Birthday parties!

Thursday night, Emily and I decorated the house and cooked a delicious birthday dinner for Robert. We all even wore party hats, although Emily's was on her head for only approximately 3 seconds -- just long enough for me to get a picture of her in the hat.
Then Friday afternoon, Em and I drove to Slidell and hung out with my parents for the evening. Saturday morning, we went to a petting zoo in Bush, Louisiana for the Spreens' birthday party. We had such a good time seeing all the other kids and looking at the animals. I didn't get to take very many pictures because Emily wanted me to hold her when we were close to the goats and other animals, but here she is looking at some deer.
She also had her first few bites of cupcake. I think she liked them.

She "rode" the pony, if by rode you mean sat there on him.

We also rode the carousel, which was a lot of fun. It was great to see Nikki and some other folks I haven't seen in years and great to meet all their beautiful kiddos!

After the party, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel so we could both eat lunch before heading home. As usual, Emily was a mess.

But she liked the rocking chairs out front.

This morning, Emily took communion for the first time at church! (In the Episcopal church, kids can have communion whenever they first show an interest in doing so, and Emily won't pass up a crackery snack, so I let the priest try to give her the bread.) She thought it was yummy.