Sadie’s 2nd birthday was so low key and so super great, and I’d love to share and document her special day on here if you’d care to virtually share in the fun. 🙂
We opted not to do an all-out traditional party because of timing. In the last couple of years I’ve really zeroed in on how much I can put on my plate and what triggers stress; In other words, I’ve intentionally worked on saying no to various things if I know it’ll make me a little loco or not be something we’d enjoy (I used to really struggle with saying no, but I’ve learned as a mother that one cannot actually do ALL OF THE THINGS or someone will die, and it will likely be me.)
This year, an organized party got chopped. Throwing that into the mix on top of wanting to focus on settling into our house and Jamie’s first week of work felt like signing up for unnecessary stress, but we still wanted her birthday to be full of celebration and all of her favorite things.
Jamie and I sat down a couple days early and mapped out what Sadie’s “dream day” would like look, and then we executed. 🙂 Mission accomplished!
She woke up Wednesday after Hadley bolted into Sadie’s room at 6:45 exclaiming that it was her birthday! Oy.
Hadley took the reigns of finding the Elsa crown we’d found at Target and putting it on Sadie as soon as she came out into the kitchen.
She loved all of her balloons!
I whipped together homemade pancakes with sprinkles while Jamie FaceTimed his mom and let her watch Sadie open her presents from them. 🙂 We sang Happy Birthday on the phone with her before the girls dug into their breakfast.
Jamie headed off to work around 7:30 (his normal work hours are blowing my mind!) and then I ran around getting the girls and I together to go pick up my mom for a day of fun.
Our first stop: Huntsville Botanical Garden! For Sadie’s birthday present from us, we purchased an annual pass for our family. We can’t wait to use it frequently throughout the next year!
It was sunny and 70ish degrees, which was perfect for a morning of walking around and playing at the gardens.
I admittedly cringe when my kids head for a sandbox, but on your birthday you get to do whatever you want to do. And can you believe she’s still wearing the crown?! She didn’t want to take it off! $5 well spent. Ha!
No kidding – the girls and I did an impressive flip backwards off of this hammock about 10 seconds after this picture was taken. I went to scoot back and lay down, and we flipped right overboard. I wish it was on videotape!! Hadley squalled per her usual, but Sadie and I got a good chuckle out of it. Forgot about my mom; She was nearly on the ground with laughter!
Jamie met us at Red Robin at Bridgestreet for a yummy lunch, so that was a treat for us all!
After lunch we walked around Bridgestreet, where the girls had a ball tossing pennies into every fountain, riding the carousel, and zipping around the shopping center on the train.
We stayed out a little too late for Sadie to get in a good nap, so she snoozed in the car until we got home, where the girls continued to play hard outside (the weather was just beautiful) while I whipped together a homemade birthday cake. I’m absolutely terrible at making cakes look attractive, but dang – I always love love love making them for Jamie and the girls on their birthdays.
Sadie would live off of M&Ms if she could, so putting them on her cake was a no-brainer.
My parents and grandmother showed up around dinnertime to eat dinner and cake with us, and I thought it was precious when my dad came walking in with his hand behind his back. He’d picked roses from their house to bring over for the girls – one for Sadie Rose and one for big sister who would surely be jealous if she didn’t get one. Smart Grandpa!
I thought I’d cook dinner for everyone but decided the day before to cater Chick-Fil-A and call it a day. So easy and delicious, of course! We also decorated with some Frozen decor I spontaneously picked up the day prior to make dinner feel a little extra celebratory and special for Sadie.
Like mother, like son. Both my dad and grandmother have their eyes closed. 😉 It was a sweet, memorable day full of fun for everyone involved!
More birthday posts:
PS, have you heard of Wikibuy.com? I just heard of it, have been playing around with it a ton, and think it’s such a useful site! Basically you type into the search bar what you’re looking to purchase, and it’ll show you multiple sites where you can find it and how much it’s selling for on each site. Just a heads up as a great option when making purchases online!
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Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo