The Maxwell Family: Bailey's 2nd Birthday!

Wasn't it just last week that we brought Bailey home from the hospital?

And wasn't it just yesterday that we celebrated her 1st birthday?

My how these last two years have flown by! I can't believe that my baby is now 2 years old!!! But whether I was ready for it or not, Bailey celebrated turning two on Friday the 9th. I took off work and Nick was off for fall break, and we spent the early part of the afternoon at Explorium. It was Bailey's first time there and she really enjoyed it! And because she was wearing her Birthday Girl shirt, they let her in for free...even better!

Daddy and Bailey in a bubble!

For breakfast she wanted mommy to make her biscuits and gravy, which is what we had, and she said she wanted pizza for dinner, so we went to Mancino's so she could have some good pizza. We ended the evening with a birthday cupcake. It was a great day!

The big birthday party was Saturday.

Nick and I had been working like mad people to get everything ready. I had planned on having everyone outside as much as possible since the house isn't that big and there were lots of people there. The weather didn't really cooperate, but I still managed to get everyone to eat outside (even if they were a little chilly!).

Can't wait until she gets older and all the adults are replaced with little kids...or maybe I can :)

We made pulled pork sandwiches and coleslaw. The pork was a big hit and pretty easy since it all cooked in the crock pot, and it really wasn't that much more expensive than the pizza we did last year, and it tasted much better!

Bailey received a ton of great gifts from our generous friends and family.

The girl is set for this winter, racking up 14 pairs of pants alone!! The big hit was the kitchen my mom and step dad got her.

She had outgrown the kitchen we got her last year and she loves her new one! She plays on it for at least 30 minutes every night. And it's serious, uninterrupted play, which is nice for mommy and daddy :) Aunt Brittany got her the cutest little apron and chef's hat, which she loves to wear while cooking for us.

She puts it on and says "Chef Bailey!" Aunt Brooke got her a ton of dress up stuff, including little high heel shoes, which she loves! She walks surprisingly well in them, considering there's about 3 or 4 inches of shoe that her foot doesn't fill :)

We got her the dancing Dora doll. We had seen a commercial for it one day and she was completely fascinated by it, it was the first time she had seen a toy on TV that she got excited about.

Since the theme of the party was Blue's Clues, I knew she needed a Blue's Clues cake. I thought about this cake for a good two months prior to the party, trying to figure out the best way to go about it. I finally decided on doing a two layer cake with blue frosting with Blue making an appearance on the cake in fondant. Now, I'm not artistic in the least, so I knew there would be no 3D version I could do, so I decided to just do a flat image of Blue's head and have some paw prints on the cake. I couldn't have been any happier with the way Blue turned out!!!

And I think the cake (Devil's Food) was probably the best tasting cake I have ever made. The frosting was another story. I did Cream Cheese frosting because Buttercream frosting and I do not get along...I will conquer it though, that is my new goal!! I've made Cream Cheese frosting a hundred times, and it always turns out good...this time, not so much. It did taste good, just never got to a good frosting consistency. But the show must go on, so I did the best I could do and tried to cover the bad spots on the cake with paw prints. Bailey told me it was beautiful, so that was all that mattered!