Hannah's Birthday

**FYI, our camera battery died during presents so all of these pictures are from using our phones, which is why they are not the best quality.  Sorry.**

As Hannah's birthday was approaching, I noticed that I started to feel some pressure to throw a large party for her, and spend countless hours trying to decorate a cake that I knew she would not eat (Hannah is a super picky eater -- not joking).

Our lives have been very chaotic these last few months with work schedules, and also with my church assignment of working with the youth.  We decided to spend the day together, just the 3 of us.  No big party, and no elaborate/decorative cake.  I put my foot down and decided to simplify life rather than complicate it.  After all, Hannah will not remember one thing about today so why was I going to add an enormous amount of pressure to our lives when we really didn't need to.  It just didn't make sense.

So, here is how the events of the day went.

Hannah had a doctors appointment today for her 2 year check-up (this was the only day that would work with our schedule).  Her birthday present from the doctor was a flu shot.  Not very fun, but necessary.  At least Hannah liked playing with the car in the reception area.

After the doctors office, Hannah and I went to Target to purchase some necessary items, and also to browse around.  She and I then headed to Pier One so that I could collect some decorating ideas for the house (the Pier One in State College just opened).  Then we picked up Nathan from work as he took the afternoon off in honor of Hannah's birthday.

Hannah, Nathan, and I went to Hannah's favorite grocery store, Wegmanns, and did some grocery shopping.  This grocery store has a running toy train that hangs from the ceiling in the dairy aisle.  Whenever we go to Wegmanns Hannah says "choo choo" REPEATEDLY.  She also likes to look at the lobsters (she calls them "obsters"), but you can't get her too close to the tank or else she gets scared.  We decided to do the grocery shopping today because Nathan has never seen Hannah get excited about the lobsters and the train as he is always at work while I grocery shop.  So, it was a treat for Hannah and for Nathan.

After grocery shopping we came home, changed into some comfy clothes, and ate lunch.  While Nathan was changing his clothes, Hannah put on his shoes and enjoyed being silly.  By the way, her outfit she is wearing is a gift from Grandma C (thanks Grandma).

Then we put Hannah down for a nap.  She wasn't going down at first so I rocked her in the chair and she fell asleep in my arms (which N.E.V.E.R. happens anymore because Hannah does not really like to cuddle).  I think the flu shot started making her feel crummy because for the rest of the day she was kind of grumpy and not her perky self.

After nap time we opened gifts.  Hannah was much more interested in the boxes and bags than the actual gifts (go figure).  Hannah got several dresses, a book, lots of clothes, little trinket toys, and money.  Thank you to everyone who got her presents.  I tried to take individual shots with her and the gifts, but she was not having it.  Sorry grandparents, but these pictures will have to suffice.

We then headed to the kitchen where we gave Hannah her cupcake to eat.  We were pretty confident that Hannah would not want to eat any type of cake as she is very picky with her food, so when we went grocery shopping this afternoon we purchased one cupcake (can you see why I didn't want to spend so much time making and decorating a cake?).  We put the cupcake on her tray and she cried.  Not kidding.

Hannah had issues with the cupcake, so Nathan and I ate it instead and got frosting all over our mouths.

After we got rid of all the frosting on her tray, Hannah asked for a bar (which means a Nutri-Grain cereal bar).  So, I gave her one and she was a happy camper.

Once Hannah was done eating her cereal bar, we put her in the bath and got her all ready for bed because Nathan and I had to attend a party elsewhere.  We gave instructions to the babysitter and snuck out of the house to go to the white elephant party next-door.

Those were the events of Hannah's birthday.  Not your typical birthday festivities, but she did enjoy most of them.  We love Hannah very much and these past 2 years have been an incredible adventure.  It will be interesting to see what the next year brings.