Who's Idea Was This...

 ...to give the baby something melty...

 ...and chocolatey and oooey gooey...

 ...and fully clothed, buttoned from head to toe and hooded too...

...who's idea was this anyway?!

Alaina Turns Two: The Party!

In true overwhelmed-frazzled mommy fashion, when Alaina's birthday was approaching I suggested no party this year and just cake with us four.  Josh's jaw hit the floor!  We talked about it more and having everyone over to celebrate our baby girl and all the memories and fun and I immediately knew he was right. What was I even thinking, anyway?!

Aunt Tammy, Uncle Michael and Great-Grandma having some snacks.

Baby Shawn (five months older than Alaina) saddled up on Josh's old school trike for this shot.  This is the cutest, craziest, sweetest kid!

It was warm and beautiful and we got to hang around the yard and visit.  Uncle Peter, Aunt Shannon, Cousin Lindsey, and Gigi are some of the more photogenic people I know.  Love this family!

We had fun running around the yard and munching and snacking the afternoon away.  Everyone was on best behavior! ;)

Of course the Birthday Girl would be looking away from the camera in the classic cake shot! Even though I let Kroger bake the cake and provide lunch for us (store bought birthday cake?! Ack!  I know I know...next year I'll do better! Ha!) I still had to decorate a bit and got to re-use the pink table runner I made for a baby shower one year.  I picked up cute bright owl plates and balloons since Alaina has really taken a liking to owls lately.  She is starting to get into princesses too....so cute!  She almost always lets me add a bow to her hair and she loves picking out her own outfits to wear.  I'm seeing some real changes from baby to little girl these days. 

Shy-pie as everyone stares and serenades her!

This is always one of the best memories...we light and relight the candles over and over so everyone can blow!  *insert CLAP and CHEER and light again!*  Alaina wasn't feeling it at first but after the other kids showed her how fun it was she eventually got into it!

She loved her new sandels from Bobie and had to wear them immediately.

Brother just hanging out!

And later when clean up had commenced and everything was winding down, I found her in the kitchen....

...stealing bites of cake!  And stealing my heart too.  Love this girl!  Happy Second Birthday!

Alaina Turns TWO!

We were out of town for Alaina's birthday weekend this year.  The following weekend we had all the family over for cake and a big sandwich tray.  So the morning of the party we had a special time for her to open her presents from Josh, Joseph and I.

 

Joseph picked out a super cute purple Zhu Zhu pet which she loved.  She always plays with his so now it's really fun to see them playing together with their hamsters.  They're fun little toys!

My big idea this year was to get Alaina her first Cabbage Patch doll, which were my favorite.  Joseph latched on to my Cabbage Patch Preemie named Antony Barry (Joseph renamed him Anthony (no 'h' in his real name)) when he was just a wee-thing and has loved it every since so no chance Alaina was getting that one! 

I noticed they are selling a Vintage Cabbage Patch dolls now which have the same yarn hair and design as the original ones from back in the 80's. We went ahead and got her one with the pretty silky hair that I'm sure will only be pretty for a week.  Good times.

She seemed pretty tickled with it.  And her doll has that delicious sweet baby powder smell!  Talk about nostalgia.

I hope and pray that the next year holds so much fun and adventure for this little one.  I hope that I can train her and raise her to be a confident, well-mannered, joyful child.  I hope that an mistakes I make can become a learning experience and that she can learn from me too.  I'm overwhelmed with joy by this gift of a sweet little girl that I've been given and I'm so excited to see what the next year holds!