a kitty birthday (kaya’s 2nd birthday party!)

Kaya’s actual birthday was on a Friday, but we waited until Saturday to have her real celebration. As it turns out, Friday mornings are pretty crazy at our house! She did get to eat (almost) as many chocolate donut holes as she wanted, and I sang happy birthday to her at breakfast time (Daddy was already at work). Her friend Mia came over for a couple hours that night, and they had the best time two crazy, fun toddler girls can have together (just picture them jumping on Kaya’s bed, dancing, and sharing pizza)! 🙂

Since her real birthday was so low-key, I definitely wanted to make sure the day of her party started off with some true excitement. I hung a bunch of balloons from the ceiling for her to see as soon as she woke up and walked into the hallway. She was a little timid at first, but she spent a good part of the day running through them and yelling “baoons!”_MG_4187Her next surprise was in the living room. Her big gift from us was her very own slide (yes, we are those crazy parents with a slide in their apartment… but hey, it actually folds up if we ever wanted to put it away). She pretends that everything and anything is a slide (and we even used a folding table as one, once), so having a real one definitely won’t go to waste!

She was so surprised!

One happy girl._MG_4200

_MG_4202Her actual party was very simple. I wanted to do something I thought she’d love, so I chose to base it off of her very favorite little buddy- Kitty, of course!_MG_4209I actually love how the cake turned out! It looked just like her stuffed animal! Honestly, though… Kaya didn’t even notice it was Kitty. I’m still glad I put the effort into though, because it’s still something meaningful to her, and I know one day we’ll look back on this and it’ll be a sweet memory._MG_4211IMG_4215_MG_4220I made a felt applique shirt for her, and she actually did notice that and liked it!_MG_4225_MG_4226She loved her cake this year! Who can resist dark chocolate? (answer: no one. duh.)_MG_4234She opened her presents all on her own! As usual, she was spoiled with some really awesome gifts._MG_4239_MG_4241Her favorite thing might’ve actually been the fruit snacks Uncle Kevin and Aunt Tori sent all the way from Utah. Grandpa couldn’t feed them to her fast enough! 🙂_MG_4244We’re so grateful for all our friends and family who were here to celebrate our sweet girl with us! (And yeah, photography fail- the birthday girl ended up hiding behind Mike’s head in this picture…)!
_MG_4246Happy 2nd birthday, Kaya Bird! We love you so very much!_MG_4255