The Big # 2

What a wonderful weekend we had!! Though Samantha officially turned 2 on Friday, we celebrated from Thursday to Tuesday. What a lucky girl! Big Guy and Grammy came in to spend the long weekend, which is always a treat for her. We had our family celebration on Friday, complete with birthday cake homemade by Papaw, and her party on Saturday. I think next year we'll be moving into "big girl" parties, so we had a big blowout with family and close friends. I'm not sure what all she could comprehend, but I think she had a good time. I think it just blew her little mind to see so many people she loves in our house all at the same time! As you can imagine, we took hundreds of pictures. I had a hard time picking out only a handful to post.

Samantha Elise Noland at 12:12 a.m. on April 23, 2010, officially 2 years old. I'm not sure how long this tradition will last, but Steve and I love to stay up and sing to her.

I decided to get her a birthday treat of Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. I got the pink one out of the box - makes sense, right? - and she looked at me and said "No, Mommy, I want brown one." What a smart girl!

It was such a beautiful day that we decided to take her to Riverfront Park to see the water. She was brave enough to stick her hand in the fountain with a little encouragement from Big Guy.

We ran into Samantha's good buddy Bruce Pearl at OCI. Even though he was there having lunch with friends, he was gracious enough to have his picture made with the birthday girl. He is quite a gentleman!

The first present ... a bubble machine from Gran and Grandaddy.

Does life get any better than this? Tons of bubbles with no work at all. The bubble machine was a big hit!

The best birthday meal of all time ... chick-fil-a nuggets and chee-tos.

Wawa helps her blow out the candles on her very special lemonade-flavored birthday cake made by Papaw. Many thanks to Jerry Lee and Southern Lady magazine!

Big Guy and Grammy found Samantha a "Samantha" flower. Really - it's a type of lantana named Samantha. After Big Guy helped her plant it, Grammy helped her give it a drink of water with her very own watering can.

Checking out her good buddy Evan at her party. She is fascinated by Evan, but I don't think she understands why he doesn't try to talk to her when she says something to him.

Her favorite gift ... her very own Little Tikes Cozy Coupe. We had a hard time getting her out of it the rest of the night.

Enjoying some birthday cake.

Samantha with her very proud Wawa and Papaw.

Samantha with her very proud Big Guy and Grammy.

The fun continues when Wawa and Papaw stop by on Tuesday with a brand new big girl kitchen. We've been doing lots of cooking ever since!