Party Time

First, Sam and Anna celebrated their birthday a day early at daycare on Thursday.  My sweetie of a husband made these Elmo cupcakes for daycare- and he was even so thoughtful to think of substituting an orange-ish marshmallow for the orange peanut M&M to avoid choking issues and the possibility of peanut allergies. 

So after our individual family birthday celebration on Friday, our third day of celebrating Sam and Anna's second birthday was on Saturday.  Although Anna woke up still a little warm, she was acting like her usual self, so the family party went on as planned. 

The invites I created with minimal effort put in (minus personal information, of course):

With only two other children in attendance, I skipped the party favors.


The cakes our daycare provider offered to make for us if we gave her cake mix:

The presents/easy decorations we wrapped for Sam and Anna (I'm disappointed that this is the best photo I have of them.  Bummer that you can't see Ernie's mouth!)

Other DIY decorations that fit the theme- our Sesame Street birthday sign:

Elmo and Cookie Monster cups and wrapping paper wrapped soup cans for utensil holders:

Besides that, I used store bought plates and plastic table cloths and scattered our double collection of plush Sesame Street characters on tables. 

Elmo, Oscar and Grover fruit/veggie trays:

Sam and Anna with their cousins playing with balloons

Opening presents

 Sam and Anna's grandpa Butch made this wooden toy chest for them.

This is the Little Tower Helper grandpa Dan build for them... expanded to fit two (genius, really- because the part they stand on can be raised and lowered as they grow and eliminates the need to stand on chairs to "help" cook in the kitchen).

 Sam's favorite gift:

 Anna's favorite gift:

Blowing out candles (once again, Anna was not a fan of the birthday song and hid in my shoulder)  Anna's turn first this year!

Eating cake and ice cream.  Sam devoured his as usual- Anna ate a few bites; which is more than she usually will.

After a rocky start to their birthdays with vomit and little sleep, the party went perfectly.  Taking the party to our relatives this year worked great and I bet we'll do it again next year!