Katie's birthday!

I can't believe it - this past Sunday, my little princess turned 2! Can't believe it's been 2 years since we brought our sweet little bundle home. Of course, Katie started the "Terrible Twos" at 17 months, so in a way I feel like I've been dealing with a 2 year old for quite some time. If she started 7 months early, she should end 7 months early too, right? So I only have 5 more months of Terrible Two-ness to go! What? That's not how it works? Aw, come on!!

We made it through Katie's 2nd birthday party. It was an entirely Hello Kitty-themed affair, with the notable exception of an Elmo-shaped birthday candle that she just can't get enough of. Every time we pass it in the grocery store, she goes crazy for it. Of course, you could say the same about every Hello Kitty thing under the sun - and by the way, is there anything under the sun that *doesn't* have Hello Kitty's face on it? Whenever we're out shopping, it's a constant stream of "Henno Kitty! Henno Kitty!"

Anyway, I digress. Katie's party started at 4, and we served Trader Joe's apps and Mountain Mike's pizza instead of cooking. Anthony mixed some grown-up drinks, and we had sparkling juice and sodas for our niece and nephew. All in all, the party wasn't too bad. We kept things flowing (food, present-opening, cupcake-eating) and were all wrapped up in time for Katie's bedtime. My favorite moment was when Crazy Grandma and company refused to take Katie's unsubtle hints that they'd overstayed their welcome: "BYE BYE EVERYONE!!!  BYE BYE!!! BYE BYE!!!" This went on for nearly 20 minutes! Sheesh.

For presents, Katie got some nice books and Legos from her aunt, uncle & cousins. In the wake of last year's pony fiasco, we gave Crazy Grandma a list to choose from. What's the pony fiasco, you ask? Last year, Crazy Grandma asked if Katie would like a rocking horse for her birthday. Anthony told her yes, as long as it's made of something durable like wood - you know, something simple, classic and non-gimmicky. So Crazy G showed up with a fluffy pink plush TALKING, SINGING pony. It says 4 phrases in a woman's voice when you squeeze its right ear, and then sings a creepy song in a man's voice when you squeeze its left ear. Oh, and ITS MOUTH MOVES. And the hard plastic base scratches our wood floor. Perfect - exactly what we wanted.

So I guess this year will be known as the Microwave Fiasco. Katie loves to imitate Mama, and she doubly loves anything that beeps, so of course she's rather obsessed with pushing the buttons on our microwave. This would be fine, except I have to hold her up to do it, which is tiring and doesn't really help me get dinner ready. We figured she would love a little toy microwave of her own, complete with beeps and lights, just her size and reachable whenever she feels like "cooking." Anthony told Crazy G not only the exact model of toy microwave we wanted, but the aisle on which it is located at our local Toys R Us. He even emailed her a picture of it. Crazy G told him she bought it. Anthony started dropping hints to Katie about what she might be getting for her birthday. I had a bad feeling about this, so I told him to stop.

And my hunch was justified. Crazy G showed up with an enormous box, bigger than Katie herself. Katie gleefully unwrapped it and...it was a Cupcake Kitchen, complete with an oven, a completely useless mini sink and a fake burner. I can't quite figure out why you'd need a burner to make cupcakes, but whatever. Katie likes it, but I don't love having another giant hunk of plastic in my house. C.G. also bought Katie some extra plastic cupcakes that are a different brand and aren't compatible with the kitchen, so that's grand. I'm sorry, I'm being ungrateful - it is a really nice gift. I hope Katie gets lots and lots of use out of it. Sigh.

Let's see...Mama and Dada got Katie an entirely age-inappropriate Hello Kitty mini umbrella, which (unbeknownst to me) has a very powerful spring-action opening mechanism. That thing opens with a bang, little eyes and fingers be damned! Yikes. We also got her some adorable and sturdy-looking gardening tools, so she can start wreaking havoc in the dirt outside. Yay, more laundry! We got her a small wooden train set from IKEA, which she totally digs. And we got her some more of IKEA's weird felt food. We love this stuff - it's so...Swedish. This set came with some parsley, lemon, and a whole salmon, from which you can peel bits of fish fillet. Super weird and super fun! We tried not to go overboard with the presents, but I think we kind of did. Oops. And Christmas is right around the corner. I am going to have to make good on my threat to go around and weed out some of the toys she's no longer interested in. We get so many hand-me-downs that we don't have enough places to put it all anymore!

Anyway, we had a nice long weekend with Dada, which is a far better treat than any present could ever be. Now it's back to the daily grind, at least until next week when Dada has the whole week off!! WOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!

Oh, I probably should post some pictures. Naturally, we took 43 with the "good" camera, 14 with camera phones, and a whole bunch of video, but only these 3 are worth posting. Sigh.

Happy birthday to me!!!

BLOONS! Oh man, she loved them.

No need for cake-smashing this time around! That's my girl!