Mirabel's 2nd Birthday

Happy Birthday, Mirabel :)!

Mirabel's birthday was actually somewhat of a week long celebration. The morning of started off with showing her these new set of wheels (great Craig's List steal; perfect condition and 1/3 the price!). She was instantly a fan, if you can't tell by the smile on her face. Forgive the use of flash and ugly lighting. Jose got to see her expression before heading off to work, and in between checking his emails. ;)  Later on, we stopped by the pet store and picked up her fish.  Not sure if you can tell what's in the background (on the awkwardly placed coffee table below the windows--we put it there to avoid collisions during wrestling matches and dancing sessions)?  My mom bought her a Discovery Kids fish tank lamp last Christmas.  You turn it on, and the fish swim around.  We decided it was time for a live fish, so we bought her a girl beta.  We thought we should call her "shoosh," since that's how Mirabel says fish, but we decided on Mrs. B, instead.

Then we headed off to one of our favorite parks.  Mirabel is a very active kid, but put her on a train and she is silent the whole ride!  Fun for her and me!  It's so relaxing, and it wasn't too hot.

We actually invited a few friends to join us for a picnic lunch, too, since it's right by "the water".  So that was fun.  I bought Mirabel an ice cream before the train ride, but she didn't care for it and decided to fill up on blueberries instead (she has certain brands that she likes ;).  She also doesn't care much for cake, so I wasn't sure what to do about her special birthday dessert...

Thankfully (yes, this is evidence that she's, in fact, related to me), she loves cookies.  I think it's a texture thing.  She prefers crunchy to fluffy, I suppose.  So I baked her some cookie pops, sticking with the theme of her party, I tried my best to make them look like her favorite character. (This wasn't easy, it took hours upon hours--his pupils were too small at first, giving Elmo a creepy beady-eyed look until I finally figured out what was wrong; it wasn't cute, but thankfully, at least it was an easy fix.)  I also made some cupcakes for the rest of our party guests.  Mirabel approved of the chocolate frosting, at least :).

So the Saturday following her birthday was her party.  My mom did a great job of decorating the whole house and we also decided on getting a bouncy house.  Very happy we did that.  It arrived before the party started and Mirabel bounced in there for nearly an hour--she ended up taking an early nap right after.  She still had energy to bounce in it with her dad later on that day, though :).

The photo of the pies came out super blurry.  But anyway, I figured that pies would also be a good idea to serve, since this kid is obsessed with berries and fruit...

 

...She liked the pies :).  Not sure if you can see the berry goo all over her face in this picture?

...And she also likes running around barefoot. This picture totally captures her personality; doll in one hand, lawn mower in the other.

She really does love Elmo... (She's giving him a kiss here.)

I think it's safe to say she had a good time, since she was still smiling when the party came to a close :).

Happy kid, happy parents.  It's been a good year.  Looking forward to more!