Lydia's "Monkey" birthday party!

On Saturday, 11/19 we had Lydia's 2nd birthday party at our home. One might ask themselves, why that was such a big deal for us.... and it's b/c we invited 17 kids & 11 adults! Despite kids & adults  tripping & running into each other, we were still able to feed everyone and

 luckily kids were even able to run around outside! :) 

Our meal consisted of pork loin, cooked by Papa Jim on his Traeger grill :), potato soup, cheesy macaroni, salad & rolls. And most importantly cake & ice cream :)  We had to hide the cake in the laundry room b/c Lydia was pretty insistent that she wanted to eat cake, "NOW." 

I was not sure what 'theme' to have for Lydia's birthday party, but when I saw a 'monkey' option in Target :) I knew that was the perfect fit. (She's become a pretty big fan of Curious George :) Jessica Cook ~ 6th St Tasty Treats, in Winthrop made the cake, isn't cute?! :) She loved it and so did I.

Opening presents... 2 pairs of new pink boots from Grammy! She put them on immediately after opening :)

Grammy feeding babies :)

Her big sisters 'oohing & awing' over presents :)

Carter helping open the 'new big green tractor!'

fan club ;)

Ohhh! Curious George!! :)

Yes, Papa Jim, you can hide behind 'Wiam' ~ she is definitely wide enough! ;)

Trying yet again to get a picture of the birthday girl :) This is the result...

The boots matched perfect! :)

The moment she had been waiting for... CAKE!

She had practiced on Wednesday, so she knew what to do, and she did try :) but in the end, she had help from her cousin Blake to blow them out :)

worth the wait!



And believe it or not, we ended the day with the Larson's spending the night...

4 adults and 7 kids all sleeping upstairs :)

Lydia turns 2!

Wednesday, 11/16/11

It was quite a stretch to get this birthday girl to smile... to no surprise :) But she KNEW there was something special about the day. Whenever we'd say, "hey birthday girl!" She'd stare at you w/her, "I know there is something going on" look :) She picked out the cake mix the night before for her cupcakes, so when you would tell her happy birthday, she would say, "BIRTDAY! CAKE!" So she was very excited to eat the cake :)

This picture was my attempt to show how tall she was next to the door :)

And here we are concerned about a floppy sock :) and not smiling of course...

McElroy's chicken for the birthday dinner

And she enjoyed her birthday cake as much as she did when she was one!

carefully wiping her face off :)

Her birthday presents from us: riding horse, her very own necklace/bracelet set & a monkey doll. Fun to buy for a 2-yr old who loves everything ;) She was enthralled w/the horse, and after hugging & kissing it, she jumped right on and started riding it around the house :)

Here's her smile :)

ride 'em cowgirl!

1st & 2nd sets

The 2nd set of 2...

Had to post these... I have such a hard time getting Lydia to smile :) and she did hear. Again... just before her 2nd birthday and LeaAnn at 8-1/2mo.  AND it was gorgeous outside on the 11th of November!

And the 1st set of 2 :)

Had to post these too... the girls dresses themselves in these adorable outfits :) I was gone on a shopping  trip, and they refused to let Dad see until they were done :) I think they make awesome cowgirls! Lauren at 6-7mo & Lindsay at 5-3mo

Lauren & Lindsay books...

Thursday, 11/10/11 - Lauren (6-7mo, 1st grade) & Lindsay (5-3mo, Pre-K)

Lauren created this book for a good friend of hers, Delphina. It's called, "Princesses" by Lauren Beyer

One day Princess Sleeping Beauty was walking in the castle.

She found another Princess named Mulan. She was un-lighting a torch.

Sleeping Beauty said, "that's my torch!"

Mulan said, "But I don't have a torch."

Sleeping Beauty said, "We can share a torch." And they hugged each other. The End.

 I thought she did a fantastic job! But I am a little bias ;)

And here is Lindsay's book. She made it for Delphina & Arabella. Lauren helped her out with it at the end :) and it's called, "The Princesses"

Jasmine and Sleeping Beauty were walking down the path,

when they met a robber and he took their crowns.

The robber went off with the princess' crowns. He went into the forest.

The princesses couldn't find him.

As Lindsay was making sure I wrote everything right, she just told me, "Oh... I should have wrote "the end" at the bottom." :) Just in case anyone was missing that ;)

Switching spots...

Thursday, 11/10

Lydia at almost 2 and LeaAnn at 8-months... 

Lydia of course put herself in the exer-saucer...

 and LeaAnn thought it was pretty funny!

Lydia ... again :)

One might be asking what "Wiam" is laughing at ... so you look past her cute face at 8months...

and you see Lydia passed out on the floor next to her! Yes, you read right :) passed out cold. This was Monday, 11/01, the day after Halloween and to say the least... she was (obviously) exhausted!

And then a few days later, on 11/04, I found the car-harts we had for the older two. Lydia took a liking to them immediately, and accessorized herself w/the hat & boots to match :)

a favorite activity :) "WIGHTS! on/off, on/off" :)

Onto 11/06 - Lydia modeling her new jammies from Mimi & Pap! She loved the "petty" skirt of course.

"Warn"... Mom just hopes she'll take after Lauren some day! :)

As I stated on an earlier post, life with Lydia is VERY entertaining.. I can only imagine what the journey to age 3 will be like :)