Rose had the best birthday party ever!  It was so sweet and special, and the emotion of thankfulness was so real in the room.  Our children mean the world to us, and tonight we celebrated Rose with so much joy!  Anna Kate and Noelle were not feeling well, but the party girl was in full party mode!  She knew tonight was all about her, and she was in heaven!!!

For each 2nd birthday, we have always done a theme that our kid is into at that time.  Even though they are little, they still have such big personalities and are truly unique.  For Noelle’s 2nd birthday, we had a clock party (she spotted them everywhere and they were her favorite thing), for Anna Kate we had a flower party (she loved picking flowers and pointing at them everywhere we went), and for Rose, we had a shoe party, because this girl is all about shoes.  It couldn’t have been more up her alley!  She recognized the shoe on her cake and thought it was so cute.  She actually said, “Cute, Mommy!”

We had her party at a fun private play land this year, and it couldn’t have been more age appropriate, easy and fun!

Noelle helped me set the tables (with the Prince girls… thank you so much guys!!!), and I love how she placed the juice boxes close to the edge because that’s how far her little hands could reach; so special!

 

Poppa and Rara came up for the weekend, and Rose enjoyed having them here so much!

We had a picnic-style dinner with croissant sandwiches, turkey roll-ups, chips, etc… and cookie cake for dessert, of course!

 

Sharon and Bekah… I don’t even know what to say!  You guys are the best!  I don’t think I can throw a party without you.  Thank you!  Rose was SO excited when Kay Kay and Grandpapa arrived.  She was laughing and giggling… she felt so loved!

Here’s some of my sweet friends, Susie, Tanna, Megan, and Heather with Audree, Rose, and Logan!

Madison loves baby Rose because she has a new baby sister of her own and practiced taking care of Rose before Eden arrived.  Madison’s mom is Mindy, and they live down the street.  We have fun talking about girls and fashion together!

  

Avery, Sydney, and Rose in the play land!

Rose was so high in this picture… she had a blast climbing everywhere!  She only got stuck at the top once, but I climbed to get her.  I’ve had to do that a time or two with the other girls when they were that age… I’m an old pro!

Angela, Riann, Holly, and Susie are our sweet neighbors and friends.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends in our lives!

Our pastor, Phil, got to come celebrate Rose with us!  His heart is so full of love and thoughtfulness, along with his wife, Stephanie.  We are so blessed to have such true friends to walk this journey with us!

Here’s a fun picture with my friends Stasia, Kara, and Tanna (and Audree).  Kara owns Ella Bella, and is the best, along with my shopping buddies, lol!

Kelli, Anna-Kate, Phil and I… loved having our church friends come celebrate from Ft. Worth.  It was so special having them with us!

Aww, look at these cute red-headed teenagers.  Everyone kept saying, “Who are those cute red-headed teenagers?”  Toria’s 21, lol, but she’ll be thankful one of these days she looks so cute and young.  Love.these.girls.  Not much else to say, we’re lifers!

 

Rose was in the zone… she was having the time of her life.  Here she is hugging her friend Berkeley who lives down the street.  They are so cute!

Heather (and Logan), Jon, me, Ty and Mike were cracking jokes and having fun, as usual.  It’s good to have friends that know you inside and out and still think you’re pretty cool.  These guys mean the world to us!  Jon’s saying in his head right now, “I didn’t say you were cool, Mo!” but he knows he thinks it. 😉

Anna Kate had lots of buddies come play too!  Avery, Malia, Brylee, and Madison are all Anna Kate’s big buds!  So happy they were here to make her feel better.  She still had a double ear infection because she couldn’t start the new round of antibiotics yet.  It was an all-around miserable week for our sweet girl!  They all gave her grace and were really good friends tonight!

Anna Kate wouldn’t go to the top without me, so up I went.  She is still a little timid (at almost 4)… where Rose (2) was all over that thing!  They’ve all got such unique personalities and boundaries.  Although Anna Kate’s timid about a lot of things,  you’d never know it when she gets in her entertaining mode!

We had 35 kids here to celebrate Rose with us (so thankful for each and every one of them) but not everyone made it in the group picture.  I love all their little personalities in this picture and how the babies were all crawling around.  So perfect!

 

I asked the kids to do funny faces and Rose totally knew what to do!  Logan and Hudson looked too cute sitting there next to our silly girls!  Here we are about to cut the cake… Rose was so excited!

After we sang, “Happy Birthday,” which Rose sand the whole song at the top of her lungs, might I add, she clapped as loud as the could and said, “Yay!  Yay!”  I was looking forward to this moment all week long.  I knew she’d “get it” that this moment was all about our love for her.  Her happiness was so contagious!

 

Love these blowing out the candle pictures… so adorable!

Here’s a picture of Mike’s sweet family, who were all able to come to the party!  Susana, Stephen, Grandpapa, Noemi, and Kay Kay!

Ty and his brown-eyed girl, Emme!

 

Enjoying her cookie cake with Toria.  Rose likes cookies better than cake, so she’s our first kid who we got a cookie cake for… she loved it!

 

Here’s some pretty special people right here!  By this point, I looked exhausted because I was exhausted.  My heart was so full, and I was having the best time ever, but the week just caught up with me… hardest week, hands down, of my life.  Just so thankful that our girls are healthy, happy and safe, and I have the best friends in the whole wide world!!!

Rose and her cousin Noemi look so cute every time we get them together.  They are both growing so fast!  Love that they have each other, and that Susana and I have each other too.  We love our Pond boys!

Rose is crazy about her friend Katie, and they always have so much fun being together.  It seems like they’ve always been friends.  I guess, technically they have, but their little hearts get each other.  Even before they were talking, they connected.  It’s so sweet to watch them interact!

 

Rose and Katie… heart friends!

After all the food and fun, we opened such thoughtful gifts for baby Rose.  She’s been needing some things to call her own around here, and everyone that came, seemed to get her just what she would want.  Our friends know her so well and love her big.  I think part of that is because she loves big right back, with arms wide open and a grin that will make anyone smile back.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Rose!  I can’t say enough sweet things about you!  You’re so cute, you’re my buddy… I love your passion, spunk and joy!  Your energy, happiness, and love are so contagious.  I want to be like you when I grow up!  You are special, you are important, you beautiful and you are loved!