Ayden's Second Birthday Party

Today we had Ayden's second birthday party. We have a bouncy house play area in town, so I decided to have it there. I would say everything worked out great, except the cake. It started out as a horse, ended up being a 'green field' with a horse and rider, then turned into an earthquake disaster zone. So, to get the bad stuff through with first here are the pictures of the cake. It looks so bad, it still makes me laugh.Notice the San Andreas Fault that went through the cake?
The hill started to slide off of the rest of the cake. The frosting was sliding off, it was so, so sad. And rather funny too. The plus side was that the cake was delicious, nice and moist and perfect amount of frosting.
Notice how my daughter is still admiring it even though you know what it looks like? Aren't they just so sweet at 2?
The decorated room. Holley brought Grant's little saddle, isn't it so cute?
Everyone got cowboy hats, cowboy boot cups, horse coloring/activity books, horses, a wooden horse to color and a balloon.
Time to enjoy the boucy houses!


Almost everyone loved the big slide.
Here is Ayden climbing up the slide. We somehow managed to not get a picture of her going down.
Thanks for the dress Tracy, it was adorable and everyone loved it!
Miss Valerie and Sarah Beth.
Annabelle, glamour girl!
I know these are really terrible pictures. I didn't realize I had it on the wrong setting until too late. But if you can look past the blurriness and everything else, then enjoy their faces. This is Logun:


Ayden, Tate and Grant loved the basketball bouncy. Here is Ayden playing basketball with daddy.
The little boys having fun with it.

And the big boys having fun with it. Andy and James had to try to get as far back as possible to make a basket. Not quite sure who enjoyed the bouncy house more.
This fun little twisty-turny thing was tried out by several kids.
Tate and Grant. Logun too, but I didn't get a picture of that (he fell off this thing A LOT, but he kept getting right back on. Too funny.)
It was quite fun.
Even for this big kid. Believe it or not, this is before we ate cake. No sugar was involved in this picture.
Here is Ayden in one of the jumping bouncy house.


Playing with Miss Holley, whom she ADORES. Can't even tell you how sad she is when Holley comes and picks up Tate and not her. It is so, so sad to see.
Thanks for coming Val, we don't see you often enough!

Ayden and Sarah Beth, best friends.
Sarah Beth saw the camera and made this face! What a little ham!
Here is my daughter going through the bottom and my son through the middle of the obstacle course bouncy.


Everyone ready for pizza, cake and ice cream.
This is the only shot of me. Don't ask me what I'm doing with my head, I almost look like I'm in pain, but I'm not. I promise.

Ayden was so focused on opening all of her presents. She tackled this methodically and took care with each one. She was interested in all of the cards and made sure she put the paper in the right place once she tore it off. It was so interesting to see. A little insight into her personality.

Ayden is such a big girl now. She can do so much that I know I won't remember it all but here a few highlights:

-She loves to play cars with her brother. She does just what he does and pushes them around, lines them up, and watches the wheels roll. It is so cute to see them play together.

-She has a large vocabulary and will copy pretty much everything anyone will say. It amazes me daily how large her vocabulary is.

-She loves to follow Grant and Tate around and do anything that they do. Luckily they are accomodating but I can see this maybe being an issue in the future.

-She can count to ten. I hope this doesn't sound braggy, I am just amazed, and this truly has NOTHING to do with me. She listens to Tate and Grant counting and because she loves to do anything they do, she is learning so much from them. I really love it.

-She loves horses (if you couldn't guess from her birthday party theme) and I am SO thankful that Holley has horses because it makes feeding her addiction so much easier.

-Ayden is such a huggy and loveable child. She will run up and give hugs whenever she wants to, and it is so wonderful.

-She is also knows her own mind and is very independent. We often hear these days, "No, I want to do it!"

-She doesn't take any crap from the boys and will get after them if she feels like they are not doing what they're supposed to.

There is so, so much more but it is too hard to remember it all!

We love you so much Ayden!