Lauren Elizabeth

Happy Birthday to You

It is always a little crazy dealing with a birthday that falls around another big holiday. So trying to pick a time for Vi's party was a little harder this year. Her friends have such a range of ages. So not all of them are going trick or treating and not all of them even get the concept of a party yet. We decided to have a party the Saturday after Halloween this year. We did the same thing as last year and just invited the close little friends that she plays with. It was fun because over the last year Violet has made some new older friends. It was really cute to see the friendships she is forming. She really really loves her friends and gets so excited when they come over or she sees them at the park. I decided I wanted to do a brunch this year. That way we could leave the rest of the Saturday open for people to do family things. I made a waffle bar and breakfast sandwiches. I had decided last year that I wanted to do an Itsy Bitsy Spider party for her 2nd birthday. The first year I didn't want to do something Halloween related, since I figured most of her parties would be like that in the future. So this year we went with a slightly spooky theme. I was seriously having to pull my act together the night before. We had so many other things going on and I just hadn't gotten around to all the things I needed to do. It all came together in the end minus the balloons we forgot to get. It was very low key and fun to have friends around to celebrate her. 

For Vi's actual birthday we had her come downstairs to her birthday presents. We got her a baby doll and a stroller and a bunny blanket. I took her to the play place at the mall and the train table. Those are some of her favorite things to do. Then we went and had lunch with Mike on campus and she got some ice cream. Mike didn't schedule anyone for the afternoon so he came home and we took her to a place called My Urban Toddler that has tons of rooms with play food, books, puzzles, ride on toys and lots of other fun things. She had such a good time making food in the kitchen with Mike and going in the grocery store. Then we took her out to pick out a cupcake and we got some pizza. We went home ate our food, sang her happy birthday and blew out candles. Then we played with her toys and face timed Grandma and her cousins until bed time. I would say it was a pretty good day for a 2 year old.