Jemma's "Everyone Loves an Italian Girl" Birthday Party

Our party preparation began Friday night when Jemma's Italian grandparents arrived. Jemma's love for meatballs and Italian heritage inspired our meal and Boo Daddy was just the grandpa to make it all come together. He started by rolling over 100 meatballs while the famous spaghetti sauce simmered on the stove. Dominic jumped in with his meatball rolling expertise and whipped up some mighty fancy homemade croutons too!

By morning we were busy hanging green, red, and white streamers, testing out our Italian soda recipe, and getting the birthday girl in her party clothes. A cute "Everyone Loves an Italian Girl" tee, skinny jeans, and gold sparkle shoes. It only seemed fitting as this was her golden birthday - turning 2 on the 2nd.

Max snoozed the morning away in his future uncle's arms (future uncle seems easier and nicer to say than sister's boyfriend who feels like family) while our guests arrived and dug into the scrumptious meal. Most of us were up to our elbows in sauce as we sipped either salted caramel or strawberry/raspberry Italian sodas. Did I mention we had a gigantic Caesar salad and gelato for dessert too? Yum! I'd say we were stuffed for days, but we managed to save enough room to have seconds for dinner later that night!

After our meal, Jemma and her little friends led the way outside. They played as the adults chatted and laughed at their antics. Then we settled down on a blanket to open presents.

Have you ever seen a two year old try to open an assortment of gifts? It isn't very peaceful. Jemma would open one, get entranced with what it was and be ready to play. We kept having to coax her to move on to the next one. When Max turns two I think we'll save gifts for after the party and let him open one at a time and spend time playing with each gift before moving on to the next one. Jem absolutely loved all her new treasures! She was blessed with puzzles, coloring and art supplies, shoes, building pegs, and much more. I'll brag and say I hit the jackpot with a Caillou and Rosie figurine set. Yes, Jemma is still obsessed with her darling TV friend, Caillou.

All in all, I think Jemma had a wonderful time! So much so, that she conked out for a 2 hour nap afterwards. Thank you so much to our family and friends who joined us for Miss Jemma's 2nd birthday. It was a blessing to celebrate our sweet girl with you!

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