Happy Birthday Emme!

To celebrate Emme's birthday, we had a fancy girly tea party at our house with the both sides of the family over for dinner. It was a huge group, but so much fun! We got our basement finished just in time (more on that later), so we were able to set up a table down there for dinner and open presents down there as well. Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us!

{The invite}

There was a huge snowstorm the day before her party, and Chris got called out to work for three days straight. I was planning on having him home to help me, but since he was gone both Grandma's came to the rescue, and came over a few hours early to help me finish everything up. What lifesavers! (And Chris got to come home for a few hours for the party before he had to go back out.)


We had creamy potato bisque and taco soup, dainty tea sandwiches and hors d'oeuvres, salad de Maizon, cheese puffs, and homemade mini bundt cakes for dessert. To drink we had this fun punch -- so yummy!





I made Emme's cake and bought the edible tiara from this etsy seller. The edible flowers on the bundt cakes came from this local etsy seller, and they were so good.





I made Emme's birthday skirt with some cute silver fabric I found in the remnant bin at Joann's, and ironed a cute tiara onto a pink onesie for the shirt. (It was very cute, even though the waistband is folded under funny in most of the pictures. Trust me, it was cute!)


While we ate dinner, Emme wandered around in her birthday outfit with her wand and tiara. She didn't love the tiara on her head, so Grandpa Spencer even demonstrated for her how to wear it, but it was still a no-go. The wand, however, was a hit. (Thank you, dollar bins at Joanns.)


We started the party early, because we knew Emme would get tired and worn out the later it got. But by the time we started opening presents, Emme was already rubbing her eyes. But we persevered!

{no smiles from the birthday girl}

But once we started opening presents, Emme really got into it. She loved the hairbows, the cards, and her babydoll. She had lots of help opening her presents from all the other cousins.


Thank you everyone, for the wonderful gifts! Emme loves them all.

{Emme going on 16 with her cell phone from Tucker & Nora Jane}

She couldn't get enough of the birthday cards, because they were glittery and fun to touch, and they were so much like books (and she loves books!).



As we neared the end of the gift opening, I tickled Emme's thighs to try and get a few smiley pictures. Mean mom, I know!




We headed upstairs to eat cake before Emme became a complete mess. Uncle Stu helped strip her down and get her into her seat.

{Love this picture of Emme and Stu -- a completely natural smile with no tickling necessary!}

Too late! Emme started to cry before we even lit her cake.

But she sobered up a bit when she saw it. That, and she loved the attention as we all sang to her. It was so cute!



She immediately tore the tiara off the cake and tossed it on the floor.



Then she dug into the cake with her spoon, but wasn't too interested in eating it until mom helped her a little bit.

{Mmm-mmm.}

Before we banished Emme to the bathtub, I tickled her thighs again for some smiley pics. (So sue me!)

After a quick bath, she played for a few minutes with her cousins and new toys, and had a good time.

{So fresh, so clean}

Thank you everyone for celebrating with us. We love you, Emmeline! You'll always be our princess!