Nayeli's 2nd Birthday and Hermiston, Oregon

On March 28 we celebrated Nayeli's second birthday. It's amazing to think that two years ago I became a mother. Although some days I want to pull my hair out, I love being a mom. It has fulfilled me in ways I never could have anticipated and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Plus I love my little Nayeli. She is such a good girl and my little buddy. We had a great time celebrating her birthday.

Nayeli's birth- 2012

The celebration started early when she found (aka Ben left it on the porch when he got out his bike from our storage closet one morning) her main gift about a week before her birthday. We picked this mini Jeep up at Goodwill for just $8. She'd been asking for a "car" for months before that so we knew she'd love it. And we were right. It's one of her favorite toys.

The actual morning of, Ben made her breakfast in bed and we woke her up singing Happy Birthday (traditions taken from Ben's family). We opened a few gifts and Ben headed to work.

I let her get herself dressed for the day. She chose a Mickey shirt, Mickey socks and a Hello Kitty headband. Can you tell she's really into Mickey Mouse right now? Oh, and this is how she wanted to pose for the picture I took. She cracks me up.

We ran errands in the morning and by 10:30am she had already consumed a chocolate egg, soda and a doughnut. And she had a balloon she'd picked out from the dollar store. It was turning out to be a great day. The rest of the day was spent at playgroup then getting ready for our weekend getaway.

That evening after Ben got home from work, we packed up the car and drove to see my sister Emily and her family in Hermiston, Oregon. They just moved there from Florida since my brother-in-law Darren will be working as a nurse anesthetist. Anyway, I had told Emily that we would come and help unpack, move boxes, etc. It was a 4 hour drive so we got there late Friday night, chatted for a bit, then went to bed.

Saturday morning Nayeli was so excited to meet her cousins. She LOVES other kids and she especially loved Gabe. They are only 6 weeks apart.

 

Paul, Gabe and Nayeli. I can't get over Gabe's cheesy grin. So cute.

That afternoon we had lunch and then did a small party for Nayeli. She had requested a rainbow cake so my nephew Paul helped me make one I had seen on Pinterest. She loved it, mostly because it had "num-nums" aka Skittles on the top.

The inside of the cake. I was so pleased with how it turned out.

Isn't she the cutest? Ben had me make sure she was wearing this shirt to go with her rainbow cake. She's also got a thing for rainbows right now.

We had a great weekend hanging out and helping Emily and Darren. Actually Ben helped and I laid on the couch. Being 37 weeks pregnant made me pretty useless, but we still had a great time talking and enjoying each other. Besides, Emily and Darren are great hosts and it was so fun to see them since they've been living far away for so long. However our fun was short lived as we left early Sunday morning to be back for our 1 o'clock ward.

 

That evening we gave Nayeli the rest of her gifts. We had also got her this mini-kitchen (a hand-me-down from a friend) and a basket of plastic food that you can cut in half. She's played with all of it incessantly since. Parenting win :)

Since then Nayeli has also been incessantly talking about her birthday and the "rainbow cake". I'll admit, it was more fun than I anticipated to plan a fun birthday for her. I really enjoyed it. Plus the whole weekend was that much more fun visiting Emily and Darren. I'd call it a win-win for everyone.