Happy 2nd Birthday!

So yesterday my little bug turned 2! I can't believe she's 2! I have a 2 year old! That's so weird to say! So I knew we'd be tight on funds so we just wanted to do a little something for Charlotte's birthday. We thought we'd just invite over our parents and siblings and let the siblings know it wasn't anything big so it was no big deal if they couldn't be there. Just really small and laid back. Our parents all made it and my brother and sister. I don't think Scott ever even called his brother Mark but we figured it'd be too hard for them to come out from Ogden on a Thursday night. His brother Rick had just been out the weekend before and stayed 2 nights so we told him not to worry about it. I know he was finishing up finals and moving into an apt soon so he didn't need to be worrying about driving out from Provo either. Then his other brother Aaron didn't make it either. We were only doing it from 6:30 to about 8 and Scott and him didn't even get off work until almost 8. I felt so bad. Scott missed it all.... the cake and the presents. But the show had to go on so I took some pics and hopefully that helped. I just felt so bad he was stuck at work that late. He worked 16 1/2 hours yesterday! After today it'll be about 60 for the week. He works so hard and we missed him but Charlotte had her grandparents there and she was loving it.

I spent all day trying to clean up and do laundry. I made Charlotte's cake... well cakes. I bought a mini loaf pan thing and used that to make mini cakes. I made a filling with crushed strawberries mixed in with homemade whipped cream. So I cut them down and filled them. Then you take a can of frosting and heat it for 20 seconds then stir then heat another 20 seconds. Then you pour it over the mini cakes. It wasn't the neatest looking thing. I think I know the method better now so I could make them look prettier but it worked. So the frosting looks almost like a glaze but its just a can of frosting. Then I took some starburst and heated those in the microwave a few seconds and rolled them out and cut little 2's out with a cookie cutter. I used those to top the cakes. It took some time to do it all but it turned out pretty cute. Fun little alternative to a big cake and saved me some money. Funfetti cake mix was on sale for less than a buck! So anyway, here's some pics of the cake and stuff:

Here's her little cake with her candle

Here's a little video of Charlotte blowing out her candle.


Charlotte got some great gifts too. She got this cute little picture from Scott's parents that they got in Boston. It's a little girl playing basketball... in Lakers colors... good choice! She also got this super cute princess swimsuit with a matching rashguard and a dress too. She got a set of 4 mini books. So great for church! I hate lugging around bigger books. They get heavy! Scott's parent's also gave us a check to put towards a bed for Charlotte. There is this really cute one that got pretty good ratings from Walmart. It was only $52 and its a toddler bed so we can use her crib mattress and bedding set still. I might check toys r us though because I have a coupon with them too. My brother got her this stroller and a set of dinosaurs. My parents got her this shopping cart, a set of blocks, a few clothes and some bugs and farm animals. Charlotte's been having a blast playing with everything today. She loved all her stuff last night. Here's her pics below.

There's Charlotte with my brother while he puts her stroller together. Then opening up some gifts. She loves books and when she opened up the ones from her Grandma and Grandpa Spence she wanted Grandma to read it right then.

Charlotte is really funny to try to get her to pose. When you tell her to smile she starts making all sorts of weird faces trying to get the right one that is "smiling." She cracks me up with her faces. I got a pretty normal one then a goofy one. The other picture has a funny story to it. Charlotte has been trying to stack stuff so when my mom asked about stuff she would like I thought some blocks would be good. Charlotte has this thing though. If you stack stuff she wants to knock it down. Scott had made it home and was stacking the blocks as high as he could. Charlotte was sitting on the table with my mom looking at a book. When Scott was about done we pointed out to her what he built. I thought she was gonna jump off that table! She wanted my mom to get her down so fast and I hurried and grabbed the camera to get a pic. She ran over and knocked it down. She's so funny.

So I think Charlotte's little party was successful. She was spoiled of course and given so many great gifts from our family. I'm so glad she's part of our family and am so very grateful I got to have this beautiful daughter. Love my little monkey!