Mona's 2nd Birthday Party

Ooh lala, the birthday party for Mona's 2nd birthday went great!!

You should all have seen Mona's face!! She was just beaming with joy all day and evening!! Well, she had been waiting for more than 2 weeks for her special day and had been practising to blow the candles and singing 'Happy Birthday to Mona' constantly!!

So in the morning, Mona woke me up and was pulling me out of bed, requesting me to give her some milk. So we got out of bed, walked into the hallway, and there she say all the balloons that daddy had put up the previous night while she was sleeping. Her face was 'a must see'. She was shocked a little bit and was so happy and excited at the same time. She didn't know what to do for a moment. She looked at me as if to ask permission first and when i smiled back at her she ran to the other end of the house and started to play with the balloons that were on the floor. She completely forgot that she wanted to drink some milk!!!

All day she was very kind and very helpful in cleaning the house. She was so impatient also to start her birthday party. She constantly said the names of all the guests she knew were going to come (almost everyone!!). Then it was time to get ready. I decided to straightened her hair for this special occasion. Mona who usually runs away when she sees me coming with the hair brush, was so compliant and didn't whine or budge one time. To my complete amazement, she was so happy to let me do her hair and even said "mummy brush hair, Mona pretty hair"!!! Then we put on the beautiful dress and matching shoes that her grandma bought from her trip in India. And I told her: "Wow Mona, you look beautiful, just like a Princess!" and Mona with a big smile, when to daddy, holding her dress in her hand as to show it off, said: "Mona Princess daddy, Mona princess"!!! Then i told her, come Mona mummy has something very special for you!! She followed me to the bedroom, where i put on her arm the golden bracelet with her name written on it. I told her this is a very special gift from mamijoon and papijoon in Mauritius. Mona went "ooohhh" and I told her we have to thank mamijoon and papijoon later, and as soon as i said that, Mona said "Thank you Mamijoon papijoon" so happily. Several times during the party, i caught her showing off her bracelet to some people. She was so cute in that dress and her shoes, with the bracelet on her arm and her hair so long and straight!! She really was like a princess, at least to us she was!!!

As soon as the first guests arrived, Mona was so excited and started to run around and play with the kids. She was the leader of the little gang and showed everyone her toys, her room and where to play outside. She was so happy and had a great fun with the kids.

The dinner was a success, everyone seemed to have enjoyed my 'debutant' Persian cooking. The main dish was 'Ghormeh Sabzi', an Iranian stew. It is an important element of Persian cuisine, often said to be the Iranian 'national dish'. The main ingredients are a mixture of sauteed herbs cooked with kidney beans and lamb meet. (Ghormeh refer to diced meat and Sabzi means vegetables/herbs). And i had lots of compliments about my Persian cooking and was said to have the Persian cooking hand. Some even said that it tasted just like their mum's cooking!! (which is highest cooking compliment one can get!!!). I was so happy and pleased to see that not much of the ghormeh sabzi was left. We even bought lots of different types of nuts and seeds and some persian sweets (from the persian grocery store) to make it a real perisan night, but everyone seemed to be more interested in the birthday cake, which was a black forest chocolate cake with cherry and cream inside and on the top of the cake.

After dinner, we went straight to making the tea and cutting the cake. Mona was so happy, it was finally time to blow the candles and sing happy birthday!! She managed to blow all of her candles (and there was a lot, because she had been practising so much, i really wanted it to last a bit longer than just two little candles). She was happy and with a victory smile on her face when she blew out all of the candles. She clapped her hands with joy for her achievements. The she cut the cake with the help of daddy and started to eat the cake right there and then.... lol and when she was eating her slice of cake, she was so generous and started to feed me some of her cake.

And the gifts... oooh la la, she was so excited when we started opening all the gifts, she pull opened the big bags and ripped the wrapping papers and was so happy with each new toy. She got lots of dolls and toys. Then came the gift from grandpa Reza and Cima, the baby doll that talks and moves, oh my goodness, she was so excited, she put her face right in front of the doll (who was still in the box) and said "hi"... it was really funny!! After opening that gift, she wasn't interested in the other gifts at all, she just wanted to get the doll out of the boy to play with it, and that's what we did. The doll is quite cool i must admit, even me and daddy are playing with it... lol
The party was a lot of fun, and everyone left around 11.30pm, and as soon as the last guest left, i changed her into her pjs and put her to bed and she immediately fell sound asleep.

Daddy and mummy were so tired that night, but our hearts were really happy and full of love. We just couldn't believe how much our little baby had grown and is turning into a little girl. We really haven't seen Mona that happy and excited before!!
Those two years were the most wonderful years of our life so far, and we did thank God that night for our blessings!!

So here are the pictures of the party and a little video of Mona blowing her candles....