Elmo and soccer ball themed second birthday

Our granddaughter is enthralled with soccer balls and the Elmo character from Sesame Street so that became the theme for her second birthday. We traveled to Kansas with our dog for the big event and just had a great time. The party was great fun and Callie was the only kid as two little friends were unable to make it. Since it was mostly all family the decorating and food prep was delegated out and Kristin with her morning sickness didn’t have to worry about it. 

The night before the birthday I made chocolate Elmo cupcakes with Callie and she dove into the batter with her hands and plastered her face up good. She also stood on a step stool and stirred and even held the electric mixer with help. Two is such a cute age with all the words that she knows now and her making her desires well known. ha ha. She also has lots of hugs and kisses to give out these days even to Penelope who is not always sure she wants them.

Auntie Em came all the way from North Carolina and it was wonderful to spend time with her as well. Kristin’s mom and sister picked her up at the airport in Wichita and brought her with them to Salina. Her dad and I drove her back on Sunday.

The  two year old did a pretty good job of opening all her presents with the bribery of the skittles candies that she got from Kristin’s youngest sister Auntie Boo (Alex.) She got lots of soccer ball stuff including a soccer ball potty chair and a little soccer ball stool to sit on. She got an easel for using dry erase markers that was an instant hit. Her big gift from mommy and daddy was a pink tricycle with flashy streamers on the handlebars. She also got a helmet and already knows to always wear it while riding the bike. I saw her tip over and smash her face on the pavement and pop right up because the helmet took the blow so it has already proved itself to me.

Riding the bike is already a favorite past time and despite still learning how to pedal she pushes around on it pretty well and gets going pretty fast at times. On Sunday we were able to Skype with the Ovrebos and the cousins showed each other their bikes. Mav has a Honda strider, a two wheeler that he can propel along with his feet. It was cute to see them interact a bit via ipad technology. It will be fun to get them together out west this summer.

The last couple days of our trip the high temperatures were in the mid eighties so we got to enjoy summer for a bit before returning back to another huge 12 inch snowstorm. We took Callie and Sneebie to the park to play and fed the ducks. The last day we went to a great regional zoo just west of Salina and spend several hours there and then Kristin and Phil met us out there for lunch. We will have a lot of great memories from this trip.

There was an unofficial black and white (referee) craze going on with some of the adults at the birthday party that you might see in the photos. A blow up Elmo made and appearance too. At the zoo Callie wore her sunglasses and sun hat. In the photo where she is being held by her dad and looking over a railing she is looking at the big carp like goldfish in the next picture. She was a little fearful of going into some of the barns where the animals were kept and didn’t want to get close to the big rhinos. She crawled through a tunnel built for kids to get closer to a raccoon type enclosure and she squatted to watch some other kids come out. She is getting to be quite a big girl now.