See Shell: Double the Party, Double the Fun

Because their birthdays are so close together, Ellie and Annie shared their birthday party. It's a good thing that Ellie LOVES to match Annie in every way, because she was excited that she and Annie had matching birthday parties (i.e. the same one). We kept the guest list really small (our house only holds so many people) and it was a pretty good success.

Long ago, Ellie told me that she wanted a butterfly cake for her birthday. I admit, I took the butterfly theme a little over the top - we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, went searching for food (leftover Halloween candy - listen, if your child's birthday was a week after Halloween, you'd try to unload your extra candy at their party too), wrapped the kids into cocoons made out of paper towels, frosted butterfly cookies, and ate lots of butterfly shaped food (crackers, sandwiches, cheese, pasta salad, etc). It was a lot of fun and I think the kids had a good time too.

Ellie and Annie love their gifts. Ellie is having trouble realizing that some of the gifts were given to Annie and they are not Ellie's. She really thinks every toy in the house is hers. It's an issue we are going to have start dealing with soon.

Annie loved eating her cupcake. She was way more messy than Ellie was on her first birthday. Of course, Ellie was incredibly clean when she had her first cupcake. And Ellie was a pro in blowing out her candles. She was so excited to have her friends arrive and very sad to see them go.

After the party was over, I felt that we probably gave more attention to Ellie than Annie. It's pretty easy to do when Annie is so small and Ellie is 3 and her friends need to be entertained a little bit. Maybe, I won't do a joint birthday next year, just to make sure that Annie really gets her special day. We'll have to see what I'm up for next year.

Still, the party was a success and we're so grateful for all who came. We had such a wonderful time.

Here we are with the girls' new birthday dresses