Journey's 2nd birthday, the details

You can see all of the pictures of Journey's birthday by clicking here, but I'll share a couple on this post as well.

First I'll start with our new birthday tradition. I got the idea from another family and thought it was great! Instead of loading the kids up with tons of toys, they make birthdays extra special by taking the birthday child to the store before their birthday to purchase their 'birthday picks'-special treats like chips and pop and sugary cereal that they don't normally buy. Then throughout the birthday, the whole family gets to enjoy the child's favorite special treats. It's something to look forward to and to savor all day long.

We decided that our family's 'picks' will be cereal, chips, juice, and ice cream. They will also get to pick the menu for the day, and what kind of cake they want. Eric also plans to take every kid's birthday off so we can do something fun as a family.

Journey is a little on the young side for this, so we helped her with some of her picks. I chose the menu for the day with all foods she loves (waffles for breakfast, lots of her favorite foods for lunch, and pizza for dinner. I made her a banana cake with dark chocolate frosting). We also had some leftover juice from Valentine's day and since she hasn't had enough juice to have a preference, we just used that.

Journey's official picks were Harvest Cheddar Sunchips for lunch, cookie dough ice cream for dessert, and Kashi cinnamon hearts cereal for bedtime snack (cereal is a favorite bedtime snack around here). She is a little more limited in her choices because of her artificial dye allergies but so far she doesn't think she's missing anything, and is easily guided toward the choices she can have :)

This morning we woke up early to get ready for our full day of celebrating. Eric made waffles while I packed lunches, and then we woke Journey up by singing happy birthday to her. At first she wasn't thrilled about waking up and kept saying "no no no" when we told her it was her birthday :)

Here's a video:

After everyone was awake, we put candles in a waffle and sang happy birthday. She didn't quite get the concept of blowing the candles out.

Then we got dressed and got in the car to go to the Henry Ford Museum! Macy's sponsors a themed kids event every 2nd monday, which happened to be today, so we figured that would make a good outing. Today's theme was 'green', where they combined St. Patrick's Day with Recycling. They got to make shamrock hats, plant seeds, and listen to stories about recycling and leprechauns (not in the same story!).

We ate lunch there, and then did some more playing before it was time to head home for naps. Here is Journey enjoying her sunchips:

My parents came over for pizza, presents, and cake, and we got to skype with Aunt Janelle and Uncle Ryan, who are staying close to the hospital as they get so close to their due date. We got Journey 2 dresses and 2 books, which are two of her favorite things :)

Ladybug from Nana and Bapa

Yummy banana cake with chocolate frosting!

Then we headed over to Eric's parents to see Journey's birthday buddy, Great Grandma Susie! It was close to bedtime and Journey was about done with all the birthday attention, so we didn't get a picture of them this time, but we'll try again later. Uncle Brandon, Aunt Allison, and baby Elowen were also there, so they kids all got to hug and hold her, which was very exciting! Journey got some presents, and all 3 kids got a picnic table to share so we can eat lunch in the back yard now that it's getting so nice out! 

It was a very busy, but very very fun birthday for Journey, and for the rest of us! Jeb and Vivi were a little jealous at times with all the things Journey got to pick and open, this morning Jebriel said "I need a Jebby birthday tomorrow" but overall they were fine, especially once they realized that Journey shares her snacks and her toys, and everyone got to be part of the fun!