Sunny Days.....Lily is 2 Today

Today is my Sweet Lily Girl's 2nd birthday. I have no idea how the time went by so fast, but she has completely changed my life and I love everything about her. I remember the first time I saw her. She looked at me with these big beautiful eyes. We finally got to bring her home from the hospital on Mother's day, my very first mothers day. I had no idea what was in store for me and I what I would learn about babies, being a mom, taking care of someone 24/7, and learning more about myself. If you want to read more about the day she was born click here. I never knew how much love I would be overwhelmed with the minute she was born. Okay Okay.....enough of that or I'll start crying again. 

Today we are celebrating Lily's 2nd Birthday.  If you know my Lily, she loves her Elmo.  She won't watch any other cartoons except Sesame Street and Elmo goes everywhere with her.  The only way I can get Elmo away from her is to give Elmo a bath (in the washing machine) he gets soooo gross.  So I couldn't have picked a better theme for Lily's birthday party. 

I have recently became a member of pinterest.....wow thats an amazing site.  I found a ton of blog links and ideas to make Lily's party perfect.  I want to be that mom.  That mom that does really special things.  My mom was that kind of mom.  All of my friends growing up would tell me how cool my mom was.  She would bring cupcakes to my class, dress up for halloween and show up to my class, she would make birthdays and holidays so special and decorate, she would make our halloween costumes.  I wanna be that kind of mom.           

Lily's 2nd Birthday Party invitation that I made on my computer in microsoft publisher. 

My favorite part of the invitation is.... This party is brought to you by the letter L and the number 2. I had 40 printed at our local print shop (2 per page on 80 to 100lb. paper, no cuts meaning they don't cut it out for you, our print shop charges per print cut so I cut them myself to save money. Grand total cost for invitations......$4 Total.)   

Lily is telling me that she wants to go outside and is pouting, so its not the best picture of her, but its the best picture I have of the dress I made for her.

I found this dress on Etsy and thought.....I can totally make that.  I have never made a piece of clothing so I thought that it would be special that the first piece I ever made was for her. I wanted to make the dress, but more Sesame Streer.....more colorful.  So I cam across this print and fell in love.  I purchased 1 yard of fabric and I had a ton left over to make a penant flag and some to cover her birthday hat with.  My girlfriend Tiffany graciously let me use her sewing machine and showed me the ways of sewing.  It was so much fun.  I found the pattern for Lily's dress here.  I found the fabric on sale and I only needed a yard so Lily's dress including ribbon cost me......around $12. 

Lily girl wearing her birthday hat on the swing. 

I thought for sure Lily would be pulling off the hat the entire party, but she did the opposite, she wanted to wear it all day.  It was so cute.  I found a pattern to make a birthday hat here.  I used thicker cardstock paper to cut out the hat and then I just covered it with leftover fabric from her dress.  I had a hairband from the dollar store that I used for the elastic to keep it on her head.  So simple to make and so cute.  Total Cost:  left over fabric from the dress, old hairband and a cereal box.....free :)  

Desert Table with Thank You gift bags for Lily's friends.

On the desert table I had sugar cookies that were cut outs of the letter L and the number 2 (thanks to the Morgan girls helping me make cupcakes and cookies) and a personal cake for Lily to dig into.  My mom made it just for her with M&M's all over it since she loves choc-ate....as she calls it. (We are saving it for her birthday party that we are having with just the five of us, with Laney on skype tonight).

 

My mom and I also made Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird cupcakes to make it extra special.  I found a tutorial on how to make them here.  I learned a couple things....Use fondont on the eyeballs.  I didn't and mine kept melting.  So lesson learned.  I also didn't have any fruit rollups to use in big birds mouth so instead I painted it with food coloring.         

A little closer

Up close.  They are not even close to what the picture looked like in the tutorial, but I tried and I think they are pretty darn cute for my first try at character cupcakes.  I will get better!

Here's the food table decorated with giftbags for Lily's friends.  I wanted health snacks so we had fruit  and veggies.  We also had hot dogs, chips, and ham & cheese rolls that my friend Desire brought.  All toddler friendly foods.  

Thanks to Laura Nagal and Brooke Morgan and Olivia Morgan for helping me make the giftbags. 

  Here are the thank you gift bags that I made for Lily's friends.  In each bag there was a sesame street coloring book, crayons with a thank you note inside, sesame street stickers, and a box of goldfish crackers from Dorothy, Elmos's best friend.  I used construction paper to create the faces on the bags.  I bought all of the supplies for the gift bags at the dollar store.  Most of the supplies were in multipacks saving even more money.  Each bag cost me about $2 to make.   

 

Bubble with Big Bird Station.  I bought these cool wands from the dollar store and a giant bottle of bubbles.  I added a fun label to the bottle that said, "Sunny Days sweeping the clouds away."  Just a fun little touch.  Total cost $3

My Lily girl playing with bubbles.  The kids loved it!

Jaxon had to be dressed up for his sister's birthday party too. 

  I made the cutest little tie onesie shirt for Jaxon.  I found the tutorial here.  It was so easy and it was so adorable to have the kids in Elmo outfits.

Lily checking out all of her gifts. 

Our church playground is so nice, it was the perfect place to throw a kids birthday party.  Since we are a member there we can use the space for free! 

The birthday girl with her daddy. 

My favorite picture of the day eating rawberries and gok gogs as Lily would call it. (strawberries and hot dogs).

   Happy 2nd Birthday to my sweet girl.  You are my everything.  I am so happy to be your mommy and to watch you grow.  Thank you for teaching me so much.  I love you all the way to everywhere and back.