2nd Birthday Party

On Saturday, we celebrated Caroline's second birthday. Since her birthday fell on a Saturday, we were able to celebrate on her actual day! We wanted to have the party at our house, so we ended up actually having two parties. We had one in the morning with our friends from our church small group, and then that night our family came over for dinner. It actually worked out perfect! We rented some inflatables and they were all day rentals and then the decorations were already up! We just made a day of celebrating our sweet girl!  

I don't think she enjoyed it as much as her daddy!

We did cupcakes for the morning party - they are a lot easier with young kiddos!

Finger lickin' good!

I think Payton enjoyed it! Ha!

Sweet Westin enjoying the Oreo ice cream

Reagan was enjoying herself

I was so excited for her gift from Aunt Ashley, Uncle John, and Henry!

Henry helped open Caroline's gifts

And I think Caroline approved of her new American Girl doll, Caroline - Love that sweet face!

Caroline enjoying dinner with the big girls

Who needs clothes, anyway?!

After dinner, we enjoyed this wonderful cake from Rick's Bakery {and I've been enjoying the left overs all week too- can't help that it's my weakness!}

2 Year Doctor's Appointment

We had Caroline's two year doctor's appointment today. Everything looked perfect, and we have a healthy, happy little girl! She was such a big girl while Dr. Denton did her exam, and thankfully, she didn't have to endure any shots today!!!

Length: 33.5inches (40%)

Weight: 28lbs (60%)

Head: 48.7cm (75%)

Sweet girl reading Clifford

And, of course, we had to bring Kitty with us. This is about the only cat, I'm sure, her daddy will allow her to have. Ha! 

Simple Sausage Lasagna

I've never made lasagna, but this seriously was the easiest recipe! It was yummy and has a lot of flavor! It is from Taste of Home, and all the reviews are great. A lot of people said they used Ricotta instead of cottage cheese, so I think I will do that next time for sure!

Simple Sausage Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 pound bulk pork sausage

1 jar (26 ounces) spaghetti sauce

1/2 cup water

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3 cups (24 ounces) 4% cottage cheese

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 to 2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes

1/2 teaspoon each garlic powder, pepper, dried basil and oregano

9 uncooked lasagna noodles

3 cups (12 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°. In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce and water. Simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine eggs, cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, parsley and seasonings.

Spread 1/2 cup meat sauce into a greased 13x9-in. baking dish. Layer with three noodles and a third of the cheese mixture, meat sauce and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers twice.

Cover and bake 45 minutes. Uncover; bake 10 minutes or until a thermometer reads 160°. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

Birthday Playdate

My friend Shannon came up for the day with her little boy, Baylor. The kiddos are two weeks apart, and since we weren't able to make it to each other's birthday parties, we decided to have our own day celebrating together. We started off the morning at Little Giggles playhouse in Bentonville. I had never even heard of it, and it was wonderful! They had so much for the kids to play with, and the place was immaculate! We have already since made another visit, and I'm already thinking about when we can go again! After we played, we went to lunch at McAlisters then on to have cupcakes at Bliss! 

Trampoline Fun

Since it's birthday month around here, Caroline has already received a few gifts. Her Mimi and Papa got her a mini trampoline, and she is loving it! We have been spending quite a bit of time on it so far. Tonight, I decided to take some pictures of this little cutie on her new toy!