For Evelyn's birthday, it only made sense to have an Elmo-themed party - that furry red monster is her favorite!!  And let's not forget Abby and "nom-nom", aka Cookie Monster.  Before the party started, she got to see her new play house that daddy set up for her in the basement - she made a dash for it the second she turned from the stairway!!

While the little sassafras took a nap, Mike and I finished up the party prep - dozens of helium balloons later, several tissue pom-pons hanging from the ceiling, birthday banners hung, and party favor bags ready to go, here was the final result…  Oh, and a big "thank you" to Jessica for all the help with the crafty details ;-)

The highlight of any kid's birthday party has to be the sweets!!  And our little sassafras didn't disappoint when it came to blowing out her candle - she may have been a little shy before cake time but once she saw that candle and cake, she knew it was "go time" (although the sugar probably had something to do what that too, ha!).

After cake, Evelyn made her "big" announcement to everyone that she will be a big sister!!  She also loved playing with her friends, eating lots of sweets and some of her other favorites like goldfish crackers and fruit, riding on her new tricycle, and playing dress-up with her new tiaras.  After all that excitement, and a crash most likely due to a sugar let-down, she ended her day with some snuggles with Pop-pop...

Thank you to all our friends and family who came out to celebrate Evelyn's birthday!!  She is a lucky girl to have you all in her life!!  We love you :-)

To check out the full gallery of photos from Evelyn's birthday party, go here http://www.photosbyhelenemichele.com/evelyns_2nd_birthday.

Or, you can navigate to the gallery from the webpage menu: click Portfolio, then select My Family.

I hope you enjoyed the photos!!  Leave a comment and tell me what your favorite part of a kid's birthday party is, or how you like to celebrate birthdays with friends and family :-)