One more for September, Olivia's 2!!!

Well I think after this we are caught up...but then there is all of October to come!

Enjoy!

Olivia's 2nd birthday. I felt like I turned around and suddenly it was time for another birthday...didn't she just turn one? Didn't we JUST have a birthday party. Luckily I had been stashing away little things for her birthday for a while since I had no idea what motherhood of 2 would be like-so I tried to be a little prepared. Adam suggested one day-why don't we have a fish party? Great. We went with it. 

And so it began...

 The goods. Everything was snack sized for kids to just enjoy the day. Complete with "fish food" to take home in their buckets the kids decorated.

 My mom brought the parachute. Olivia loved it.

 Connor got in on the fun of course.

 He's a "whaley big deal" after all.

 And such a smiley goose.

 Turns out all you need are bubbles and a nice day to make a kid happy.

 This will be the one and only gun we will ever have in our house.

 Sharing the bubble joy with Uncle Matthew and Aunt Rachel.

 Adam brought over some old boxes from work to let the kids build a tower.

 So many fun gifts! Olivia has especially loved her book from Declan- "Say Please, Little Bear" We read it almost daily

 It started to get really windy outside, so we moved things inside-it was tight-but we were all happy.

 Home Made Ball Pit. One that you can't get buried alive in.

 Olivia preping some snacks. Tic Tac Style.

 Is it just me...or could this kid actually be a lawn gnome?

 Happy Birthday wishes from the Holy Land! Olivia loves her Daniel Tiger and special flashlight.

On Sunday we had a family get together. Luckily the weather worked in our favor. We know our place is small, but we LOVE having everyone here. It seriously just fills my heart with joy.

Adam manned the stoves as we made grilled cheese for over 40 people! Grilled cheese for a small family=easy. Does NOT compute to large gatherings. However, we were able to keep up with demand as we prepped the sandwiches earlier and they just went straight on to the burners. We were able to roll them out 10 at a time.

 Everyone brought their favorite "2 year old" food. So along with the grilled cheese we had lots of finger foods, and of course mac-and-cheese.

 I made a fish cake to keep with the theme. Guess what you can buy just cake at the bakery-and since ALL of my cakes always fall-or are too dense this is the route I thought best to take. buy an unfrosted sheet cake, and then cut it out and decorated it myself. Yes, the pink is unholy-so many dyes I'm sure, but it was still delicious.

 Holy Moly this little princess is spoiled. She got some new fun books, some new clothes, chocolate milk, pringles, duplos, more toys and....

 some hand crafted butterfly wings! Made by Kris. Inspirational! She loves them and it gave me motivation to get my craft on.

 last, but not least, her bitty baby stroller. THIS is now the envy of every friend that comes over...should have found 2! But it's a great way to learn about sharing. Whenever we go out, so does bitty baby and her stroller. It's pretty great.
Also, little story about the stroller. It's a American Girl bitty baby stroller...I found it at savers for $6 AND it had bitty baby in it! WHA-WHAT! Yeah. felt like I was robbing them as I checked out.)

Happy Birthday little girl! May you always be as confident in yourself as you are at this very moment. May you always have a passion for learning, creating, and loving. You are always my baby but I'm so proud of everything you have already accomplished.