Elmo Party!

Mireya has been anticipating her Elmo Party, to celebrate turning two, for weeks! She has been so excited and she has been talking about it non-stop! She knew it was getting close and all week long she has been saying, "Elmo Party! Hooray!" She pumps her little fist in the air and does this little happy dance that is so incredibly cute.

Well, yesterday the day for her Elmo Party finally came and she had a blast! We invited three families with children her age: her best friend Landon and his family (our best-friends); Sage, Jade, Hunter and their parents (their mom is my close friend); and Kaylie and her family (her mom is my friend too). Kaylie and her family were not able to make it to the party, but they came today. Mireya's Grandma and Grandpa Ruesch came too!

I decorated the house with a Sesame Street theme centering on Elmo, of course.

[caption id="attachment_1784" align="aligncenter" width="584" caption="We decorated with this blanket and then gave it to her as a present that Mommy and Daddy made!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1788" align="aligncenter" width="584" caption="I wrapped our presents in Sesame Street wrapping paper!"][/caption]

I made homemade cupcakes: coconut and chocolate strawberry shortcake.

I also bought Sesame Street snacks. I found two kinds of toddler-size snack bars that had Grover and Big Bird on them and two kinds of crackers: one kind was shaped as Elmo and Big Bird's faces and the other was the alphabet. I even found Sesame Street toddler juice boxes!

[caption id="attachment_1805" align="aligncenter" width="467" caption="Mireya not only didn't want to pose for photos, but she also didn't want to stop eating a giant mouthful of Sesame Street crackers. :)"][/caption]

I was not sure what activities to plan for toddlers, so I decided on coloring with the cool Crayola markers that only write on special paper for the first activity (they don't stain anything!) The kids all had their own markers and paper and they got to take them home!

Mireya and her friends also played place the nose on the Elmo.

 *****Video Coming Soon*****

I handed out party favor bags and the kids thought they were pretty great, especially the Sesame Street stickers, which ended up all over the house. :)

[caption id="attachment_1796" align="aligncenter" width="584" caption="Big sister Sage put stickers all over baby sister Jade's shirt. It was so cute!"][/caption]

Other than that, they all just played with her fun presents and ate lots of treats!

[caption id="attachment_1798" align="aligncenter" width="368" caption="Hunter playing the triangle."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1797" align="aligncenter" width="584" caption="Landon enjoying a snack!"][/caption]

Mireya's favorite part was opening the presents of course!

Everyone got along beautifully and other than a few tantrums over sharing (typical toddlers) the party went great! Of course, she had to have a birthday cupcake to celebrate her turning two!

Mireya will not turn two until tomorrow, but it already feels like we have a little girl instead of a baby girl. *sigh*