Natalie turns 2!

My pictures from Natalie's birthday aren't all that great unfortunately. I'm hoping some of our friends have some better ones and if I get them, I'll share them with you.

The day started off sunny enough, and we did all of our usual Tuesday things in the morning. Natalie had a good afternoon nap, and then it was time to get ready for the party. Here she is in her pretty new birthday dress shortly before I braided her hair, (I've found bribes of chocolate chips work well to get the second braid in.)
By the time it was time to go to the party, the lovely sunny day had fast changed from rain to very heavy, wet snow. More snowballs than snowflakes. Luckily most all of our guests were coming from the neighborhood. Though my grandparents and aunt and cousins did not make it, (the snow broke my cousin's windshield wiper shortly after he left the house, it was too slick for my grandparents, and my aunt got stuck in some major traffic).

Here we are right after we made it in from the parking lot.
After a while the rest of our guests did make it in, though all a bit soggy. Here are Natalie's friends all lined up.
And they also enjoyed a lot of time running around chanting "follow the leader!" with their balloons.
Then they had some play time in the indoor playground.
After that we headed back for some cake and ice cream, and then packed up to head home. The rec center closed a bit early that night due to the snow storm and so they kicked us out. We made it back safely and managed to unload the car.

And so that's how Natalie successfully turned two!