the birthday girl's bash

This past Sunday marked our darling daughter's second year of life. I was unsure of whether to go through with a party three days after arriving home from vacation. But when my mom promised to come for the weekend, I bit the bullet and sent the invitations.

She drove down late Friday night. Saturday we ran errands all day and after an overly excited Chica was in bed for the night, the Party Planning Committee went to work cooking, favor bag stuffing, wrapping and assembling.

I went to bed late Saturday night exhausted, but grateful for all the help. It would have made for one crazed, desperate woman were it not for them. My husband was spared an all nighter alongside a frazzled female treading water in a sea of control-freakish tendencies while suffering from a debilitating case of putting-off-everything-until-hours-before-the-party-was-to begin-syndrome. I blame the tissue balls. They almost did me in.

Thankfully I had more than a few hours of sleep that night. I needed them when Chica woke up very, very early. I jumped out of bed, grabbed the video camera and summoned Dan on my way out. We went into her room, video rolling. She was so excited she jumped up and down in her crib as we sang the first of many "Happy Birthday" songs. After our ditty, we led her out of her room and to her present from us. By now my mom had joined us in the family room.

Can you tell what it is? It was only through the help of some speedy personal shoppers that Big Girl had a present at all. She tore off a piece of tissue the size of a dime, waved it towards the camera and ran it to the kitchen trash can. She hustled back into the family room, grabbed a little more tissue and headed towards the kitchen once again. By this point, we stepped in lest she'd be unwrapping it on her third birthday as well.

After the present reveal, the aunties were up too. We gathered in the kitchen for some birthday muffins.

There were some technical difficulties regarding the video taping, so we had two takes of blowing out the candles. The Birthday Girl didn't mind a bit.
After breakfast, we got ready for church, loaded some stuff in the cars and took off. The service was great and the message was all about life changes and God's faithfulness. Needless to say, I fought tears the whole time. I loved how her birthday fell on a Sunday. I have so many reasons to worship God for what He's done in these past two years.

Once the service was over, the aunties, my mom and I high stepped it out of there. I went to pick up the cake while the girls finished loading the cars. We met at the park and spent the next hour and a half transforming the pavilion.

The Birthday Girl arrived and Dan said when he pulled up, she saw the pavilion out the window and yelled, "MY PARTY! MY PARTY!" She ran around the shelter house checking out all of her party details, squealing with delight as she went. It was priceless.

Before the guests arrived we snapped a quick picture of the Guest of Honor with her Party Planning Committee.

And then there were guests.

By the time I lit the candles for the third time of the day, Chica knew exactly what was going on. The nursery director said if anyone mentioned her birthday, all Chica could talk about were the candles.

Cake and ice cream for everyone!

Once the guests had gone home, we started taking everything down. The Birthday Girl was exhausted. After circling the pavilion one last time she hugged my legs to get my attention. I knelt down to kiss her precious two year old face.

"Thank you for my flowers Mommy."

"Thank you for my balloons Mommy."

"Thank you for my cake Mommy."

I nearly lost it.
Then I turned and thanked my Mama for everything she had done for the party. Three generations of women.

I've told Danny before and repeated it again this weekend, Reesie's birthday doesn't just mark how far she has come, but also how far our family has come. Two years ago, we were changed forever. We're nothing close to perfect and have had to learn as we go. We're grateful God would entrust this precious person to us and then, then shower us with the grace we need to raise her.

Happy Birthday Precious Girl.