One great thing about toddlers is that they still have a bit of a goldfish-like memory. While Isla’s birthday isn’t until the 29th, Kyle and I figured we should probably have a little party for her before her baby sister arrives (or doesn’t arrive). Basically, I’ll either be extremely pregnant and cranky or we’d have a newborn and be delusional from a lack of sleep, so an early birthday celebration on Saturday with family seemed like the right thing to do instead of ignoring Isla’s birthday completely!

On Friday I baked Isla’s cake (she helped, haha) and that night I decorated it. I dare say it turned out pretty great, considering I’m no whiz when it comes to cake decorating. Chocolate cake was what Isla wanted, and that’s what she got! (Also – SO hard to ice a chocolate cake with vanilla icing!)

On the morning of her UnBirthday party I tossed some balloons and the Happy Birthday banner up and we were pretty much ready to party! Isla didn’t seem to know (or care) that it wasn’t her actual birthday, but what (almost) 3-year old wouldn’t be excited about balloons and cake? Kyle made her a special breakfast of homemade pancakes (her request) and they were SO good! She even got some chocolate milk to wash them down with ;)

Party time wasn’t until the early afternoon, so we ended up making a trip to Costco (Isla’s favourite place, haha), and Canadian Tire (she loves the “money” there), and came home for a quick lunch and I did some prepping of snacks and drinks. Homemade cucumber salsa and passion tea lemonade were both on the “menu” and they turned out to be huge hits.

Everyone showed up right on time and Isla had a lot of fun with her family! She’s so lucky to have so many people in her life who love her, and she was spoiled rotten with clothes, a movie, puzzles, colouring books and more! Her “big” present from Kyle and I was a “big girl” bike – complete with training wheels! We gave her the helmet first and she obviously didn’t clue in why she was getting a helmet (toddler logic, FTW!), but when we told her at the end of all the other presents that there was one more surprise, she exclaimed, “Oh, it’s going to be SO special!!” Then when Kyle brought the bike up she just shouted, “OH MY GOSSHHH!” Priceless!

Needless to say, she loves it!

After presents was of course, cake and ice cream, and we all mingled for a little bit before everyone departed.

Overall, it was an awesome day! Like I said before, Isla’s so lucky to have such amazing people in her life and I’m glad that they were able to come and make her “UnBirthday” a special day. I’m not sure how Kyle and I will mark her actual birthday in a couple weeks, but I’m sure we’ll do something special for her. (Maybe she’ll get a baby sister for her birthday!)

I do have a special post planned for Isla’s actual birthday, it’s just a matter of getting it done. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this photo of Isla riding her new bike with Kyle. My heart just melts when I look at it.