It's Birthday Time for Erika!

Erika's big day started without her :)  She had 5 siblings who may have mistaken the day for Christmas as far as their excitement goes!  They were all so anxious to wake up and celebrate her day.  Brad was the first to notice that Mom and Dad did not decorate for her birthday and was slightly disappointed.  I took the opportunity to let him and his sisters take care of it while Erika was sleeping in.  And I'm so glad I did.  They sure blew me away with how much they got into it and how well they did.  They got out the crepe paper and did some pretty cool new arrangments with those.... an "E" on the wall and a smiley face.  I thought it was really creative.  We had taken them all shopping for her gifts, but some of them had not found anything so they were frantically searching for something in their own toys that she might like.  Then wrapping them with our butcher paper and coloring the paper.  They worked so hard on her sign and the decorations, EVERYTHING.  The girls were too late to walk, and I totally had to drag them away from the birthday stuff to wisk them off to school.  I just knew Erika would wake up while I was gone taking the girls and of course when I walked in the front door, there she was, sitting on Grandpa's lap, all puffy faced, receiving an awkward amount of attention from her brothers.  It was ADORABLE!!!  They insisted that she open one of the nicely wrapped gifts that Grandpa had for her, and he wanted to see her in it too, so I consented :) (as if I had a choice) even though it goes against tradition :).  She got THE cutest outfit from my Dad!!  Cute fluffy vest with white shirt and black pants.  It's so dang cute.  So we put it on her and let her model it for us :)

You can see how cute she was in it :)

We spent most of the day just bumming around with Grandpa, Erika's choice :) and then we ran a few errands (not very exciting) and made her cakes.

don't judge, I did my best :)  She likes Kitties and Kelly and I really liked this cake idea, so I tried it out.  I wish I'd followed the instructions better on the feet, they're humongous!  But it's cake, so who really cares :)  The little one was supposed to be much smaller, it was for Erika to pig out on.  

Erika went down for a nap around 3:00 and did not wake up until we forced her out of her dead sleep for her party.  I don't think I've ever seen her sleep that long.... it was strange. 

She opened her presents.  Or rather, she watched her siblings open most of her presents and then kind of tore a few pieces of paper off of others, she got lots of clothes, a couple of dolls, a doll stroller, a teddy bear, a toy radio, and a book that she picked out earlier at the store.  This girl sure goes nuts at the store.  It's really hard to not want to buy everything for her.  She had 3 different noisy toys on the cart with her, I was trying to see which one she liked best, and then I reached up and grabbed this book and when she saw it her arms flew up, knocking the toys off and she would not be happy until I gave her the book.  It was adorable.  I'm not sure how I got it away to buy it, but I must have :)   I'm glad she likes it so much :) 

I think the favorite gift of the night was this doll that my mom got her.  She was wiggling with excitement from the first moment that she knew what it was.  It was torture for her to wait for us to get it out of the box, and she freaked out slightly when grandpa grabbed it away to cut off the impossible bomb proof packaging.  She was thrilled!!  She gave her baby the biggest hug when she finally had her.  It was A D O R A B L E! ! ! !  She loves dolls.

Then she got her cake.  She was clueless as to what to do with the candle.  Should have prepped her on that a little I guess :)  I blew it out for her.  She seemed a little weirded out by the whole thing actually :)  And all the attention I'm sure.  We were so lucky to have such a good turn out!  All four Grandparents, two Uncles, an Aunt, cousins, friends, and sibs.  She was pretty loved that night!

She picked at the frosting a little, then the kids showed her how to eat it and she got a little more into it.  I LOVE that my kids were so excited to be involved and fun for her.  They were so sweet to her and loved spoiling her.  Gives me chills just thinking about it.

I think she actually even enjoyed this part a little once she got over the fact that everyone was staring at her.  She's funny because she will eat anything and everything she finds on the ground or floor or toilet lid.... wherever, but has to pause and think before even attempting the food we put in front of her at mealtime.  Cracks me up.  It's like she doesn't trust us or something HA!  She's funny.

She didn't get too messy but I was grateful that I chose to do the white frosting alone on her cake :)  Less mess is the best.

And of course she ended it all with the birthday grumps :)  She was done and wanted the cake to be removed from the picture :)  She played with her friend Sophie, walking around, watched all the boys play with her stroller oping it didn't get broken (oh, wait that's what I did), she seemed to have a good time :)  I loved it!  I'm glad that we got this kind of closure on her year even though I still haven't given in to the idea yet.  She's just my little baby still.  I think she had a good time.  Happy Birthday Baby Girl!