Ready...set...party!!!

Jenna Shea is finally two, yet it is hard to believe it has been that long. Saturday we had a party for her and invited a bunch of friends over to celebrate. We decided to have everything in the back yard for more space. Luckily Hurricane Hanna didn't end up hitting us in Charlotte and we had clear skies. We borrowed a couple of picnic tables from my folks and some regular tables. Pair that with the pop-up tent Josh got from work & the bounce house we gave Jenna and the result was a great layout.




I need to share that the theme we used was Dora the Explorer since Jenna is really in to Dora and Diego these days. When she woke up from her nap I was working on making some balloon arrangements in the bonus room. I brought her into the room with me and when she saw the Dora balloon she ran up to it and yelled, "Dora, it my happy birthday!" It was too funny. I had about 5 of these arrangements that I put though out the yard to make it festive.

When everyone first arrived we just mingled in the back yard and let the kids play in the bounce house, play with the corn hole game we had set up, and with the various outdoor toys Jenna has. Then when the kids started to get restless with that I had each of them decorate a bag I had traced Dora on to. Once they we all done with decorating, we went on our exploring scavenger hunt using a picture map I had printed up. The kids had to match the picture on their map to the bag with the same photo and then they got a little treat. At the end of the hunt there was a Dora pinata hanging in the garage. Let me just say they have finally made it possible for little kids to enjoy pinatas too. This one had strings so that each child could pull one and eventually one string opened the trap door releasing the candy inside.

After the scavenger hunt, the kids just played with their treats while Josh grilled the hamburgers and hot dogs. They were all just having a blast with the bounce house, punch balloons, and bubbles. Jenna ran around nonstop with her shoes off, which we normally do not let her do, but they couldn't wear shoes in the bounce house. This picture shows Jenna sporting her sparkly "2" shirt I made. When she saw it, I told her that mommy made her a special shirt because she is a big girl now. She just kept saying "Thank you mommy!". It was such a fun & easy craft since I just laid all of the crystals where I wanted them on the shirt and then put an iron on them for 15 seconds.

You can see Uncle Clay in the background. He was such a big help with cooking the burgers and dogs.Jenna was so excited to see her Brianna Sue, Uncle Clay, and Aunt Nicole.

Next we did Jenna's cake which also had Dora on it. She was so excited when she saw it and blew on the side of the cake. That night when we were recapping the day, Jenn told me she blew cake. This of course translates to she got to blow out the candle on the birthday cake. The cake was really yummy. It was a marble cake with strawberry mousse and yummy frosting.

Here's a shot of the kids enjoying cake. Jenna was too busy shoving (I mean full-fisted shoving her cake in her mouth) to look at the camera. This girl loves her sweets since she doesn't get then all of the time. On the left side of the table: Kristen, Jake, Allison Yates with Ethan and Carly. In the back is Patrick Yates and Kristi Benner. On the right side:Jenna, Brianna, and Reese. Did I mention how great these picnic table were? A place to sit with a table to eat on. It was so helpful with the kids and nice for the adults too.

All in all it was a great day, mainly because Jenna had the best time playing with all of her friends. Her sweaty head with curls was evidence of how hard she played.