Madilyn's 2nd Birthday Party

I know every parent says it, but I can't believe that Madilyn is already 2-years-old! She is no longer my sweet little baby girl - she is a full blown active toddler who is strong willed, opinionated, and on the go! It was wonderful that her birthday fell on a Saturday this year, so that we could actually have friends over on October 3rd. Knowing how opinionated she is, I don't figure I'll have too many more opportunities to decide what kind of party to have without her input, so I wanted to save money while I could and have the party at home! I knew with active toddlers, we'd need some sort of activity, though, so it was perfect to have Scott's parents bring one of their horses over so that we could have a cowgirl party! Madilyn had an absolute blast, and it was loads of fun watching all of the kids enjoy themselves :-)

Here's our little party layout complete with different

kinds of horses to ride, hay bales, & bandanas!

...and the star of the show,

our birthday girl herself - Madilyn Savage!

Have you ever seen 2 more adorable kids?! Madilyn greeted

her friend, Ean, gave him a cowboy hat to wear, and took

him to the back yard to show him all the fun!

Madilyn played her cowgirl role quite well, and even helped

take care of "Peaches" while she had a little snack!

I just couldn't help but include this picture of Madilyn's friend,

Avah. She cracked me up how she liked wearing her hat!

Sweet little Bree was quite excited to wear her cowgirl outfit,

complete with pink cowgirl boots, to Madilyn's party!

I honestly didn't know how the hats were going to go over &

whether the kids would actually want to wear them, but all of them

(including Madilyn, much to my surprise) were proud to

have them on while riding the horse!

I was so pleased that the kids enjoyed riding the horse so much.

I was nervous that she would be big & intimidating from their

perspective, but that wasn't the case at all. They all went for

multiple rides and enjoyed every minute!

I don't know that Madilyn will grow up to be quite the cowgirl

that her cousin, Bailey, is, but she sure did think she was!

Did I mention that Madilyn went for a few rides?!

While the kids took turns riding the real horse, the others

enjoyed riding the rocking horse and spring horse :-)

That Ean sure is a cutie!

Madilyn was just as serious about riding the spring horse

as she was riding Peaches! She rocked that poor

little thing as much as it would go!

This picture is a little out of place...it was the next most

popular form of entertainment at the party.

Madilyn's b-day present from Mommy & Daddy :-)

Madilyn's cake turned out sooo cute! I didn't know what horses

the bakery was going to end up using, but one of them looked

just like Peaches! I couldn't have planned that if I wanted to!

I wish you all could have heard how excited Madilyn was

about having cake! It started with the cupcakes that she got

to take to school on Friday, but she was still

excited for more cake on Saturday!

Notice the second location Madilyn

can be seen eating her cake :-)

She's not done yet! Ms. Gretchen still has cake left

that Madilyn thinks she can get a bite of!

We do have a sweet little girl! She and AJ are very good

friends & give each other sweet hugs quite often :-)

This picture is for the benefit of my sister, Karen, since she

couldn't be there for the party (living in England, and all!)

Here's Madilyn "reading" the card Mom made

to put on the present from Karen

Yeah, Auntie Karen!

Baby bottles & a baby stroller!!!

Madi didn't mind one single bit that she got

2 different baby dolls for her birthday!

A girl must improvise when she doesn't have the necessities

needed to take care of her baby! A cowgirl

hat can always double as a blanket!

After all of the fun opening gifts, she was ready to take

off in her new Jeep! (She's going to need some practice learning

to push the pedal with her foot, though...she hasn't quite

gotten that concept completely down yet!)

Madilyn didn't mind just riding with Avah, though,

since Avah was much better at pushing the pedal :-)

Unfortunately, those who knew how to push the pedal didn't

all know how to take their foot off the pedal when necessary,

so there were a few intervention moments like this one! :-)

Even boys don't mind pink when they get to drive a car!

Thank you, AJ, for coming to my party!

This girl partied hard!

They're not very exciting when you're outside at a

birthday party, but in the evening when it's dark outside,

taking care of baby dolls is the best!

After reading stories, babies get hungry for their bottles

Their heads get cold, too, so you

have to cover them up with a hat

On Sunday, after church, we had a little bit of time to kill

until Scott's parents met us for lunch, so we stopped at a

nearby playground so that Madilyn didn't have

to stay cooped up in her car seat.

My mom was quite proud to see Madilyn in that dress

on Sunday. It was the very same dress that

I wore in my 2-year-old pictures :-)

I don't know if this game was just for fun, or to get us moving

around more since it was pretty chilly outside! :-)

Daddy & Madi jumping on the swinging bridge

Peek-A-Boo!