The Basham Family: Dora Adventure!

I finally got some of the pictures from Lily's birthday from Jenny so I'm able to blog about the details of Lily's birthday party!

As I mentioned, for Lily's 2nd birthday, we had a Dora themed party and I think it went really well if I do say so myself!

There was a ridiculous amount of preparation that went in to a party for a 2 year old that likely won't remember a thing about it. But it's what we parents do! And that's why it's so important to take pictures and keep up with the blog! Someday we can show them how much we loved them when they were 2 and all that we did for them! Ha!

We had all the aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents and Lily's first and second babysitter families here to celebrate with us.

For our Dora themed party, we had Mexican food! Tacos, taquitos, chips and salsa, Mexican rice, corn, Explorer Stars (aka Jello Jigglers cut out like stars), Dora yogurt, Dora fruit snacks.....hmm, I think that's about it. Oh we also had apple juice boxes made to look like backpacks, complete with map on the side! I made these myself - the cricut is both my best friend and worst enemy when it comes to these sort of things!

After we ate, we had a Dora adventure! I made backpacks for all the kids out of purple paper bags- again with the Cricut.

We started off in Joel and I's bedroom. I asked the kids, Who wants to go on a Dora adventure to the Big Birthday Pinata?! Of course, no one answered me. That must be how Dora feels when she asks a question and then has the silent creepy stare out of the television.

Anyway, then I said, Does anyone know where the Big Birthday Pinata is? (silence) Who do we ask for help, when we don't know which way to go? (more silence)

So I just told them, It's MAP! Then Joel had the TV cued up to the map song on a Dora episode and I hit play and then busted out the AWESOME map that Joel drew out by hand.

Now when all the party planning was going down, I asked Joel if he could help draw the map because my drawing skills suck. I thought it would take like an hour or so to scribble something on a piece of poster board. No. Joel spent HOURS on it. Like probably 6 hours. But he did a great a job and everyone was super impresssed.

So anyway, I said, First we have to go over the Troll Bridge, then through the Jungle and then we get to the Big Birthday Pinata. I tried to get them to repeat after me "Bridge. Jungle. Big Birthday Pinata." (crickets)

Anyway, Joel also made a bridge and a Grumpy Old Troll! He's so talented! You can see a tiny bit of the bridge in this picture.

And here's the Grumpy old Troll that Joel made.

So then I sang the Grumpy Old Troll Song:
I'm a Grumpy Old Troll
Who lives under the bridge
If you want to come over
All you have to do is this!
All you have to do is this!
Answer my riddle!

It's pretty amazing how stupid I would have once felt singing that, but I didn't even consider how idiotic I might be looking because Lily was eating. it. up.

So I said some nonsense riddle and tried to get the kids to say what the answer was: Balloon. Then each of the kids took a balloon and had to pop it to see how many Golden Tickets they could get.

After popping the balloons, we had to go through the Jungle. When we got to the jungle, we saw Dora and Boots. Oh no! Swiper stole Dora's bracelet. We have to help her get it back!

Or in other words, pin the bracelet on the Dora. Lily went first and she was not too in to having the blindfold on. But after watching all the other kids do it, she wanted to try again with the blindfold on.

After making it through the jungle, we were on our way to the Big Birthday Pinata!

After the Dora Adventure, Lily opened her presents. Lots and lots of Dora things. She was in heaven!

At one point, Lily started returning the cards to the people who gave them to her. Grams gave her some money and Lucio told her it was his. So she gave it to him! So cute.

Lily LOVES this one. It's her "phone." Really it's supposed to be like an iPod and plays Dora related music. But to Lily, it's her phone.

And then it was time for cake!

Of course we had a Dora cake. I had meltdown the night before Lily's party...

Joel had picked up the cake the afternoon before the party. About 8:00 that night, he says "oh by the way, they spelled Lily's name wrong."

Me: "What?"

Joel: "Yeah, they spelled her name wrong."

Me: "Seriously?" I thought he was messing with me. He does this frequently. We were working so hard getting ready for the party that I thought he was just trying to be funny.

Joel: "Yes."

Me: "They really did? They really screwed up 'Lily?' L-I-L-Y?"
Joel: "I said YES. It's wrong."

So then I looked at the cake. It was spelled "Liley" - who the hell spells "Lily" with an "e" in it??

Me: "WHY ARE YOU JUST TELLING ME THIS NOW?!?!?! AT 8:00 AT NIGHT WHEN THE BAKERY IS CLOSED?!?!!? WHY DIDN'T YOU MAKE THEM FIX IT WHEN YOU PICKED IT UP?!?!?!?!!? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME!!!!" And then I burst into tears.

After I calmed down, I called Kroger and they told me to bring the cake in in the morning and they would figure out how to fix it. So Joel took it in and they did fix it. It's tough to see, but if you look close in the picture at Lily's name, there is a green dot between the "l" and the "y" - that's how they eliminated the "e."

2013 is off to a great year in terms of my nomination for "Mom of the Year." The below picture is me trying to get Lily to lean over the cake so she can blow out her candles. Look closely and you can see that her hair is on fire! Yep. I managed to catch my daughter's hair on fire. Good one, Mama!!!