Princess for a Day!

This weekend, one of Matt's fraternity brothers got married. They asked Emma to be their flower girl and she (as well as us!) were so excited and honored that they wanted her apart of their special day. We spent a lot of time talking this day up and were a little worried about what actually may happen. We arrived for the rehearsal on Friday and she had just fallen asleep before we arrived. Needless to say, she was not in the best mood. The rehearsal was some what of a disaster. I couldn't leave her side and she kept wanting to go sit with Matt in the pews. We knew we had a lot of work in store! Matt and Katie (bride and groom) were both so sweet to Emma and told us, multiple times, that they were just so happy she was here she didn't have to do anything she didn't want. But we were determined! Some how, some way, we were getting her down that aisle. At the rehearsal dinner, she made friends with the four year old ring bearer and they had fun at dinner. Katie gave Emma a Cinderella Barbie and a LOT of dum-dums to bribe her a little more. She was so excited with the suckers and doll and quickly started liking Katie!
Emma is infatuated with Princesses and all things girlie. So I came up with the idea to start calling Katie a Princess and telling her she had to walk down the aisle so that Katie could walk to her Prince Charming. Emma quickly corrected me with that one, saying "Daddy is Prince Charming!!" Sorry!!
Emma was going to be wearing a beautiful white dress and looked like a mini-bride herself. We knew she would love the dress and looking like Princess Katie even more. Before we got to the church, we stopped at Target and Matt ran in for reinforcements. He found the perfect Tinker Bell Barbie, goldfish, fruit snacks and some M&M's-all her favorites! Emma did get a nap this time, unfortunately she woke up just as we were  arriving and a little ill. It took a long time for her to settle down and I was convinced that I was going to have to run out of the Ladies Parlor with her kicking and screaming behind me. Matt was able to come up with one more idea-he promised her that if she walked down the aisle, she could play on the playground. Bingo!
I did finally manage to sneak out (I learned afterwards that she was completely fine after I left-go figure!!) I found Matt at a front pew armed with the goodies and we were ready. There was nothing to do at this point but pray she followed through. I can't tell you how nervous and anxious Matt and I were, waiting for her to appear. But then, there she was! And we both got a little emotional, but she was great!! She held hands with one of the maids-of-honor and walked with her flower ball (no petals allowed) and saw us and got really excited but continued walking to the front. She was sandwiched between Katie and the MOH. We couldn't always see her, but we saw her dress twirling from time to time. And I did manage to see her ask Abby when she could go to the playground :o)
After it was all over, we ran and found her and clapped and cheered and squeezed her telling her how proud we were. She was so happy to get Tinker Bell and couldn't wait to get to that playground!
For the rest of the night she would ask where the Princess was and wanting to go see Princess Katie. People would constantly come up to us and tell us how great she did and how impressed they were with her. They had NO idea the stress we felt and the relief when it was over!!