I was able to take Thursday off from school so that I could be home to help my baby girl celebrate her second birthday! My friend Heidi always takes her kids’ birthdays off and I thought it was the neatest idea. Last year I started the tradition and it’s one of the best days off of work all year!
We started the morning at JCPennys to have her picture taken. Last year we had a photographer come to our house and take pictures of her on her first birthday and I wanted to have pictures again this year. We recently had family pictures taken at my grandpa’s 80th birthday party so the only pose I wanted was her standing with a white background!
I’m going to save the details on the photo shoot for another day because we’ll just say I bought very few pictures!
After pictures we did a little shopping at Crosswords Mall, as I was on a hunt for black dress shoes for her. Around 11:30 we headed back to Cedar Falls to meet daddy at Pancheros for lunch!
While we waited for daddy to get food I tried to get get a picture of her for her birthday lunch. She decided to turn around in her seat so I couldn’t take it. What a stinker! I was going to delete the picture but I thought it would be fun to see how long her hair was at two (with three hair cuts!).
While waiting for us to finish eating she watched a video of her friends Miles and Violet singing “Happy Birthday” to her. I taught McKenna how to replay the video so I didn’t have to keep pressing it for her. I’m pretty sure she would have sat there all day watching it if we would have let her!
When Kenna got up from her three hour nap we went to one of her favorite places- the Cedar Falls Library! She couldn’t wait to get some “new ones” as she calls them! On the way we ended up stopping at Scratch Cupcakery first (because there was a front row parking spot!) to pick up cupcakes for her birthday cake. McKenna cried while we were there because she was so disappointed we weren’t at the library!
Each time we go to the library McKenna plays in the kitchen and sets puzzles while I pick out five new books for her. She is much more interested in the toys and playing. I don’t mind because I love picking out books that I think she will enjoy!
(Putting things in a line has become one of her favorite things to do!)
I’m thankful for the check out system because it is the only way I can get the girl to leave! She loves making her library card “beep” as well as sliding the books across the scanner. Checking out books is fun!
We headed home so we could get ready for our company. Grandpa and Grandma Goetz, the Garvins, Grandpa and Grandma Lindgren, and Uncle Robby were coming over for pizza, cupcakes, and presents!
Around 5:30 Grandpa Dan and Grandma Tami came over. Kenna opened a couple little gifts from them since Grandma had to leave early. We let Kenna open a few of Grandma Jeanie and Grandpa Tim’s gifts while we waited for the pizza to arrive!
Pizza:
Someone is not very interested in eating her Papa John’s cheese pizza! She was “all done” before she even started!
Cupcakes:
After supper we sang “Happy Birthday” to our 2 year old! It was so much fun watching her face while we sang. When we would say her name she would get the biggest smile on her face. She knew we were singing to her!
No boyfriends this year!
As soon as she blew the candles out she started singing “Happy Birthday” again so we all chimed in for round two! This time she did a much better job at actually blowing the candles out!
McKenna still isn’t much of a cake/cupcake kind of girl. She had one bite and then was “all done” and ready to play with her new Peoples! Last year she balled when we tired to have her eat her smash cake! I’m not sure she even had one bite!
Opening Presents:
Kenna’s assistant Ella helped her open all her presents. She had a hard time wanting to open a new present because she wanted to play with what she had already opened. We were thankful for Ella keeping her on track! We ended up taking breaks so that she could play for a bit and it helped!
We ended with presents from mommy and daddy. She was SUPER excited to see new George DVDs and books and not too excited about new tennis shoes! Once she saw the one pair were Twinkle Toes she was excited to hit them on things to make them light up!
The rest of the evening was spent trying out all of her new toys. McKenna had a hard time trying to decide to play with because she loved all of her new gifts!
Uncle Robby is so much fun! 
This is where I found the girls at the end of the night- under the kitchen table singing “Happy Birthday”. They were having so much fun playing with the fake cake and candles. I hated to tell Ella it was time for her to go home!
We started a tradition last year of reading The Night You Were Born to McKenna on her birthday. I set my alarm on my cell phone for 8:25 so that we could read it to her at 8:26- her exact second birthday (I know, I’m weird!). We were watching her new Curious George Birthday movie when my alarm went off. The craziest thing happened. She stopped watching George (this is VERY rare) and grabbed the book that was sitting face down at the opposite end of the couch and started looking at the pictures. It’s like she knew it was time to read her special book!
After books we snuggled her once more before putting our newly two year old to bed. As I tucked her in I flashed back to that incredible night two years ago when I held MY daughter in MY arms for the first time. A moment I will never forget. Thank you God for giving us the most precious gift. A gift we didn’t know would change our lives the way it has. Thank you McKenna for bringing us so much joy and laughter each day. We love you more than you will ever know!
Happy 2nd Birthday McKenna Rene’!
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