Celebrating our 2 Year Old!

 Not knowing if we'd have a newborn for Hadassah's birthday or not, I didn't plan anything big or fancy. It also works with the plan I have (copying what my parents did) to do a big party every-other year and on the off years do something small, with a special activity of their choice as they're older.

So, we had a small party for lunch, with Uncle Elijah & Aunt Megan coming and some fun cupcakes!

It was somewhat of a rough morning for the birthday girl, though. Guess it goes with being 2... She woke up with a slight cold, fell down 2 stairs and got a mark near her eye, and bumped her head on the dog house (after eating a piece of dog food...) and got a bruise. But she was always very happy and excited when it came to doing birthday things!

Selfies with Daddy! We had been talking about turning 2 for a month now, so she was pretty excited that today was her birthday finally!!

 We had puppy dog cupcakes (idea found on Pinterest), which Hadassah helped me decorate, putting the eyes and nose on between eating pieces of chocolate. ;)

We also had little kitty cats. Definitely didn't turn out perfectly (the mouth/whiskers should have been thinner) but a 2 year old doesn't care and was pretty thrilled!

 Lunch was some of her favorite foods: pizza, spinach, and strawberries. And of course she ate the spinach first!

This time she didn't have any trouble blowing out the candles and was quite excited to do so! Amazing how much a year changes things...

Did you  know that ice cream tastes better eaten with your hands?

 She was a pretty happy girl!

 Happy girl with grandparents!

 It's wonderful to have family around to celebrate with!

 Presents! She was blessed with many great books...

 And a doll family! We'll see if I'm able to get around to making a cardboard doll house for Christmas...

 Even on birthdays, you still have to take a nap. It's so nice to have our own space in the guest house just up the small hill from my parents' house!

 Hadassah did this puzzle with Grandma at least three different times that day. She so enjoys the ABC's and knows them all without me even really trying to teach her.

 We saved our present to Hadassah until supper time, to make things not all at once. She was quite ready to climb into the chair to open it. And in fact, today, after a leftover cupcake for dessert, she went right over to the chair and climbed in and said "presents?" We had to explain that some things only happen on the actual birthday!

 Daddy makes everything more fun, so he had to be in on her first tea party with an actual set!

And she faithfully took care of her special travel puppy, making sure he got what he needed. :)

All-in-all, it was a great day of celebration, and I am pretty glad our daughters didn't end up with the same exact birthday, as people always teased would happen. But now I'm definitely to the point where I'm telling Ellie she can come any time...