Ella's second birthday party was on May 22. The weather held up mostly and we only had to move the outdoor tables into the garage a few times.
The party was great and lots of people brought appetizers, sides, or desserts. My parents let me use their house and were a huge help. The only disappointment was that I didn't get a "money" shot of Ella. I was distracted by throwing the party and she's two now and doesn't sit still for long. 
My parents have beautiful landscaping and the party mostly took place outside. 
The cosmo/grill master
Ella got a great mix of toys, clothes and money. She loved opening her presents this year. 
The only shot of the four party kids.
Ella skinned her knee so had to wear her glasses the rest of the day so she didn't trip again. 
Judge away people, judge away. I knew we'd have a ton of desserts - pies, cookies, chocolate-covered strawberries, brownies and cupcakes so I thought instead of getting a bakery cake and making everyone eat a piece, I'll just make this really great lemon cake and write Ella's name on it. First her name was in yellow sugar and you couldn't see it. Next I added orange sugar highlights but it looked weird so I made her name totally orange and added some weird polka-dots. It looked descent and I put it in the fridge for the night but when I pulled it out for the party, the writing had all mixed into the frosting so I had to do a last minute Ella and this is what you end up with...But, it was delicious.
Ella refused to wear her party hat so Grandpa wore it.
There's few things that Ella likes more than having people sing happy birthday to her.
