Sarah is Two! and fall break is over

Can you believe my baby girl is now two years old? me either. Most of the kids' fall break was spent at home with one family member or another sick with a stomach virus- yuck all the way around for everyone, especially mom who had the pleasure of cleaning up after them all. Bryce and I were the only ones not to get it. I did have a few days of congestion and general achiness, but thankfully not the stomach bug everyone else was passing around. Sarah is still not quite recovered fully yet, though she does seem to be getting a little better every day.

It looks like winter is starting early here this year- here's what we woke up to Sunday morning:
It snowed until mid-afternoon. It's mostly gone now, but the air and wind are still down-right chilly!

I had originally planned to have Sarah's birthday party on Friday the 19th, but with several people ill it didn't happen. We finally had the party yesterday afternoon. I invited Grandmama and Becky and her family over for lunch after church, presents opening, and of course cake and ice cream. Sarah decided to be super-shy when she saw everyone in the house and all paying attention to her. She went and curled up in Daddy's lap and ended up sleeping all the way through lunch. We had to wake her up when it was time for presents, and even with a pile of presents in front of her she didn't have to wait to open she still wanted to go hide. Once we got her started she did OK, but she most definitely did not like the spotlight being all on her!
I started her off with the Dora gifts because I knew that would get her excited about opening the rest. She got the new Dora Saves the Mermaids DVD from Aunt Megan and family.
and a large Dora doll from Brenna and Brcye- it's almost as big as she is!

Becky and family gave her a stuff dog and a couple of books to read:
Her older sisters gave her a few of their Polly Pocket collection (these are the ones from McDonalds and don't have any little parts)- Sarah loves them
Grandmama got her a large Doodle Pro board with stampers:
and Mama and Daddy got her a Little Touch Leap Pad. She tries to use the regular Leap Pad we have and it is just too difficult for her. This one is much easier for her to do and definitely more her size.

Then, we moved on to cake and ice cream. Nothing terribly fancy for her cake this year- Dora and flowers in lots of colors. All Sarah really cared about was the Dora on the cake- she kept trying to run off with it after I took it off the top. It does look a lot like some of the other small Dora toys we have around the house.

and since she skipped lunch in favor of nap time, she was ready for cake and ice cream and gobbled it all down!
Happy Birthday, Sarah! we love you!

Many thanks to Becky who was my photographer during the party and took all the photos for me!! Now, if I could only settle on something to scrap them all with.... I've spent hours looking at the kits I have and can't decide on anything. Nothing seems quite 'right' yet.