Happy 2nd Birthday, My Tiny Dancer

My sweet Kate turned 2 years old on April 6, just shy of two months after Ella turned 3. Chris and I have decided that they pretty much HAVE to have met their cute quota. I mean, how is it possible for them to be cuter than THIS?





And I have also personally decided that, while January through March used to be my least favorite time of the year (that icky wintery time between Christmas and the happy sunshine that spring brings), it is now among my favorites. Solely because I get to fill these months with birthday planning ridiculousness for my two favorite little peole in the world.

This year, we had a Ballerina Birthday Bash for Kate the great. And she adored it.





First, let me explain...although I admit I'm naturally partial to ballerinas, we chose this theme because my Kate LOVES to dance. She LOVES ballet class. The pliates, the twirls, the galloping. The tutus. She dances ALL the time, every time she hears music. She closes her eyes and bobs her head in her car seat, whenever she hears music. She bounces at her knees when she hears a song on TV. She belts out "Tomowow, tomowow" when I mention the word "Annie." Ella loves to act. And Kate loves to dance and sing. And I couldn't be happier about either.

We had a 'real' ballerina come to the party. My dear friend Sarah's 'little' cousin, who's not so little anymore. Madelaine. Poor Kate was a little crabby when Madelaine arrived; she was still waking up from a nap. But Ella was fully awake, and fully in awe.





Kate 'woke up' shortly after. She blew out her candles like a champ.







There were hand-made ballerina clothespin dolls.


And fairy wands


Sidewalk chalk


And lots of other fun ballerina stuff...








But judging from the 8 that she ate (or should I more precisely say, licked) during the party, I think the ballerina cookies were Kate's favorite part.





She and Ella had a grand old time, running in their tutus in our backyard. (Special thanks to Chris, who ran out, the day of the party, to buy 'pine straw' to cover our mudpit of a backyard so the kids could play in it.)







Ella LOVED the party too. "Thank you for inviting me to Kate's Ballerina Birthday Party, Mommy. I'm having a really good time!" she said to me several times. And this particular time, she grabbed my face and kissed my lips as she said it.



My little ballerinas had a ball...and so did we. Thank goodness that Easter is right around the corner, followed by the warm and sunny days of spring and summer. Otherwise, I might have a bad case of after-birthday-party-depression...the same 'it's over already?' feeling I had when the clock struck 1 am and our wedding day was over.



But right now, as I sit and type about these two very special birthday parties, I'm mostly just so very, very happy to be able to celebrate another happy, healthy year with the two (+ Chris = 3) greatest blessings of my very grateful life.