Happy Birthday Joni-Girl

It has been 2 years since we had an emergency C-section to get our sweet girl out after 9 hours of induced labor and never making it past 5 cm.  During the surgery they found a tumor attached to my ovary which they removed....her birth was a blessing the minute she was born.  We named her Jonell Elizabeth (our moms' middle names) and the first medical person to help us in recovery was also named Jonell.....which we thought was awesome since it isn't that common of a name.  She is funny, smart, loving, helpful, caring, and so so so sweet.  We thank God for her everyday.  Happy Birthday sweet girl.  Our parents sent rather large packages and the girls have been enjoying the gifts ever since.  

 They both got bubble guns....HUGE HIT!  They made a bubble mountain that grew

 and grew....

 and grew....

 and then they had to play in it of course.

 Her birthday fell on Mother's Day this year.  It was a wonderful Mother's Day present.

 We got this little baby for her and after she opened it and was holding it I realized that it looks EXACTLY like her.....my blonde haired blue eyed girl.

 We had China Buffet for lunch and so Jo had a mix of delicious desserts. That night, though, we opened some cotton candy (another grandparent gift) and stuck a candle in it to sing Happy Birthday.

 So these next pictures are super special.  My dear friend Kelly Logan (her parents and my parents were friends in England over 30 years ago) wanted to take the girls to this little tea parlor to celebrate.  It was so fun!  Her mom Deb joined us and it was a perfect afternoon!

 It was all girlie and my girlies LOVED it!  Seriously, they loved it.  

 They drank lemonade out of tea cups....

 and ate little tea sandwiches and scones and mini cupcakes....

 it was wonderful.

 Thank you Kelly and Deb!  We so so so enjoyed every minute of it!

And then it was party time.  Last night we threw a Derby Party for Jo!  She loves horses so we thought, why not go all out and make it Derby/Kentucky style since we don't know if we will be here much longer.  The Derby is called the "Run for the Roses" so I made rose cupcakes.

These are our feeble attempt a the the "Twin Spires"....a very recognizable feature of Churchill Downs.

Hadley and I made paper hobby horses for everyone.....

 and they all received hats when they arrived.  The boys got jockey hats and the girls got Derby bonnets.  Joni liked the jockey hats better.

 Hadley likes blue if you couldn't tell.

 The decorations.....plus Hadley's friend Charlie who likes to dress up as Peter Pan.  Love that kid!

 I also made Derby Pie (pecan pie with chocolate chips).

 .....the rest of the food.  On the menu we had fried chicken (because we're in Kentucky), benedictine dip (cucumber, onion, and cream cheese which is made into tea sandwiches during Derby), and Hot Browns. These were invented at the Brown hotel downtown and are really native to Louisville.  It consists of a piece of toast, hot sliced turkey, a really good cheese gravy, then tomato, and bacon on the top.  Ummmm, they were good.

 The drink of the Kentucky Derby is the Mint Julip.  We had Lemon Iced-Tea with mint leaves in it.

 My hat for the party that I found for free!

My plate before.....

 and my plate after.  Sorry for all the food pictures....it was just fun making things that we don't make very often, or ever!  :)

  Happy Birthday to Jo!  You can't see it very well but there is a little horse on her cupcake.  She blew those candles out like a champ.....

 and enjoyed herself a cupcake to boot!

Then we played pin the jockey on the horse.... 

 she missed quite a bit.

 and then it was time for the races!  

 And she looks like she is enjoying herself....which made the whole day and all the work so very worth it.

 Then we opened presents and she loves ALL her gifts....we played with every single one today!  

Thank you everyone and Happy Birthday, Joni!!!