How can I describe how I felt as our little girl turned TWO this past Thursday!? Excited for her. Sad for us that our baby is now a little girl who is getting so big. Excited about watching her grow and learn new things. Curious to know how the "terrible two's" will be. But most of all, just so amazed at how fast 24 months can go by and how much a little baby can grow so quickly into a toddler who has learned so much in such a short amount of time. It also occurred to me that Kaitlin was 26 months old when Eric and I started dating and how fast time flies. I seem so eager for Lauren to learn and do new things and for the weekends to hurry up and get here every week but I should know better than to wish our weeks away. It'll be no time and we'll be moving little LEB into a college dorm room!
I, unfortunately, kept my work schedule the same (working Tuesday and Thursday) and didn't get to spend the day with Lauren on her real birthday. I didn't even get to say "Good Morning" to her because she was still asleep when I left. But Miss Heather was given strict instructions to help Lauren have a wonderful day and I think she did. Heather brought a balloon for her and a cupcake that morning. She lit a candle on the cupcake and let her eat it with her breakfast! Here's the picture that she texted to me that morning.
I couldn't wait to get home and give Lauren lots of hugs and kisses. Eric and I took her to her gymnastics class and then left a little early to go to the airport to pick up The Ashy's! We were so excited to have them stay for the weekend to help celebrate Lauren's birthday! We ordered Olive Garden take-out (LEB, A, and K had pizza and spaghetti) and enjoyed catching up while our girls played together.
I couldn't wait to get home and give Lauren lots of hugs and kisses. Eric and I took her to her gymnastics class and then left a little early to go to the airport to pick up The Ashy's! We were so excited to have them stay for the weekend to help celebrate Lauren's birthday! We ordered Olive Garden take-out (LEB, A, and K had pizza and spaghetti) and enjoyed catching up while our girls played together.
Time to sing "Happy Birthday"! Lauren was holding a baby doll and wanted me to hold it while we sang (I guess it's good practice for our future little one. We're 19 weeks along in our pregnancy. ). This year, there were no tears from the mommy during the birthday song.
Lauren went to blow out the candle, and she got so close that it singed her hair!!! We all panicked!! But it was fine and all that was damaged was the ends of her bangs. After a few seconds, it was hilarious!
See?
Happy Birthday, Lauren!!
Our sweet little Lauren
Cupcake Cheers!!
And kisses...
Ashlynn eating a good cupcake
The girls ready for bed
Time to play in the morning! Ring Around the Rosy.
On Friday, Miss Heather came over to help with the girls while Mary helped me run last minute errands to get ready for Lauren's party the following day.
I love watching our girls play, smile, and laugh together.
Later that afternoon, The Bongiorno's arrived!! All 11 of us went out to eat at J's Seafood before returning to the house to hang out for a little while.
"Ashlynn, let me tell you a little secret?! Hey!"
Saturday morning--Party Day!!
Lauren opening her gift from Uncle Mark, Aunt Mary, Ashlynn, and Kaylee.
"What could it be?!"
"Oh my goodness! A big girl necklace from Tiffany & Co! It's like my mommy's necklace that she wears all the time! And now, all 5 of us girls have one!"
"Thank you Uncle Mark"
Lauren seemed so proud of her new necklace. It's almost like she understood how important and special it was.
"I love my new necklace!"
Mary and I started this tradition the year that we turned 30 and were separated by 5 hours of travel. Now, all 3 of our girls have matching necklaces like ours and it has a special meaning to us as mommies and besties.
Lauren playing photographer with the camera. Not too bad!
We spilled Lauren's Apple Juice in the chair just prior to the party...Ashlynn helping me clean up.
Sideview of our runway in the making...
While Lauren took her afternoon nap, Mary, Miss Heather and I started on the decorations for the party. I wanted Lauren to see all of it decorated and glamorous all at once when she walked down the staircase. Kaitlin painted her finger nails and toe nails and got her dressed while we put the finishing touches on everything.
Our theme was a dress-up party! We made a runway with blue and pink tulle and lights for the little ones to walk down while our photographer, Wesleyann, from VUE Photography took "runway shots"!
Lauren trying it out in her party attire before her guests arrived.
