Every parent has hit me with that cliche saying "They grow up so fast!" and I never quite understood it until now. Yes, it obviously takes a full year for your child to age up, BUT almost everyday something new happens. A new word, turns into a new sentence. A new lullaby hum, turns into a full blown Kids Bop song. But when you see your child everyday, most times those changes aren't noticeable.

As Lyric approached turning two, I almost couldn't believe it. I still remember my awesome pregnancy and can still vividly recall pushing her out at the hospital. I remember her taking her first steps, saying her first word and even getting her ears pierced like it was yesterday. But nope! Now my little Buddha is TWO!

Now let me hop off memory lane and tell you about how much my munchkin is loved! She had 3 birthday parties and each one was memorable. First came the school party. She attends preschool two days a week, so the Friday before her birthday, her teachers and classmates had a party for her with cupcakes and snacks. It was very thoughtful and cute.

Lyric's actual birthday is March 10th and this year that happened to fall on a Saturday. Perfect day for a big party right? WRONG. Her daddy had a game that day VS the Spurs which meant not only would he not be available, neither would most of her friends. No biggie, let's just do the party the next day right? It's a Sunday, no basketball game that day, easy decision right? WRONG. The Thunder organization planned their annual Easter Egg Hunt for that day (yes, 3 weeks before Easter *insert eye roll* LOL), so Sunday was out. Then, I thought well I guess I'll have to do her party during the week, but then I risked the chance of some kids not being able to come due to parents work schedules, after school activities, or even early bedtimes. I knew it had to be on a Saturday. The following Saturday, her dad would be flying to Canada for an away game, so the following following Saturday was the only free Saturday in the entire month of March. I was a little annoyed that I had to have her birthday party 2 weeks after her birthday, but in the spirit of positive thinking, I did have more time to plan and she's young enough to not know her actual birth date. Win win.

Even though her big party wasn't until two weeks later, her daddy and I had a little party for her on her actual birthday in the house, before the game. I of course baked her a cake, we sung the black people's happy birthday song and gave her gifts. It was perfect.

I was one of those people who said, "When I have a kid, they aren't watching TV". But once you have a super active toddler on your hands, and you're trying to get ish done, you eventually (read: quickly) change your tune. When I tell you Lyric can probably teach me how to use the iPad better than I can, I'm telling you no lies. I do monitor what she watches and make sure it's all educational. Lyric's favorite cartoons are Bubble Guppies, Dora the Explorer, the Furchester Hotel, Team Umizoomi, and of course Sesame Street. I decided on a Bubble Guppies theme, and had a blast organizing her big party! I knew Lyric would give me a round of applause for it.

Planning Details

First step: "The Venue"

I was going to have her party at our house, until I stumbled upon Okie Kids Playground. The space was PERFECT. It's an indoor playground focused for children under the age of six, that engages kids in purposeful play learning that helps foster little minds. They have museum quality exhibits, pretend houses, crafts, and a legit playground. They have NO electronics or coin operated machinery, it's all old fashioned play! They rent out the venue for private parties on Saturday's and Sunday's, which also allows kids over the age of 6 to attend.

I immediately wanted to book her spot, but the place was completely booked for 4 months straight! I was able to use my charm to convince them to let me use the space for my date, after their normal closing time! YAY MOM SKILLS! Once I secured the date, I went back to the venue to walk around. I immediately saw a vision in my head of how I wanted the space to look, then made a budget.

Second step: "The Invites"

I used Punchbowl to send out her Bubble Guppies themed invites. This online RSVP system has a free option, or a paid option which deletes ads from the invites. I chose the paid option, made my list, and voila! DONE.

Third step: "The Decor"

I browsed various online party sites and ended up making a chart to compare pricing for all the items I needed. (This is the cancer in me, who loves nice things for the cheapest price!) I split ordering my supplies from BirthdayDirect, Amazon, Walmart, and Etsy.

Fourth step: "The Outfit"

Once I had Bubble Guppies in mind, I automatically knew I wanted Lyric to be a guppy (re: mermaid). I found the cutest mermaid outfits , but I knew she needed something comfy. So I ended up styling her in these adorable mermaid print, ruffle pants and a name customized, sparkly "TWO" seashell ruffle shirt with purple glitter letters. The set came with a matching sequin bow headband, and daddy wore that around his wrist. He also wore a Mermaid Security Shirt, since he's the protector of his two girls. I wore a plain black shirt and these turquoise mermaid print leggings I found on Amazon. The Ivey Tribe does not disappoint when it comes to dressing up as a family.

Fifth step: "The Cake"

So my girl Elizabeth is a super talented baker who's made several cakes for me in the past. I asked her to make Lyric's birthday cake and she was honored. When I showed her the designs of the cakes I liked, she seemed unsure if she could handle it. It was a lot of details and covered in fondant. It's funny how we tend to doubt ourselves, but when you have real friends, they see right through that BS we call insecurities. I had no doubt in my mind that she would SLAY this cake and almost immediately after telling me she hadn't worked with fondant before, she began throwing out ideas for design aspects. She said "How dope would it be to have a fish swimming on the cake?", and my face lit up! I

Sixth step: "The Eats"

This part was the most fun! I sat with Lyric and asked her to read one of her favorite ocean books, Commotion in the Ocean, with me. She pointed out a bunch of things and as she pointed, I wrote a list. We had sea foam, algae, fish, sharks, water and a few others. Then when we watched her favorite episode of Bubble Guppies the next day, the DVR un-deletable "Goodmorning, Mr. Grumpfish", we added more to the list. Then I looked at the list and just matched them with food items. Popcorn for sea foam. Triangular cut pieces of mozzarella cheese for shark teeth. Pigs in a blanket for sea snails. Grapes on kabob sticks for sea weed. Sour worms for fish bait. Shark gummies for sharks and Goldfish for goldfish. (Those were easy ones LOL). I made rice krispy treat-ish "Bubble Bites", but instead of boring Rice Krispies, I used a box of Trix instead. More colorful, plus the circular shape fit right in with the bubble theme. We had fried chicken and labeled it "Chicken of the Sea"', because I mean who doesn't love to confuse Jessica Simpson? Ha. The venue also provided 5 boxes of pizza (package perks.) I used buckets as the bowls, and beach shovels for the serving utensils.

Sixth step: "The Setup"

Luckily with the party package I chose, it came with setup and clean up. I wasn't the typical mom who didn't care about decor. I had a very specific vision, so I knew I'd have to be very vocal and hands on during setup. The two staff members were super helpful and saw my vision immediately. You should have seen the three of us standing on the table trying to figure out the perfect positioning for the fishnet. LOL. Royal made sure to bring our portable speaker, since the venue oddly didn't have a sound system.

FYI: Special thanks to my mom and my future mom in law, for helping out. I still have all my notes and pricing from her party, so if you'd like any specific info...leave me a comment below & I'll be happy to share!

Safe to say, Lyric had a blast at her party and so did her guests! Check out details from her parties below!

Toddler Turn Up! #LyricTurnsTwo