May 19th...Our Favorite Day.

May 19, 2009 was Garrett and I's favorite day since our wedding day. Almost exactly one year ago (to the minute), Emerson Grace Reed entered the world. I still can't wrap my mind how amazing that day was for us. I would relive that day a million times if I could. But alas, I cannot. So we will just celebrate like crazy every year instead. We have celebrated so much this week, that G and I are both freakishly exhausted. So, I'm gonna sum up E's birthday week in pictures. However, as soon as I get more than a free 5 minutes, I will add some words. If you don't enjoy obscene amounts of pictures and the occasional video...you may want to end your journey through this post now. Otherwise...enjoy!

We had a party for E at my parents house this past Saturday. It was so much fun to have our closest friends and family there to celebrate our little munchkins life. I was pleasantly surprised at how well Emerson did with the crowd. She definitely LOVED the attention.

We didn't have pony rides but there were a few wagon rides.

Emerson just smiled and clapped the whole time...the new Radio Flyer is a hit.

There was lots of socializing (mostly with boys)....

E chatting it up with Liam.

And sitting in the grass...

while Dylan watched.

And cute boys running around... (if you have ever visited this site before, you know that the handsome young man in this picture is Emmy's future husband, Harrison).

And this is another one of her bestest male friends, Bryson. He really liked climbing the stairs. His mom, Kristin (aka my maid of honor), is 38 weeks pregnant...so she just let him climb the stone stairs. No worries, he's really good at climbing.

More chatting with friends...

Dylan eating some cake with his wonderful mom, Alexis.

Lindsay, my best friend from childhood. We have been friends since we were E's age (ok, that's a stretch, but since the 4th grade for real).

Kristin and Bryson...

Bryson is the best eater I know.

Mary Beth and Charley enjoying some cake (sorry the giant sunflower blocked out your face MB...I wish we could see your face too...I love it).

The Brantley's (we will be seeing y'all this weekend when we head to the Murrell's Inlet forvacay...yay!!!!)

The beautiful cake made my sisters mother in-law, Gayle. She is amazing!

G bringing E her first birthday cake. There was lots of singing in the background too.

Yumm...cake.

For some reason my mom bought Garrett a bunch of mustaches. The boys thought it would be fun to wear them. It was creepy. Joe's is real (yours isn't that creepy Joe).

Nina thought it would be fun to wear one of the mustaches as eyebrows. I think it's a good look for her. Nina, you'd be beautiful even if you had a giant third eyebrow.

Garrett tried to make Em wear a mustache...she said "Heck no, it's my birthday."

So to make up for being a bully, Garrett took her to the pool aka her new favorite place.

She said, "Thanks dad."

After all the weekend fun, we headed back to the Dirty D to celebrate E's birthday together as a family of 4 (I'm counting the baby growing inside me, not Stabler). So, we all busted into Em's room this morning to wake her up singing Happy Birthday. I can't wait to torture my kids with this every year.

Emerson's Grandmom Reed gave her this awesome plate for her birthday. So, I made her eat every single meal and snack off of it today. I think she loved it as much as I did.

And, we let her feast on this little creation from Kroger tonight. It was yummy.

Instead of blowing out the candle, she tried to grab it...dad saved the day.

I guess she liked it?

Stabler really wanted in on the cake action.

Emerson is so selfless and obliged him.

Well, after all that we are pooped. So we are headed to the South Carolina coast for the weekend to watch one of my best friends from high school get married (yay Kristy and Kirk!), and for some well needed vacay time with the Brantleys. We planned this trip months ago and I had no way of knowing how well timed it would be.

Yay for Emerson being 1 and yay for a much needed vacation!