The Birthday EXTRAVAGANZA!

We had so much fun celebrating M's 2nd birthday!  On the actual day, we had a low-key celebration with Jimmy Johns, cupcakes and a few gifts.  Thursday JJ had his last final of final's week (phew!), I had a full day of conferences (mostly IEP meetings), and my parents drove to visit us - getting in around 9:00 pm.  Friday morning M woke up and was so excited when Grandma and Grandpa came in to greet her!  They had presents for M from them, including a DORA KITCHEN, and Great G&G and she was pretty much in heaven.  Great G&G sent along some money for M to go shopping and Grandma and Grandpa had bought a ton of diapers (woohoo!!!) and gotten some Target gift cards (you know how they have those deals).  Anyways -- so M had quite a bit of money to put in her little purse.  We picked out a cute little teaset but M was enamored with a little shopping cart full of "food".  Of course G&G weren't able to put either back so M got BOTH!  It all goes perfectly with her new kitchen!!

After Target, we headed to the KC Children's Museum -- AKA Wonderscope.  I was expecting a bit more of a museum-feel, but it was so kid friendly--it was great!  It's in an old school building and each room has a different theme.  M had SO MUCH FUN.  We would try to get her to leave a room to check out a new one, and she'd just drop everything and run to the next one.  : )  Her favorite was one just for kids two and under - with slides, ramps, and a wavy floors.  But other themes were: art, legos, farm to market, visiting the doctor, etc.  After the museum we hit up Fritz's Railroad Restaurant, where the food is delivered via train!  The food was less-than-impressive but the atmosphere was so cool!  Then we took my Mom to a great fabric store (recommended by a friend (CM) at work) and JJ took Dad to an antique store, where he found a ton of cool old pennies.  I found two cute girl clothing patterns.  I KNOW it's like a sin asking a quilter to sew clothes, but for some reason things relating to the grandkiddos just get DONE.  : )  Actually, as I type, my Mom texted me a picture of the bubble skirt she made at a sewing retreat she's at this weekend! 

Oh, Friday night JJ and I also took advantage of my parents being there and headed out for a DATE!!  YAY!  We decided to hit up J. Alexander's, and thought it was very yummy.  I wanted to order a club sandwich but changed my order when JJ threatened to walk out.  (He also doesn't like it when I order things like BLTs, pancakes, and mac and cheese.  I have a toddler's taste buds... what can I say??!)  We even saved (a little) room for desert ---- mmmmm creme brulee.

Saturday - we headed to Union Station for the train exhibit (again) - M loves it.  Then we picked up OK Joe's BBQ.  It was funny -- downtown, in a GAS STATION, with very little room is this amazing little BBQ restaurant.  We headed home, ate some BBQ, and M went down for a nap again.  During this nap time, my Mom, Dad and I headed out to one more quilt shop and antique store.  I found some cute fabric on sale that my Mom bought for a third outfit for M, but Dad came up empty handed at this antique store.  THEN, the craziness began as we helped JJ finish up supper and M's crazy three layered birthday cake, cleaned up, and did last minute organizing for M's big party. 

We had two family friends over for desert and had such a great time.  The Ps (M's daycare gal, her hubby and two kiddos) and the Hs (our Bible Study leaders, and son J).  I've always thought M was quite the sharer until I realized THAT night that she'd never had friends over to our house!  : )  It was a bit of a transition, with some tears and "MINE!"s, but eventually all kiddos were playing happily.  I had so much fun introducing my parents to some of our friends here.  M was SPOILED way too much with gifts and the cake was absolutely delicious!  Good thing we had friends and my parents over - because I still ended up eating a little bit every night for almost a week! 

Sunday we had Church, then shared our fav. Mexican restaurant with my parents.  Mmmm -- Mi Ranchito.  We first tried it when I got a gift card from a very sweet student for Christmas.  Naps (for Momma too this time!), a nice walk, and even some yogurt were on the docket for Sunday afternoon.  Then, M broke out her new music DVDs.  We were dancing fools, mostly because if ANYONE sat down, they received a stern chastising from M.

Monday morning was a rough day for M because she woke up ready for more play with Grandma and Grandpa, who were both wide awake at about 4:00 am, so they decided to hit the road and get home early.  We so enjoyed having my parents here and are SO thankful they made the trip down to visit us!