Aubrey's second birthday party!

We had Aubrey's birthday party on Saturday night. We decided to have the party at 5 so she could still take a good nap that afternoon. It worked out well, because we (I) do EVERYTHING at the last minute, so I had all day to get ready for the party. We decided to just have another very small party like we did for her first birthday. I didn't want to invite a bunch of little 2 year olds and then have no fun activities planned for them, but really, what activities do you do with 2 year olds? So yeah, I decided we could invite more friends when Aubrey is a little older ;) She DID have her 2 BFFs there: Carver and Ann Peyton. And both of our families were there too, so Aubrey had LOTS of love and attention! :)I didn't really go with a theme, per say, but Aubrey's dress had cupcakes on it, so I got invitations with cupcakes and we had cupcakes instead of cake. That's about as "theme-y" as I got though. I had mentioned several weeks ago that I was thinking about making the cupcakes myself but had decided against it. What I really wanted was to get cupcakes from Gigi's, but I just couldn't justify spending that much money on cupcakes for a 2 year old. I ended up getting them from a highschool girl who makes cakes - she made the cake for my grandparents' 50th anniversary party, and it was beautiful. As it turns out, I think I probably could have made the cupcakes myself, but I'm glad I didn't have that added stress. That probably would have ended with me crying over ugly cupcakes and David running to Gigi's 20 minutes before the party. Ha! :) Once we put the cupcakes on the stand I had gotten, I think they were cute. They tasted great, and Aubrey was thrilled with them.I ended up using one of the curtains from her nursery for the table topper because I could not find one single pink table cloth for the table. (Granted, I was looking for it the day of the party and only went to one store.) I put it over a brown tablecloth, and I think the curtain worked out just fine, and it was FREE. Of course Aubrey's birthday banner made an appearance again!We had a light dinner: curry chicken salad with croissants, pasta salad with lemon pesto, and grape salad. I wanted a girly menu, and I always think salad when I think of girly food :) One unexpected bonus came of having that food: David is not a chicken salad fan, but he tried it because I had told him I was going to be embarrassed that my own husband wasn't eating my food, and guess what? He LIKED the chicken salad! Yay!

The after dinner entertainment was watching Aubrey open her presents. Of course! She really wracked up! She opened the present from my parents first, and it was some clothes and a bottle for her baby doll. We had no CLUE that she would fall in love with that bottle so hard. She kept asking for her baby doll so she could give it the bottle. We told her to open the rest of her presents first, but at one point we were talking and she snuck out of the room, and the next thing we knew, she was halfway up the stairs going to her room to get her baby. Hilarious!She did love her other presents too though. She got lots of CUTE clothes (much needed!). She got a little bed for her baby doll from David's parents - she has had more fun giving her doll a bottle, singing to it, and putting it to bed. It's really precious! My grandparents gave her a little stroller for her doll, and she LOVES that too. Her doll has it made now!David's sisters gave Aubrey a grocery cart that came with cute pretend food, and she has had a blast "shopping." She also got a little tea set, and she has loved getting David and me to "drink" out of the teacups.My brothers wanted to go in together and buy something for Aubrey with their own money. How sweet is that?! They got her a cozy coupe, and she is CRAZY about it! She loves to go to "Wa Wa-Mart" in it, as you saw in the video. When we have to go somewhere and we tell her we have to go get in the car, she runs to her cozy coupe and says, "Go bye-bye in Aubey's car." Haha!David and I gave her a rocker, and she likes it a lot too. She has had so much fun playing with all of her new stuff that she hasn't really spent a lot of time sitting so far, but I know she is going to love it, and it's something she will be able to enjoy for a long time.I haven't even mentioned all of Aubrey's gifts, because she got SO much. These are just the things that have been her favorites so far, but she is still checking out all of her new stuff. Everyone was so sweet and generous to her, and we are incredibly thankful for everyone who loves our little girl so much!

After presents, we had cupcakes and ice cream! Aubrey got a little shy and weirded out when everyone was singing happy birthday to her:This was pretty unexpected, because usually Aubrey is not a shy child and loves being the center of attention. She DID love her cupcake though! She devoured that thing!Aubrey's party was definitely a success! Everyone enjoyed it, including sweet little Jude:It was just a sweet time of celebrating our precious little girl and the people who love her the most!