Two Years Old

My dear Evalie,

Happy 2^nd Birthday my love. As I even begin to write this I am tearing up with an intensity of love I never imagined I could feel for another person. I have had the great pleasure of watching you and your personality develop unfettered over the last year(since your first birthday). It has been quite an adventure, as opposed to the first year year where you physically transformed from a squirmy newborn to a more stable walker by One, the last year has been a whirlwind of so many milestones and you have not only achieved them but you have surpassed all of them and done it with such humor! 

You have become an even brighter light in our lives than you had been last year. You are funny and honest, sharp and thoughtful, you love and play with all your heart, you are sweet as they come and have yet to encounter any hurdles you won’t dare to traverse. You love to sing and you often do, everything from nursery rhymes to tunes you hear on the radio and somehow are able to retain the words or some version of them. You are bursting with enthusiasm for life and have had no problems learning the lessons you need in your second year of life, the alphabet, counting to 20, primary colors and good manners. You often respond to my requests with a snarky “of course” and are always able to get a laugh out of us when you pretend to answer the phone in your funny accent “halllow?”  

I never tire of hearing your high pitched little voice asking me all sorts of questions with such cadence, one can’t help but smile. You are truly unique, I regularly ask myself why I was so nervous to have another baby girl. On the contrary, you make me wish to have another one just like you but I know it’s not possible because you are like no other and that is what I am most proud of, you will always be something special to me and, I am confident you will to the world in the future.

From the moment I met you at 3:49 am on July 11^th 2012, I knew I could not imagine my life without you but now 2 years later, you have compounded those feelings in my heart. You are such a lovely and funny little girl, you leave me wondering everyday where this comes from. Your ability to love and take care of your sister and daddy is also so uncanny for a person your size and age. Over the last year, you have marveled everyone you meet with your outgoing, witty boisterous personality, I’m regularly asked how old you are because of your vocabulary, your ability to process concepts and your profound ability to express yourself. Some of the funniest moments remain in my mind but some we have caught on video and shared with many others who also take part in the pleasure of watching you grow. You are still walking on your tippy toes at all times (even on the balance beam during your gymnastics class!) You love to play outside and are very daring and brave, conquering the highest windy slides and running up and down as fast as you can. I love your sweet smile and how squinty your eyes become, I love how you make yourself laugh, I love your chubby little feet, I love your spunky nature, I love the little dance you do (when you bend over, pull your elbows into your belly and wiggle), I love how friendly your are, I love your big belly, I love that you still need to cuddle up to me at night to fall asleep. I love you little girl. Happy Birthday.
Love mum.

So I knew Evie’s birthday was on a Friday and she had been talking about it for days already so I felt bad that I wouldn’t be there with her like I was last year. But I decided that if we could at least come home from work a bit early and have her two favorite people (her cousins) come over and have a little cake then she’d at least feel like we did something. We had all planned to go to Sesame place for her birthday the following week but I still wanted to do something without doing a big party and getting completely frustrated like last year. So I planned to get pizza, make the cake myself and have a fun evening. I then decided to ask my sister and my nephew if they could come over even though it was kind of late on a Sunday and she accepted, I then felt bad because my uncle and his kids were visiting and I had to invite them as well. This little get together turned into a party of sorts.

From the moment I got home from work, she was wearing the felt crown I made her and saying “happy birthday mommy”, “happy birthday to my little daddy”..it was so funny! I could tell she had a good day, her nanny had taken them to the park and they had time to play in the sandbox as well.

I ordered some finger food for dinner and I made chocolate devils and a three tier birthday cake (which tasted better than it looked). I served cookies, donuts and watermelon slices. I made little favors of shortbread..because Evie loves shortbread cookies and that was it. I did get her the giant balloon I got last year because she had so much fun with it last time.  

The party turned out much better than I expected, we even opened quite a few gifts and you got to blow out your two candle twice (because your sister and cousin blew them out the first time), by the end of the evening, you were exhausted and went to sleep even before everyone had gone home. 

I am still reeling from Friday, I can't beleive my baby girl tuned two years old! Its amazing how fast year two has gone.

A Tea Party Birthday

A few weeks ago, my little girl turned 5 and although it was a party at our home, it was actually quite nice. She wanted a tea party and so I obliged and transformed our living room into a parlor and we even had a visit from Belle the princess. The girls came dressed in their loveliest frocks and boys in their button downs and khaki's. We served tea, scone, pizzelles, muffins and mini cinnamon buns. It was a crisp October day in New York which luckily gave us the opportunity to spill out into the backyard since we ended up having more people than I expected. Everyone had a great time and my close friends and sisters stayed until pretty late chatting, laughing until the kids were thoroughly exhausted then we cleaned up and everyone left. I was so nervous that we'd have broken tea sets everywhere but the kids were very careful with pouring their tea and drinking from the tea sets, in fact the only thing that was broken was by me. It was a beautiful day for the most part.

Early that morning while I was frosting the cupcakes, Evalie snuck to take her seat at the table and began eating the snacks. It was cute to see her sitting quietly helping herself to a pizzelle I had to take a picture.

4th Birthday Party

Arielle's birthday cake 

Party Favors (kraft paper bags and washi tape)

Party space

Last weekend we celebrated Arielle's 4th birthday with a party and great friends and family. I initially was not going to have a party because it felt like such a hassle but once we got a theme it was on. We tried to orchestrate a gymnastics party since she's really gotten into it since the success of the USA girls team. We had the party a the local YMCA which happens to be fairly new so it doesn't have that old school YMCA feel. Although the space we rented was nice, open and bright,  the management/party coordinator was horrible and gave us a hard time which upset me a bit. Otherwise the party went great and I think the kids had fun. As usual, I indulged in my love for all things party and tried to create a pink paradise for my sweet girl because she loves pink (and I don't!) and sugar!.  I was really interested in doing a sweets table a la Amy Atlas, so once I got excited about that, my planning went into overdrive. I made the tissue pom poms like last year, got all the girls fairy wings and the boys pirate hats, we had good treats and finger foods and pizza. I usually cook tons of food for our parties but this year I decided to make food for only the after party at our house. Afterwards, my family came back to the house and everyone relaxed,we had an even better time.  Arielle opened all her gifts and by the time everyone left she was so sleepy but really happy. It was fantastic to see everyone and most especially to see the looks of excitement and happiness on my sweet girls face. 

Evalie had a tutu..kind of

Sweets table

We got her birthday cake for the fourth year in a row from our favorite patisserie Jean Claude's. This was her interpretation of a whimsical take on the pinkish/purple sparkled costumes of Gabby Douglas. I baked the star tarts and cupcakes and we got the macrons and cake pops from Eat Sweet bake shop. 

Vanilla meringue and cake pops

vanilla and raspberry macarons

and Evalie even had her fairy wings

Thanks to everyone who came to the party from far and near ( even the later comers) We love you!

Another year of Fabulous!