Emma's First Birthday

I have been so excited about Emma's birthday for a while now. By the time it got here I was stressed out. I am so glad it is over. I hope that Emma will look at the pictures and know that we love her so much. Happy Birthday my lovely little girl. My Emma.

So as I already wrote in the previous blog I spent most of Saturday morning decorating Emma's birthday cake. I think it turned out really well. I didn't decorate it the way I had planned. I was going to use a decorating bag and tip. I practiced doing it a few times but I still didn't feel that I was good enough. So instead I used a spatula and spread it on. It would have worked better the other way but I can handle having a little pieces of the cake in with the frosting. It won't kill me. At least I don't think it will. No one else seemed to mind either. It took a little while to get things started but finally we did. I took the kids out on the front porch and give each of them a bottle of bubbles shaped like a chick or bunny. They sat out on the front step to blow them while Les and Bryan hid eggs in the backyard. Then I led the kids through a game of follow the leader until we where at the back of the house and sent them to find the eggs. Ted, my brother-in-law, wasn’t too excited that his kids got more candy, but it’s Emma’s party and we can have candy if we want. I think the kids really enjoyed it. When that was done we all went back into the house and opened presents. Emma is enjoying her presents. She was given:

Easter outfit – Grandma and Grandpa Mounteer (they gave her a blanket for Easter at the same time).
A bunny with a 5 dollar bill – Bryan, Julie, and family
A stuffed dog – Kelly, Jennifer, and family
A card and a dollar – Great Grandma Perkins
A 20 dollar bill in an Easter egg – Great Grandma Richens
3 Elmo books and a little Elmo doll – Ted, Carolyn, and family
A Little Einstein book – Great Grandma Cheney
A book about pets – Grandma and Grandpa Perkins
An Elmo bed set with extra sheets, foam alphabet & numbers for the bathtub, a tigger doll, and a bead maze - Mommy and Daddy

I took the picture to the right to show the Elmo bedding and walked in to find Emma asleep hanging over the side of the bed. By the time I got my camera on and aimed in the right direction she had come to and started to slide herself off of the bed. She is so cute. As a side note to explain the bed, Les was so excited about having Emma start sleeping in her new bed that he set it up yesterday. She hasn't been very excited about it though. She throws a fit everytime I put her down to sleep. It never took this long for her to fall asleep before. I am so nervous everytime she takes a nap. I check on her more to make sure she isn't going to crawl right off her bed. Les and I piled blankets on the floor to soften the fall. Several times I have looked it to find her sitting up and as soon as she sees me she starts crying again. She wakes up more often through the night as well. Here come the long nights again until she

gets used to the bed.

Emma showed just how territorial she is while presents where being opened. If anyone got too close she yelled and used her hand to shoo them away. It was really cute. I just hope she grows out of it. I don’t think it will be so cute in a few years. In fact, I might be tired of it in a few months.

Once the presents were done I brought in the cake with one candle sticking out of Elmo’s nose. Emma didn't know what to think about that. She just looked around at everyone as we sang "Happy Birhtday." I ended up blowing out the candles for her. All the kids had cake with ice cream while the adults had brownies with ice cream. It was sooo good. I was thankful that by the time we left for home almost all of the cake and brownies were gone.

The picture to the right is Emma bright and early on her birthday. She is wearing her first Easter dress that Les and I bought a few weeks ago. She is so cute.