Meeting Sam from 'iCarly'

Super happy girls, originally uploaded by MCuthbert.

In what turned out to be a unique birthday treat for Emily, I learned that Jennette McCurdy (who plays Sam on the Nick show "iCarly") was performing a free mini concert in Birmingham today and would be signing autographs for fans afterward.

After work, we loaded up the girls and headed to The Shops at Grand River where we waited in a super-long line to by a copy of Jennette McCurdy's CD. At first we tried to keep our intentions a surprise, but with so many excited little girls there, it was impossible.

It was so crowded that we had to watch the performance from behind the stage, and we had to hold the girls up for them to see. They didn't care though -- they had a fun time.

After about half a dozen songs, we waited in an even longer line for autographs. However, we were really lucky in where we'd ended up standing, because the line stretched on a looong way behind us. Jennette's "handlers" made it very clear that, in order to get as many people through the line as possiblem, she wasn't able to pose for pictures or personalize photos.

When Emily got to the table, though, our little girl worked her charm. "Hi, my name's Emily, and it's my birthday," she said as Jennette scribbled her autograph on an 8x10.

"It's your birthday?!," Jennette replied. "Well, hang on a second." She then proceeded to draw Emily a cake with seven candles and wrote "Happy B-day!" on the photo.

The girls were all smiles after that. They were so proud of their signed pictures. We capped off the evening with dinner at Red Robin and listened to the 2-song CD over and over again on the way home.

Here are more pictures from the event.