Ayla's 2nd Birthday!

This year for Ayla's second birthday we had a celebration that lasted a few days. To begin with on her actual birthday (Nov. 10) I took off to spend the day with her. It was really just another day to her she didn't really get yet that it was her birthday but it was important to me to be able to spend the day with her. We celebrated by going to "Buzzy's Play Park" at the mall. She loves it there. When we pull into the parking lot of the mall now she always says "Yeah, fun !" Then when we are walking and she can actually see the play park she lets out a happy little scream, yells "Kids" and takes off I have to really hold on to her or she gets away from me. Here's a few shots of her having fun there.

The little boy that is in front of her in this picture was really giving her a hard time that day. He would block the slide and not let her go down, then when she would finally get up there he would give her a push and she would go flying. I looked around for a parent to speak to but couldn't find anyone. I tried talking to him but he looked at me like I was speaking Swahili and continued doing what he was doing. I really don't think he spoke English. I needn't have worried though, after all Ayla is my daughter. After about the third time of him pushing her down the slide she turned around and yelled "Not nice, time out!" It was pretty funny, normally I would not condone my daughter yelling at another kid but in this circumstance I think he needed it and he left her alone after that.

My sister Tina, her husband Felipe, and their two girls Raquel and Camila were able to come down the weekend of Ayla's birthday party. It was so much fun and so nice to see them. I hadn't seen them in almost a year. The girls had changed a lot. Ayla loved playing with her cousins. She called Raquel "Quel" (she still does) and she laughed at everything Camila did and said "Funny". We look at pictures of them now and she talks about playing with them that weekend. Tina's girls were blessed with a ton of hair. So Ayla is a little jealous of this. She always points out little girls with long hair and it was no different this time. We knew they were coming so we were watching out the window for them and when Raquel stepped out of the car Ayla said "Oh... hair!" It was cute. Then later they were all sitting at my dining room table and Ayla kept running her fingers through Raquel's hair. Here's a couple pictures of the three girls together.

Cousins having a little bathtime fun!

We had Ayla's party at the Stafford Gymnastics Center, where she takes her classes. It was a lot of fun for the kids. They were able to have a full hour of play time in the gym and then after that we had our own private room for the pizza, cake, ice cream, and present portion of the party. Ayla had 7 friends come, she loved it.

This first picture is Lucas, Ayla, and Camila in the ball pit. The kids loved climbing in there (Felipe did too). They had a lot of fun.

Here's most of her friends that came to the party two of the kids aren't in this picture.
From left Wesley, Richard, Granger,Raquel, Camila, and back row Ayla. Missing are Kristina and Logan.

Same picture but it shows Camila getting enthusiastic.

Here's a really cute pic of Ayla and Camila trying out the bars. Ayla loves the bars and is a little too daring on them if you ask me. You can see here she is trying to do a forward somersault over the bar. Good thing Grandma was there to help her. I might have a little gymnast on my hands here.

Here's Camila and Kristina on one of the bouncy pads. My sister Tina is there guarding Mila.

Ayla after doing a somersault. Her gymnastics coaches are teaching her to stick her landings, so she practices that all the time.

At the end of the hour of gym time all the kids were called together and we gathered under the parachute. Here we sang some songs and let the kids roll around. They all sang "Happy Birthday" to Ayla while under the parachute. I thought that was pretty cool, Ayla didn't quite no what to make of it, but any time she is the center of attention it's okay with her. I think all of the kids had a great time and it was a lot of fun, watching them have fun. Tina was a little worried about Raquel because sometimes she is a little reserved at these types of things. But she seemed to have a great time. She even jumped on the trampoline, which was a big deal to her because earlier in the day she told me she didn't think she was going to jump on the trampoline because she thought that it might be "spooky".

Here's a picture of Ayla's birthday cake. Fantastic isn't it? I can't take the credit my friend Sabrina made it, she made her cake last year too. I'm just not that talented. This picture is the big cake, she also made a little personal sized cake just for Ayla, in case Ayla decided to shove her face into the cake and made a mess of it the adults would still have something to eat. Great idea huh? Ayla isn't the type to shove her face into cakes though. She doesn't really like to get dirty.

Lighting the candle

Ayla blowing her candle out

Her tentative first bite

She decided that the cake was pretty good and that she wasn't going to get in trouble for biting into it so she just went for it. She's really not much of a sweet tooth though (she likes fruits and vegetables, whose kid is she). (Just kidding I actually think it's great and wish I had as good of a diet as she does). She ate a little bit of the cake but then got upset when we cut into it and ruined the picture.

Here's a few shots of her opening her gifts. She got some really good stuff. I'd have to say her favorites are her lego set, her Elmo sippy cups, and her princess crown.

My beautiful little princess at her birthday party!