Olivia's 2nd Birthday Party

Well the day started out really rainy! But no one rained on our parade...ok birthday party! I got up super early to finish getting stuff ready for the party.  Then we decided to take Jake to get a haircut today so he wouldn't bother out guests.  He gets all crazy with people...and the food.  When Brendon came home I ran out and got the balloons and cake and cupcakes.  Then zoomed home to finish the rest of the set up.

Then it was time to party! Mrs. Dana from Olivia's Kindermusik class came and did a little music with the kids.  Olivia was so happy she did her favorite song, "Dust, Dust, Dust."  It was fun to play instruments with her friends!

Then we did cake and singing and then lots of eating and playing.  Olivia was so funny, she sat at her picnic table and ate her lunch.  I couldn't believe that she just sat down and ate!

Then we did lots of playing and Olivia was getting cranky because she was tired.  She was so ready for her nap when our guests left and there was no problem getting her down to nap.

After her nap she was a bit cranky but then we opened presents.  She was very excited about all of her presents once we opened them.  Olivia was not very interested in opening them but was interested in the things once we opened them.   The only one she opened on her own was the big present which was a wheel barrel! She was so excited about it that she sat in it...for quite awhile! She would get in and out.  She was most excited that it also came with a rake and she can help with the grass!!

It was so much fun to celebrate with all of our friends.  I am so glad that Olivia has such a fun group of friends to play with.  We all had a great time!

Here are some photos and videos from the day!

*** Since there were so many pictures... you will have click on the box below and look at the slide show! ***

Olivia's 2nd Birthday - slideshows

Pre-Party Prep

Getting ready for a party can be fun...with a toddler it becomes a bit difficult.  It is late 11:40 p.m. and I just kind of finished getting ready for Olivia's party.  It is very hard to get things done with a tornado...I mean toddler following you! I would clean one thing up and then another would be a mess...like Ziploc bags ALL over the kitchen floor! Ahhhh!!! But I don't mind it because I know we will have a great time tomorrow celebrating Olivia's 2nd birthday. I know that the house won't be perfect...but I am not perfect myself so please excuse any areas that are not the best looking! Mommies are busy people and cleaning right now is a low priority for me. 

I think she kind of understands but not really of what is going on tomorrow.  For example, she saw the birthday banner hanging and we talked about it saying Happy Birthday etc.  But now when she sees it she says, "Happy Birthday Olivia!" So we will see how it goes.  Yesterday we gave her a birthday waffle with 2 candles and she told me to turn it off and repeated that during the day.  She liked talking about her birthday waffle that I turned off (blew out the candles)!

Well I am tired and I will be getting up early to finish getting it all ready!

Happy 2nd Birthday Olivia!

Dear Olivia,

It is your second birthday! Boy has time flown by.  I still remember bringing you home and thinking...now what do we do with this child?? In 2 years we have done a lot!  You learned to walk and talk and your favorite CLIMB.  I was so afraid that you weren't going to talk but finally when mama came out at 14 months, so did everything else.  You went to your first Braves game and UGA spring practice game.  You are so smart.  You know your ABCs and can count to 13.  You like to "read" your books and be read to.  Even if when we read to you, it is the same books over and over, you still want us to read to you.  Your favorite books have changed over the year but some of them were Goodnight Moon, Mommy Hugs, Daddy and Me, Baby Bear, Baby Bear what do you see?, Brown bear what do you see, The Hungry Caterpillar,  Chrysanthemum, Charlie Brown Christmas, and Dogs, Dogs. You also learned how to sing and can sing songs like "Row, Row, Row your boat", "The ABC song" "Dust, Dust, Dust" and "Old MacDonald." You learned how to draw and like to use your crayons and stamps.  You like to shop! You enjoy going to Kroger, Publix, and Target! You discovered you have friends and know their names and remember them! You learned how to fish and can reel in your big catches! You took swimming lessons and swam in the pool.  You finally got your teeth in...months of teething...not so fun! You love to go to the park and play outside.  You are now even picking out your own clothes and hair bows.  You even put one shoe on correctly today and took off your jacket ALL by yourself!

We are so proud to be your parents.  Your smile and laughter is contagious.  You make us laugh so much. You bring such joy to our life.  You have filled our hearts with such unconditional love.  I can't wait to see what the next year brings.  We know that it gets even better from here. 

