85...whew!

Woo-hoo!  Lesson 85 - the next prize marker - is behind us.  Actually, it's been behind us for quite a while, I just haven't gotten around to posting it.  In fact, Emma is scheduled to have her 100-reading lesson party next week.  

Oh yeah...it's gonna be a par-tay! I'm excited...1) because I like to eat cake, 2) because I get to decorate and use paper plates and 3) because in the history of her life, I've NEVER made Emma a birthday cake.  How can this be, you ask?

Well...it's because for Emma's first birthday, my lovely Nana made all the cupcakes for the big shindig.  They were Rainbow Chip, with Rainbow Chip icing.  Three cheers for Rainbow Chip icing.  Let's have a Rainbow Chip icing party and leave the middleman out.  I mean, really, the cake just functions like a spoon for the icing.  Rainbow Chip, I love you forever.  

Ahem....sorry about that.  Anyway, birthdays #2-4 have all been in Thailand...and we usually find fun ways to celebrate, but it doesn't feel the same to me. I don't get to be in my element and surprise her with things I've done after she's gone to bed, or whatever.  No cakes get made in hotel rooms, I'll tell you that.  

So I feel this little hole in my heart where a birthday cake for my Em should be.  I'm trying to pay my way out of birthday cake purgatory by making her reading accomplishments a disguise for a birthday party I wish I could have thrown for her (especially this year, since she celebrated in the hospital with her mama...and her new baby sister)

Well, anyway, that's coming up next week, but for now, here's the pics of her little yellow bookmark getting covered more and more by those little red stars:

Her prize was a Dora dry-erase Trace board that my sweet Aunt Marilyn sent...do you remember this marilyn?  You must have sent it ages ago, and I stashed it away in the "surprises" bag under my bed.  It so TOTALLY came in handy! Emma loves it and is old enough to use it properly!
just a few more lessons to go...