Celebrating Two! Part Two!

Yesterday was Cate's big birthday party. And when I say big, I do mean BIG! Our small, approximately 1000 square feet of living space (which doesn't include the newly finished basement) was PACKED! With family, friends, and lots of kiddos. You see, this time last year, we hadn't met our small group yet. But now, we're going on a year of knowing them all and they added about 20 people to our number of guests this year. Oh well, the more the merrier!

I was a little nervous at first since we woke up to about 5 inches of snow. Cate and her Aunt C (my sister) played outside in it for a bit.
Even Zoey got in on the action.
Gigi (my dad's mom) read Cate a pre-party story (Silly Sally in case you were wondering). And yes, that is the jumper my grandma helped me make for her. It's big on Cate now, but will fit her perfectly in the fall. We can let down the buttons too and it might even fit her the fall after that.
And then the guests started to arrive. We feasted on pizza, chips, dip, and pretzels, before letting the kids all take a turn pulling the Elmo pinata's strings.
He didn't open until the last string was pulled and the kids went crazy for the candy!
Next it was on to "Happy Birthday" with a Funfetti cake and awesome Sesame Street figures that I recently found in the Target dollar bin (I love the dollar bin at Target).
I also made some Elmo cupcakes. I can't take credit for this though. My friend, Lynn, gave me the idea when she made them last spring for her daughter's 2nd birthday. I didn't have the same long sprinkles that she used though. And I used Reeses Pieces for the nose instead of an orange gummy candy.
Cate definitely understood/"got" the whole opening presents thing. However, after about the first five or six, she said "all done." I think she was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Her friends helped her open the rest. She got tons of cute clothes, plenty of toys, some books to read, and some DVDs to watch. It was a wonderful party and we love that our little girl is loved and blessed by so many people in her life.
Happy Birthday again my sweet, sweet girl!

~Melody