Are we at two already?!

"When you have children, the days are long ...
but the years are short."

Had Mela's birthday party this weekend.

She turns two on Tuesday, but we were pretending today was her birthday, since she doesn't know any better and it's hard to have a party on a Tuesday.

It's a little heartbreaking to realize that two years have flown by already but the party was awesome.

Everything went perfectly. The house was spotless (just finished the last of the cleaning as the first guests arrived, thanks to the work-horse grandparents), the food was phenomenal (Aunt Mary made awesome sandwiches!), the cake was huge and delicious (and we almost ate the whole thing) and pretty much all of our local friends could make it.

Mela was in fine form, running amok with cheeks always filled to bursting (grapes, crakers, cupcakes, yum!), looking ridiculously cute in her little party dress.

Nathan slept through the first half (ahh, white noise! zzzzz) but then came from behind to dazzle everyone with his winning ways and puree-eating abilities (my dad said, "Your arm really does get tired from feeding him.").

Mela was blessed with some wonderful gifts (leappad book reader, her own little kitchen, lots of great books, a baby doll, a beautiful cushion, some Dora videos, a new trike and even her own digital camera!!), and most importantly, the company of some great little friends.

We are absolutely exhausted and immensely pleased. Mela can do nothing now except wander around, singing, "Happy to you ... happy to you ... happy to you!" and mumble about cake.

Thank god we only have a kid birthday once a year!!!

Hahaha ... ohhhh, wait.

Happy birthday, my Mela girl. It's been a crazy year but I'm glad I got to see so much of it.

Not only is my house decorated, but there's a new kitchen for me, too!
In her party dress, Mela puts her new magnets on the fridge:
Yum! Love an excuse to buy pretty flowers!
Is anyone coming to my party? (How far we've come since last year)
Mela enjoys visitors who bring her gifts:
The party starts rockin:
Chris spends some quality time with baby Jack:
Rare moment to sit down with my babies:
Nuala tries the new kitchen out:
Grandpa with the Nater:
Mela takes a break to eat some more cupcakes:
Grandma-in-Residence with baby Eavan:
Nathan likes anyone who will bounce him (I think that's Andrea!):
Hi nice to meet you, why don't I play in your lap?
We actually manage to (barely) pull off a family shot!
Baby Lily even made an appearance (6 weeks old)!
The birthday girl double-fisting with cupcakes AND birthday cake:
Baby Lily finds the whole thing a little boring:
The birthday girl finally runs out of steam ... time for a nap:
While Mela sleeps, Nathan tries to steal the title of Cutest Kid:
Back in action, Mela tries on her dancing outfit from Darian and Audrey ("We get special clothes for dancing now?!")
Trying out the new trike from Grammie and Granddad (more pics on this to come):
Thanks for the great birthday - bye bye!