Happy 10th birthday, Emma-P! So thankful for this little ray of light in our lives! Emily has been such a sweet and faithful friend to Noelle for the past 4 years. Since the day they met the first day of school in kindergarten, they have been the best of friends. I have so loved seeing our girls make their very own friends. The ones they walk up to on the play ground and say, “Hey, you wanna play?” That’s exactly how it happened with these two. They aren’t the likely pair, but they just get each other. Their friendship is easy, fun, refreshing, energetic, and down-right joyful—exactly the way it should be!

One of our rules at the Pond house is if you come over to play with one, you play with all. We don’t do the “no babies allowed” thing. Too much of that rejection happens outside the home, so I do not allow it in the spaces that I can protect. We definitely let the big girls have set aside time to do age appropriate activities, but I try to plan ahead and coordinate the other girls having friends over themselves or super fun activities made just for them at the same time. Hearts is what we are in the business of around here, and these hearts are my number one priority. Emily doesn’t just tolerate the littles, she adores them! They consider Emily a very best friend and that means the world to me and speaks volumes about her as well! Happy 10th on the 10th! You rocked your golden birthday, Emma-P!