Our beautifully funny 2 year old

We celebrated S.'s second birthday this past weekend with a party. It is hard to believe that she is 2, yet I feel like she is older than her years. My mom, sister, nieces and nephew, and my friend Laurie were in town and it was a great weekend. I would like to say restful as well, but everyone would know better than that! Not when it was the 4th of July AND I had a party to throw!

I tried to upload this hilarious video of S. opening a Dora birthday card that she received from Aunt Jayme, but it was—you guessed it!—too big. The card sang "happy birthday" in English and Spanish and S. loved it; she just held it and danced naked on the kitchen table while the card sang to her over and over again. (Well, almost naked—she was wearing her diaper at least.) I am going to try to post it on Facebook at some point for everyone to see. So the video below is the runner-up. She is so cute; I love to hear her little voice. Especially when it isn't screaming "no" at me. =)



And here are some photo highlights from her ladybug birthday party. We invited her friends from small group and her nursery/toddler class from church (invitations, right). The rain held off, the sun eventually came out, and it was a nice time celebrating her birth with others who love her too.


Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate, gave gifts and cards, and sent cards/money in the mail. She has been receiving at least one card a day every day since last Friday!

The 4th of July
This year we took on the adventure and went downtown for the fireworks. It was really cool to see them set off right underneath the Arch. Unfortunately, it was muggy and there wasn't a breeze so half of the fireworks were hard to see because of the stagnant smoke. Almost the entire finale was under smoke, too. But it was still worth the experience. And, surprisingly, it wasn't that crowded at all. I was expecting something of Chicago-sized proportions. Chalk up another pro for the smaller "big city"!

On the con side, we took the train downtown and when we made it back to the train stop to go home, there were thousands of people already waiting in line. The line was coming out of the station, filled one entire sidewalk and then wrapped around to fill another one. It was depressing to look at and realize that we would be in that line with six tired, hungry kids for a very long time. We decided to wait it out at a local fast food place, only to find out when we got there that they closed at 9 pm. I was shocked! On the 4th of July?!? Two blocks from the fireworks?!? I rest my case. So we ended up walking to the next train stop and made it home just before midnight. The thought went through my head more than once that we were going to be up most of the night wandering the city streets. I am so thankful that wasn't the case.

Poor S. didn't like the fireworks at all (see pic below of her on Tyler's lap). She sat like this the entire time and literally had at least one eye covered the whole time. On a positive note, she got to open her first birthday present before the fireworks started—glow-in-the-dark bracelets! She wasn't too stoked, but the older kids really liked them. And P. tried to eat them, of course.


Peas for P.
Today is day two of peas for P. And, daresay, I think she actually likes them! I mixed them in with her cereal and she gobbled them right up. I hope it continues to be this easy!