Parris Family Blog: Maren's turning 2!

After our fabulous trip to Walt Disney World (see our previous blog posts), it was time for more celebrating! Aaron's mom was gracious enough to host and cater Maren's 2nd birthday party, since we just flew back into town the day before. It was a relief to not have to frantically clean the house and prepare food. So thank you again to Mamaw and Papaw!

Both girls were in good form, having lots of stories to share from their travels. We were blessed to have all of the aunts, uncles (Josh included), and cousins (Layla included) to celebrate the day. The weather was gorgeous, very mild and sunny, so we were so thankful for that as well.

As you may have read/seen in the previous posts, Maren went crazy for Winnie the Pooh and all of his friends at one of the character dinners we had last week. So I'd originally planned for Minnie Mouse to be the theme, but shifted gears slightly after seeing her reactions. She was still a HUGE fan of Mickey and Minnie, so they were part of the party too!

You can see her excitement below when we walked in with the cupcakes!

Sporting her adorable Minnie ears...

...and preparing to blow out her candle.

With just a few licks of icing, Maren was ready to move on. After receiving a cupcake per meal last week at each Disney dining celebration, we found that she was not a "big fan" of cupcakes. So, we weren't too shocked when she was ready to break loose from her high chair. On to the presents!

Tigger looks on as Maren opens her first gift.

Unfortunately the camera focused in on the table decorations rather than Maren, but in the background, you can see that she got a baby doll from Aunt Wendy and crew. I think Mari had fun showing Maren all of the cool things the baby could do.

And, of course, always a Maren favorite...hummus!

The child is fanatical about hummus. I'm not sure how many 2-year-olds there are in the world that would choose hummus over...well, almost any food - but Maren is definitely one of them. We found this out over the summer when we had to hide the hummus in the fridge so Maren wouldn't catch sight of it. We also had to tell Kayla not to even say the word (more on that below).

Yes, I understand that hummus is good for you, but everything in moderation, right? I mean, seriously. I'm pretty sure Maren would down a whole tub of it in one sitting if you'd let her. And if you're thinking that it's probably just because she likes whatever she's dipping in it, oh no, no, no. She just spoons the stuff and gobbles it down. And she's never too proud to just dig her fingers in it too.

So we have specifically told Kayla on various occasions that she is not to mention the word "hummus" in Maren's presence. One day the girls were sitting in the kitchen eating lunch when I hear Kayla say, "hey Maren, 'Thomas'" to which Maren immediately shouted, "hummus!" I shot Kayla the "you are in deep trouble" glare, to which she replied, "what, I was just saying Thomas the Train!" We are in so much trouble if at 4 and a half Kayla is coming up with this kind of stuff!

OK, back to the party! Maren got an adorable Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal and several other Disney goodies from Aunt Kelly and crew.

I love this one, because Aaron caught both their reactions in the picture to new clothes and Minnie Mouse books (thanks Mamaw and Papaw Parris!).

Here you can see the cute shoes from Aunt Derika and Uncle Isaac (wide enough for Maren's chubby, stubby feet). You can also see Maren laying across the present from Mamaws and Papaws Walter and Parris (more on that one at the end of the blog).

After the fun of opening presents, we went back outside to run off a little more energy. Here is Kayla chasing Layla!

Here are all of the Walter girls.

We are so thankful for you Maren, and feel blessed that you've been with our family for two years now. We can't wait to see what the future years will bring. Thank you again to all of our family for making the time to come and celebrate with us, and honor Maren with your presence and wonderful gifts.

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As promised, here is the present from the grandparents...a kiddie trampoline! Thanks, Katie, for the awesome idea (when she told me she got one for her two-year-old son, I knew that Maren and Kayla both would have hours of fun on something like this).

Aaron worked into the wee hours of the morning after we got home from the party, to make sure this was ready to go when the girls got up the next day. You can see that Maren is still sporting some serious bed-head! Those curls are crazy!