Birthday Girl

My baby girl turned 2-years-old on Wednesday. It's hard to believe how quickly time has gone since she entered our lives. What a precious daughter we have! She is one of the greatest blessings I've ever received and I cannot imagine my life without her beautiful smile and her sweet kisses. I would love to go on and on, writing about the millions of things I love about my daughter, but I just don't have the time! I'm lucky to finally get around to squeezing in a quick post about her birthday day. So, here it goes!

We began the day with pancakes. The birthday girl got special teddy bear pancakes. Unfortunately, Daddy was gone at work (crab gear work has begun) long before Abby awoke, so we invited Grandma and Grandpa over for breakfast to make it a bit more festive.

After breakfast, Abby got to open a few presents. She was very excited that her Mommy got her a two balloons for her special day.

Abby and Ben checking out a new toy from Grandma.

Abby's "real" party is scheduled for Sunday, but she was very happy that her birthday fell on a day we had church. Going to church is one of Abby's favorite things to do. This past Wednesday night our church celebrated Reformation Day (actually on October 31st), so Abby lucked out having her birthday on a day when we got to go to a big party at church. We had a potluck dinner at church, so I made cupcakes to take in honor of Abby's birthday. Abby specifically asked for flowers on her cupcakes and I thought these ones were fun and whimsical flowers, a good fit for a 2-year-old.

True to her character, Abby was very shy when I brought her cupcake with the candle on it and everyone at church sang "Happy Birthday" to her. I even had to help her blow the candle out. =) But she's still talking about her flower cupcake with a candle that she got at church a couple days later, so I know she enjoyed the special occasion and attention.

Since I don't normally take my camera to church and the night was much more casual than normal, I also snapped this picture below of Abby twirling next to the pew during song time. For the last month or so, at the start of any music, Abby hops off the pew and twirls for the duration of each song. Our church is pretty traditional and non-charismatic, so I'm not sure what other people thing of Abby's twirling, but I think it's adorable! =)

Tomorrow it's Harvest Fest at Grandma's church and then Sunday is the family birthday party. What a fun birthday week this is turning out to be for Abby!