Emma Bean

Last weekend I went to the first birthday party of little Miss Emma Bean.  Her mom, Danae, and I have been the best of friends since elementary school and we lived together in college.  She and I have so many memories {my personal favorite being the time I sprayed mace in her car while driving eighty miles down the interstate} shared between us that we have a friendship that will last forever.  We are at very different stages in our lives right now.  Danae's babies are only a year apart and she and her husband Blake are beyond busy taking care of and running after two littles.  It doesn't seem to matter though, we can still get together and it's like we are back in seventh grade singing in her basement and doing mud masks.  

Danae and Blake are both only children and one night Danae and I were up late in our college apartment and we were having the old "what do you think your life will be like in five years" talk.  She was saying that she would be married to Blake and hopefully they would have a baby.  I said to her in a flash of realization, "Your kids won't have any aunts or uncles....or cousins."  Then we both just sat there for a few minutes in silence as that thought settled in.  I couldn't help but sense a sadness between both of us thinking of babies without aunts or uncles or cousins.  It was at that moment that I said, "I'll be your babies' aunt and my kids will be their cousins."  I meant what I said.  And, although I don't have any kids, I do very much so consider myself both Owen and Emma's auntie.  I love them.  I am glad I can be on hand to celebrate the milestones in their lives.  

Emma Bean -- a very cute one year old. 

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to...cry if I want to."  I love EB's little tude and I can't wait until her teenage years! 

EB was not fond of digging into her little cake.  At all.  This is as messy as she gets.  I think it could have something to do with her mom and her grandma's constant cleaning and wiping of her.  :) 

I had to take a picture of the Monarch butterfly.  Danae was not in love with the decorating on EB's cake.  In her words, "I told the lady the theme was butterflies.  I didn't know that meant they would put an actual Monarch on the cake.  It is a first birthday after all, not a cake for a forty year old."  Oh Danae...I heart you and your daughter's Monarch cake. 

Big brother Owen doing a little damage to the balloons.  I love the fact that he said, "Amy" as one of his early words. 

So the Monarch on the top of the cake might not have been what Danae was planning, but the inside?  The inside was yummo. 

Whoo-hoo for Barbie four-wheelers! 

EB is always sporting the cutest shoes; her grandma makes sure of it. 

Can't get much sweeter than this...

Blake and Danae, you are both wonderful parents and I feel so honored to be a part of your family's life.  Danae, our friendship means more to me than good deodorant and Blake, thank you for putting up with your wife and I when we revert back to being sixteen. 

And you Little Miss...you are a ray of sunshine.  Happy first birthday Emma Bean!