Several months ago, when Ariella asked Morgan what kind of birthday party she wanted this year, she immediately answered, "Chocolate!" So when her party finally arrived on Saturday, chocolate is what she got. And lots of it.
On Saturday morning, Morgan helped Mom decorate the M&M cake. (Morgan fine-tuned her cake icing skills the previous weekend for Dad's birthday cupcakes.)
Gwen is still too little for chocolate cake and icing. So she got her first taste of pretzels instead. ("Yum... salty!")
While the girls napped, we decorated the house with M&M-colored balloons. By 2pm, it was party time!
The first course of Morgan's Chocolate Smorgasbord were homemade chocolate bars and chocolate magic wands (made with pretzel sticks) that the kids could decorate will all sorts of yummy stuff. (It's artsy. It's delicious. What's not to like?)
For the second course, we fired-up the chocolate fountain with four pounds of sweet, gooey chocolate and plenty of tasty treats to dip in it -- strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, poundcake, brownies, pretzels and Pringles.
Despite all the goodies we had for dipping, what do you think Morgan really wanted to dip? That's right. Her finger. (Mom conceded, "Heck, it's your birthday. Go for it.")
After gorging ourselves on chocolate fountain, we headed into the living room to open presents.
Unlike last year, Morgan had a little helper who was eager to lend a tiny, little hand to opening presents. (Actually she had two helpers, as little Lucas decided he wanted in on the fun, too.)
Morgan got all sorts of fun toys, games and puzzles (and, yes, even some clothes). Morgan, Alex, Katie and Andrew couldn't wait play their first game of high-stakes Hi-Ho Cherry-o.
Finally, it was time to eat cake and sing Happy Birthday. After struggling to blow out her candles on her first two birthday cakes, this year the third time was the charm for Morgan.
The M&M cake was a good sport and somehow managed to keep a smile on his face, even while Ariella jabbed a sharp knife through his head and fed him to our party guests.
Not surprisingly, after eating chocolate non-stop for 2 hours, the kids were bouncing off the walls. So we all headed out back to burn off some chocolate-infused energy.
Morgan and Andrew took turns cannonballing into the sandbox.
By the time we came back inside to unwrap a few remaining birthday presents, Morgan's chocolate buzz was fading, and a full-blown sugar crash was eminent.
But before Morgan called it a night, she got in one last game of Hi-Ho Cherry-o with Lindsay, Alex, Jenny and Jon.
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