It’s hard to believe but my baby girl turned 2 on Sunday! Time is a funny thing, in some ways it has gone by so fast and in other ways it feels like she should be 5 already. I have also realized how fast time goes by having this blog because I blink and it has been a week since I posted last. How does that happen?
This year we kept things super simple and didn’t do a big party for Audrey. We’ve done other “just family” parties before but this was the first time we didn’t have any extended family with us. It’s always fun to have a lot of people but It was really nice to not stress about throwing a party together. We’ll probably do something with her little friends next year when she’ll actually have a clue as to what is going on, but this was just perfect. It was so low key that I had to go out and buy the cake stuff and some balloons etc the day before. Audrey’s a big fan of elephants right now so I figured we’d go with that as a little theme. I tried to use as many decorations as I could that we already had. The hats were from Josiah’s 3rd birthday circus party. The yellow plastic table cloth (classy I know) was left unused from Audrey’s party last year. I found some streamers at the dollar tree that had elephants, lions, etc on them. Probably meant for a baby shower but who cares. They also had a little plastic elephant toy so I set it up on top of a pyrex bowl with red streamers inside of it as a little centerpiece. We reused the “Happy Birthday” sign that has made an appearance at two other parties now. I just love those things. You can print out your own here. We also blew up a few balloons and lovingly (meaning helter skelter like) taped them to the back of each chair. Josiah’s idea of what a party is includes balloons, cake, party hats, streamers, and presents. We had all those things so we were good to go. The cake is very homemade looking but I have never claimed to be a cake decorator nor do I want to be. That is just one of those things like crocheting that I just don’t have an interest in spending the time learning to do. I saw a similar one on pinterest and used it as inspiration. I made it using two circle pans. And considering I was winging it as I frosted it after midnight the night before I think it turned out alright. It was and still is super delicious.
Here’s our attempt at a family photo with a camera timer. I am surprised we got a half smile out of Audrey since she was just staring at the camera wondering what it was doing.
We also decided a bit last minute to do something special for the kids and take them to the zoo. We hadn’t been to one since Audrey was a newborn. They both really loved and it really couldn’t have gone much better. The high was 83 degrees (which did feel a bit hot at times when not in the shade) but most of the morning it felt just perfect and was a bit cloudy. You know how kids can get really focused on one thing and not let it go, well with Josiah his big thing was that we had bought them some Cheetos for a snack which he’s only had a couple times before at other places and so for him to have his own bag was HUGE. He’d been begging us for some for a while now. The boy couldn’t stop asking for them the whole day. Those chips are pretty annoying since fingers, face, clothes, and hair get covered in orange powder so we didn’t want them eating them non stop plus the fact that they just don’t need to eat a lot of chips. Anyway, the boy couldn’t keep his mind off of them. The other thing that totally consumed him was his NEED to buy something. He continued to ask when we could go to the store to pick out a toy. We finally visited the gift shop as we were leaving and you would have thought he won the lottery. We let them each pick out one little toy.
Here’s an example of what much of the day was like. I could show you the photos that followed this one as they had synchronized cheeto eating but I’ll save you from that. Who cares about giant wild animals when you have a bag of cheetos?
I’m not sure if Audrey his pointing at the fish that is near the window looking at the kids or the giant hippo bottom?
Anyway, we definitely made some memories and had a some great family time. We are so blessed to have Audrey in our family. She is such a happy, easy going girl. Let’s hope she stays that way in her toddler years!
Happy Birthday Audrey! We have a little something to give you sweet girl! We will see you on Wed. AND…. The simple party was adorable, sometimes I feel the same desires. The cake; sweet. The banner; lovely. The family photo; priceless! Looked like ya’ll had a great day and you are very blessed to have that precious girl!
Thanks Angie! You are too sweet.
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Precious. Camera timers are great for family shots, aren’t they? It’s good you enjoy every delectable second. She’ll be 10 before you know it. Then 20…