I cannot believe Laurel's 2nd birthday has already come and gone. It seems like just yesterday I was driving to the hospital to have her and now she is two years old!
We started talking about her birthday as soon as Christmas and New Years was over. She was so excited to get to do "nastics" (gymnastics) and have all her friends come. Whenever we talked about her party she would say, "Papa come? Emily come" and just go through and name all her friends and family. We also started practicing blowing out candles while singing Happy Birthday to her. I just wanted to do it once or twice so she knew what to do, but Matt seriously did it almost every night in January! It was so cute how she would get so excited every time those candles came out. One good side effect of all that singing was that she learned to sing Happy Birthday on her own. It is the most adorable thing you have ever heard. One day when I was talking to her about her party I said, "and after you blow out the candles on the cake you can open your presents!" She looked at me so confused and said, "Santa Claus coming?" I guess in her mind only Santa Claus brings presents. When I explained that you get presents on your birthday too, she seemed to accept that, but every time I mentioned presents she would say, "but Santa Claus not coming?" like she was still trying to figure it out.
The night before her party she was so excited and kept saying, "I go sleep. Wake up. Party!" Just like Christmas Eve she was too excited to sleep well. It was almost 10pm before she finally fell asleep, which is really late for her. Luckily she slept in until almost 9 (I was worried she would wake up too early and then want to take a nap right when her party started). Her and Matt made pancakes like they do every Saturday. We quickly got ready and it was party time!
She was so excited when we got to Sportz Quest where we were having the party and she does gymnastics. We got the food set up while she begged to go play. Her friends started showing up and she was so sweet and greeted each one. The gymnastics teacher quickly went over a few rules and then let the kids loose to play. Laurel just ran around like a little nut, jumping and rolling, sliding and running everywhere. All the kids were having so much fun; it was just fun to watch them enjoy themselves so much.
After a good amount of play time, it was time for food and cake. Laurel blew out the candles on her cake before we had even finished singing the happy in "Happy Birthday." We lit them again to get a picture and she happily blew them out again. The kids all seemed pretty hungry and they ate their food happily. Laurel ate some of her food and then decided to walk around to the adults and mooch food off of their plates too!
After food it was present time. Laurel was adorable opening presents. She wanted to open and play with each present of course. She cracked me up with some of her expressions like, "so cute!" and of course, "oh wow!" A few times when I told her to say thank you to someone she tried to give them the gift she had just opened.
We opened presents pretty quickly and then the kids got to play a little bit more. Laurel was so sweet telling all her friends thank you at the end of the party. We went home and fed Laurel a late lunch and then she took a nap. When she woke up we opened presents again and she had just as much fun the second time as the first.
We had such a fun day and Matt and I just really enjoyed watching Laurel having such a great time. Did I say I still can't believe my baby is two!!
Here are a few pictures from her party. Enjoy!
Laurel and I before the party started.
Jumping on the trampoline!
Playing with her "boyfriend" Drew
Just having a great time while my Dad and brother watch.
She LOVED this slide so much.
Getting a ribbon while everyone clapped for her. She so loved being the center of attention.
Just blew her candles out...for a second time!
Opening presents!
Thanks to everyone who made Laurel's day so special.
Laurel and I were bored one day this week so I decided to do a photo shoot with some of her cute outfits and the top of her amazing cake (the cake will have it's own post!). I'm not the greatest photographer and Laurel is not the best subject since she hates to stay still, but we got some cute shots. Enjoy!
