Cecelia is TWO: Party Time!

I was talking to my mother-in-law about kids' birthday parties the other day. Lois commented that they would just invite a few kids over for a 'party', without parents, and it would be very low key. I remember my mom would let me invite six kids to my sixth birthday party, seven kids for my seventh, and so on. I am totally down for that idea once my children are older, but for now? Their parties are really for Nate and I as an excuse to see our friends;) Isn't it ironic that all of Cecelia's friends just happen to be the kids of OUR friends? She obviously wouldn't care one way or the other at this point but we sure did have fun entertaining 18 adults and 14 kids for her second birthday party!

This time we had a lot of our newer neighborhood friends (soon to be school friends!) over along with some of the regular crew, Mom, Memaw, Tony and Lois. I truly did not do anything to prepare for this BBQ other than discuss the menu with Nate and Lois, shop at Target a few hours before the party, and become very obsessed with non-alcoholic lemonade drinks to serve in my new jugs.

I found a recipe for a strawberry lemonade, pineapple juice, and Sierra Mist drink that made me salivate just thinking about it. I added some fruit and ice and probably drank half of that one by myself. The other lemonade was just plain with lemons cut up inside and the kids all loved that one...along with the big self-serve water jug I had outside, too. Oh, and I put a bottle of Aboslut Vodka next to the lemonades to encourage the adults to mix my lemonades with the hard stuff, as needed. Having plenty of plastic cups, two sharpie markers to prevent cup confusion, and also having a cooler full of juice boxes for the kids were also key. I think we are getting the hang of this entertaining thing, and it's so much easier when everyone spends a majority of the night outside!

We served burgers, brats, and hot dogs for the meats and Nate was in charge of this task. Then Lois made her awesome Ramen Noodle Asian salad, her bow tie pasta salad (with asparagus and bacon...mmmmmm), and our favorite Black Bean Quinoa salad. Oh, and she also made her awesome baked beans---the woman can cook, you guys! I made a huge fruit salad, provided potato chips, and made fun-fetti cupcakes iced with pink vanilla frosting at Cecelia's request. She also picked out a number two candle and then proceeded to play with it/pick it apart before her party so I had to use an older version of the candle instead. Silly girl.

Everyone started arriving around 4pm and most were gone around 8pm. The 14 children behaved like angels and had a ball running around in the backyard, digging dirt, and playing various sports. I felt like I could actually sit down and talk to people instead of worrying about being a good 'hostess', since we had our parents/grandma to help out with that part of it. Such a fun time!

CC got a manicure from GoGo before the guests arrived. And what lucky kids to have such amazing grandmas! 

Family picture!

Little miss wore this adorable outfit, made by GoGo. She rocked it, I'd say.

Love seeing CC with her grandparents--I don't take nearly enough pictures with Lois and Tony since we see them so often!


'Cheese! I two.' This girl was in heaven all night long. Totally in her element.

Opening presents outside with the 'help' from the big kids---definitely chaos and kind of overwhelming for CC at times, but it all worked out just fine. She now has more princess items than she could have asked for and immediately had to play with a tea set for the rest of the night.







Cupcakes and babies. The best.

Ben was particularly adorable this night, even though I didn't take a ton of pictures of the rest of our guests. Couldn't ignore this guy!

Then came time for cupcakes as the 4 year olds were getting REALLY antsy for dessert. Cecelia literally sang along with the entire group and I even caught her singing 'Happy To Me' later in the night. Could you die over her sometimes? I could.



Fave.


Big fan of cupcakes over here. Especially pink ones with sprinkles, duh.

Just some of the children going crazy with my mom//the adults sitting in a circle chatting.





Love these of my happy girl playing with bubbles and her wheel barrow.


CC got a new chair. CC loves GoGo so much.

With CC's godparents at the end of the night. Very odd how Nate and Andy are standing SO close together....but whatever!

Eddie found this bean bag toss and decided to wear it for a bit.

Baby bellies//mommy's necklace is fun//me and my girl.


And I had to do a few comparison shots;) First birthday party versus the second. Cecelia has changed a ton, Truman and Nate have NOT, and my hair is shorter/face is fuller/am pregnant.

And then the godparents at Cecelia's baptism and at her second birthday. Growing families!!!! Love comparison shots so much.


Another birthday party in the books, for our second weekend in a row hosting a BBQ. We had a blast and yet, I'm looking forward to a few quiet weekends before baby comes!