Serene Joy turns two

Our little love is two years old! Serene is God's precious gift to us - our first baby. We are so thankful for the overwhelming joy she brings into our lives. We didn't hold a grand party like last year, but we are celebrating in sweet and simple ways. She woke up to a slew of party animals heralding her birthday in this morning with cake and banana muffins. I baked the banana muffins a couple of days ago and bought a small vanilla sponge cake from a local bakery last night. I whipped some cream last night to top the cake, but in a moment of distraction, overwhipped it. Oops! It looks less than perfect but still tasted good, and most importantly, the birthday girl didn't mind one bit. I picked up the gold cardboard number from Target's dollar section months ago, thinking it would make a great cake topper. I thought it would be fun to decorate with plastic animals that Serene can play with afterward, particularly since animals are one of Serene's favorite things this past year. I made teeny party hats (inspired by here) out of cupcake wrappers for each of her favorite animals and topped them with bitty pom-poms made from yarn. We've been singing the birthday song to Serene and teaching her how old she's turning for the past few days to acclimate her to the occasion. Now she cheerfully says, "I'm two!" when asked how old she is and exclaims "Burday song!" whenever she hears it. She loved blowing out her candles and, of course, having cake for breakfast. We also celebrated with some of her favorite little people a couple of days ago over ice cream, at Disneyland yesterday as a family since it was the last day before our passes expired, and we'll be having a small family dinner tonight. Serene is well loved. We are so grateful for the community God has given us in which to raise our kiddos. God is so kind!