Emma's Birthday

Emma turned 7 on Saturday, October 9! But we started the celebrating on Friday. I baked cupcakes for her 1st grade class to enjoy at recess. Rachel and I went and ate lunch with her at school. And additionally, her small group teacher gave her an "It's My B-day" button to wear all day and they made "doozies" - chocolate chip cookies with icing sandwiched in the middle! At the end of the day she said her tummy was hurting a little - probably from all that sugar!!! :-)

Then Saturday we had her birthday party at a farm. Seven friends were able to come and everyone really seemed to enjoy the farm and all it had to offer. They started with walking over to see two of the horses that were grazing.
Then over to a water pump. The girls got to pump the water out and feel how cold it was.
There is also a working windmill on the farm that eventually will be connected to a different water pump and will fill a trough to water their horses.
The next animal encounter was chickens. They have about 300 chickens!!! Most of the girls walked in to the coup and enjoyed herding the chickens around. Emma said they scared her, so she didn't want to go in. But Ms. Amanda, who works at the farm and was helping out with the party, grabbed one of the chickens and brought it out to show Emma. She would not touch it and only got within about 5 feet of it. But she thought it was hilarious! :-)
Next it was in to the barn to meet the horses - 7 of them.
We got to feed them treats (or at least try to). Little girl hands are small for holding a horse treat.
The girls all worked together to brush the two horses they were going to ride.
Then it was time to ride. Here's Emma ready to go!
Emma on Blue.
Heidi, Riley & Reagan watching the horses.
While some of the girls were taking their turn riding horses, the others met the goats and got to feed them lettuce.
Rachel wasn't too sure what to think about these big animals. (Heidi wasn't either, in fact she really tried to keep her distance from the horses and she did not want to ride or even sit on one for a picture.) Here's Rachel with Ms. Amanda.
After everyone had a chance to ride, Emma got one extra time around the arena. Here she is on Blue - grinning ear to ear.

After all the horse riding was done, the girls helped take the saddles off the horses and put everything away. Then it was time to wash hands and get ready for cake.
Emma and her friends enjoying cake and ice cream.
The party was such a good time and we're so glad our friends were able to be there to help celebrate Emma's birthday! Once we got home Emma opened her presents from her friends. As usual, books were an immediate attraction for her.
As if we hadn't had a full day already, Emma had a soccer game at 5PM. It was our assigned day to provide drinks, so I made a birthday cookie cake and we brought a cooler of drinks to share with the team after the game. And we capped off the day with dinner at Emma's choice - you guessed it - Moe's!
A fun, fun day of celebrating! Happy Birthday Emma! We are so proud of you and love you very much!!!