Hannah Beth's 2nd Birthday Bash!

I can't believe my little Hannah Beth is 2 already! Her official birthday was August 31st, but we had her party several days later on September 8th so that all the family from out of town could attend.

 A few of the decorations for the "polka dot" themed party: purple & pink m 'n' m's, cake, gumballs, and circle sugar cookies with little dot sprinkles and m 'n' m's in the shape of a "2"

 

A close-up of the funfetti cake made with colorful fondant circles (this was my first experience with fondant and I enjoyed it!...of course I did go the easy route and buy it already rolled and colored at Hobby Lobby...made me feel like I was playing with edible play-doh)

 

 I had fun making this "2" out of coffee filters (and then spray paint)- thank you to my friend Kristi for sending me this idea (along with many others)! :)  

Hannah Beth has lots of other 2 year old friends (mostly from church), so we decided to invite them and their families this year. We ended up having 19 adults and 19 children (including 2 babies) totaling 38 people! Thankfully we had the party at our church so there was more than enough space for everyone.

 Party activities included: playing in cardboard box tunnels (created by my dear husband - who also thought of this great idea),

 Coloring with markers and crayons on large pieces of posterboard,

 "Place the Nose on Elmo" game (Hannah Beth is a huge Elmo fan),

And then it was time to blow out the candles and eat! The menu included: Grilled hot dogs (my husband would want me to mention that they were Angus beef ones), cheese balls & grapes (sticking with the polka dot theme), pretzels, cake, cookies, ice cream, and punch made from a mixture of cherry 7-up and raspberry lemonade. Party favors were 2 dum-dum suckers tied with a ribbon (forgot to take a picture).

 Here are some snapshots of some (but not all) of the party guests:

After we ate, it was time to go outside! God gave us an absolutely gorgeous day for the party and we are blessed to have a church that is equipped with nice outdoor playground equipment. 

Some of the kids enjoyed chasing bubbles...

 ...while others just had a great time climbing on the equipment and using the swings and slides.

The party was quite a bit of work in preparation, but my mom, sister, and my brother's girlfriend were a wonderful help in serving the food, and many others pitched in to clean things up afterwards as well.

Hannah Beth and the other kids had a great time and the party was a success! My only regret is that we didn't get a picture of all the 2-year-olds together...that would've made for a fun photo to pull out and look at 10 years later ;)

And as a side note, this sweet little guy slept in his car seat through the entire party! That was a blessing since I was able to be free to make sure things were running smoothly. I took this picture of him later that evening. He's a little sweetheart...and has no idea what he missed out on! ;)