Birthdays

We had two birthdays to celebrate. First Emmas:

On her actual birthday we had ice cream to celebrate. She really likes ice cream and I don't bake, so ice cream it was. We got her some play doh kits since she is in love with play doh these days. The kit was some what of a gift to me too. We have been playing a lot of play doh together and I was ready for some new toys myself. So we got her and me some new toys. She loved to have sing Happy Birthday to her. I think we sang it 5 times that day. She also got a frog, a book, a sticker doll and a top from Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Keith. She was in love.

Next we celebrated Aaron's birthday. Aaron's birthday was a three part celebration. On the Saturday before, we had some friends babysit and we went out for burgers for dinner. We have been married for 6+ years and we have never gone out for burgers for dinner during that time. I have also never made steaks. Yup, husband cruelty at its worst. So we chose a burger place where the burgers are freshly made, ginormous, and dripping with grease. We even got fries and a milk shake to split. I would guess between the two of us there was about 4000 calories consumed. Not our typical meal, but it was fun and the burgers were good. Part two of Aaron's birthday was on his birthday. I made minnestroni soup, per his request and we had yogurt with fruit also at his request. For part three, we went downtown to the Houston Museum of Natural Science and looked at their new Dinosaur exhibit. It was huge and amazing. I have never seen such unusual dinosaurs. They have it set up so you can see the evolution of the dinosaurs and other creatures. Then we went out for greek food - more of a typical dinner for us.

Then we had a birthday party for Emma. August is the worst time to have a birthday in Houston. It is flaming hot so anything outside is hard, even water related because the parents sweat to death. Anything inside is chaos, and therefore not at my house. So we opted for something at the children's museum. It is like nursery but on steroids. We invited Emma's nursery class and some other friends and ended up with 17 children and 17 parents. I wasn't expecting it to be so large and when I saw how big it was going to be it confirmed my testimony that the children's museum was the right choice. That morning I asked Emma if she was excited for her party and she said "yes." So then I asked her what a party was and she responded, "I don't know." Just what I suspected.

So the kids ran a muck and played and then we ate food, sang happy birthday, ate cake (purchased, not made) and ice cream and then the kids ran a muck some more. We didn't even make the kids watch her open her presents because it was clear that keeping them in that room any longer was going to result in mutiny. So really, I have minimal work to do for the party, and was in love with a low stress event. When we got home, later that evening we asked Emma if she wanted to open her presents. She said yes but continued to play with a balloon from the party. She played with it for 15 minutes more before she finally came to open her presents. Since she has opened her presents, that balloon has received the most attention of all the gifts. Go figure.

Yup, this is a squeegee. She got this from my friend Stef. She has been asking for a squeegee ever since we stayed at my aunt Maren's house in California. She used Maren's squeegee and was in love. Since we have been home, she kept asking me for a squeegee, now all of her dreams have come true, except for the large trampoline that she wants in the back yard. Since her birthday, my shower has never looked so good. So a big thank you to Stef from Emma and me!

Now that she has had a birthday, Emma has been introduced to the world of Barbies, My Little Pony, tiaras, and other typical 3 year old girl stuff. She didn't know what most of the stuff was but has had fun playing with it so far. She did play with Barbies at my sister's house and one morning she came to me and asked to play with Barbara. I was wondering who Barbara was and how did Emma meet her until I figured out that she meant barbie.

Oh, and as for cake, Emma was excited for it but when push came to shove, it turned out that cake is as my dad says, "frosting with that thing in the middle." She didn't really eat the cake but seemed to enjoy the frosting.