Whoo, Penny's birthday party was great! It might've been even more fun if the weather hadn't been so nasty (with the remnants of Hurricane Charley breathing down our necks) and we could've gone out onto the deck, but - ah, well. C'est la vie.

I promised you a picturelicious entry this morning, and that's what I've got! We took nearly seventy pictures at Penny's birthday party, and most of them will be going up on the photo album when I get some time.

In the meantime, a sampling to whet your appetites:

Matt and I decorated the night before, so when Penny got up Saturday morning, the house looked like this.

Emma - who is old enough to know all about presents and parties - was very keen to help Penny out.

But Penny managed just fine on her own.

True to baby tradition, though, she was more interested in the wrappings and ribbons than the presents themselves.

"Hey! Let's get some cake going, around here!"

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!"

I think science should look into a way to determine whether it's actually true that more cake gets worn than eaten.

"I hear all the cool babies are wearing cake in their ears this year!"

The glassy-eyed stare of the sugar-saturated baby.

Penny was quite despondent to see her guests leaving.

But she got lots of presents that I was very excited about, and she spent the rest of the weekend discovering and re-discovering them. Toys and books and clothes, oh my! I don't think she even noticed that Matt and I had packed up a box full of some of her older, less-frequently played with toys.

Come to think of it, I don't really remember my parents every getting rid of my old toys, either. Nor do I recall heaps of old toys lying around, really, so they must have done it. Maybe, like Matt and I, they waited until I wasn't around and then only got rid of the toys I never actually played with, anyway.

Of course, Matt and I are both huge packrats, and the question of whether Penny will one day have a sibling has yet to be answered, so we didn't throw out her old toys. But they're boxed up and put out of the way to make room for all the new, exciting ones!

--Liz