Nielson Reunion Day 2 and HaPpY bIrThDaY to EMMA!

We hung around the cabin all day and it was perfect. The cousins played for hours out on the dock and on the paddle boards and kayaks. It was so fun to watch their interactions and how well they played together. I was a little worried that maybe Emma wouldn't feel as special on her birthday with being at the family reunion, but I think it was her favorite birthday to date. The smiles and laughter that came from her (and all the kids) were so genuine that I can't imagine how it could have been any better. Steve even made TWO cakes--one for Emma and one for her cousin, Karli, who celebrates a July birthday, too.

This is a face that cannot be trusted with a loaded water gun.

How grateful we are for Miss Emma. Happiest of birthdays to our favorite 6-year-old.

"Each time I see a little girl

Of five or six or seven
I can't resist a joyous urge
To smile and say
Thank heaven for little girls
For little girls get
Bigger every day
Thank heaven for little girls
They grow up in 
The most delightful way.
Those little eyes 
So helpless and appealing
When they were flashing
Send you crashing
Through the ceiling
Thank heaven for little girls
Thank heaven for them all
No matter where,
No matter who
Without them
What would little boys do
Thank heaven 
Thank heaven
Thank heaven for little girls."