Mary's 2nd Birthday Party!

Look who's turning TWO!
We had a whirlwind weekend (literally with Tropical Storm Fay cutting it a bit short!). Friday was Ivan's party, and Saturday, we had a barnyard party at our home for Mary's 2nd birthday. She won't actually turn two until September 13th, but since Bill will be halfway across the world, we thought we'd celebrate a few weeks early!

For lunch, I served chicken nuggets (her favorite), Farmer Fields' veggies, hay (stick pretzels), chicken feed (cheesy popcorn) and sliced watermelon. This was a really fun party to decorate for - I love a good theme!
Each child had a personalized barn and animal "tube" (found in the dollar section at Target!), and a pail of "chicken feed."
I think Mary's favorite animal (she loves all animals) must be a cow, because it's her favorite animal sound to make. Here she is "mooing" at the table decorations.
We had a balloon incident. I had Bill and Mary go and pick up our balloons from a local shop that was blowing them up for me. I purchased a cow and pig balloon online, not knowing that they were pretty much life-size! I guess the van ride back was pretty traumatic for Mary, being surrounded by inflated farm animals all the way home! She is staring at them in this picture. Every time she'd see them, her hands would go to her face like, "I can hardly stand this!" She's not a big balloon fan anyway.
Bill's brother Patrick, his wife Pamela and their kids, Kaylen and Glynn all drove down that morning from Jackson. It has been so much fun to live "close" to them and go to all of the little cousins' parties.
Ivan, Grant, Mary, Kaylen, Glynn
In between lunch and cake, I put Kaylen in charge of an activity. The kids blew up balloons and decorated them with animal faces!
Mary and Aunt Pamela, checking out the little animals.
I made her a piggy cake!
Happy Birthday to you!!!
She knew how to blow them out (with a little help!).
Yummy!!!
Me and my birthday girl!
Time for presents! After she had opened all of her gifts, Bill wheeled her Bitty Baby in on a stroller we had bought for her. I think the stroller was her favorite gift - she is still pushing her baby around (and her animals) the house! The feature I like is that it has a basket underneath. She will put her purse in there, or her little Fur Real puppy from Grandma and Grandpa, and take everybody for a ride.
Heading for a stroll down Hollywood Boulevard (a.k.a. our kitchen!).
Mary with her grandparents! She was thrilled to take this picture, can you tell?! Thanks for making the weekend trip down, everybody. Mom and Dad, sorry you had to fly out early - good ol' Gulf Coast storms!!! Love to all of you!
Afterward, the kids just played and played.
Three lil' boys
This was hilarious. Kaylen and Glynn also brought a gift for Ivan - SPY GEAR. Here he is, listening in on the adults in the other room. They were so funny with this thing!
After everyone left, we even found this - Ivan had drawn a plan of our house (while they were hiding in our laundry room), and where the adults were standing. Not sure what their plan of attack was, but this was pretty creative!!!
As they all left, I gave each kid a gingham knapsack goodie bag with barnyard stickers, lollipop, stampers, and animal crackers inside. We had a busy weekend with lots of fun too. Happy 2nd Birthday, Mary! We love you!!
And one more side note... we did sneak a dinner out that evening. Thanks, Tom and Carole!