Norah's 2nd Birthday Party

I suppose it's better late than never to share in the birthday fun with you!! Norah's birthday was August 25th. We celebrated with a party. Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I love to do parties. I always go all the way with birthday #1. So this year, I thought I would downsize. As I was making out the guest list (yes, I do a guest list. I know this is not a wedding, but it's too much fun to pass up) I put down only family and close friends (who I thought would even find it the least bit amusing to come to the party) and I realized I hadn't done a very good job in keeping it small, which was my main goal. See, when we do parties, we like to cook and feed everyone too.
So, I couldn't start cutting people from the list. I just began thinking of all the ways I could cut costs and still throw an amazing party. So begins the theme. We took Norah on a trip to Party City and I must admit, I was hoping she would pick a princess theme or something to that effect. But each isle, one by one, we went down and she was not interested in anything. Until we came to the last bit of the theme isle, and there on the right was ELMO. I would not even point him out to her. I so desperately wanted her to pass on by without noticing, maybe we could go back to the Tinker Bell section. But to no avail, she spotted him and squealed in delight. I put on a happy face, because see, it is her birthday party not mine. And she is becoming a little lady with her own opinion of things, even if they are preschool opinions. We collected a few ELMO items, trying to stay on a budget. I passed up the invitations; you only get 8 for 4.99. That is not a deal to me when my guest list is now 18 families (about 50 people total). I decided to make my own, which cost me nothing. I also made the cakes with the help of my mother. I made the decorations; from a sign on the door, to blocks on the table for a center piece that spelled out ELMO. I was getting more and more excited. What a joy it is to plan birthday parties!! Needless to say, I did not keep this party smaller than last year. It was just as big of a celebration, but worth every little penny and all the time put into it.

Yes, Norah got cake this year. As most of you know, I've been a food nazi when it comes to junk. I'm very proud of this. This cake is not only organic, wheat, gluten, and dairy free, but we colored it with natural stuff too. Elmos face is colored red with beet juice (freshly juiced, of course, with my new Jack Lelane) and his nose and smile is with turmeric powder. His eyes are made from little gluten free cookies with chocolate morsels on top. Did I go overboard?

This was Norah's first surprise gift from Nana. If you tap the balloon just right, he sings Happy Birthday...and many more!! She was super excited. It's still in her room today.

New sunglasses from my friend Heather. Never fails, Heather always brings the gifts that ends the present opening. When Norah opens Heather's gift, I have to finish all the gift opening because Norah is consumed with the one she just got. Great gifts Heather!!

Finally, time for her to dig into her very first taste of cake. She took her sweet little time and even ate it with a fork. My little lady.

Curran family (minus Nathan, poor thing was still out of town). He ended up coming home the next night.

On Tuesday, Norah's birthday day, I asked her what she wanted for her birthday dinner. This is how it went.

MOM: Norah, what do you want for your birthday dinner?

NORAH: Dinner.

MOM: Yes, what do you want to eat?

NORAH: Eat.

MOM: Yes, what do you want to eat? Rice and beans?

NORAH: Rice and beans! (big smile)

MOM: Who has rice and beans?

NORAH: Rice and beans!! HaHa. (which is translated into "LaHa" for LaHacienda)

So we took her to HaHa for her birthday dinner. Above is her escort into dinner.

Daddy got fajitas. Norah decided they looked much better than her plate of rice and beans.

Norah got the traditional birthday attention from the staff. They even had a hat her size while they sang "Happy Birthday" to her in Spanish. She was more interested in the dessert they brought. A tortilla shell, deep fried, with honey and cinnamon with candy sprinkles. The junk food nazi in me came out. But, I let her have a little bite.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NORAH!!