Zoe's 2nd Birthday

This year, I was leaning towards making Zoe a carrot cake until Jed discovered my plans and absolutely insisted that Zoe MUST have a "Pink Princess Cake." So we found some strawberries in the fridge and I made her a little 6" strawberry pink lady cake. She sat on the counter with me and licked at every step, just for quality assurance you know.
Rather than decorate the cake in some fancy and fashionable method, I thought it would be fun to let the kids decorate the cake themselves. And boy did they love it. First a rather messy layer of cream cheese frosting, topped with several kinds of sprinkles and every candle we could find. Prettiest cake I've ever seen!

You may note the thick layer of cream cheese coating Zoe's cheeks. Ooooo, she loves making her own birthday cake!

Jed's getting ready for the party! He picked out the balloons (red and pink for Zoe, blue and green for him) and a valentine's day "kisses and loves" tablecloth because it was pink and we all love Zoe so much.

Jed made her the traditional pink crown.

Cheesy grin!

Licking off the candles, an essential part of every birthday party.  Actually, this cake had its candles taken off and licked several times while mom wasn't looking before the party itself, but we patched it over all right.  What's a little extra moistness matter when it's all in the family, right?

This year we decided to make all homemade gifts for Zoe's birthday.  Jed wanted to make Zoe a dolly and picked out this pattern himself.  He chose all the fabric and helped me cut and stuff the baby.  He insisted on pink hair.  We had so much fun working on it in the afternoon while Zoe was still napping!  A secret surprise!

She loved the pink hair.  The doll goes in and out and in and out of the little swaddle pouch (Zoe is ALL about swaddling her babies, she must remember her own babyhood when she loved to be swaddled so much.)

I made her a little doll blanket and pillow set, with a secret treasure pocket.  I gave her a few little trinkets to hide.

One other little gift I picked up at a garage sale was a pair of frilly dress-up shoes.  You know the type, slip-on princess heels with a little rhinestone heart and bow.  She went crazy over them and immediately fell down a flight of stairs trying to follow Jed into the basement.  They kind of disappeared after that.  We already did the "falling down stairs and breaking collarbone right about the time the new baby is born" thing once before.  No need for a repeat performance.  They were pretty darn cute though.
And here was the highlight of the evening - her daddy made her this amazing dolly bed that perfectly matches her own!  Every night we put her dollies to bed, it's so much fun. He's pretty much the best dad ever.  She'll be playing with it for years.

We love you, Zoe Ann!  You are still the little ray of sunshine in our home every day.  Thanks for the two best years!