Annalise’s Birthday Party

We had a little birthday party for Annalise on Saturday. All three sets of grandparents attended along with one aunt and our next door neighbors (minus their dog). We did a monkey-themed birthday since Annalise is quite the little monkey–always climbing on things, and I thought it was appropriate for a two-year old. There is plenty of time for the princess stuff later.

On her actual birthday, Josiah was so sweet and wrapped up four of his cars in paper and scotch tape and gave them to her, along with one of his favorite stuffed animals. I was blown away by his generosity with her! He got frustrated when she kept giving everything back to him. :)

Annalise got a lot of dress-up accessories–the high heels are a favorite.

For her cake, I did Martha Stewart’s monkey cake. I tried a different chocolate icing, but it was so runny, I should have stuck with regular old buttercream. The monkey looks a little scary, but she was tasty.

We had a mini-banana hunt around the living room and played pin-the-tail on the monkey. Annalise successfully roped in all but two grandparents to participate in the blindfolded game. She was a sweetie and led many of them by their hands to the monkey.

She even had a cute monkey outfit to wear.

The afternoon ended without naps and a lot of bouncing and splashing around outside. Thomas’ parents brought this trash-to-treasure find for us that they acquired. It is a little sun-bleached, but it works great. The kids had a blast!

Both kids were asleep by 7:30 that night; it was a nice end to a great day!

4 Responses to “Annalise’s Birthday Party”

  1. Christine says:

    Happy Birthday Annalise! Rachel, your kids are adorable and you are such a good mom to them.

  2. mandi says:

    What??? That monkey cake is awesome- not scary at all! And what a great second hand find. Wow! You guys are going to get lots of use out of that thing!

    Annalise looks super cute in her monkey skirt : )

  3. josie says:

    I love 2! As in the age I mean and I do have to admit that I have to look at other two year olds to really appreciate the age otherwise I only look at the daily battles with a two year old but I really do love this age! Annalise looks cute, fun and all the bundle of spunk a two year old is.

  4. Kirby says:

    Love the monkey theme!!

    And…what an awesome trash to treasure find!!