Elmo Bonanza

On Friday evening we had a small "family" party here at the house, complete with an Elmo cake, and some Elmo gifts for the birthday girl. As you can see from the above photos, Erin fully enjoyed blowing out her candles, and made quite a mess with the bright red frosting that topped her dessert.

On Saturday afternoon we had a wonderful time celebrating once again, with friends and family. Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, cousins and neighbors all spent the afternoon at Erin's ice cream sundae party (and of course, the Elmo theme continued). Erin has been waiting for weeks to use the Elmo plates, napkins and hats, and I made some Elmo cupcakes to complete the feast. She was a bit shy at first, but eventually began to enjoy all the attention. People traveled from far and wide to see her, and Aunt Ru even made the long journey to the party and back home again, all in one day! We are so grateful for the love everyone showed to little Erin.

Of course, after opening all her birthday gifts, she gained a new favorite word..."mine". Not much around here is truly "hers", so she is thrilled to pick up her new gifts and tell her sisters "my Elmo book, my Elmo toy, my new mouse doll, my new teddy bears, my new clothes" etc. Hopefully she learns to share her new-found wealth!

It was a busy couple of days, but now we're relaxing and enjoying our last weekend of summer. Beth and Amy start school this week, so there's still lots of excitement yet to come! We'll post back-to-school pictures soon!