For Claire's 1st birthday, I didn't do a great job planning. I had some ideas, but I didn't have anything concrete. This year, I started planning months in advance. A bit dramatic I'll admit, but oh so much fun for me. I don't have very many years where I get to plan these special parties all on my own. My little gal, Claire, LOVES Elmo. I can't even count how many Elmos we have in the house. Before I was even married, I had sworn that my children would never have an article of clothing with a licensed character on it. Little did I know that my children might possibly fall in love with a character and develop an obsession. I also didn't know that as a parent, sometimes you don't care what your child is doing or wearing, you just want quiet! And thus the undying love for Elmo was born. I have no idea how she found out about him, or how they were introduced, but I promise you: this girl is going to grow up and marry Elmo and live on Sesame Street with all her friends.
Walmart has a little kiddie ride that you stick two quarters in and it moves a little bit. It's a car, and guess who's in the passenger seat? Elmo. Claire knows exactly where that ride is and loves to climb up, throw her arms around her not so furry friend and kiss him. She doesn't care about the ride as long as she gets to pat Elmo's back and offer him smooches.
I knew this party had to have Elmo in it somewhere. Going back to my bratty attitude towards licensed clothing, I didn't want Elmo to be all over the entire house. I settled on a color theme of red and white polka dots and yellow first. I found cute cheap things to decorate at a local party store, and made my own giant poms out of tissue paper.
I had the food spread planned out thanks to a little site known as Pinterest. (Which is MY obsession.) I found some cute ideas, some way over the top ideas, and some other pinspirations. With Claire's first birthday party, I had moved the coffee table into her room and put a few toys in there as a kid's room. I wanted to do more with that this year, so I even made a tissue paper doorway that Claire loved running in and out of. The room gave a little table for kids to eat, and toys to play together and just have fun. I figured Claire would be too shy to play real party games, but still likes to play with friends.
I didn't think too carefully about the party time, and decided on 1:00. For those without kids, 1:00 is a popular nap time for every child except mine. For some reason, they love morning naps. Only a couple neighbors came, and I'm so grateful they did. Claire had a lot of fun with the kids and sharing her party with them.
I wanted to do something special with Claire for her birthday. This morning I had an appointment, and this afternoon she'll be going to the doctor. (Happy Birthday, Claire!) So last night I took her to Nickle City, which is an arcade that uses nickles rather than quarters. We had a blast playing together and she actually did pretty well earning tickets. She had enough to get herself a little spotted dog, and a piece of candy. The gentleman working the prize shelf was so kind and loaded her up with candy. After I took her for a Happy Meal. It was a fun night.
So my little baby is two. She's a big chatter box and is extremely funny. She has her own ideas, and is so smart. Yesterday, she threw her lamb outside the front door so that I'd go get it. The second I stepped outside, I heard the door slam behind me and tiny fingers frantically trying to turn the lock. She's a busy busy girl with a mind of her own. We love this little girl so so much. I'm so grateful she joined our family. We love you little monster! Happy birthday!
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