French Fries, Cakeballs, Pizza and Milk

We enjoyed a wonderful birthday celebration for Isabel this past Saturday. Although she still doesn't quite get what a birthday is, she did enjoy opening presents and getting to dine on her special birthday dinner - all picked out by Isabel with the exception of the peas I added to "round" out the meal. It just goes to show how good the memory of a young toddler is, as pizza, french fries and cake balls are something that rarely make its way onto our plates...and even less often to Isabel's plate.

I currently have Mia sleeping away on my chest (I'm enjoying a few hours of quiet time with just her), so I'll keep the words brief.

We almost didn't make it through the rest of the presents after Isabel opened the big bin of blocks from Grandma and Grandpa Buescher. At least every five minutes she would stop what she was doing and ask "play with blocks?"

What is this frilly thing?
A tutu! Made for Isabel by Mommy. She kept talking about Katy Duck, who is a character in one of her favorite books who has quite the collection of tutus.

Duck and flower window decals that of course had to be opened right away and placed on the nearest window.

A set of heart shaped bracelets...

...all of which had to be placed on her arm before the festivities could continue.

A set of butterfly hair bows...that all four had to be placed in her hair and on her dress.

A baby "ergo." It is really meant to be a front doll carrier, but since Isabel can only relate to riding on our backs, we made it work for coffee baby to ride on her back. My guess is once she sees Mia riding around in the Ergo on the front, coffee baby will also move to her front.

We got Isabel a little sleeping mat/combo for when she no longer sleeps in a pack-n-play on trips. Of course she had to try it out, but it doesn't work too well while wearing a baby on your back.
This works a little better...
Uncle Eric is pretty excited about taking Isabel for her first Chuck E Cheese experience and gave Isabel a voucher for "a fun filled afternoon of pizza and games with Uncle Eric on Chuck E Cheese." I'm oh so glad that Eric is excited about this and I can avoid a visit there for a while :).

Unc's gift of a dancing Brobee (a character from a show called Yo Gabba Gabba which Isabel had never seen since she doesn't watch TV) started off ok...

..but once it started moving, talking and swinging his arms she became quite scared...
...backing herself into the corner while whimpering "all done, all done, put away, put away." Luckily on Sunday and Monday she enjoyed watching the Brobee dance from the comfort of Mommy or Daddy's lap. I'm sure eventually she will learn to love dancing with the Brobee.

At least she didn't keep a grudge with Unc and was happy to play blocks with him while Mommy got dinner ready.

Isabel is really into hearts, so I made that the "theme" of her birthday. It helped that valentine's day was near her birthday so I stocked up on all things heart related - a hearts table cloth, heart dishes and bowls and heart straws. I'm sure with two little girls these items will see lots of good use throughout the years. Isabel was delighted with everything and loved the heart tablecloth.

Unc especially enjoyed drinking beer through his heart straw.

Since Isabel had requested cake balls, I made a small cake for the more traditional birthday cake.
Isabel got very sleepy during dinner, so blew out her candles after getting into her PJs.

MMM, cakeballs. Happy Birthday Isabel!