Emma’s TX Birthday

We celebrated Emma’s 7th birthday this last Saturday at one of our favorite places: The Sugar Shack. It was one of the first places we discovered in our new town, and we love it. It has handmade candies, ice cream, every packaged candy known to man, and a really cute gift shop. They have a deck out back, and other than the wind, it couldn’t have been more perfect.

Emma, who wore camouflage for her party invitation pic last year and wanted a safari theme, completely surprised me this year when she picked out Barbie’s The Twelve Dancing Princesses for her invite this year. We were all pink, purple and VERY sparkly for this little shindig – all girl and so much fun. We made tiaras and beaded necklaces, and I tried my hand at a carriage cake.

Last year’s invitation

This year’s very girly choice, minus a few teeth.

The really cute princesses.

The cake…just don’t look too closely! :-)

Emma striking a pose in her very sparkly pink dress. I love it!

For those who don’t know my dad, he was an elementary music teacher for a LONG time. We decided that he should hire himself out to do birthday parties to make some extra money. This is my sweet dad Bryan at his best! He was the hit of the party!

The best part was that the party was very low-key and low-maintenance. Both are very good in my opinion.

On a more sober note, I can’t believe that our first little one is seven years old. If my pictures weren’t in boxes under the stairs, I would scan one so you could see how curly her hair was and how dark it was when she was little. She is growing into such a precious young lady with way more self-control than I have sometimes.

I was talking to some friends in MS, and we found that we all seem to expect a great deal of our first-borns. I must say that Emma handles the expectations we place on her with so much grace and ease. She is a huge help around the house, and I find that I rely on her a great deal. Last week I really tried to just enjoy Emma and plan time with her doing things she likes. It was so much fun, and she just thrives on it. I tend to get wrapped up in my to-do lists, but I really want to plan more special time with this very special girl.