The Festivities of Hal's Birthday

     Yesterday was such a fun day. It was a little stressful because I had to cook some food for a funeral in the morning, run some last minute errands, and start baking the cake. I decided to bake it from scratch, but next year I think I'll just stick with a box cake.
    While I was making this labor intensive cake, Halle decided to climb up on the counter and help herself to some frosting. Normally I wouldn't allow this, but since it was her birthday, I happily obliged.

     I love the picture on the top right. She's giving me her famous "stink eye" which she does on demand. It's too funny. It was also funny to see her start out by just barely touching the frosting, and then after she'd had a couple of bites, she dug a couple of fingers into it.
    Traditionally, I would like to have my children choose what they want to eat on their birthdays... but, Halle doesn't really care right now so we chose pizza. We were super fancy schmancy and decided to eat on plastic plates... (I really didn't want to anymore dishes.)

      Along with the pizza, we had milk (definitely one of Halle's favorites...) with strawberry straws. These things are so cool! You just stick the straw in the milk and when you take a drink, it tastes like strawberries! They also have chocolate ones, which I have stashed away for Ava's birthday.
     Halle's cake was a lemon cake with lemon frosting and a raspberry filling. I decorated it to resemble her beloved "bee-dee" aka her blankie. We gave it to her last year for her birthday, and she never parts with it.

     Around 6:30 our time, we Skyped with Grandma and Grandpa Cash. They were able to watch Halle open her presents, and they were also able to see her blow the candles out on her cake. Thank heavens for Skype! Halle was spoiled this year, and she got some great presents. From Grandma and Grandpa Cash she got a quilt for her babies. From Grammie and Opa she got some pj's, leggings, socks, matchbox cars, sunglasses, a book, and a tool set. Yes, Halle got cars and a tool set. She loves them! Grandma Baxter gave her some money and Opa and Oma Senten gave her a darling dress to wear. We just bought her some underwear (to hopefully get her interested in potty training soon.... let's keep our fingers crossed!), a hat for the beach, and a little doodle thingy.
   

 Ava was more excited over the presents than Halle was. Ava was "helping" Halle open all the presents. It was fun to see their faces light up with excitement. Don't you just love Halle's glasses? I think they're so cute!
    After presents, it was time to eat cake and ice cream. We sang Happy Birthday and let her blow out the candles. We shoved our faces full with some great cake (trust me, it was delicious!) and Halle was content to just lounge around at the table.

     Grammie and Opa called when we were finished with cake and ice cream. They would have Skyped with us also, but they were driving down to St. George to take my youngest brother to college.

     After everything was said and done, it was time for bed! We put Halle in her new pj's and I tried to get a cute picture of her....

     .... and I was unsuccessful until Daddy came along and made her stand still.
     It's still hard to believe she's a two year old. We're so grateful for our family who took time to remember Halle and who spent the day with us, even if it was via Skype or cell phone. We received tons of texts from our brothers and sisters wishing her a Happy Birthday. She certainly is loved.