Charlotte's 2nd Birthday

Our beautiful, spirited, sweet, affectionate and funny little Charlotte turned two on Saturday, 22nd December.

How lucky we are to have her in our family!

The birthday girl out for dinner at Taco Bill.

We had a small celebration at Sabbath School a week earlier, as they do for all the kids. Everyone sang "Happy Birthday", Charlotte blew out a candle on the pretend cake, and she was given a small gift and card. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo, as Neil was in Sydney for the day and I had my hands full!

I did manage to take a photo of the cupcakes I made to take along. They were inspired by my Women's Weekly Kids' Little Party Cakes book, as well as several photos from the web. I was really pleased with the final product.

Little fish mini cupcakes.

We didn't have a 2nd birthday party for Charlotte, but instead went away for a few days to Moama for a family holiday. So she got to spend her day playing in the indoor play centre and swimming in the pool at the holiday park where we stayed. I don't think it was too bad a deal!

In the ball pit at Squiggles Play Centre.

Fun in the pool with Daddy and Lucinda.

We brought Charlotte's presents away with us. She loves baby dolls, so was very pleased to unwrap a baby bath set, high chair and other accessories. She also received a lovely tea set from Grandma and Grandpa, and enjoyed feeding the baby with it.

Daddy and Grace helping to open Charlotte's presents.

Changing baby's "burp".

Feeding baby.

The only negative of the day was the birthday cake, which was a complete disaster.

I had planned to purchase a Dora or Peppa Pig cake from the supermarket, but Neil rightly pointed out that they were a bit expensive for just the four of us who would eat it. So we bought a cheap marble cake, but Grace played with the bag and turned it upside down. The pink icing all came off, and it ended up looking terrible. Little animal cupcake decorations chosen by Grace couldn't save it!

Waiting to blow out the candles.

I have to admit I shed a few tears, and felt like I'd let her down. However, Charlotte seemed oblivious to any problems and enjoyed blowing out the candles (with help from Daddy). It was lovely to hear her sitting eating cake and saying, "hip, hip, hooray!" over and over.

"Hip, hip, hooray!"

We went out to Taco Bill in Echuca for dinner, where she got to eat nachos and ice cream. There were certainly no complaints about that!

Happy birthday, Charlotte!