The Birthday Post

The 2nd birthday has come and gone.  I can't believe it's been 2 years now.  It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital trying to figure out what the heck to do with her.  Now she is quite the character and turning out quite well.  Her party was perfect.  It was purposefully small with just immediate family and a small group of hand-picked friends. 

We started out with make-your-own pizzas.  I think the kids enjoyed making them more than eating them.  The "real" pizza was a bigger hit.  Next we painted using cookie cutters, paint and glitter.  The kitchen is still full of glitter, 2 days and countless cleanings later.  We have quite a bit of glitter left, but I think it will be saved for an outdoor art project from now on.  We ended the party with a Thomas the Tank Engine carnival cake.  It was such a fun party, for the kids and adults.  She still talks about her birthday, the party and the friends that were here.
A few of the gifts Busy received were arts & crafts stuff like paints and playdoh.  These are great to have, not only because she loves crafting, but because they provide great excuses to have those same friends over again for play dates.  I just love when kids her age are at least willing to try and share, try to wait their turn, and try to interact with the other kids.  The birthday kids fit the bill perfectly, and what's better is the parents are willing to let the kids work it out as much as possible.  No one learns much if the parents are always interceding and taking over to minimize waves.  How else are kids supposed to learn? 

On a separate note - Ryan's gone again for training for work.  2 weeks this time.  Busy and I have had 2 days with just the two of us and it's going super well.  She's been almost hassle free, super funny and chatty, and easy to get down for beds and naps.  Sometimes I think things run much more smoothly with just one parent calling the shots.  Of course I don't prefer it, but it is kind of easy with just the 2 of us. 

Tonight when we were out for our walk we ran into our neighbors & their little boy who is about 4 months younger.  The two kids literally ran in circles yelling and laughing.  Too cute.  I was not surprised that Busy went down without a peep tonight.  Not only did we having tumbling today, we had a play date this afternoon and running with the neighbor.  I'm already feeling bad that I'll have to wake her up tomorrow at 7 a.m. for school.