You didn't think Emma's birthday celebrations were over, did you? We didn't intend to throw her a birthday party this year, BUT she was so into it that we changed our minds. We had it at the Petting Farm barn. I was worried that it was either going to pour down rain (because there was a 40-60% chance all week) or be freezing cold. Thank God for a beautiful day because it couldn't have been more perfect weather!!
Before all her guests arrived, I snapped a picture of Emma with her cake. She accidentally got a little icing on her fingers as she was sitting down which I thought turned out to be a cute picture.
Once everybody got there, we headed out to see some animals! Emma was a little anxious around the animals at first, so I held her in hopes that she'd warm up. Lillian was not scared at all-she loves petting the baby goats.
Once we got to the horses, she was a little bit better. She wanted to climb up the gate...
...so we let her of course because we didn't see any harm in it.
Eli climbed up to join her. Then we were all told we had to get down and this just made Emma mad so she had a bit of a meltdown after this. I think all kids have at least one meltdown at their own birthday parties. Why is that?
She got over it and headed to the bridge.
Here is Shepard, Eli, John Whitten and Lillian who came to play on the bridge with her.
Emma with her friend, Blake. I will pause here to tell you that if you notice that Emma has a bruise under left eye, it is because she ran into Blake on the playground at school on Friday. Whoops!
Then some of the group headed over to visit the pigs. For some reason, the children always gravitate towards the pigs even though they are in a pen and you can't actually reach to pet them (not that we would want to since there is a sign that says Pigs will Bite).
All lined up at the pig pen.
We brought the popcorn machine that Josh thoughtfully got me long ago as an added treat for everybody. Those are the goody bags on the right.
My backup plan for the possibility of rain/cold weather was a pinata. Even though it was great outside, we decided to go ahead and use it. All the kids had fun taking a whack at it. Once everybody had a turn, Josh had to break it open for them because it was impossible for them break.
The kids going after the loot that fell out.
The cake which I love. I had the cake made and I bought the barn themed toppers at the store and put them on once I got it to the party. I thought it turned out really well!
Emma was loving that everybody was singing
Happy Birthday to her. She just looked around and smiled the whole time.
Before she could blow out her candles, she got some icing on her fingers again as she sat up and had to lick it off before she could move on.
She blew all three candles out herself...eventually.
My happy Birthday Girl.
A big hit of the party that we didn't even anticipate were the balloons! Each child wanted one and ran around for a good while after the cake and animal cookies were eaten. Here is Emma and Mary Lynn. Poor Mary Lynn went under the table to retrieve her balloon and Emma cornered her!
Isn't John Hinton adorable?? These glasses were in his goody bag and he is modeling them like a pro.
John Hinton and his mommy, Alissa. Thanks so much for making the trip to come celebrate with us!
Emma and John Hinton in their red shirts and overalls...apparently me and Alissa still think very much alike even after being apart for so long!
Then we headed back out to see the animals one more time. Jaime and Emma visiting the bunny rabbit.
Mary Lynn and Emma
The kids were astounded by this trough of water. They just kept starring into it. I think it's because we told them all not to touch it because it's the water that all the animals drink out of so it's yucky. This clearly just made them want to touch it, but they restrained themselves.
Emma and Micah were the last kids at the party. Such troopers. We let them run around for a little while longer to get some energy out.
After Emma woke up from her nap that day, she kept saying, "I want to go back to my birthday party." She just didn't understand why we couldn't go back no matter how many times we told her that everybody went home and it was over. I guess I can't blame her since she's been celebrating her birthday for weeks now!
Here are a few cute pictures of Emma and Josh later on in the day.
I think it was a successful party and I'm very glad we ended up doing it this year. Thank you to all her little friends who were able to make it!! And Happy Birthday to my favorite THREE year old!
