Addison's 2nd Birthday Party

Well, geez, could it have taken me any longer to post about Addison's birthday party? Sorry for the delay...I've had a few too many things on my mind (and agenda) lately.

Addison's 2nd birthday party was a hit. She loves Elmo, so it was easy to decide on a theme this year. Because it was held in between meals, I decided to take it easy on the food...unlike her 1st birthday party where I think I made enough to feed our entire neighborhood.

Some of Elmo's friends brought their favorite snacks to the party. For instance:

Grover brought pizza

Cookie Monster brought....what else?....cookies!

And Snuffy brought meatballs.

Big Bird brought some gummy worms and of course Elmo made his contribution with his favorite snack of all time - goldfish!

There was also plenty of cupcakes and cake for everyone to load up on their sugar. (Cake pictures in a few).

The main attraction at the party was to be the furry, red, lovable creature himself. ELMO! I knew it would go one of two ways. Either Addison was going to be so excited and totally love on him or she would be scared and not want anything to do with him.

What way do you think things went when Addison opened the door to find our special guest standing there?

Here, let's zoom in a bit on the birthday girl's reaction.

Yeah, I kinda thought there was a better chance of it going that way, too!

We had prepared her and talked about Elmo coming to her party for weeks. Every day, the biggest topic of discussion was that Elmo was going to be at her birthday party. She seemed really excited. Really! Never once did she say she was scared or didn't want him there. She spoke of how she was going to hug and kiss him and share all her toys with him.

Maybe she was expecting a miniature sized Elmo. Not a 6 footer! Thanks SO MUCH to my sister's fiance, Shawn, for practically suffocating in the costume and to Lori for doing all the leg work in getting the costume!

Though it was hard to tell, Addison really appreciated it. The story she tells now (after an entire 24 hours of telling me that she is scared of Elmo and almost refusing to attend a birthday party the very next day in fear that Elmo might be there, too) is that she sat on Elmo's lap and shared a cookie with him and that she wants him to come again tomorrow.

Actually, it's not entirely untrue. She did, while holding tightly onto Grandma, give Elmo a cookie. Immediately after handing him the cookie, she demanded "Away!".

Mommy and Daddy liked Elmo.

And we were able to convince Addison to hop in a picture with us, too.

Gammy and Poppy were successful in getting a picture with their two grandbabies and Elmo, thought it looks like Noah didn't take to Elmo all that well, either!

Believe it or not, the majority of the kids were very welcoming towards Elmo and many had their picture taken with him. Like Addison's cousin, Aaron, for example. He was so excited he couldn't even wait long enough to finish the meatball that's resting there in his cheek.

Addison and her friends colored pictures of Elmo.

Soon enough, it was cake time. I'm not much of a cake baker and the closest I've ever come to decorating one is to slap some icing on top and spread it around with a spatula. Oh, wait, I did once add sprinkles and words. It looked like the work of a 7 year old.

But this. This cake. This beautiful creation. This is one of my proudest moments.

Drum roll please......

Impressed? Seriously, I DID THAT!!! Wanna see it again?

I really surprised myself with this one!

We all sang Happy Birthday to Addison and Addison blew out her candle all by herself. I think she is keeping her eye on Elmo at this point as he was standing there singing along.

Then we served cupcakes. Because it would have been a disgrace to cut into such a masterpiece, that's why!

It didn't take long before one of the party goers insisted on having a piece of the Elmo cake and it went fast! So, now all I have to remember this incredible work of art is a couple of pictures.

RIP dear Elmo cake. We sure did have some good times together!

But don't worry, that wasn't the last we saw of Elmo. We still had the Elmo pinata to break open!

Addison had the honors of pulling the first string.

Once all the other kids had a turn and there was only one string remaining, a few of them teamed up to reveal the goodies hiding inside of Elmo.

And with bags in hand, they collected those goodies.

Gammy and her birthday angel.

We opened gifts once it was just family. We have pictures of Addison opening all of them, but people were so generous and it would take me forever to post them all. I like this one because it shows her new shoes from Grandma and Grandpa F. and the scooter from her Aunt Julie, Uncle Josh, and Noah.

It was warm enough to ride her scooter outside on one occassion and she was getting the hang of it. I'm thinking we'll bring it inside for the winter so she can be a pro by springtime!

It was getting late and the kids were becoming sleepy. Addison was so busy at her party that she didn't have any time to cuddle with her baby Logan, so she took the opportunity at the end of the night. She loves him so much!

Grandma and Grandpa F. with their grandbabies.