Reilly's Second Party!

 Reilly was looking so forward to all of her friends coming to her party!  She was talking about everyone who would be there, and was so excited to see so many of her favorite people in the same place.  Here she is as everyone was arriving!

 The teeny babes had a great time, and decided to chill out and sleep the whole time and let Reilly have her time to shine.  Thanks, little cuties!  You were wonderful angels!

 Reilly got to drink out of a big girl Elmo cup with a straw, and thus went through about 4 dresses that day as a result. :)  But what would a good party be, without a nice mess?

 Here we are with our first babygirl.  We love you so, Reilly Belle.

 I love her pout.

She obviously was loving that cup!

 The weather was beautiful!  Which was amazing, since last year was raining and needed to be indoors.  I was so happy it could be outside, since going outside is one of Reilly all-time favorite thing to do.

She smiled for the whole day!

We loved seeing her happy face, and it made all the preparations so worth it!

The Chapman family, enjoying the outdoors.

The best part of the day was the water table (which Reilly got from her friends last year!), which soon became a Bubble Table, as the kids filled it with suds.

 They were soaked, but they were clean!

 Reilly and Papa!

 Reilly opened all her gifts, and loved seeing everything she got.

She got such wonderful, generous gifts.

 Man, was it getting to be a workout for her!  Mama had to remind her to drink up.

 She loved being the center of attention! :)

 Mama loves a good family picture - had to get one in! :)

 Enjoying her Elmo cupcakes - she recognized him, which was my only goal!

 Sissy's and our little meatball :)

The kiddies at Reilly's new table! Thank you, Mima and Poppy!

 Greg chillaxing at the end of a tiring day :)

 This girl never ran out of energy, and never lost that big smile on her face!  We loved having a day to celebrate her, and the wonderful little person she is.  I know she felt how loved she was, by everyone there, and of course by Elmo. :)

I wish we could have a party for you once a month chicky!  That's how much fun we have seeing you so smiley.  We love you to pieces!

Shopping with the Girls

 Reilly loves going shopping with me.  Even though the only kind of shopping we do is food shopping, she still loves it.  When I tell her we are going shopping, she says, "Food shopping with the girls?".

 This past week when we were on Long Island, I had to teach her that sometimes there is "food shopping", and sometimes there is "fun shopping". 

 The other day when we went shopping, she insisted that she had "Rei bag" (which contained a tiny book, and a box of raisins), and "Rei scarf" so she could match Mommy.

She's one stylish little chick, this girl.  She's ready for shopping with the girls!

Reilly's Day - Decorations!

 Reilly's birthday party was so perfect, and so much fun.  She is still talking about it, and asking for all of the guests to come over again.  She loved having so many of her favorite people all together.

We kept the party smaller this year, being we had 2 kiddies to keep occupied this year while preparing/cooking/cleaning, and that was tough as it is! 

I was so happy that the day was all about Reilly and her favorite things, and I think she really felt it.  She had the time of her life.

We had Elmo balloons, and a "Reilly's World" banner that I made to mimic Elmo's World.

 I made a Sesame Street-esque sign, that we could hang in the girls room after the party.  And of course we had goldfish, Reilly's favorite, and Elmo's little pet.

 We had lots of Elmo goodies, like party hats, banners, and blowers, thanks to Aunt Mimi and E!  And I made Elmo cups with help from Nessa. :)

 I made some bubbles and had a "Bubble Station" for the kiddies, so they could be independent little 2 year olds and spill as much as they wanted to.

 We had an Elmo Reading area, and we realized we have an obscene amount of Elmo and Sesame Street books.

 We had Reilly's banner, which said 2 this year!

Pretty tables, water table, and the little babies tent.

Elmo cupcakes, pretty much my pride and joy. :)  And they made our girl smile which was the main point.

 Elmo fruit platter, with apples, blackberries, strawberries, and canteloupe!

 

 Reilly loved having the whole day being Elmo themed, she totally just got it this year.  More pics of the party fun coming soon!

Goodness Gracious!

Hubby and I, throughout the day and night, will often say the same sentence to each other.

Honey, just look at her.  You just have to look at her.

Then the other one walks over, and we look at her.  And then we usually smile and laugh.  And no other words have to be spoken.

I mean, goodness gracious.  I think that face just says it all, don't you?

Her Day

 Mother's Day fell on Reilly's birthday this year, and it was pretty much the funnest day ever.  We shared the day, pretty much doing every single thing that she loves to do, which in turn made me the happiest mama ever.

We started the day with a room and house full of balloons.  We think we will always have balloons in the house, because of the crazy amount of joy that such a simple thing brings to her!

 

We opened presents, and wore pretty dresses.

 We went out for ice cream, and went for a stroll. I got blackberry and coconut frozen yogurt with chocolate sprinkles, and Reilly got Daddy's classic order - twist with rainbow sprinkles.  Can you look at the cup Reilly is eating?  That size is called a "Baby" and it is $1.00!  She somehow ends up with the hugest "baby" size everywhere we go. Must be the dimple.

We got spoiled by our handsomest man!

We played in the park and went down the slide.

We blew lots of bubbles, and chased them around.

 We spend the whole day together, and breastfed in the car.  Oh wait, that was just me. :)

We watched "Big Bear" and colored on the new easel that Daddy built!  (How talented is her Daddy??)

We had pasta with Mama's homemade sauce, meatballs, and avocado, cucumber and tomato salad for dinner! With lots of Pecorinno cheese on top.  Reilly's favorites.

And then, we had Dirt for dessert, which we called "pudding" to prevent confusion and actual soil-eating experiences this summer.  I make my Dirt with just chocolate pudding, fresh whipped cream, and crushed Oreos.

Double Stuf, obviously.

 Here is the girl who rarely ever has sugar, devouring her dessert. :)

I put a Reese's cup in the bottom, to hold in the candles.  I told Hubby I would just eat it when she finished.

Except that a few minutes later, her face was in the bowl (above), and she looks at me with this exhilarated expression.  Then she said, "Mommy, I bite it! Look."  I looked in the bowl and saw the Reeses cup, dug out from the bottom, with a teeny little 2 year old bite taken out of it.

Girlfriend ate the whole cup.

I was so excited for her all day.  She had all the raisins she wanted, and goldfish crackers in the car.  She is always so good, no matter where we go, or where we take her.  I was so happy that we could devote a whole day to things that she loves, places she loves to go.  That's what birthdays are for. :)

(Sidenote: She loves birthdays, because her Big Bear movie is about a little girl's birthday party.  I think she almost thinks that "Birthday" is another holiday like Easter was.  She kept telling Hubby and I Happy Birthday all day, because that's what everyone kept telling her.  Cutest thing ever. )