Maddie's Birthday Celebration

Well, it's official....my daughters are all now out of the baby stage!

Last week, we celebrated Maddie's second birthday.  On the morning of her birthday, we celebrated by going to Starbucks (in our pajamas!) to get mini birthday cake donuts and chocolate milk.  Even Maddie got a "big girl" chocolate milk...and she loved it!

That afternoon, Don's mother flew up from SoCal, and we went out to a sushi dinner that night.  The next day was Maddie's birthday party.  We tend to not do children's parties, as just our own kids are a houseful, so we invited just family:  Don's mom, my mom & stepdad, dad & stepmom, and sister, plus the 8 of us.  Brittany's boyfriend also joined us, so there were 15 of us for dinner!  I kept it simple:  ravioli from our freezer stash, a crockpot of meat sauce, sausage and peppers, green salad, and garlic bread.  I'm assuming it was delicious, as we really only had sauce left over!

After dinner came presents.  It only took Maddie a present or two to catch onto the ripping of the paper.  And she was thorough...if there was even a scrap of paper left on the box, she wouldn't open it!  And of course, every present had to be investigated before we could move onto the next!

Do you see the boots Maddie's wearing?  They were abandoned as soon as she opened Brit's present.

A veterinarian kit from her sisters.

 

Do you see the sandals she's wearing now?  Brittany bought those for her, along with 2 outfits.  As soon as she opened them, everything came to a halt while she changed her shoes!

Pajamas from Great Gam.

Wearing her helmet from Mom & Dad. We got her a Grow With Me Tricycle...she'll have a lot of fun with that, if it ever stops raining!

Next, it was time for cake, which everyone knows is the best part of any party!



I had spent the better part of my day baking for our church bake sale, which was the next day, and put Abby, Emma, and Katie to work making decorations for the cupcakes.  See the flowers?  They are jumbo marshmallows, cut in slices and dipped in colored sugar.  The girls had a good time, so I had them make extras to use on the cake.  I think they really enjoyed doing something special for their "favorite baby sister".  My mother-in-law even helped...she made the yellow and orange ones!

Blowing out the candles.  I understand she had a little help!

In my house, you can tell how good something is, particularly a treat type thing, by how much gets on a child's face as they are eating.  I guess the cake was good!

Thanks to everyone that helped celebrate Maddie's special day!