Allie's 2nd Birthday!

Allie turned two earlier this month. It is hard to believe that she was born two years ago. She has grown up so much. The changes from birth to age one are amazing, but so are the changes from age one to two. Her communication, reasoning, physical abilities, and even just her looks have all changed so much in the last year. It will be amazing to have a newborn in the house and to really appreciate the changes that have occurred in Allie's life so far.

Her birthday was on a Sunday, so we had a fairly low-key day on her actual birthday. We told her that it was her birthday in the morning, and because she had been to a friend's birthday party, she knew that birthday meant cupcakes. All day long, she was excited to have cupcakes. She took a later nap due to church and not wanting to fall asleep right away, and then woke up with crazy hair and was ready to eat her cupcakes. We made her eat dinner first, but then she finally got to enjoy what she had been waiting for all day. She had an angel food confetti cupcake with whipped cream as frosting. She enjoyed the whole thing, but she is like her mommy and really loves whipped cream.

Saying "cheese" with her cupcake

A bath was absolutely necessary after eating the cupcake, so it was bath time and then bedtime, with the opening of a few gifts thrown in there somewhere. One of her gifts that she was really excited about was the cute set of Hello Kitty pajamas that Allie got from Grandma Bobbie. Allie calls them her, "tute jamas" (cute pajamas). For the next 3 or 4 days, she only wanted to wear her pajamas, even during the daytime. We had to hide them at times in order to get her into some other outfit. We did make a trip or two out of the house with her in her pajamas, though. She also got a fun refrigerator learning toy that is helping her learn her letters. She has a lot of fun playing with it and singing along with the ABC's. Thank you Grandma Terri!

Allie in her cute Hello Kitty pajamas

We had a fun birthday party for Allie the Friday after her birthday. Some of our friends from church have a great backyard and let us host the party at their house. They had set up two kiddie pools and had a trampoline with a sprinkler under it. We were super lucky and got to have a bouncy house and slide combo inflatable at the party, too, thanks to Nikki's sister and brother-in-law. They were nice enough to bring it up from Moore, OK for us. They own JumpTown, an inflatable company based out of Moore (www.jump-town.com). It was a hot day, so it worked well that the kids could go from the bouncy house to the pool and back. And there seemed to be enough to do that the kids had a great time and didn't get bored with each other or any one thing. Perhaps it can just be blamed on pregnancy, but it wasn't until close to the end that Nikki had the thought to take pictures. Jared had been barbecuing for the majority of the time, so he was busy doing something else. But because of this, we didn't really get pictures from the bouncy house. But we really were so grateful to be able to have it at the party. The kids loved it!

Nathen Sargent, Allie, Bella Sargent, Brynn Allred, Breya Sargent, Abram Allred

Nathen, Bella, and Breya Sargent (Allie's cousins)
with Allie and Brynn Allred in the background

Allie and Brynn Allred

Hudson Valletta and Lily Spilker

 It was a little hard to get the kids to stop playing, but cupcakes were pretty good motivation. Here are some pictures of Allie with her cupcake and a video of her blowing out the candle.

Allie still doesn't really understand opening gifts. The other kids helped her out. After opening the first two, she just wanted to go play some more, but we got through all the gifts, which we are so grateful for! She has enjoyed all of them since bringing them home.

Josie Allred, Lily Spilker, and Brynn Allred helping Allie open a gift

Allie with a super cute skirt that Angela Allred made for her.

Allie had a great time at her party, as did everyone else, I think. Again, we're so happy to have Allie as our little girl!