Second Birthday Party

How to throw a two-year-old’s birthday party in three easy steps:

1. Bake a Blue’s Clues cake and paw-print cupcakes.
2. Clean like a madwoman until the wee hours because your house (always) smells like dog.
3. Be so busy keeping tabs on the two-year-olds running around the house that you forget to take enough pictures.

It’s a good thing Carrie’s real birthday hasn’t happened yet, because I didn’t even get any pictures of her actually blowing out the candle. I was too busy making sure she didn’t get her hair/dress/hands/nose in the flame and didn’t think to assign camera or video camera duty to anyone. This was the best Denis could get from where he was in the room – actually, even though you can’t see Carrie’s face it’s a really nice picture:

Despite that, it was a fun party! Carrie really had a good time (minus two or three mini-meltdowns that are mostly a daily occurrence and were probably not related to the party) playing with her friends, charming her great-grandparents, and (of course) eating cake. There were some seriously blue hands and faces on those kids…

The party was actually more dog-themed than Blue’s Clues-themed. If I’d thought, I could have put Carrie’s extensive collection of stuffed dogs and dog-related books out as part of the decorations. I didn’t even hang the streamers I bought though, just a birthday banner and some balloons.

This year there were 31 people (including the three of us). This was a “small” party – it was just (some of) our immediate family and Carrie’s friends, none of our friends or cousins/aunts/uncles/etc. I was sad not to invite everyone we did last year, but it’s just too much to have such huge parties every year. I think this one was borderline too stressful for Carrie, and next year we’ll have to split up the friends and family parties.

There are more pictures here. (Kodak Easy-Share Gallery, requires sign-in).