Olivia- we hope that you had a great birthday and we can't wait to celebrate with everyone this weekend!

Lots of love, hugs, and kisses,

Your Mommy and Daddy!

Birthday girl telling me she has some crumbies on her face!

Kindermusik fun!

Teddy bear with doctor toys!

Checking his heartbeat!

Birthday Eve Fever

Ugh...Olivia has a fever...guess that is why maybe she was so crabby yesterday! She was not our happy girl when I picked her up from Susan's house today and of course it was too late for the regular doctor.  We ended up going to the after hours pediatrician/clinic...which opened at 6:00 p.m. Lovely.  I quick ate some leftovers and she didn't want to eat at all.  So off we went with some snacks in hand.  We were the 2nd child there so it went pretty quick.  The doctor briefly examined her...and didn't see anything.  Susan said Olivia was pulling at her right ear but all the doctor saw was a little bit of wax.  But she did have a fever of 100.6.  I took her temp before her bath and it was 101! Yikes.  Got some Motrin in her and into the bath.  She cried the whole time again in the bath like last night and afterwards.  Tonight we ended up watching some Charlie Brown and having some graham crackers.  I took her temp before bed and it was  99.9...so lower.  I hope she is not sick tomorrow for her birthday! Poor girly!!

Crabby

Olivia was a little crabby today...I feel like she needs to wear her crab pants tomorrow! Brendon had some crabbiness after lunch...just crying/whining...so she had to go to timeout.  Too bad she liked it so much she told him that she wanted to go to bed and ended up taking her nap.  We haven't done timeout in a long time...we just did 1 minute in her crib...I guess we have to find a new place that she doesn't like!

When I got home she was a bit clingy but she hasn't seen me all day.  So I cooked dinner and we made a quick batch of cupcakes for her birthday.  The trick I have found for cupcakes is to make them one day and frost them the next, that way the frosting doesn't melt or get too runny! She ate ALL of her dinner! I was so proud...now if she would have stayed in her chair the whole time that would have been even better.  We did some playing after dinner and then we went into the bathroom.  She did not want to sit on the potty...she wanted the sticker...I told her no, that she has to sit on the potty then she can put her sticker up.  She was fine and then she got in the bathtub and was not happy.  She cried and cried and cried...until I got her jammies on...then cried some more when I got her snack.  Then finally stopped, cried when we brushed teeth, and then stopped, then cried because I didn't turn her humidifier on....geez! Can you say Crabby????

Playing outside with her bug catcher! She loves this new toy!! 

Olivia likes to do her own bubbles now!

Thunderstorm

We had our first bad thunderstorm this evening.  Complete with lightning, thunder, a tornado warning, and mega rain.  I didn't see any hail but plenty of other parts of Atlanta got some.  I guess I didn't realize it was going to be bad weather today.  I thought just rain.  But when I turned on the news it was weather chaos! I quick took Jake out with Olivia in tow.  That is when she heard thunder outside...I made no big deal about it and told her it was just thunder.  Then we went back inside...we heard lots of thunder and she did really good.  She cried twice- once when there was a big boom, and second when she went downstairs on her own.  I think the lightning scared her.  But she did fine overall.

After school we went to Target to get our favorite things...diapers.  I can't wait for the day of underwear! She is such a good shopper.  I am glad she likes to ride in the cart.  I even found her a Braves hat today for her birthday!It is a little big but all of that hair will hold it on!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Happy St. Patty's Day! We had a beautiful day again.  I am so loving this weather and I think Olivia is too because she keeps wanting to go outside.  We went to a few stores this morning to get a few odds and ends.  Then we played outside and had lunch.  Olivia helped me get some cookie dough batter made for some shamrock cookies.  I went for a run and Brendon got the lawnmowers ready.  After my run we cut the grass (really the weeds) for the first time this year.  It was pretty bad.  But it looks a little better.  The grass you can tell has suffered through the droughts and heat of the summer.  After Olivia took a nap she had a snack and then wanted back outside.  Brendon took her outside while I worked on the cookies.  She helped at the end with the cookies and went and got her own cookie cutters. She got a train and a bicycle.  We ate Bangers and Mash for dinner since Brendon had corned beef yesterday.  She ate a little bit of it but ate all of her carrots.  But it was a great St. Patty's Day!

Olivia's Irish meal

Brendon's plate