Okay so maybe I did wait until Wednesday...

...but this is going to be anything but wordless. I've got a lot to cover. Isn't it just like me to have a semi-big event (Kate's party) and have it throw me out of the blogging world for a week? The smallest break from routine and this chic is out of whack!



First things first - The milk situation is under control. It never left an odor, thank goodness. I think the Shop Vac was the key. Thanks to everyone for the advice, I was ready and armed with my vinegar just in case!


So here I am trying to post about Kate's birthday and my foyer still looks like this:





Partied on Saturday... Bags still hanging out on Wednesday. Clearly I have my priorities in order.



Also, an overabundance of photos were taken on this very special day, so be prepared. Kate had her own personal paparazzi going on and there's a million pics to prove it.

And let me apologize in advance for being in so many of these pictures. BUT, in my defense, it was my little girl's birthday and I am her mama, so I think that I had a God-given right to be all up in her biz - at least while she thinks I'm still kinda cool?!


I'm gonna try and save (most of) my sappy I-can't-believe-how-time-flies-my-little-baby-is-growing-up story for the baby book, but I can't help but do a little reflecting.


Two years ago at this time I was big as a Buick and almost positive my neck was with child, too. Seriously, I just knew it had its own due date. After being a week overdue, I was induced (yay for giving me time to shower and shave!) on June 12th and my life changed forever.



Kate Page has brought more joy to our lives than I ever imagined possible. Holding her for the first time took my breath away, and I've never felt more proud of anything or anyone in my entire life.


I remember not wanting to leave the hospital because I was so scared I wouldn't know what to do with her. I came close to asking my nurse if she would just ride home with us for a few days until I got the hang of it. I was a total nutcase, I'm sure. But when we made it home, I felt more at ease. She had a way of looking at me that told me I was doing everything just right.


I love that girl.



Skip ahead...


Now we've celebrated her second birthday. For her first birthday party I ordered everything online and had it shipped to my house two months in advance. This go around, I went and bought everything the week of her party. I'm definitely more laid back than I used to be, maybe a little too much?


Since her actual birthday fell on Friday, I couldn't let the day go by without having a little something for her. So I hooked her up with a cupcake decorated with none other than Dora and Diego. Unfortunately for Dora, Kate calls her Doo-Doo.

On Saturday we had a party for friends and family.

Event parking? One could easily be led to believe that we went all out with orange tape and stakes to guide our guests to their parking spots.

Not quite.

The stakes have actually been a permanent fixture in our wanna-be lawn for about two months now. They're part of M to the Izz-A's (and his brother and father's) project, and what I like to refer to as Operation Great Green Hope. It's pretty much Operation False Hope at this point, because they've planted grass seed twice, and well, as you can see, it's still in the seed stage. This all stems from the fact they found it necessary to install a commercial-sized drainage system, for our family-sized land.

I thought for sure Dan knew Party Etiquette Rule #1: When invited as a guest to a party, never take it upon yourself to invite and bring your own guests of sorts, no matter how small they are.

I wanted to do something different with Kate's cake this year and decided to decorate it myself. I used all different kinds of candy. Most of the decorations we made by just sticking the candy into the icing and creating a design with them. The only part that took a little effort was creating the letters.

The letters were made by rolling out onto wax paper Starbursts and Airheads candy and then using lettered cookie cutters. FYI: It helps to warm the candy just a bit in the microwave before trying to roll it.

The kids loved eating all of the candy off their slice of cake. And all the leftover candy went to fill the pinata...and Mommy's purse! Sometimes I'm that loud person in church unwrapping candy. But then all you have to do is cough a little and everyone excuses you because they think you're unwrapping a cough drop.

I thought it would be neat to compare a pic from her 1st birthday party. Wow! Look how much she's grown! One year makes such a big difference.

Kate's 1st Birthday 2008