Tomorrow I will have a 2 year old, yesterday she had a party

(and today we're pretty sure she has croup.)

We threw Gabbie a big birthday party yesterday with a houseful of family and friends, though she was the only kid there (there were a couple of babies but all the kids we invited were busy). That was totally fine with her, because that meant she didn't have to share any of her birthday loot, and my what a load of loot she received - a talking tea set, a toddler-sized suitcase, an easel, a fairy treehouse play set, a set of musical instruments (thank the Lord she can't yet figure out how to play the harmonica; she has the xylophone playing down), and (from us) a tricycle.

But! Back to the party. I cleaned, decorated, and cooked my heart out for the party, and, if I do say so myself, it turned out pretty excellent!

I hope you're ready for a lot of pictures, because I have a lot to share.

I made a 2nd Birthday banner:

We made tissue paper pom-poms to decorate above the table and the deck:

We put up streamers and balloons.

Then we cooked for our taco bar (menu/recipes will be over here), decorated a cake, cut up fruit, and mixed up punch. In the middle of the final food prep, guests started to arrive. We had about 20 people over, and everybody seemed to have a good time. Finally it was time for the blowing out of candles. We sang Happy Birthday to Gabbie, which she wasn't too sure of, although it doesn't look like she completely hated it:

Then she blew out the candles:

And we dug in to the white chocolate raspberry cake and (Gabbie's favorite) ice cream. Shortly after we started Gabbie's absolutely favorite part of the day - opening presents! We saved the tricycle we got her for last, and it's safe to say that she loved it.

At first she looked stunned, then she wanted to touch each part without anyone trying to help her get on the bike, and then, finally, she wanted to ride it. Unfortunately, she can't quite reach the pedal when it's at its lowest point, but she is perfectly happy being pushed around on it.

Shortly after everyone left, she stripped down to her diaper, played with her toys for a little while, and then crashed HARD for a quick nap.

She woke up with a suspicious-sounding cough (croup is going around day care which is why we're pretty sure she has it), and although her throat hurt and she was coughing, she played for several more hours before fighting us tooth and nail at bed time because all she wanted to do was keep playing. Since everyone left full and content-looking, I think it's safe to say that we all had a great time and the party was a hit.