My sweet baby girl had the nerve to go ahead and turn two today.  She’s sassy and independent, so I shouldn’t be at all surprised that she would do such a thing!  Like a lot of moms, I spent our early days together in a tired, stressed out fog.  The realization that my BABY is two and I didn’t savor every single second, is absolutely crushing.

Milly, I wish I had the words to tell you just how much I love you!  You make me smile constantly.  You impress me daily with how smart you are.  You give the world’s best hugs – the kind where you lay your head on my shoulder and squeeze super tight while saying “squeeeeeeeeze”.  You are not a fan of sticky fingers and frequently demand that I “wash-you-hands!”, though this does not deter you from making giant messes with all of your food.  You love books and, recently, you’re even letting me finish the words on each page before you turn them.  You dance like no one is watching.  You can’t go to bed without at least 5 tickle spiders and engaging in an endless “Love you!” war as I walk out of the room.  Milly girl, you really are the best!

I always dreamed of having a baby girl.  The outfits, hair bows, mommy-daughter mani-pedis!  I couldn’t wait.  I may have underestimated the amount of sass that could be packed into 24 pounds of cuteness, but I wouldn’t trade her for the world, and planning her birthday parties might be the icing on the cake! (pun intended*)

Those of you who know me, know I love party planning.  Those of you who know my husband, know he loves to keep a tight budget.  As a result of our union, my crafting skills are getting pretty legit . . . still waiting for my time management skills to catch up!

Leading up to Milly’s 2nd birthday, we struggled to come up with a theme.  But then one day, the clouds parted and Milly’s love, nay, obsession for ice cream became apparent and I got to work.  After several prototypes and some carpal tunnel – the result of picking out 3000 tiny foam circles with a pair of tweezers – I managed to finish Milly’s ice cream sandwich invitations with a few days to spare before the RSVP date.

I rushed them to the post office only to find out there is a minimum size for pieces of mail. Who knew?  Instead of mailing these wrapped in parchment paper as I had intended, they would have to be put in an envelope and I would need to give my left leg in exchange for the required postage.  As I value all of my appendages, and the parchment paper was nonnegotiable, I opted (read: was forced) to add a personal touch and hand deliver them.

Even though no one ever uses my photo backdrops, I couldn’t resist converting last year’s boxwood and crepe paper flower backdrop into a cheerful ice cream stand.  For only $42 dollars, I snagged a damaged shelf from Hobby Lobby, some paint and fabric and voila!  A cute chair mysteriously showed up at my house the day before the party . . . gotta love amazon prime and friends who surprise you with the perfect accessories!In a past life, I foolishly attained a Pastry degree.  It goes completely unused with the exception of the two times a year I come out of retirement and destroy my kitchen to ensure my children can blow out a candle and make a birthday wish.  The trick is finding something that looks special but takes no real talent!  Mission accomplished!  This is the first cake that hasn’t ended with me crying at midnight the night before the party after I “ruined” it!

Thank goodness someone reminded me to actually give Milly her cake.  I nearly left it in the fridge for the entire party!

My favorite part of Milly’s party has to be the children’s table!  A few months ago, I scooped up these tables for just $8!  White vintage metal chairs were the perfect seating for our little guests.  They are big enough for adults to (semi) comfortably sit in – depending on how long your legs are – and the arms added extra security for our youngest party goers.  Thanks to an awesome sale and a coupon code, I was able to get these chairs as my birthday present at $16 a piece.    Turkish towel favors added a pop of color and kept guests dry and cozy after a trip down the water slides.

A balloon garland (made loosely following these instructions) suspended between two patio umbrellas made for festive decor that was just out of reach of tiny hands!  I’m not gonna lie, while this was super easy, it was more time consuming than I had expected.  For the last little DIY project, I sanded and painted our rain-warped UC cornhole boards.  I made a template for the sprinkles and monogram and then foolishly tried to paint them by spraying spray paint into a cup and using a brush.  Lesson learned, just by real paint . . . even if it means an extra trip to the store!

Every year, I tell myself I will finish everything in advance, we will set up early, and everything will be calm and relaxed.  Every year, I fail miserably at this!  I was sure my husband and I could get everything set up the morning of the party, even with 2 kids in tow.  After two hours of getting nothing accomplished, I made a hail Mary request to Safersit.  Unbelievably, they were able to get a sitter to our house in under 30 minutes who kept our little ones happy and safe while we finished getting everything ready for the party!  Maeve instantly bonded with Crosley over his love of animals.  She jumped right into the (empty) inflatable pool to play with some of his favorites for almost 2 hours!   If you have kids and you haven’t tried them, you definitely should!

I’d like to pretend that I only sort of underestimated the amount of time we would need, but like every year, I had to send out a last minute SOS to friends and family to come help turn my vision into a reality.  Milly would not have had such an awesome birthday without their assistance, and I am grateful to have so many wonderful people who dropped everything to come help.

I should also mention, none of the kids’ parties would not happen without Andrew.  First of all, he tolerates me and my crazy ideas.  I assure you that is no easy task!  On top of that, he happily runs around like a chicken with its head cut off to get all of the food, drinks, balloons and last minute supplies.  He empties our house from top to bottom to convert our yard into a magical party.  And most importantly, he loves our kids and is absolutely the best dad and husband in the world!  He would do and does do anything for us!

I love that 5 years after our wedding, the pink dresser used to display our wedding favors still gets put to use!

Maybe you noticed, or maybe you didn’t, but we throw parties in our front yard.  We have a pretty big back yard but our lot is divided by a creek and a steep ravine.  As a result, we hardly ever use that side of our property.  We wanted the kids to have an outdoor clubhouse or jungle gym, but I’m fairly certain putting a permanent play structure in our front yard is frowned upon, so for Milly’s birthday present I whipped up a tepee!  It is a fun little place for the kids to hide out from the sun and play endless games of peekaboo plus its collapses and hides away in a few seconds.

What ice cream themed party would be complete without an ice cream truck?  Enter Johnny’s Creamy Whip!  Milly could not get enough. . . literally.  After 3 separate treats, she tried to eat the truck! Thank you so much to everyone who came to celebrate with us, especially those that sacrificed your treats to my little ice cream fiend!  Milly ended her evening by serenading herself with endless rounds of “Happy Birthday” alone in her crib.  I’m calling this one a success!

Happy 2nd birthday, Milly!  We love you soooo much!