Can You Tell Me How To Get, How To Get To....

 Ses"Emme" Street?
       -Brought to you by the Letter E and Number 1

We do first birthday's big around here, so for Emme's third and final birthday party we spent it at our house. We decorated Ses"emme" to the max although I only took pictures of some of it for some reason. It's always more stressful to be the host and I don't always get to take the pictures I want. We had a blast though and everything turned out great.

The dessert area.

Emme's birth aunt drew this picture.  Talk about amazing!

Big Bird, Elmo, and Cookie Monster showed the way to the party.

Thanks to Gregg's cousin for making her cake.  For the record I did do most of Elmo.  :)

These are my beloved cousins whom I lived with for a while when I first moved to Utah.  Emme is making what we call "turtle face".  She makes it when she feels awkward.  She made it a lot at her party because of all the attention she was getting.  So funny.

Turtle Face

Total Pro at this cake stuff now.

I love K's face as she's laughing at Emme.

PAPER!!!!

Cue turtle face.  I didn't realize how many times she did it until I did this post. 

Let Them Eat Cake

We also had a little party with my parents and brother's family while still in Idaho. Yep, that's right two parties so far. We celebrated all month long.

Emme and I share the "don't bug me I'm eating" attitude.

Not afraid of getting dirty. 

Playing with Colby after.

You can't tell Colby likes Gregg or anything can you?  I think because we've spent so much time at their house, he's gotten used to us. 

First Birthday

Gregg and I were so excited for Emme's birthday party with her birth family. Most of them hadn't seen her since she was born so we were ecstatic to show her off. They were so cute and got her balloons and the cutest gifts. Emme had no problems warming right up to them. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see her birth mom this time, but we love her and we're so glad we got to see everyone else. We felt such a fast connection to them when we met a year ago and it was as if we had always been family. Hanging out at the hospital with them was like hanging with people we had known forever. We are so lucky to be connected to such great people.

Emme with her birth brother (K) and aunt.  Doesn't K and Emme look so much alike?

We went with a Ses"Emme" street theme this year.

She had no fear of the cake.

Here, you have some.  It's good!

Best. Day. Ever.

Getting a kiss from her birth grandma.  Isn't that the cutest thing?

You want some cake?

K got her a baby doll, that she loves dearly.

Loves

This is typical Emme.  She'll eat any paper she can find.

They surprised us with a giraffe costume.  So dang cute.  Contrary to this picture she loved wearing it for Halloween.

Great picture of the two of them.

Emme is so happy.

Chilling with Papa.

It's tradition

I don't think it was by any accident that Emme was born in Idaho so close to when the Eastern Idaho State Fair is. It has been a yearly event for my family and me since I can remember.  So it just makes sense that we are now able to take Emme with us and at the same time celebrate her birthday with not only my family, but her birth family as well.  The best part was we ran into Emme's birth grandpa (fittingly called Papa just like Gregg's dad) and birth aunt while we were at the fair.  Crazy to think a year ago we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of this special girl.

My aunt and uncle were in charge of this little car area.  Emme never wanted to leave.  I can't say I blamed her. 

I love taking her to see all the animals.  If you notice her poor eyes, it's not allergies.  I had her tested for cows and she is not allergic, but her poor tear ducts won't let her tears drain so any time spent outside is no good on her eyes.

Another tradition.  I couldn't count the number of these hats I've had in my life time.  We even have a  video of my sister wearing one of these while imitating their commercial.  "HEEEEYYYY CULLIGAN MAAAAN!!!"

I just can't get over this smile. 

Happy National Adoption Month!

Here's hoping it's a healthy month too!