Party!

Yesterday we had a combined birthday party for Annika and Carina, a.k.a., "The Twins." The girls are only two and don't yet fully understand the concept of a birthday party, but Kim and I still wanted to do something fun for them while keeping it informal. We decided to host a little birthday party for them during our weekly playgroup. The kids had a great time playing together, while we moms had a good time socializing amongst each other. It was basically a regular play date with some added birthday decorations, and we all ate lunch and had cake together at the end.

For lunch the kids ate grilled cheese sandwiches, banana hot dogs with peanut butter and jam, grapes, and orange wedges. The grownups had turkey melts and yummy salad with strawberries and Skore bars. Both Carina and Annika had their own flower cake to blow candles out on. Both cakes were a white cake mix, but the pink cake had a strawberry filling, while the yellow cake had a raspberry lemon filling. Both turned out super yummy!

Even though we said no presents, Annika and Carina scored with a My Little Pony play set, and a Dora The Explorer book. And I scored with lots of help! Everyone pitched in to help and the work for me was minimal. Thanks to all who participated in making Annika and Carina's little party a huge success!

While we were upstairs all the little kids took turns climbing on the table to get the Little People birthday party set.

Annika loved walking around with the balloons.

Maci and Annika with their push toys.

Gabe flying the airplane.

Little artist, Maci!

Carina, one of the birthday "twins."

Sarah doesn't have her own kids yet, so she's more than happy to cuddle or play with everyone else's. She is honorary Auntie Sarah. Here she is with baby Tyler. Her dog Sandy also joined the party.

Tyler's Mommy, Katie.

Jake and Maci's Mommy, Kelli. She was a good sport considering she is terrified of dogs after a horrible dog bite as a child.

Baby Zeke. He is growing so fast!

Maci playing house while Carina makes important plans on the phone.

All the kids love the slide. Here's Annika taking a turn.

Carina does smile a lot. I actually caught one on camera as she rode the horse.

She kept saying "wee!"

Gabe and Jake playing blocks and making tea.

Gabe enjoying a cup o' tea.

Annika reaching for the streamers.

Maci taking a turn on the slide.

Carina on the slide.

While Erin and I made sandwiches for lunch, Kelli entertained the kids with play-doh. This was Annika first experience with play-doh and she absolutely Loved it!

Annika pushing the play-doh into a mold. For the past two days Annika has been calling play-doh "push it down." Kelli must have explained to her that is how you play with it.

The girls playing with play-doh.

The boys playing with play-doh.

Annika followed the boys up the stairs for lunch while yelling "adults" just like them.

Katie with sweet baby Tyler.

The kids had a picnic lunch on the living room floor.

Birthday cake...Yummy!

Carina posing by the cake.

No matter how hard I tried, this was the best picture I could get of the girls together.

The only time we had absolute quiet during the entire morning was when the kids were eating their cake.

Carina enjoyed her cake so much she ate two pieces. I couldn't get Annika to even taste a piece, but she did enjoy some chocolate later in the day.

Zeke posed with a Don't mess with Texas mug. He's so adorable!

Carina did a great job opening her presents.

Annika practically crawled into the bag to look at her birthday presents.

Carina opening her Dora book.

Carina reading her new book to her mommy.

Annika opening her birthday card.

Maci helping Annika.

Auntie Sarah playing with the girls stick-on earings.

Gabe took this picture of Kim and Zeke.

Annika playing with her new ponies.