Bubbles Birthday Party!!

We had a family birthday party for Laney on Saturday morning. It was pretty small, which I think ended up being perfect for her. She didn't get overwhelmed at all and just had so much fun the whole time. It was great. Claire and Tessa got there and immediately jumped in the crib for some good old fashioned jumping. Grant was sick all weekend and we missed him lots!!!

The theme of Laney's birthday party was Bubbles. She loves bubbles, so we got lots of different types of bubble blowers for her and her cousins to play with in the yard!

She loved this one that blew tons of bubbles at one time. She chased Claire all over the yard with it holding it at point blank range. We are lucky that Claire is so sweet and such a good sport.
Claire was attempting a bubble duel with Laney, but the cutie pie Dora bubble blower (thanks Stidham boys!!!) that she was using didn't produce quite the volume that Laney's did.

Claire was the best big cousin during Laney's whole party. She ran around playing while Laney followed her around laughing like crazy. I was making huge bubbles for them and Claire was jumping up to get them, while Laney reached out from Aunt Caitlin's arms. She was wanting some special birthday treatment and did NOT want to be put down!

The Goodyears gave Laney a sweet little Asian babdoll with pigtails just like Laney. She immediately started clutching it and rocking it back and forth. Definitely a hit!!! Laney loves her babies and this birthday seemed to have somewhat of a babydoll theme! Grandmommy gave Laney this precious American Girl Bitty Baby. She is a little Asian baby, and so cute. She also gave her a little diaper bag with diapers, wipes, lotion, and burp cloths. Laney is really into diapers right now. She has been trying to put diapers on all her dolls and teddy bears lately. She is such a little mommy. She says, "uh-oh, poo poo" and grabs a diaper and doll. Grandmommy is so thoughtful! The box that Aunt Hailey's bubble mower was in was so fun, we almost didn't even need to open it! But, come on....something to push AND it blows bubbles? Doesn't get much better for Laney!

Laney got some shoes from Bobbis and of course some cool Pumas from Aunt Caitlin. She loves putting shoes off and on, so she got right to it!

It was like Christmas morning by the end of all Laney's present opening. She is one lucky girl and we are one blessed family to have so much love and support from our whole family!

We ate outside and the girls made their own "kid table" on the porch with their hot dogs and watermelon. They were so cute in their nakedness!

Time for cake! I put this Happy Birthday crown on Laney's head and it caused her to enter into a very suspicious shifty eye mode. I wish that we had it on video instead of just pictures. She wouldn't move her head at all, she was just shifting her eyes all around the room at everyone who was laughing really hard at her silliness. Eventually, Aunt Caitlin had to pick her up and help her blow out her big TWO candle!

No suspicions about eating the actual cake and ice cream!

Two Years Old!!!

I started this post on Laney's actual birthday, Wednesday April 23rd. But you can blame The Other Boleyn Girl for why it is just getting posted now. I could not put it down! Definitely one of the best books I have ever read! We just got finished with Laney's little party this afternoon also, so now I can post everything together! Today is Laney's birthday and I can barely believe it. Where has this last year gone and who is this little girl in front of me. I am awestruck to think that this time last year Laney had only been home with us for several months. I remember celebrating her birthday and already feeling as though we had been together an eternity. Now, here it is a whole year later and I can't even remember life without her. This past year has seriously been nothing short of amazing. Laney is such a happy, sweet and easy little girl. She loves life and is almost always so content in every situation. She is so independent and loves to play by herself at home. I keep hearing that I should be thankful for that and I am, but that doesn't mean that I don't bug her like crazy all the time to do puzzles with me and sit on the floor to read books. (that is not a hard sell....books are one of her favorite things ever) She would be perfectly happy to push her strollers all around the house and backyard singing songs all day long.

She is starting to say lots of words and each time I hear her sweet voice it melts my heart. She calls daddy on her cell phone all the time and drives to see him in her car. She never calls or visits anyone but Daddy. Such a loyal little thing! She is getting a little mischevious, but always gives herself away by laughing or casting a sideways look through squinted eyes.

She loves junk food and thinks that everytime she even looks at a letter on the refrigerator, she should get a jelly bean and actually gets offended if I don't give it to her. She would eat popsicles for every meal of the day and thinks that it is ridiculous to eat one inside or in anything but her diaper.

She loves to hold my hand while we are driving and has started grabbing my thumb and moving it back and forth to stroke her little hand, which is the cutest thing that I think she has ever done.

