Avery's Birthday Party #2

Avery - that lucky girl - gets three birthday parties this year! The first was the Birthday Tea Party, then she had a party on her actual birthday and she has another one planned for the 4th of July - an epic Johanknecht Family Summer Birthday Party Extravaganza (and yes, I just named it that) that she will share with Jess, Bryson, Me and Kelly.

But for her birth day we had some fun planned. When she woke up she discovered a million balloons all over the house along with streamers and a stack of presents waiting. She only got to open one in the morning - a baby pillow pet (the ladybug) to match her big pillow pet that she sleeps with every single night.

After a present and some breakfast Avery got dressed in her new birthday dress and went off shopping with Daddy and Ella for party supplies while I went to work for a little bit. Then we met up at the movie theatre to watch Kung Fu Panda 2 as a family. It was a really funny movie I thought, but Avery was more concerned about getting enough pop corn. Believe me, she had enough!

Then we headed home to get ready for the party!

Papa was our first guest - so he got some quality snuggle time with the girls.

But soon enough all our guests had arrived!

And we were hungry! Aaron made carne asada on the grill for tacos and margaritas and chips and stuff. It was extremely delicious! The girls parked themselves in front of the chips. Avery ate almost an entire bowl of guacamole.

When we were done eating it was time for birthday presents!!! Hooray!!!


From Mommy, Daddy and Ella, she got Barbie and Ken and a sweet hot pink convertible.

There have already been several to many fights about who is driving, where they are going, who is "the boss of the car" etc ... but I would say it was a hit!

Then from Ama and Papa she a gift card to the toy store so she can go (by herself without any undue influence from Ella) and pick out whatever toy she wants, she also got an elephant and a PLATYPUS!!!

We have a strong affinity for semi-aquatic egg laying mammals in our house!

From Cory Avery got a selection of books including a much beloved Phineas & Ferb book (does Cory know these girls or what)

And a book from my past - Thunderfeet! Which we read a million times when we were kids and listened to the tape of dinosaur songs over and over - this started an impromptu concert by Cory and Matt - "its true that a trudon likes to chew on the bones of a hadrosaur!" and believe it or not I remembered all the words too!

Then from Matt and Cheyenne, an amazing new doll - competition for Ken's affection, stylishly dressed in skinny jeans with a microphone:

JUSTIN BIEBER!!! And, when you press his stomach like so...

He sings "Baby, baby, baby, oh!" much to the delight of his adoring fans Ella and Avery. Much to my dismay he keeps singing that song over and over and over again until he mysteriously disappeared for a brief holiday into my sewing room closet. Oops.

Then it was time for cake. I didn't make the usual cupcakes, or even a regular cake this time. Avery saw a picture of this icebox cake on the computer and said she wanted that. So I made it.

And it was indeed much more crooked and appeared perilously close to collapse than the picture from the blog I copied. But it was seriously delicious. You really have to try it. So yummy!!!

And the birthday girl loved it!

Then, after the dinner and the presents and the cake it was time to wind down and relax. Some stories were read:

Avery had a little ear time (a weird thing she likes to do when she is tired)

It was a great party! The next day Avery got one last belated present (thanks to my late ordering)

Phineas & Ferb dolls! We got Phineas, Ferb, Perry (the platypus) and Candice!

The girls love them and they are now included in our nightly TV/snuggle time. And they can act out each adventure the next day. It is so funny to hear them repeat what we heard on TV the night before "you are SO BUSTED!" and "gravity is a stone cold sucker" Now if only we could get a Doofensmirtz doll...