Happy Birthday, Julia!

Hey, remember how last week was Julia's birthday? Oh, you don't? Because I haven't posted a single thing since April 12? Oops.

Guess what? Julia turned 2! And we had a Hello Kitty party to celebrate! We invited a few of Julia's friends over for the party (I figured a 2-year-old doesn't need more than 3 friends over, don't you agree?), and I thought we all had a great time (especially Julia, which is really all that matters).

Behold, my cake decorating skills:

I was stewing about the cake for weeks, but I think it came together rather well. Thank goodness for candy melts, because I really can't decorate a cake with frosting.

I also made this cute banner:

I'm particularly excited about the fact that we can reuse it. So stinking cute.

We played a couple of games, including "Pin the Bow on Hello Kitty." It was kind of over the kids' heads, and I don't think any of them were too keen to have a blindfold on, but it was fun to just spin around and stick the bows on anyway.
We also had a few rounds of "Ring Around the Rosie," and, "The Wheels on the Bus," and maybe another song or two that I can't think of right now. What more could a 2-year-old want?

I swear a got a better picture of the spread, but I think it got deleted when my camera batteries died as I was loading the pictures onto my computer. Stupid batteries. Anyway, we had pink popcorn, goldfish crackers, cake, and a trifle. The trifle was sort of a surprise addition to our party. We were going to have strawberry cake, but that cake turned out. . . less than good. Pretty lopsided, to be specific. Coupled with my pitiful frosting skills, a lopsided cake is pretty much asking for disaster. So I took my Mom's suggestion and made a trifle with it instead. And then made another cake (chocolate this time) for the decorating.

The birthday girl was so excited to blow out the candles!

Her words: "Mmmm, that's yummy, delicious!"

And because she wanted to have pink frosting, I plopped some on her plate. Birthday girls get whatever their hearts desire.

And then we opened presents! Oh, it was exciting. The paper was flying! And she was so excited by each and every thing she opened up, exclaiming, "It's Hello Kitty!" Or, "It's Rocket!" Or, "It's a new baby!" She was thrilled by every gift.


Not to mention the big gift from Mom and Dad:

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And then we gave everyone a little box to take home.

Good times.

Oh, we also had my parents, and my Grandma, come down for the birthday. It was so fun to see them, especially my Grandma. I was so glad she decided to come. They took Julia out to dinner at Red Robin, where she firmly stated that she would be drinking milk when the waitress asked for our drink order, and then chose to dine upon chicken fingers and french fries. She also received a birthday sundae, complete with balloons and singing. I think it was pretty magical for her.

And to finish off the day, we decided it was high time to turn on the sprinklers, and I told Julia she could wear her swimming suit and run through them. That was a great idea. I think it was a great way to round off the birthday.

Happy Birthday, my darling girl!

Weekly Quote 4/12/10

"Throw your teddy bear, and catch;
Turn around, turn around, jump, jump, jump!"

This is from a song they sing at the library during storytime. It is one of Julia's all-time favorites. And it will stay in your head for days. New quote up!

The Events of March (and April)

I was thinking of posting on April 1st that the birds had got me, but I decided against it.

So what have we been up to? Perhaps we should sail back in time to March. . .

-Julia went hiking in Zion! She firmly declared that she would not be carried, and walked the entire Riverside Walk (2 miles round trip) by herself. What a trooper! And as I recall, she was even wearing her big girl panties, and used the potty at the park. Double tropper!

-Lots of dessert! Probably too much, but who cares? Thanks to one of my bountiful baskets (and if you haven't checked it out yet, you really should), we had some delicious strawberries. So I bought some whipping cream, baked some shortcakes, and voila! We had Strawberry Shortcake. We had it again for Easter Sunday, because I like it that much.

Fancy, no? Just looking at it makes my mouth water . . .

-Clark has been playing the Ukelele! A lot! We enjoy the serenades. As a general rule, Julia just wants to participate. So when Dad gets the little guitar, she runs to get the big guitar.

