Remember last year when I pretended Emmy's birthday wasn't going to happen and waited until the last minute to plan? I swore I wouldn't do that again. And in some ways, I didn't. I sent out invitations in advance and planned to do a low-key shindig at our house. We invited 25 of our closest family and friends and were surprised to find out that everyone could make it! I was so happy that everyone loved Emmy so much that they would take time out of their busy lives to come party for a toddler so I quickly adjusted our plans to make room for all the guests.
I called a local bbq restaurant on Thursday, ordered the cake, shopped for Emmy's outfit and decorations and had the whole party planned in less than 4 hours. Pretty good!
I even thought that by not having the party at our house we might have a leisurely Saturday morning since I had nothing to do to prepare for the party. Of course, I could never let that happen soI decided we should deep clean our house top to bottom just in case anyone wanted to stop by (and they did). And anyway, it needs to be done at least once a month and it's tough to convince Joe to help if I don't have a good reason.
Emmy acted shy and clingy as the guests arrived, I think it blew her mind to see so many of our different groups of family and friends come together.
Just in this one picture, we have Emmy's godfather, maternal grandparents (Pops and Gigi), uncle (JonJon) and paternal great grandfather (Papa Bill). How cool is that!?
Sweet Hannah had her birthday the night before with even more people in attendance. She is a trooper. I really so very rarely see this little girl unhappy or stressed out. She is amazing!
I don't know what I would have done without my mom helping me set up and organize all of the last minute details for the party. Papa is always getting the shaft when the babies are around!
Once Emmy got comfortable with all the guests, she went nuts running around the restaurant and visiting with everyone. I loved watching her run up to people to give them a hug. I also loved watching my friend's son, Jameson chase after Emmy. They played together without actually ever looking at or directly communicating with one another. How fun would it be if adults could have a good time without communication!?
Since I was busy entertaining everyone, my awesome sister snatched up my camera and took most of these pictures. Including the two above and below that perfectly capture Emmy's sweet personality.
When she started getting bad, running in the kitchen, digging in the trash and trying to escape the restaurant, we decided to pull out the cake. As soon as she locked eyes with that cake, she absolutely had to have it right then so she sobbed through the entire rendition of "Happy Birthday".
Oh well, our sweet friends patiently waited for their slice of cake!
Opening presents was way more fun this year. Emmy ripped through the bags and was excited with every gift she opened. Jameson was never too far behind, eyeballing her new radio flyer skooter and soccer ball.
Emmy had a great time. She loved getting to see so many of her people together and the party was so fun for us too. We have 4 or 5 Christmases every year. It takes a lot to get so much family in one place and I cannot put into words how much I appreciate everyone driving to Birmingham for Emmy. She is a special little girl, true, but she is lucky too, to have so much love all around her.
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