Jocelyn Turns 2

Jocelyn turned TWO years old today! It doesn't seem that long ago that my youngest baby was born but somehow two precious years have flown by regardless. And what a ride it has been! :) I just love being a mom. Sure it's not always fun and easy but there's no doubt in my mind that it's worth it. Every day she wakes up with a big smile on her face and you can't help but feel happy (unless she kicks you in the stomach with baby in tow which does unfortunately happen on occasion - STILL love her to pieces though). I can't help but sit back from time to time in amazement at what a sweet and gifted spirit she truly is. She's loved by us beyond measure and I look forward to many more moments - watching her grow and learn in the years to come. Here is a little walk down memory lane on how much she has grown over the past year since she turned 1:

"Happy Birthday sweetheart! Mommy, Daddy, and sister love you SO much!!!"

We held a little family party in her honor including her favorite: Pizza! We invited some friends to join us in the celebration but due to Aubrey coming down with a cold, we all felt it was best to make it just a family affair. I had so much fun (along with John's help) putting together her birthday party. Jocelyn just LOVES Elmo so coming up with a theme wasn't too hard. I made her a huge banner for the wall that wished her a happy birthday along with some Sesame Street characters on the side that John and I stayed up the night before happily coloring (it made us feel like kids again)! We put up streamers and balloons in the dining room and last of all, the homemade cake that I made for her all decked out with Elmo and his marching friends. I was pretty impressed with the outcome to say the least as it was the first cake I've made and the humidity here didn't help the frosting process. This year I have been trying to make healthy changes and choices for our family and making their cakes was one of them. After we all had a piece to eat, more than half the cake found it's way over to our neighbor's house. (Thank you neighbors for partaking in this yummy stuff. For if you hadn't, it would have starred at me in the face until I gave in and ate more!) I took a video of us singing Jocelyn "Happy Birthday" so click here to watch (first, you'll need to pause our blog music to the right):

Happy 2nd Birthday Jocelyn! 9/14/08

Can you believe it? She REFUSED to eat her cake! :) We thought that was pretty funny. It honestly doesn't surprise me though. My girls don't have much of a sweet tooth. (not complaining.) To everyone's amazement, she DID have fun poking at her cake.

I think she really enjoyed the party. The food was good and the gifts were a hit. Thank you to everyone that helped make her Birthday lots of fun. She loved everything! Here are some photos of Jocelyn's birthday I thought you'd enjoy seeing (yes there are a lot of pictures, but please bear with me as I decided to put them up here mainly for far-away family):