Our Weekend of Celebration

We had a lot to celebrate this weekend....and boy do we know how to celebrate!

 

Friday evening we had Emery's birthday party--the theme was Disney Princesses (because her favorite changes daily....sometimes hourly.) I went simple on decorations this year, just making a few special things that I knew Em would love. Her little people princess cakes turned out exactly how I had pictured them. Love it when that happens. Rapunzel was the clear favorite!

I love an outside party. (Even though I was reminded by my husband that we just spent a pretty penny on air conditioning and have a large basement that would have accommodated the party much better) I still went with outside. I feel like you don't have to decorate as much. Balloons, table cloths, little people....and boom, done!

 

Em was bouncing off the walls the entire day waiting for the evening. At one point she asked me, very seriously, 

"Mommy....are you coming to my birthday party too?"

Me: "Am I invited?"

To which she just smiled. Three year olds are funny. 

She was obsessed with the little dress banner I made her (it has been hanging up all week and we would find her in the living room reciting who's dress was who's). There might have been a tear shed when she realized I had taken it down yesterday.

Em declared she was going to wear her crown all night which was of course fine by me. And so was the weather....it turned out to be a beautiful evening.

The birthday crew! Love celebrating with this crazy bunch of kiddos. 

After supper it was present time! She was pumped for each one and ran and gave a few hugs after some of her favorite gifts. One present was clothes and I thought she was going to cry ha! But then in another gift she got new princess panties and you would have thought that it was the greatest present ever. So far Baby Alive aka Sarah Alayna Jansen (named after a friend of mine and a friend of hers) is the favorite gift. To be honest I kind of have a love/hate relationship with her already. Love that Em loves her. Hate that it feels like I have another child.....Can you feed her, Mommy? Can you hold her, Mommy? Can you change her diaper, Mommy? Sarah as the fav is followed closely by everything else....the girl has been very busy playing.

 

After all the gifts there was one more surprise....Nana spoiled the girl with a Barbie Jeep!!! This was her first reaction. Followed by a scared-to-death look after she got in it and it moved ha!

 

She would NOT ride it. Wouldn't really even look at it. Her cousins gave it a few spins, we finally talked her in to riding with Nora....then she decided it was really pretty fun!

August Samuel freaked out over it and practically jumped out of our arms to ride it. He might like it more than her. Too bad it doesn't come with a seat belt....he might already have a little black eye because of Em's starts and stops.

 

We finished the night with cake and ice cream and just enjoying each other. Thank you to everyone who helped Em celebrate. I think my girl could feel the love!

Isn't this the prettiest princess you ever did see? 

 

Saturday was the actual day. July 16th, our double happy day! Of course we started it with a donut...it's tradition! (And a banana...thought maybe they would cancel each other out.)

Then it was out the door for a big day of fun! 

 

First stop....Build A Bear! I had never been so even I was excited. Em picked out the Disney Princess Bear. Shocking, I know.

 

Emery helped fluff her up and when the worker told her to hug her, Em said she needed more stuffing! Aurora (that is what she named her) is a veryyyy stuffed bear ha!

 

We let her pick out one outfit (aka we strongly suggested a certain outfit) and Nana (who can't say no to Emery) bought her some Pj's too. Aurora hasn't left Em's sight since we got her. We had to explain that church wasn't the place for big bears.

For fun we went to the Disney store too. Em was obsessed with the little mirror-castle thing, I was obsessed with this Animator's collection of dolls and Auggie was obsessed with trying to drink out of cups that they had on shelves just his height. Rethink that placement, Disney store. 

 

Aunt Linda and Grandma Angie had given Em some birthday money and we brought it along. I could have put it in her piggy bank but what fun is that?? She didn't need another toy, but she liked this little Rapunzel kit a lot and she thought it was fun to buy it herself. After that we ate a yummy late lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and then headed to our next stop.

 

Busch Stadium! It was a perfect night for a baseball game. I wouldn't have been sweaty at all if it hadn't been for the two littles trying to share my lap.  (I am in no way complaining.)

 

We did bring August along for all of this. Yes, it would have been much easier to leave him home but I love watching him experience new things. I like being together. For a man on the go, he had been very good the whole day. By the time the game was starting though he had had enough sitting.

A stadium full of people is not the easiest place for a wobbly one year old to walk around but we tried. 

 

Em did enough wiggling herself. Around the 5th or 6th inning she found her favorite spot on Daddy's lap and stayed there. I know he enjoyed that. She doesn't sit on our laps very often anymore.

 

This is us the last half of the game. I can't tell you how much I love this picture. I have gone to many Card's games with Douglas. And each year gets better and better. This picture proves that.

Thank you to everyone who wished us a Happy Anniversary or showed some love to Em. It made the day feel even more special!