Emily's 12th Birthday

So, yesterday was the dozen year mark for my beautiful Emily.  She had a fun day, at least from my point of view.  Her aunt and grandma brought her by some presents in the morning, and she had a chance to share a piece of cake with her cousins.  The rest of the festivities started at 1:00pm when her two best friends came by for a sleep over.  There was the usual giggling and goofing, and of course fake tattoo-ing.  Really, what would a birthday party be without a whole bunch of fake tattoos?  I'm sporting a brand new green and black butterfly, thank you very much.  The girls all declared that these were high quality fake tattoos, as the color stayed really bright.  And that's what's important when you're twelve;  a good, high quality, fake tattoo.

Later on, we made Emily's birthday dinner.  Before I tell you what it was, I must tell you of our family tradition that the birthday celebrant gets to pick his or her dinner.  The rest of us have to abide by the decision.  Emily picked chili cheese tater tots.  Think chili cheese fries, but with tater tots.  Topped with sour cream.  Usually, Jeff and I suck it up and eat what ever the kids choose, but the chili sounded like it would bring too much pain  later on.  And we were out of Zantac, so we opted for a couple of tacos.  The tween and teen crowd loved it, and had gigantic plates full of the stuff, as Jeff and I looked on in horror.  But that's what she picked, and those are the house rules.

Later on we sang happy birthday, as she blew out the candles on her birthday pie.  Yes, pie.  Pumpkin to be exact.  (House rules, remember?)  At least it was an easy enough request this year.  Last year she wanted pumpkin pie, and it was the year of the great pumpkin shortage, and there was not a can of pumpkin to be found anywhere in the world.  Until we looked in Auntie's cupboard.  Thankfully, Auntie's lack of pie making from the thanksgiving before worked to our benefit for Emily's 11th birthday.

Pumpkin Pie, in July!

Two good friends, the birthday girl, and a little brother.

So, another party down.  Next is mine, then Jr's, then cousin Colby's, then Grandma's, then cousin Ethan's, then Katie's, then cousin Gracie's, and then we are done for 2011.  Whew.  That's a lot of birthdays and a lot of birthday cake.  No wonder Emily chose pie.  But a lot of birthdays mean a lot of blessings.  And that's what makes a life a happy one!