Checking out some of the accessories with Miss Heather. All of the hats were Ganny's from 30-40 years ago...velvet ones, straw ones, mink ones...they were perfect! I kept the hats and fairy wings hidden from LEB for weeks wanting the party day to be just as exciting for Lauren as it would be for her friends playing with everything for the first time.
There's our big girl!!
Having a little snack before the party.
Fruit cups, Goldfish, Fruit Buddies, Rotel Tomato Cheese Dip, Apples and dip, and meatballs were on the menu.
Mini cupcakes and cake from Sugar Crave. They were both delicious! The top layer of the cake was chocolate cake with strawberry icing while the bottom layer was vanilla cake with strawberry icing.
My plan was to have every part of the party inside the house to avoid the heat outside and that seemed to work fairly well. The party started at 4pm and we sang "Happy Birthday" and had snacks at 4:15 so we could just focus on the kids for the rest of the afternoon.
We had another close call with Lauren blowing out the birthday candle! Her little lips got within milllimeters of the flame, but no injury!
The Koagel sisters and Bongiorno brothers watch Lauren start to eat her cupcake after singing Happy Birthday
Lauren loves cupakes
Gigi serving cake
Let the dress-up party BEGIN!!!
Lauren loves cupakes
Gigi serving cake
Let the dress-up party BEGIN!!!
My fantastic friends Whitney, Susie, Laura, and Stacie loaned awesome dress-up clothes to us for the party and we had a wide range of costumes to choose from! Rapunzel, Barbie, Tinkerbell, Bat Man, Buzz Lightyear, Airplane pilot, cowboy, Peter Pan, Diego...you name it!
This is the little outfit that Lauren wore at her 1st birthday party a year ago.
Noah
Kaylee and Lauren trying on hats with Aunt Whitney
Bailey (2) and Joel (2-1/2)
JB! (5-1/2)
The Bongiorno Boys! Noah is 4.
Party favors. I thought that once I get the photo CD from Wesleyann in a few weeks, I could give out photos of each kid to go in their cupcake picture holder.
After most everyone had gone home, we visited with our 4 sweet, thoughtful, and dear families that had either driven or flown to PC for Lauren's birthday party. The Ticola's from Birmingham, The Koagel's from Columbus, GA, The Bongiorno's from Orlando, and The Ashy's from Orlando. Lauren is one lucky girl to have so many people travel so far just for her!
We tried to get a group dental kid picture! Look at all of our children! 8 years after UF Dental School graduation and we have 10 children (baby David wasn't present) and one on the way! So exciting to think about how far all of us have come!
We took many shots....
And had so much fun trying to get all of the kids to look at us at the same time! Look at Evan Ticola (3-1/2) in the back! ha!
Then it was our turn for a group photo. Matt (taking call back in Bham in his peds residency program) and Tony (on his 2 week summer Army Reserve duty) were not there and we missed catching up with them.
Evan and Gabby taking pictures of all of us!
My favorite girls in the entire world! Oh how I wish we all lived in the same city...we would have the city organized and busy like no other! :-) These girls were all in our wedding 8-1/2 years ago.
Lauren already playing with her presents received at the party. She is going to have so much fun playing with all of the nice gifts she received!
Ashlynn is a pro at walking now!
She even has big girl Stride Rite shoes! Kaylee isn't far behind and I'm sure she'll be walking in a matter of days.
The Ashy girls clowning around. They're always so happy!
Kaylee (16-1/2 months old)
"Oh my..."
"Where's Ashlynn?"
"There she is!"
Ashlynn (16-1/2 months old)
Noah and Gabby
The Ashy's
The kids taking it easy and quieting down as the night went on...
JB and Noah babysitting their Daddy :-)
The next day, Noah and JB came over for a swim in the pool while we all visited over lunch. We didn't get to see Daphne and her boys or Susie and her girls as Daphne continued her long drive to Ocala to visit her parents for 2 weeks and Susie needed to pick up baby David in Enterprise from her parents.
But goodness...we are so blessed to have such loving friends who care so much about us! Thank you guys for coming to see us and celebrate Lauren's birthday here in Panama City. We are grateful for your friendship more than you could ever know.
We had a great weekend with Lauren, our friends local and from afar, and our family.
Happy Birthday, sweet little baby girl Lauren. You're now our Big Girl Lauren!