There are a million things that I want to write about my little two year old, so that I never forget this precious age. She is wonderful, and so perfectly matched with our family. This is a day that I am so aware of the sacrifice that was made by another so that we could be lavished with the blessing that is our daughter.

We met our playgroup at the park on Tuesday afternoon. So we brought some cupcakes to celebrate Laney's birthday the next day. Laney could barely play the whole time because she was so concerned about when we were going to eat the cupcakes that she picked out. All of our friends sang Happy Birthday to Laney and then started chowing down.

Laney doesn't like to see a smidge of frosting wasted. She is not so protective of the actual cupcake part, but she relishes in her frosting!

After we left our friends at the park, we brought dinner up to Todd at the church. We had some cupcakes left and of course Laney wanted to share them with her daddy. She carried them all the way in from the parking lot very proudly.

She didn't really eat this second cupcake. She just wanted to hold it and of course sample a little frosting.

We woke up the next morning on Laney's birthday. She started singing in her crib like she does most mornings when she wakes up. Todd and I went in together to see how much our little girl had changed by turning TWO years old!

We started the day with some pancakes shaped like twos

Then we got all dressed for the day in Laney's "I'm the Birthday Girl" t-shirt, which she loved. Everytime I said, "Happy Birthday" She would point to her tummy and say, "cake!"

We met Jessica, Claire, and Tessa at the library for story time. Laney loved it so much. Much much more than she usually does. Maybe it was because it was her "Happy Day" which is what she called it. Whatever caused it, she was full of smiles for Mr. Bob.

After story time, we met Todd, Grandmommy and Aunt Hailey at McDonalds for lunch. Lately we can't even drive by McDonalds (or any park for that matter) without Laney pointing and shouting "PLAY" She was very excited when we turned into the parking lot and she realized that she was going to get her wish!

We had a special Laney sized birthday cake sent all the way from Nae Nae in Nocona. It was the perfect little cake to celebrate with and helped to reinforce Laney's apparent belief that birthday equals cake.

Grandmommy gave Laney some cotton candy and it didn't take her long at all to realize that she loves spun sugar!

After lunch, we had to go home for naps. But as soon as Laney woke up we met my mom and Jess and the kids at Chuck E Cheese for some more celebrating. This was our usual Bobbis playgroup day, so my mom decided to make it a little more special for Laney. The girls had so much fun playing together!

After so much fun at Chuck E Cheese ( which Laney calls "bark bark" by the way.....I guess she thinks that Chuck E. is a dog) we got to go home and see Daddy!
Todd and I took Laney to Target to pick out a toy, which was not part of our plan, but might become a fun tradition. She got a drum and said, "my drum" the whole way home in case either of us was mistaking it as our new toy!
We made one last birthday stop at Coldstone Creamery and Laney got some ice cream. She picked out her flavor and mixing by pointing to them and ended up with black cherry and white chocolate chips. Not what I would have chosen, but who is to argue with the birthday girl!

We had the best day ever with Laney!! I am certain that it is just the precursor for what is going to be another incredible year with her! She is so much fun!

I will be posting pictures from her very fun birthday party soon!

Uh-Oh!!

We have a serious problem in the passy department. Laney loves them. We read a book called I Love You Like I Love Blueberry Pancakes. It is so cute and lists all these ways that you can love someone....like pigs love pies, like frogs love flies. Anyway, if Laney ever told me that she loved me like she loves her passies, I would be a content mommy. She loves them. I am starting to freak out about how she is supposed to quit the passy when she turns two.......in THREE days! I have all these very strict rules about the passy. You can only have it when you are in your crib or when we are in the car.........oh yeah and in the stroller, and sometimes at the grocery store, and if you are sad when I am dropping you off at the nursery, etc. So, I might be perpetuating the addiction by not being a little tougher with the rules.
Needless to say, as seen below, our girl loves her passy!!! It is going to be a sad sad day when we have to say goodbye!

See, you wouldn't want to take it away either. Look at the joy that it brings.

We gotta get this girl a TENT!

Laney found this little tent at the Hooks' house during playgroup last week. She was loving it. The front flap velcroes down and she couldn't get enough of pulling it shut and waiting for me to come and yank it open and find her.

She was laughing her head off and saying "NNNNNNNNNNO" Laney loves to drag out the N sound to really emphasize her point. She hasn't started to do this in a defiant way, so I still think that it is super cute!