Clara turned two and it was a zoo!

in her new dress up clothes!

 Clara turned two this month. My lovely little lady... I still can't believe it...two!?

We spent the weekend with our family on New England. My mother in law and her sisters planned a rather phenomenal little party for Clara, with a ZOO theme! Which is perfect because Clara loves animals more than anything. (No really - she carries around arm fulls of her animal figurines and animal stuffed animals...begs to look at pictures of animals on the ipad and my iphone...loves watching video clips of animals...coloring pictures of animals...reading books about animals...you get the picture.)

jack got lots of snuggles!

My mother in law out did herself.  It wasn't just a theme for the cake and napkins - which is probably how I would have played it despite my Pinterest addiction.  They actually MADE her a zoo!! They took large black desks and made cage bars using black streamers. Each cage had a large scale stuffed animal in it - along with a name plaque. There was a huge snake (it was a puppet so Clara could "feed" it!), a monkey, seal, and large tiger. There were games played with peanuts and hand painted props. It was simply darling.  I took a long video with my iphone of Clara walking around the "zoo" for the first time - she was SO EXCITED!  And then my iphone malfunctioned and the video didn't save - which kills me.

She was given too many gifts.  That's what happens when the party is a dozen family members...and shopping for a 2 year old is the best thing ever.  Everything is magical and fun!  She got a bag of dress up clothes items, stuffed animals, art supplies, new pajamas, a circus tent fort, puzzels, books, and a few other animal toys (we gave her a small Little People farm...she loves loves loves playing with Little People...I did too when I was little...I will probably over indulge her in that stuff...oh well.)  Jack was given a few gifts as well...which Clara immediately claimed as her own.  That happens.

poor thing was so shy around the family!  she started crying while we sang to her!

The cake was gorg!  Her favorite thing was the fancy balloon that said "2" on it.  It's lasted forever and she carries it around the house with her everywhere she goes.  Cracks us up!

She had a great celebration.  We will miss spending birthdays with these folks when we move to Arizona.