I am a gift-giver. I think I've said that before. Even when I was little I would sometimes get in trouble for using all of my birthday money to buy people's Christmas presents, but this is how it is when you have a November birthday.
But when it was a week until Hannah's birthday and we had already decided what we were going to do and get her to celebrate (super low-key), I decided to squeeze in one last thing. Despite initially thinking that I wanted to pick out special fabric for the doll's clothes, I decided that I had to use what I had on-hand, which made it a little bit of a game too. But I ran out of stuffing after doing just her arms, so the doll cost me about 5 pounds, and I still have 3/4 of a bag of poly-fill left.
But I think it was worth it. Don't you?
I loosely used this pattern, but added a seam allowance, and changed the hair to look more like Hannah's shoulder-length curls. But then I gave her a neck, which seems to be a rag doll no-no, because then their head is top heavy and flops around a but. And it made the supposed-to-be shoulder-length curls into chin-length curls, which wasn't what I was going for. But I still like it.
Hannah did too.
Actually, she saw it partially assembled on my desk one day, when the head was attached to the dress, but it wasn't all sewn together or stuffed. She said, "Ooooo. Pretty baby dress!" before I covered it up with some papers, so that counts.
When she unwrapped it on her actual birthday, it was in a box with a piece of fabric over it like a blanket, and she snatched up the fabric and snuggled it to her cheek as the doll fell to the floor and said, "Aww, pretty blankie."
And it couldn't hold a candle to the bottle of bubbles that I got her. Of course. :) The rascal.
We left the green house and headed out back by the Rose Garden Tea Party that had recently been set up.
By this time, we were all pretty pooped. Hannah had already fallen asleep in her stroller, and Jayce was trying to fall asleep.
So we stopped off one of the paths, parked Hannah in the shade in her stroller, and Chris and Jayce grabbed a sunny spot nearby for a mid-day, full-sun snooze.
I thought it was kind of funny and just wanted to take pictures, 
but it turns out that Jayce couldn't sleep, so he joined me,
and we took some pictures together.
Then he wanted to use the big camera for a bit,
one of his pictures, above, 
and I took one of him with my phone, in another one of those "I'm taking a picture of him taking a picture of me" circles like I've talked about 
Then we found one of those machines that presses your penny and turns it into a souvenir and Jayce was SO excited about it, as you can see. In Hannah's sunglasses. And the rest is history.
We packed a picnic and enjoyed the sunshine, and Hannah stuck flowers in Chris' nose while he tried to sleep. :)
Jayce was such a helpful little guy that day, and kept chasing after Hannah who kept trying to make a run for it in every direction while we ate. Luckily, it is a big enough place that we can give her some free reign to run around and still keep an eye on her, but whenever she started to get a bit too far away, Jayce would go round her up and drag her back our way.
But eventually we stopped torturing them with eating and let them get on with the playing. 
There is an indoor bug and garden themed play area that they ran around in for a bit. (They are looking at live butterflies in the picture above.)
Then we eventually headed outside to play.
I got this dress for Hannah for her 1st birthday, but it ran big, and she ran small, so it literally was down to her feet. This year it fits great, and I thought a little "party scene" dress was just right for a 2nd birthday full of fun.
After we played on the playground for a bit we decided to explore the grounds, and ended up in one of the greenhouses that has an aquarium in the bottom level. 
Jayce was enamored. He seriously loves fish and fish stuff, so he thought it was great.
More soon.
I somehow neglected to get a picture of the whole thing (something about having 2 kids running in 2 directions, greeting parents, setting up, etc.), but it's one of those massive indoor play areas with multiple levels, multiple activities (slides, funny mirrors, balls, tunnels, bridges, etc.), and thankfully, not enclosed in walls of smelly plastic. Although it is just as easy to lose your kids in it.
Jayce and his friends took off running as soon as they were in the door. There was no "Where are the other kids? Help me find Jayce/my friends." or any other such nervousness for the most part, they just kind of ran into the jungle of it all.
There were also 2 other sections much smaller than the main area for younger kids and Hannah and her little friends fit right into both of them. There was an "age 2 and under" part with toys to ride, small slides, ladders, trampolines, etc, and an "ages 2-5" area with everything that I previously mentioned but slightly bigger, in addition to some small role play areas, like a kitchen, an area to build towers and legos…
and a truck/tractor area where Jayce and a few of his friends played for a good 90 seconds before running back into the main area. I managed to get them to stop briefly to give me their best "superhero muscles pose" and then they were gone.
The set up was great: the kids played for 90 minutes, then they went off to the party room for their food for the last 30 minutes of the party.
The birthday boy had a special throne-ish seat at the head of the table. When we sat the kids down the room went quiet as they all just sat and ate. I guess wearing them out running around is a good way to make tired and hungry kiddos.
Then the masks came out,
as did the birthday cake. 
One birthday party tradition that is completely different here is that the birthday boy/girl don't open their gifts at the party. It's considered kind of rude and awkward, (understandably) so the gifts are bagged up and brought home to open. Honestly, I liked this a lot. Aside from the obvious benefits, it extended the momentum and excitement from the party back home. 
There is a pretty nice playground behind Snakes and Ladders and we headed out there after the party as the parents came to collect their kids. It was a welcome change to be in a more calm setting and get some fresh air.
It was a great party for our little buddy, who despite originally not wanting to have a party there, had an absolute blast. 
