Happy Birthday

Annie turned two a couple of weeks ago, but we waited to have her party until last week when we had extra family in town. We decided to have her party at Chucke Cheese's because it was the easiest thing for us this time around. It was a BIG hit...especially for Logan. He's been asking to have his birthday party there ever since.

The kids went on rides and played games...

Danielle came in town with her family. It was SO much fun to see them this week! Annie and Logan were particularly happy to spend time with their cousins.

Logan played games with most of the male members of our families...here he is with Terrance.

My dad wearing his grandpa glasses:) and Josh

Aunt Danielle and Juan

Aunt Elisa with Alex...he slept through the whole thing.

My dad bought a lot of tokens for the kids, and everybody saved their tickets to give to Annie. All combined I think they had more than 800 tickets! Annie picked out a stuffed bear wearing a Chucke Cheese's sweatshirt.

My mom

Daddy

Uncle Ben

After games and rides, we had birthday cake. Last year for Annie's birthday I made a cute cake; it was the cutest cake I've ever made...in fact the only cute cake I've ever made. For every birthday between then and now I've attempted various cakes and had a MAJOR disaster with each one. After my mom's birthday in January, I was pretty deflated about my cake making ability. I decided I'd attempt one more, and if it failed everyone was getting some other dessert for their birthdays henceforth. SO...I attempted a boston creme pie for Annie's cake this year (it really is a cake).

Step one: Bake and remove from the pans...perfect! I took a picture because these are the most perfect cakes I've ever removed from pans. Not one piece broke off and neither of them cracked!

Step two: Creme filling and layer: perfect. I was pretty sure this would be where my disaster happened, but once again no pieces broke off and it didn't crack when I put it on top!

Step three: Frosting. This would have been my disaster this time, except I was wise and decided to NOT attempt a cute cake. My goal was a delicious cake that stayed together. Mission accomplished! (And EVERY piece was eaten...it was my tastiest cake yet!)

Annie loved it.

She was MUCH messier this year!

She opened gifts after we had cake.

This little girl LOVES to accessorize...

While she was opening her LAST gift, and the one I thought she'd be most excited about (which she was later), someone in a Chucke Cheese costume came walking up to her and scared her! She is NOT a fan of a big walking mouse!

Several minutes later, she was still watching him nervously...she wouldn't take her eyes off of him!

Enjoying her accessories the next day...

Happy Birthday little girl!