Sophie’s 2nd Birthday (the time goes so fast!!!)

On May 30th, we celebrated Sophie’s 2nd birthday (which was actually on May 22, but we were living it up in the Canary Islands on that date!). I think I’m getting better at these things after observing Sally Deig’s party tricks over the years. For one thing, I delegated all the cake-making to the experts (Lisa Schnabel made her World Famous Carrot Cake; Brigitte made some very yummy cakes and cookies, and Soenke even tried his hand at a marble cake which was very interesting). I put together little goodie gift bags for our 5-years-and-under guests. I got some pretty flowers. And *most importantly*, the helium tank and 50 balloons! That was by far the biggest hit. Kids love balloons… particularly setting them “free” outside…

But, there was a little surprise in there for the grown ups. After the 3pm kiddie party (coffee, champagne, and cakes), we fired up the BBQ at 6pm and pulled out all the stops! Soenke morphed into the Grillmaster, and out came the burgers and accoutrements. It was midnight before our final guests departed. DEFINITELY a successful evening!

Photos commemorate the earlier fun (I think I lost the camera in all the wrapping paper by about 5pm…):

—————–

Sophie’s birthday dress… Mommy went to Kirstan’s favorite hand-smocked dress store in Paris
for this one! (And Sophie cared a LOT, I can tell you… she even ditched the cute sparkly gold
shoes I bought in favor of her rainboots!)

Honored guests Aunt Lena & Uncle Ole

Honored guests Sally & Amin

Honored guests Kara & Erika

Honored guests Lisa, Saskia, Milla & Christian

Honored guest Oma!

I tried my hand at a little flower arranging

Sophie’s 4th of July dress from Sally & Amin

The helium balloons were a big hit with the kids (who worked together to release about 30 of them into the sky…):

Sophie & Opa watch another one go…

The driveway was an unexpected popular gathering spot

And out came the bollerwagen!

Here is a rear view of the gorgeous sweater that Brigitte hand-crocheted for Sophie!:

And finally, in other news, our first roses in our garden! (at the moment, that’s the only thing in our garden…)