Sunday was Emma's second birthday party and at one point there were five children under the age of 4 in our living room (a niece, two nephews and our friend's daughter). It was quite a zoo, but it was so much fun to watch them all playing together.

Emma was so excited to open all of her presents. She got piles of the cutest little girl clothing (and we had to try all of them on on Monday night), a gas grill that lights up and makes a grilling sound, a Fisher-Price high chair for her many "kids," a V.Smile TV Learning System and more that I'm sure I'm forgetting.

She's not sure how to play the video game yet, but she and her little cousin certainly had a blast when they discovered the attached microphone. Her party guests were serenaded with a variety of little kids' tunes from the "Alphabet Song" and "Old McDonald" to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Little Bunny Foo Foo." Now I just need to convince her that you don't actually have to inhale the microphone in order to sing into it.

She also was ecstatic when we lit the candles on her Elmo ice cream cake and she got to blow them out. And she was all smiles as everyone sang her "Happy Birthday." She's been singing "Happy Birthday, Emma" for at least a month now to anyone who would lend an ear.

My husband and I got Emma "Sesame Street Stripes and Letters" sheets and a comforter for her "big girl bed," which is still in our basement. The rail that I'm hoping keeps her from rolling out at night came in today, so that's our project for the weekend -- assembling it and crossing our fingers that she actually wants to sleep in it.

I'm sure that will be a whole nother story ... stay tuned next week.