Caroline Turns 2

a.k.a. the longest post ever!! (sorry)

We decided to celebrate Caroline's birthday on Saturday (April 3rd) instead of on her actual birthday which was on Easter Sunday this year. We wanted a whole day to be all about celebrating Caroline and a whole day to celebrate Jesus' resurrection. So on Saturday morning, Caroline woke up to a room full of balloons...we put them in there the night before and it was hilarious to hear her on the monitor when she woke up..."whoa, balloons...there's balloons...I see lots balloons" and on and on. Matt and I were cracking up listening to her in our room.
We got dressed and headed out to Krispy Kreme donuts...a big treat! Caroline loved watching them make the donuts.
Pointing out which ones she wanted

They even gave her a balloon for her birthday...love Krispy Kreme!

Yum!

Then we headed to the Aquarium downtown. Caroline had never been before and thought it was really awesome.

Matt pointing out a monkey

Checking out the birds

This is Matt's hand...Caroline and I were too scared to try this ;-)

I don't know what Matt saw up ahead but it must have been really scary (ha)

The enormous crocodile

Can you see the ginormous manatee behind us? We loved looking at it! Caroline kept calling it a "big fish"

This was my favorite part...the sharks. You go into this tunnel and they swim all around you. We got to watch a feeding and it was really neat. I do not ever want to swim with sharks that's for sure!

Looking up at the sharks

Matt's favorite...the leopard...he was asleep the whole time

The flamingos were pretty but super loud and smelled really bad. Kind of makes me want to gag looking at the picture. Who knew flamingos smelled bad?!?

A quick cuddle with Daddy when the flamingos were too loud

Caroline's favorite...the penquins!

We also got to watch them eat lunch which was fun (but smelled SO bad also)

After the aquarium, it was home for a nap for Caroline while Matt and I got ready for her party. We had a small, family-only party which turned out to be just perfect. My mom, gma, aunt, bro, and Matt's parents came over for the party on Saturday night. We missed my dad (a.k.a. Granddaddy) who lives in Colorado and couldn't make it this year. We ate dinner and cake then opened presents.

Caroline made her own "Minnie" placemat and of course got to use the "special" plate

Caroline's birthday banner

Me & the birthday girl waiting for our guests to arrive

Angie did a great job on the cake...it was deelish!

( Caroline lost her pants along the way somehow :-) She LOVED when we sang "Happy Birthday". She had been singing it to herself for days. I think this was the highlight of her night. When we were finished singing, she blew out the candles all by herself.

On to the fun part!

Presents! She loved this Mickey Mouse wrapping paper my mom used to wrap some of her gifts.

Playing on her new bike from Mimi and PopPop

What a fun day we had celebrating Caroline turning 2! Happy birthday to our sweet girl who brings us more joy in our lives than we ever thought possible!

I can't believe I have a 2 year old. I know everyone says this but I really feel like she was born yesterday. I love this age...it's my favorite so far!