today and starting kindergarten soon makes me want to weep.

What a beautiful, sweet, smart, funny five-year-old! Auntie Ashley loves you and is feeling very, very old today. Happy birthday, poppet.

(Auntie) Ash