Happy 2nd Birthday Ava!!!

Today Ava turned 2. She is a beautiful, strong-willed, precious, sometimes selfish (as we saw today!), perfect little Ava :)

We scheduled her party during her naptime, which wasn't as much a plan as it was really the only time we could have it. She did really well and was having a ball playing with her friends and eating cake. Then we opened presents, which, as you can see below, was a Dora extraveganza! What ensued was a very vocal child telling everyone, 'My Dora' - even though there were are least 4 Dora's to choose from. She finally did share, but only the one that she didn't want at the time. I guess that is something we will be working on with her.

If you can't tell, Ava REALLY likes Dora. I was surprised when she picked out the cake that had Dora, Boots and Diego instead of the one with Dora, Boots and Swiper. We had half chocolate and half vanilla, and while the cake wasn't great, it wasn't bad and it looked cute.

Ava really enjoyed everyone singing to her.

And she really likes blowing out candles!

Sisters before the party! Anna and McKenna made 'streamers' by cutting strips of construction paper and hanging them all over the house. It was pretty sweet, and they had a lot of fun decorating. You can see some of their handywork in the background.

How many Dora's does one girl need - ALOT :)

Way-Way and Gavin

How do you open presents in less than 5 minutes? Let all the kids help! I have seriously never seen presents opened so fast. Thankfully, Susan was writing everything down (not to mention if I just say thanks for the Dora playset, I pretty much have everyone covered!).

Claire showing Sitto how dance!

It was a great birthday party and we look forward to many more!