Miss K turns TWO!

Yikes!!!  Where has the last two years gone??!!  I cannot believe that just a few short days ago, my little princess turned TWO!!

Looking all adorable in her Birthday Party Dress!

Miss K had quite the "Birthday Weekend Extravaganza!" which undoubtedly makes her Aunt Mel very proud.  Nana FLEW down from Maryland to spend a long weekend with us, which in and of itself was the best birthday present for Miss K (and me!).  Nana got here pretty late on Wednesday so K didn't get to see her until first thing Thursday morning.  I had to wake her up early because we were headed to an early appointment so in her groggy state she said her usual "morning mommy," but when she finally realized that Nana was sitting at the end of her bed she woke right up, shouted "Hi NANA!" and jumped into her arms for a big giant bear hug.... so glad I got to witness that. :)

Even though her birthday wasn't until Monday, we had her party on Saturday.  We had many of our new Florida friends join us for the party and hubby's aunt even drove two hours down to enjoy the party too.  K was so excited even before the party started.  Her big treat from Mommy & Daddy was a playhouse to put on the back porch.  Daddy set it up after she went to bed Friday night and we surprised her with it Saturday morning.

Loving her new playhouse!

Her party was Zoo-themed to echo her love of animals (and the sounds they make).  Hubby made yummy chicken on the grill to go with salad and we also served "kid food" (pigs in blankets, tater tots, and mini corn-dogs).  Of course there were plenty of fruits, veggies, and chips too. :)  After was done eating, we took K out to the back porch to sing "Happy Birthday" which she LOVED, when everyone was done she clapped and blew out the candles like a pro!

Clapping after her friends sang "Happy Birthday"

Daddy enjoying his cupcake with Miss K

"YUM" face - much less messy at 2 than she was at 1!

 After cake, we let her open her presents.  She seemed to get the hang of the card thing - studying a few like they were books.  Tissue paper flew and she took out a few friends with her flying arms.  Of course she wanted to open each box and start playing then and there and she even attempted to put some of the clothes on that she got!

Friends gathered around watching Miss K open her presents

I LOVE this face!

Tissue Paper Play Break

All in all, the birthday party was a blast.  We really enjoyed celebrating the last two years with friends and even some family (although we missed the rest of you terribly!).  Miss K was successfully exhausted when the party was over and was down for a nap seconds after the last guest left.  I loved how excited she was and how much fun the kids all had playing and laughing.  Honestly I tried to soak in as much of that as I could because I know this time goes by oh-so-quickly!

By the way, I may have had a little too much fun putting together all the decorations, favors, etc... but can you blame me??!!  Below are some pictures of some of the details...
 
Goodie bags... All the "big kids" got a zoo animal goodie bag with a few animal fun items (bubbles, stamp, crayons, notepad, animal print bracelet) and a few tasty treats (fruit snacks and a bag of animal crackers).

I made the bags with just plain white gift bags from Michaels, and cut out the animal heads on my Cricut using the Animal Kingdom cartridge.  I didn't get a good picture of the back, but each animal has a tail attached to the back. :)

 For the babies of the bunch, they took home a little bag of cute zoo stuffed animals to play with, touch, and drool on. LOL

 I hung a banner over the gift table.  I used the Creative Memories Cricut cartridge "Traveler" for the font, the Celebrations cartridge for the pennants, and I free-handed the fringy green tops.  This was really fun to make.

 Animal cupcakes!  We had chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with green colored icing.  Nana put some fancy designs in the icing and I topped the cupcakes with these cute cupcake toppers.  Just like the goodie bags, I cut out the animal heads with my Cricut and used the "Animal Kingdom" cartridge.  Each animal head is hot-glued to a toothpick.

 This was my "Feed the Animals" game.  I painted large sides to a cardboard box to look like animal prints, and then cut out large circles (tracing a plate with razor blade - yes, I still have all my fingers in tact).  I put out little balls for the kids to "feed" the animals with.  It didn't get a whole lot of use at the party (the playhouse was the hit), but they're pretty nice, so I'm keeping them around for outside fun with friends on another day. :)

I couldn't help but add a little something to the front door, so I cut out a big #2 to hang on the door (and other for inside).  Again, I used my Cricut and used the CM "Traveler" cartridge to get my font.  I'll be saving at least one of these for the scrapbook!