Emily's Birthday Celebration

Today was Emily's 6th birthday, and we had a good time celebrating it. We started the day by having scrambled eggs and ketchup, Em's favorite. Then we watched some videos of Emily while I ran on the treadmill, which Lily really enjoyed. Made me teary, but that's to be expected. Then we went to our friend Jodi's house and went swimming, which Emily also really enjoyed. Lily is wearing a shirt that Emily got for her 4th birthday that says "Big Sister." She also has her hair in pigtails, since Em always had her hair in pigtails. We had a good time visiting at Jodi's. Tonight for dinner we had grilled cedar plank wild Alasken salmon and sweet potatoes with honey cinnamon butter. Emily loved sweet potatoes. The salmon was more for me-it's my birthday tomorrow, and I LOVE salmon, but didn't want to have to cook on my birthday. It's SO MUCH better wild. All I've had is the farm raised Atlantic for over half a year, I forgot that there's such a big difference. But trust me, there is. It's much more oily wild, but in a good way. I know some people my read this and just think fish is gross in general, but salmon is my favorite food, so I tend to be kind of picky! After dinner Robby took Lily for rides in Em's wheelchair, while we watched more videos. Lily obviously enjoyed herself.

Then we had fun rolling around on the floor. Emily's FAVORITE activity was rolling around.

After we rolled around we looked at Em's baby pictures and opened the book to the family that they get on Em's birthday. I get a Caldacott picture book and wrap it up-we all like to read, and I figure that now Emily can enjoy the pictures with us; it always made me sad that she couldn't see the pictures really when I'd read to her. This year we got The Lion and the Mouse, and Lily really enjoyed it. She likes the lion roaring.

We also have a book callled "Emily's Balloon" that we read. Then we go and release balloons outside. We had 6, but one of them popped, so we released 5. Lily really liked releasing them one at a time, and we got her to be okay with being done by going inside and eating a sucker that had been attached to the balloons.

Before bed we read Robby's poem that we turned into a book and sang her favorite songs, Called to Serve and My Heavenly Father Loves Me. It was a good day, and even though it makes me sad, it was really nice to have Lily to help us celebrate it. We figure Lance will be a bit more involved next year! I put more pictures on facebook, too. Now off to bed!