Do you remember her like that?  So small and quiet and perfect and so beautiful you thought you might cry if you stared at her face for too long?  I remember.  Clearly.  Of course it helps that I caught everything on video camera.  From the pregnancy to the birth to monthly video blogs.  It's hard to believe that two years have passed.  Two years old.  I am no longer the mother of a baby and that makes me a little sad (though not sad enough to amend the problem) and I'm pretty sure that I'll be calling her baby when she's 35.

We needed a celebration and I was without inspiration.  I really wanted a tea party but didn't think she was quite old enough to appreciate that yet so I settled on combining with my promise to the boys that I'd take them camping.

Location: The Austin Homestead
Weather:  Slightly overcast but comfortable
Food: hotdogs, chili, corn on the cob, sugar cookies, s'mores
Agenda: no agenda - just roast your own wiener, play, get so tired out that it wouldn't matter that we had to spend the night in a tent

I would call it a success.  Twenty-six people enjoying the home of my childhood, enjoying climbing the same trees I did, enjoying searching for weird bugs like I did, enjoying my famous sweet chili and fresh corn, satisfing any hidden pyro-tendencies around the fire, listening to the pluck and strum of two guitars, playing on the tire swing, singing Happy Birthday loud and off key while the wind blows out the candle and generally spending an evening together saying to Noa, "Gee, we're sure glad you were born!"

I thought a cake would be too hard to worry about cutting while we were outside so I settled for sugar cookies. Crispy & golden on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside.  They were a hit!

the stick bug - found while tree climbing in the field

Noa underneath the pink balloon tree

Picnicing beside the barn

Roasting

Swinging

Happy Birthday, Baby - love you forever!!!!!