The Big 1

My mom and brother flew in on Tuesday to help celebrate Emma’s birthday, so we had a fun little party on Tuesday night! These photos capture it pretty well, so I’ll let them do most of the talking:

She got several birthday cards, so we started by reading those. I think Emma was more distracted by the camera, but that’s ok.

Aunt Katie and Uncle Joel sent a book, plus this cool xylophone. Although she’s eating the stick in this photo, she did hit the keys and make some music later on.

Aunt Cindy, Uncle Brian, Daniel and Lucas sent this cool set of stacking blocks and animals. She loved both the present and the wrapping paper. We stacked the blocks up really high and then they fell on Emma. Oops.

I made a birthday cake! It was a pretty basic white cake with almond extract for a yummy flavor, plus cream cheese icing. The icing was a little runny and so my “1” made out of stars looked very messy. Oh well — it’s the thought that counts, right?

We started by just putting a smallish hunk of cake on her tray, and she looked at it pretty warily. Jose broke off a piece and gave it to her, so she gave it a taste…

She seemed to like it enough at first, but then let out a yell. This is by far the sweetest thing she’s ever had, and the cake itself was fairly dense.

We tried again, with me giving her the cake this time. She only ate one more bite, and then wouldn’t open her mouth anymore. Oh well — she has many more years ahead of her to figure out that cake is delicious!

Yay for birthdays!