A Second Birthday

The day of L’s party I was nervous. The clouds were looming, it looked like it was going to pour. It wasn’t cold, and the hour by hour weather report said only a 30% chance of rain. When my mom and I went to pick up the cake it was starting to clear up. By the time we got back with the cake, the sun was making its glorious appearance. The party started at 11am, I wanted to get us there by 10:30 to set up.

The pavilion I got was right next to the playground. You can see it in the background of this picture:

We parked on the entrance road to unload, K got out with me and stood right by the van waiting for me to get L out. she marveled at the playground. I took L out of her seat and put her on the ground and she made like a cheetah and ran for the playground. I said to P, “Clearly, she is excited about the playground”. We agreed that the easiest thing is for me to watch them on the playground while he unloaded.

For everything that this playground had to offer L only cared about one thing: swings. I pushed her on those swings for a long time, then she saw the slides and got more excited about those. My sister H and then my mom came soon after we got there and helped us set up. H’s kids are 9 and 7. It was nice to have K on the playground playing with her 9-year-old cousins. I could see them, but I didn’t need to be right there watching her every move. L stayed close to the pavilion and watched us, cousins would take her to the swings or playground if she wanted.

The party itself was lots of fun, P’s sister, mom and step dad, dad and step mom, grandmother on his dad’s side all came. P’s sister has 3 kids around the same age as K and L. They were both having a blast. The weather really perked up, so it was sunny with a slight breeze. Perfect.

Having a snack before lunch:

K playing with 9-year-old A:

Me and L on the grass. She desperately wanted those shoes on even though her feet had swelled and they no longer really fit:

P cooked hamburgers and hotdogs. We had fruit salad, potato salad (homemade from my mom!), chips and salsa, pickles, etc. It was the typical picnic/BBQ fare. L of course only had eyes for hotdogs. Even with all the commotion I think she ate a whole hot dog and might have eaten more but she got distracted. Both K and L loved sitting at the big picnic tables with the big kids. Very cute.
Next of course, was cake. Because we were outside I didn’t really care what L looked like at the end, just as long as she was happy and got some cake . Turns out? She didn’t get messy at all, a little on her hands, a little on her face.
Here she is just getting into it:

We actually did presents before cake, I didn’t know how messy L was going to be, guess I worried for nothing. K was actually pretty good about allowing L to open her gifts. There was a little bit in the beginning where she just couldn’t help herself, but once we explained how to help L without doing it for her she did better. L got all the things she loves: baby doll, baby doll, a pillo*w pet, baby doll…

it was a great party, and everybody had such a good time. P was super dad all the way. Honestly, he did all the prep for the food. He cooked the food made sure everybody had enough. He really was awesome. L fell asleep before we even left the park entrance in the van, K took a little loner but eventually fell asleep as well. I love parties like this: everybody had fun, the weather was perfect, we were surrounded by family, I love it.

Here she is at 6 months:

Here she is putting her new baby doll to bed at the party:

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