Tori's 2nd Birthday Bash!!!

We now have a two-year-old living in our house - Tori is getting so grown up!!!  Since Tori was turning 2 this year, we decided to spread her birthday celebrations out over two days.  We started out yesterday by taking her to the Indianapolis Zoo!  Tori and I were able to visit the zoo earlier this spring with Grandma Allen, Uncle Alec, and Uncle Dillon, but Jared was working and couldn't come with us.  So it was even more special that we were able to spend the day as a family seeing all of zoo together!

The last time we visited the zoo, Tori was not much of a fan of the Oceans area.  This time it was her absolute favorite!!!  We went there first, and again right before we left!  She loved watching the sharks swim around!

I think the penguins were the number one favorite of this trip!!!

Jared and I decided that Tori's second favorite area was the playground!  She had a blast running around and going down all of the slides all by herself!!!

Of course, it really helped Tori's confidence that the slides were just the right speed for her!!!

After playing on the playground, we headed over to the Plains area to find some more favorites!  I think we were looking at the zebras at this point - this is my favorite picture from our day!!!

Yeah for rhinos!

The elephants were a definite huge hit!  We even got to see the brand new baby elephant.  Since there were so many people crowded around, we didn't even try to get a picture!  But this other mommy and baby elephant didn't mind being in a picture at all!

Tori had a great time at the zoo - we are so glad we got to go as a family!!!  Especially since the activities we had planned for today went well, but not exactly as planned. Things did get started on a positive note - Tori loves having waffles for breakfast!

Our next event was to make cupcakes together.  Jared and I thought Tori would love helping mix everything together - she wasn't interested at all and may even be a little bit scared of the Kitchen Aid mixer.  Luckily, she loved helping get out the cupcake liners!

We also thought she would like to help pour the cake batter into the liners - nope, not so much!  So, while the cupcakes were baking, Jared got everything ready for the big surprise of the day - Tori's new Princess bed sheets and comforter!

While Tori's reaction was okay, it was not at all what we had anticipated! (We were thinking of her running into her room with squeals of delight.)  At least we got a few smiles! 

And after about 10 minutes we did hear her back in her room playing on her bed - for some reason it took her a bit to really get excited about the changes!  Then we got these adorable pictures of her!!! 

I love the look on Tori's face in this one - can we just say, she is up to something!

After lunch, we dove back into our cupcake project.  Tori took about two swipes with the frosting and was done, but she absolutely loved putting on the sprinkles!!!

Yep - she really got into the sprinkle part, hurrah!!!

Let's just say our two-year-old photo shoot could have gone a little smoother - she wouldn't even hold her bear.  So, we have the next best thing- a picture of Tori throwing her bear!!!

This evening we were finally able to sing to Tori and let her blow out her candles!  (I think we need to practice for this part next year!)

And here she is - out birthday girl digging into her cupcake and ice cream!!!

We have heard that being two means much more independence and exploration- and I think we saw a bunch of that today!  What a fun adventure we have before us!!!  Happy Birthday, Tori!  We love you so very much and can't imagine our family without you!!!