Birthday Weekend

It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but it was fun. Thanks to all the family who came out this weekend to help us celebrate Ashlyn's 1st birthday. It seems like we spent weeks planning and preparing, and it was over in the blink of an eye.

Friday afternoon, my family arrived. Emma was thrilled, but Ashlyn wasn't so sure about our guests. However, once she discovered that they would read books to her, she decided they were OK and could stay.

After dinner, I worked on Ashlyn's cake. I had seen some party plates and decorations that I thought were cute, and decided to decorate the cake in a similar way. It wasn't perfect, but I think it turned out OK. And it tasted good, (at least I thought so) so I'm not going to complain too much. Decorating the cake kept me up way past my bedtime, but at least I was more relaxed about it than when I made Emma's 1st birthday cake. I was a nervous wreck for that!

Saturday morning, the girls (minus Ashlyn) went out prom dress shopping. Erin and I talked Jess into a beautiful and classy, long, black dress. It had light green accents, and very tasteful embroidery and sequins down a section of the front. Our mom agreed, it was "the one," so she bought it. I want pictures next month, Jess! :) Then we rushed back home, ate lunch, and continued working on getting food and decorations ready for the party.

In the afternoon, Dakota's family joined us here for presents, dinner and cake. Ashlyn doesn't really get opening presents yet. She'd rather have someone else open them and just let her play with them (or eat them). She sure seemed to know which of her gifts were snacks, and didn't let a minor detail called packing get in the way.

After dinner, we sang happy birthday to Ashlyn, who, by this time, didn't want to be stuck in her high chair for one minute longer. So Dakota held her, and then we coaxed her back into the chair for her first big kick of sugar. When we put her cupcake on her tray, she looked at it as if to say, "I told you I was done and wanted to get down. Why are you putting this thing in front of me?" She just smushed at the frosting a little and then tried to toss the cupcake onto the floor. Fortunately, Dakota caught it in time. He put a little taste of frosting in her mouth (despite her protest). Ashlyn's eyes brightened and she looked at her fingers as though she just realized she had edible gold smeared all over them. She started licking her fingers, and reconsidered the idea of trying the cupcake too. She picked it up and took a couple bites. But she quickly decided that was all she wanted, and tossed the cupcake over onto the floor. So that was the end of that.

By this time, the weather had cleared up outside. The promised thunder storms and impending rain never really showed up, and by early evening, the sun was out and it was quite nice outside. So we all headed out to play. The little kids played on the swing set, while the big kids played ultimate Frisbee. (And thanks to Noah for mowing the grass for us with Emma's mower; it looks great!) ;)

The next morning, Emma invited everyone to come watch her sing at church. She sang with her Sunday school class for two services. We were fortunate that Dakota took the video camera to record her during the first service, because she ran into a few problems at the second service, and was a little too distracted to remember what she was supposed to be doing or singing. Someone suggested that she be taken to the bathroom after the first service, but that never happened. So what I feared became a reality. Emma stood on stage with a mostly panicked look on her face through her two songs, not singing much, not moving much, just frozen in the midst of a potty emergency. Recognizing the look on her face, I quickly said something to her teacher, and pulled her off the stage after her second song. We made it to the bathroom just in time. It was too bad that happened, but at least we have her on video singing nicely earlier that morning.

After the first service, Dakota and I traded places. I headed to the church, and he came home to prepare brunch and to be with Ashlyn while she napped. He did a nice job getting a big spread all put together for us when we arrived home. We need to eat like that more often! The end of brunch brought the birthday weekend to a close. The last of the family left, we did a little clean up, and then took afternoon naps. The end.