Party Time!

We decided to have Amelia’s 2^nd birthday party a month early, before it got too hot.  We were also able to time it for when Mike’s mom, Nancy, was in town; at the last minute, it worked out that my mom, Julie, and my two nephews, Parker and Preston, could come as well.

Thanks to my obsession with Pinterest, I spent weeks planning her party.  Once I decided on a barnyard theme, I went to town “pinning” every idea I saw that was something I could make to add to her party.  It was fun, and I had a really hard time not going overboard.  

I think in total we had around 60 people attend, and it was a zoo… literally, a petting zoo with a pony ride!  Amelia was in HEAVEN!  When she wasn’t riding the pony, she was following it around saying “ride, please!”  The petting zoo had about 15 animals, including small rabbits, goats, sheep, ducks, chickens and miniature potbelly pigs.  Thank goodness we have a lot of shade in our backyard . . . the animals were able to stay cool, as well as all the kids and adults who were doing the petting.

I could have never pulled off the party without my mother-in-law, Mike or my mom.  It was a great success and Amelia loved every minute of it, especially when she got to eat her “cow cake cake,” as she called it.

It was so great to have all the friends we’ve made since moving here come to her party – Texas people are the best!  

She was one tired little girl by the end!

My mom and nephews stayed until Wednesday, so on one of the days we went to the Fort Worth Zoo.  It was a lot of fun, but after a few hours of pushing 150 pounds’ worth of children around, I was exhausted!  Supervising three kids, ages 3 and under, is no easy task, even for an experienced grandma and mom, so thank goodness we had Noah to help!

Wild Encounters

Our neighbor, Rayna, was in charge of putting on a family event for the company for which she works, and she chose to do this event at the Fort Worth zoo.  She had some extra tickets and was gracious enough to offer them to us, and I’m so happy she did; it was such a cool experience.  We got to be up close and personal with a number of animals, including an owl, an opossum, an alligator, a 10-foot snake (eek!), and a penguin.  They also had face painting, airbrush tattoos, and free tickets to ride the train and carousel.

The picture below is of Noah right as he was looking in the mirror for the first time to see his tiger face.  I’m not sure what he expected to see, but he was so surprised.  He absolutely loved it and had it touched up right before we left the zoo so that he could still have it for his baseball game that we were headed to.  He played pitcher that game, so we joked that it was a good way to intimidate the other team!  He also got a tattoo of race car on his forearm that we’re not sure is ever going to come off… it hasn’t really faded after several baths.  Amelia got a butterfly painted on her face and did such a good job of holding absolutely still.  When we tried to show her the butterfly in the mirror, she kept turning her head to try and see her cheek better; I ended up just taking a picture to show her! 

It was the first time Amelia rode a small train, and she kept saying, “Choo Choo!”  The carousel was definitely her favorite.  She calls horses “cows,” and kept yelling “Cow! Wheeee!”  Rayna was busy with the event, so we had a fun time hanging out with her husband, Jerry, and their son, Mitch.  I’m pretty sure Amelia is in love with Mitch.  She was constantly calling his name to make sure he was close by and wanting to sit in his lap.

Every time Noah would pass the camera, he would strike a different pose.

She feel asleep about a minute after we got in the car!