-Cupcake Picnics! I made a batch of pink cupcakes one day (with pink sprinkles!) and Julia and I had a picnic every day until they were gone. I'd say, "Julia, what should we do now?" And she's say, "Eat cupcakes outside!" And so we would. And she would continually comment, "It's very nice out here today."

Also this picture tells you that I finally pulled out our dead tomato plants from last year's garden, and that our rosebushes are out. of. control. If the birds don't get us, the rosebushes might. Send help.

-Easter egg hunts! This first round of pictures is still technically from March. We were visiting Clark's parents (for Steve's 60th birthday [Happy Birthday, Steve!]), and Jessica decided to set out some eggs for the girls to find. Here you see Julia, in her Easter dress, hunting for eggs with Lauren. Good times!






Ahh, cousins.
And then, as if that wasn't enough, the Easter bunny came to OUR HOUSE last Saturday! Oh boy, Julia was excited about that one. He sprinkled jelly beans on the piano, hid eggs inside and out, and brought "candy birds" (peeps). Julia was on sugar overload from stuffing all those jellybeans right into her mouth.

I love that we have multiple shots of Julia gesturing, "Where are the eggs?" I also love her crazy bedhead.

And the obvious fun we've had with sidewalk chalk.

Lots of candy!

-Dying eggs! The Lowes were kind enough to invite us over for some egg dying (wow, I almost typed eye dying. . . ) and Wii. Just look at all the pretty colors:

And this was my personal favorite egg:

Uh, does anyone know how long hard boiled eggs last? Cause we've got a lot of them, and I WILL NOT get sick off of them. I've puked enough in the last 4 months, thank you very much.

-Oh, yeah, I'm still pregnant. Just plugging along, trying to ignore the heartburn, fatigue, and big fat stomach. But thoroughly enjoying all the little kicks I feel throughout the day. Honestly, I don't mind being pregnant now that the puking is done. All my pregnancy symptoms seem fairly minor to that awful first trimester. At my last appointment my doctor told me I didn't have to come back for 2 weeks, which is delightful news (I've been in there every week since I was 6 weeks along). We're still praying that the high risk nature of this pregnancy will stay at the "risk" level and not bump up to "heart failure" (that sounds pretty dramatic, doesn't it?). So far so good, and I have every reason to believe it will stay that way.

-Julia has ups and downs with the potty training. Last week she had 6 out of 7 days with zero accidents. Monday and Tuesday of this week were no good - accidents of the worst kind abounded. Highs and lows. But overall, I think she's improving. She just needs to remember to go to the potty, and I need to be better about reminding her. We've worked out a system where she gets treats, and that seems to work pretty darn well. If she refuses to go sit on the potty, and she obviously needs to go, I remind her that if she poops in the potty she gets a chocolate treat, and that sends her running to the bathroom. The chocolate treats are especially persuasive.

-And last, but not least, a video! Julia says goodnight to her clothes every night before turning off the light, and for some reason she decided to specifically bid adieu to her "bummies" (I believe this was in reference to her pull-ups, or maybe her swim diapers, I'm not entirely sure, Clark could clarify). It has become a bit of a family joke around here, and makes all 3 of us bust up laughing when we say it. Especially when Julia says it. The voice is classic.

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And that, my friends, catches you up. Whew, I'm exhausted! I think I'll go take a nap.

(Weekly?) Quote 4/5/10

"Marvin K. Mooney, I don't care how;
Marvin K. Mooney, will you please go now!"

Yeah, I don't really update the quote weekly anymore. Nor do I update the blog particularly often these days. Officially I think I'm going to lead you to believe that it's because I'm off being a great mother to my daughter, devoting all my time and energy to her, instead of the fact that I just get lazy.

ANYWAY. Last week's quote was from Marvin K Mooney, Will You Please Go Now! by the incomparable Dr Seuss. It's one of Julia's favorite books, and it is awfully cute to hear her say Marvin K. Mooney. New quote up!