Favourite Things | Eva’s 2nd Birthday

Buying thing for a two-year-old is hard and it can be easy to go over the top. However, in a bid to tone down the amount of gifts Eva received for her birthday, we tried to stick to the concept of buying “something to read, something to wear, something she needs and something she wants”. In the past Eva often became overwhelmed with mass amounts of presents, so I love this idea.

• Something To Read: Seasons, Olivia, An Awesome Book of Thanks, This is Texas, 
• Something To Wear: BlaBla Suzette Tee, BlaBla Mini-Suzette the Fox, Sweetheart Saltwater Sandals
• Something She Needs: Melissa & Doug Beginner Pattern Blocks, Mudpuppy Wooden Magnetic Numbers, Janod Wooden Alphabet Puzzle, Gween Zarafu Wooden Counting Toy
• Something She Wants: Wishbone Balance Bike (This was a joint gift with her grandparents)

 But of course, this didn’t stop family and friends from adding to this list! 

7 June 21 Permalink

Eva’s Tex-Mex 2nd Birthday Party

Eva is one lucky little girl. Not only did she have a early birthday celebration with a few of her friends, but she got a Texan birthday party with her family.

Johnny grew up in Texas and was surrounded by Spanish and Tex-Mex culture. Every time we go to a Mexican restaurant outside of Texas, he scoffs and pouts. So when we found out we would be in Texas for Eva’s birthday, Johnny wanted her to have a proper Texan birthday party like the ones he had growing up, with fajitas, queso, homemade guacamole, a piñata, the lot. 

And Johnny’s Aunt Linda, Uncle David, his cousin April and her husband Luis were the greatest hosts ever. Their house, outside of Austin, is absolutely gorgeous, and all four of them went above and beyond in setting it up for the party. 

We had sombreros, maracas, margaritas, and even fake moustaches. 

The food was incredible. I think I may have eaten the whole bowl of guacamole by myself. Luis makes his own salsas, all of which were absolutely incredible. Later when I asked Johnny if he wanted to take home any jarred salsa—he is so picky about salsa—, he said he just wanted to take Luis home instead. Johnny had an entire plate of just fajita meat and moaned the entire time while eating it.

Eva was apprehensive about the food, and seemed confused by the colour of the Spanish rice. So we have some training to do there.

A neighbour brought her children over to enjoy the party and to help with the piñata. Eva had more fun carrying the stick around the back garden than beating the piñata. But after it was busted open, she stuffed her party bag full of goodies — the plastic sunglasses and star wands were particular favourites.  

Eva got so many presents that we had to bring home an extra suitcase to accommodate them all. Johnny’s aunt once again bought Eva fabulous clothes, including this one. 

I couldn’t imagine a better way to celebrate Eva’s 2nd birthday, and can only hope that get another chance to visit Austin and Johnny’s family again soon! 

5 June 27 Permalink

Eva’s 2nd Birthday Party

In a little over a week, Eva will be two years old! Can you believe it?

These two years have gone by so quickly, but yet it’s hard for me to imagine my life without Eva, or even life before Eva. She consumes so much of my time and thoughts. Our lives have been forever changed because of Eva, changed for the better. So when we celebrate Eva’s birthday, we are also celebrating what a gift it is to be parents. Enough with the sentimental notes, and on with the party… 

Since we’ll be in America for Eva’s actual birthday we wanted to host a small party with a few of Eva’s friends before we left. Now, this is where Johnny and I didn’t quite communicate effectively. When we discussed a small party, I thought “small” in size, but Johnny somehow thought that also meant small in terms of decorations and panning. It wasn’t until he saw me spray-painting old plastic dinosaurs gold, or printing gift bags, did he realise that he had married a crazy lady!

And I have to say thanks to Pinterest, I had a lot more planned, but Johnny quickly made me realise that I didn’t need to pull an all-nighter after work in order to prepare for a two-year-old’s birthday party. So up went the same birthday banner we used for Eva’s first birthday. Rather than slaving away in the kitchen, we bought a cake and fresh scones from the bakery that morning and put together toddler snack trays filled with fresh fruit, vegetables, cheese and crackers. 

The dinosaur terrarium  

Mini-bunting made with gold dot stickers, bamboo skewers and twine.

Eva’s birthday invitation and gift bags filled with stickers, a small toy dinosaur, laminated dinosaur flashcards, and pencils (recycled from restaurant kids’ packs).

Cups filled with berry compote, yogurt and muesli as well as fruit salad. And Japanese washi tape used to hold bamboo forks to each plastic cup.

Kraft paper covered coffee table created a large enough space for the kids to explore, play and eat. 

A plastic storage container filled with sand and hidden dinosaur skeletons was turned into an paleontological dig. This kept the kids entertained as they spread sand throughout the house and dug for dinosaurs. 

The Photo-booth:

Getting a group of near two-year-olds to sit still is almost impossible, so the props were quickly discarded in order to simply get two toddlers in the same frame.

The following photographs were taken by my lovely friend Sarah and should be submitted as reason #125,134 as to why I need a new camera! As you can see most of the kids were mesmerised by the cake and a little confused about how to blow out the candle. 

Planning and hosting Eva’s “little” birthday party was definitely a labour of love, but the planner and organiser in me loved doing it. And I can only hope Eva grows up to realise how incredibly lucky and loved she is! 

15 May 46 Permalink