JOE turns TWO! (Picture HEAVY!!!)

I can't even believe I am typing this. My baby turned 2 last week! Every time I look at her, I see the little baby I brought home not too long ago and now she is a blossoming young girl.
She is an absolute delight to be around. She smiles easily and is very friendly. She is also very inquisitive but always proceeds with caution. Oh and she is in full toddler mode! As in, her personality is starting to show itself. She asserts herself when she needs to. At her 2-year pediatrician appointment, she was a champ! She took her flu mist and follow up shot without even crying! Her check up went so well. J & I were  very proud of her.
Check out her progress over the years. Can't believe I am actually say "years" as opposed to months!

Anyways, here is a recap of her 2-day (almost 3-days) birthday celebration.

The night before her birthday, J put together the presents we got for her as well as the the ones that some of my siblings had already sent her in the mail.
J & I took the day of her birthday off to hang out with our baby girl. We figured it was a good way to reconnect as a family in the midst of all the craziness going on.

The morning of her birthday, we freshened up a bit then went downstairs to surprise JOE with her birthday presents.

Before we got out of bed though, I had to take a picture of my newly minted 2-year old baby girl. She woke up smiling. It's like she knew it was her special day.

JOE could not believe all the stuff she got. 

Her favorite so far is the Doc mobile. I mean, she can't stop playing with it.

And we couldn't decide so we got her 2-cards. One of Doc McStuffins (it plays the Doc McStuffins song) and another of Minnie Mouse (the watch plays the Minnie Mouse theme song).

The doc mobile comes fully equipped with everything she'll need to care for her toy patients.

After opening presents, I asked JOE what she wanted for breakfast. She said "crepes momma." Now, I was HOPING she would say pancakes since I had some blueberries in the fridge and I wanted pancakes. But oh no...she insisted on crepes. So nutella crepes it was. The birthday girl had spoken. And she did eat the crepes...like half of one! Then she was done. Grrrrr!!! The life of a 2-year old. 

After breakfast, we took showers, got cleaned up and headed out to Port Discovery Children's Museum in Baltimore. We wanted it to me a day dedicated to this little one.
Here she is getting some snuggle time with her momma. I love and cherish these moments.

At the museum, she had lots of fun.

I took this picture because the last time we wore tags with 11/7 on them, it was the day she was born! Still can't believe its been 2-years.

And here's my little golfer.

And our little chef. She had a fabulous time "cooking" for us :-). I mean, check out the fried egg (over easy) and pasta on white bread.

And here is JOE with Curious George. She just started getting into watching him on Amazon Prime so I am sure this was a confusing experience for her since he's not that big on the iPAD. 

There was a Curious George exhibit and JOE enjoyed playing around there as well.

Here she is introducing herself to George. It was so funny, I had to take a picture of it.

Then there was this room. They had raincoats for the kids in there but that didn't stop JOE from getting wet all over. So glad we travel with extra clothes for her because it was cold that day and the walk back to the car would have been pretty uncomfortable for her.

After the museum, we went home to eat some cake! I made a cake for JOE. I asked her what she wanted and she said "chocolate". But we didn't have any chocolate cake mix at home. We did have a marble cake mix so that's what she got :-). She didn't care though cause she was all about the sprinkles anyways. 

And here she is blowing out her candles. She did it too!

Day 2. On to JOE's party. We decided to have it at Gymboree's. I didn't even know they had play classes until a friend mentioned it. It was an AWESOME idea!
If you remember, I made the Minnie Mouse for JOE not too long ago. I love the way the outfit turned out. I realized at the last minute that I didn't have a red or black sweater for JOE so I figured this wouldn't be too much of a clash.
JOE asked for a necklace. I gave her a choice of a gold chain or pearls and she chose the pearls. Yes, they are real and a gift from my mom. I PRAYED she wouldn't mess them up. She didn't :-). I think it was a good choice too. I also made the hair bow a couple of days before her party. That took less than 30-minutes to make. I like the way it turned out.

I told her to smile and I can't even remember what she was saying but clearly, she didn't care for a smile right at that moment. She was all about watching the iPAD. Wanna guess what she was watching? Minnie Mouse!

Her hair with the bow.

And here is another Pinterest idea. The bows were pretty easy to make. I just ordered the mold from Amazon and used melted chocolate to make these.

And on to Gymboree. Here is JOE feeding the crocodile. She said "momma look, crocodile hungry...yum yum yum yum."

At the end of the day, we were all pooped! JOE had a great time. We got to spend time with friends and family and it was a memorable couple of days for JOE. 

On day 3, we opened her presents. She just LOVED all the items and was very grateful for them. I am trying to figure out a cute way to get her to "sign" her thank you cards. She did say "Thank you!" after everyone sang her the Happy Birthday song :-D.

If you're still reading this, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed re-living the experience. I'll be sure to do a blog post on the items that went in the goodie bags as well as how I made some of the DIY items later.