Strawberry Shortcake turns 2...

Our beautiful niece Ava, celebrated her 2nd birthday yesterday. Well... we had her birthday party yesterday... her actual birthday isn't until next Sunday, but in order to have the whole family there for the occasion, Erich & Naomi had the party a week early.

It was so much fun watching the excitement on her face as everyone arrived and the gifts started rolling in. Last year was cute too but she was still so young and didn't really understand the concept of the party being just for her. It was more entertaining just watching her experience cake for the first time. But this year was much different. She knew very well that it was her birthday and she was extremely excited about the festivities! The funniest thing was watching her snatch the card out of Naomi's hand as soon as she would start to read it aloud for everyone, and then Ava would pretend to read it herself. The picture above captures it perfectly... I just love this picture... look at her cute little toes!

Seeing as Erich & Naomi took the kids to Saskatchewan to visit family last week and didn't return home until Saturday afternoon, I volunteered to prepare Ava's birthday cake. Now obviously baking a cake isn't that difficult and I've done it many times before, but this was my very first attempt at a kid's "theme" cake. The theme for the party was Strawberry Shortcake and let me tell you, the decorating was highly intimidating for me. It didn't take long for me to question why I had volunteered for such a daunting task. Naomi has made such incredible cakes for the kids' previous parties and I soon felt very "out of my league." Probably doesn't help that I'm a total perfectionist when it comes to "artistic" things. But after a lot of fussing and re-icing, I think the finished product didn't turn out too badly. Pretty amateur, I know, but hey... practice makes perfect and I'm sure this won't be my last cake decorating experience :)

The kids entertained everyone with a little 'swimming- goggle fashion show'...

These pictures make me laugh out loud! The expression on Ava's face is totally priceless :)

And Calvin worked his magic with that lovable, squeezable, kissable face of his...

I think Ava really liked her cake and after a few attempts at blowing out the candles, she was finally victorious!

Happy Birthday Ava Indiana! We're so proud of you and love you oh so much!!