Kaitlyn's Birthday Party

We celebrated Kaitlyn's birthday today so that the grandparents could join in the fun. She has discovered Dora the Explorer in recent weeks, so I knew she would enjoy a Dora-themed party. We decorated during her nap, so she came out to a room of colorful streamers, balloons and Dora decorations. She was a little speechless, but had this huge smile plastered on her face.

We sang Happy Birthday to her and I helped her blow out her candles. In the picture below, she's excitedly pointing out all the characters on her cake: Dora ("do-WAH"), Diego ("dee-go") and Boots ("boo").

She tested the icing before actually digging in. Unlike last year, this time she ate the cake and icing.

A family shot with goofy Dora hats on. Even little Ethan got in on the fun.

Kaitlyn was the star of the show, but Ethan only had eyes and smiles for Mommy :)

And then the gifts started. In the days leading up to her party, every time we told her that she would be getting presents, she would shout ho-ho! (her name for Santa). I guess she thought that he was the only one who could bring her presents. Well, apparently Christmas came again in May because she got more gifts today than she did at Christmas! Below, she's opening one of several Dora presents from Mimi.

And she got her very first tricycle, complete with a bell and handlebar streamers, a present from Gran.

We saved the biggest present for last. We took her outside and she got her first glimpse of her very own swing set. She couldn't wait to go down the slide. Many tears were shed when we finally told her that she had to come inside.

But there was one present that Dora dolls, tricycles and swing sets just couldn't compete with--Play-Doh. This child loves Play-Doh. She doesn't like to squish it and mold it in any way..she just likes to open the containers, get the play-doh out, line them up on the table, put them back into the containers and close the lids, all the while announcing which particular color she's holding at the time. This game of sorting and organizing apparently never gets old for her. The play-doh was the second present she opened today, and she kind of got annoyed when we kept interrupting her fun to make her open the rest of her presents. Lesson learned: save the play-doh for last!