.A Second Birthday for Alice

You can tell I love this girl by how many photos of her I'm sharing in this post. But seriously though, isn't she sooooo CUTE!!?? I can't believe my baby is already two… she's so big and tall and smart now. I love her long, straight hair. It's so fun to finally be able to braid it and do fun hairstyles when she lets me. Alice is the sassiest little thing you've ever met, she will scream and whine about something for hours before ever simply telling me what the problem is… every time. There are just so many injustices in her life to whine about, you know? It's hard to be a two year old these days.

   

Alice was so excited for her birthday cake, she was even willing to sit by it for some photos. So many photos. (I'll write more about the cake at the bottom of this post)

Time for presents! She loved this of course.

We can safely say she was sufficiently spoiled.

Blowing out the candles with her weird, hovering, Mom:

Official cutting of the cake ceremony (being dorks):

And the eating of the cake:

And just for memory sake, here are some photos from the day before her party (which was her actual birthday, but Air was working). I took the kids to the indoor playground:

 

We met up with the family to watch Tiana's volleyball tournament in Sherwood Park and then we all ate at McDonalds afterwards (Alice's favorite).

It was a good day!

*****

And now…the cake.

So I actually spent too much time mixing all the frosting colors (I wanted them perfect) and didn't have enough time left for decorating, which is probably the most important part of this Mexican fiesta style cake. So I had to rush and it turned out pretty lame…but good enough for us.

So… I wasn't going to share this, because the comparison is pathetic, but this photo (found online) was my inspiration:

.eighteenth month

I’ve gotta be                                                                       honest, I’m

posting this much much later                                 than the time Alice actually

turned 18 months, but lets see how much I            can remember about Alice at this adorable

time of her life... ♥Alice loves to read books and       sing songs. Especially songs with actions. ♥She’s

obsessed with the combo of her binkie, her baby doll, and her blankie and has no trouble whatsoever

taking naps or going to bed as long as they are all present and accounted for. ♥She runs so funny without

bending her knees (still not so sure when she'll grow out of that?). ♥She is in love with shoes and socks…

she begs to have them so she can put them on and take them off repeatedly throughout the day. ♥She thinks

it’s the funniest thing in the world when she puts a bucket on her head and acts silly. We all agree it is. ♥She

spends much of her time quietly rummaging through buckets of toys and entertaining herself, always

busy. ♥She is always blabbing on about who knows what. We can’t wait til she can talk with real words!

♥She is pretty stranger-shy, but definitely prefers women? ♥She loves her big brother and wants to

be doing whatever he is doing all the time. ♥Her skin is soft and plump and pink to perfection.

I squeeze and kiss her all day long. ♥She loves to repeat the last sound of your

sentence back to you. ♥She can actually sing really well and

harmonizes with me. ♥She is adorable and

perfect and she lightens

our life!

      

Can you tell I had way too many photos to choose from after this photo shoot?

Here she is with her favorite binki/baby/blankie combo:

Busy busy busy:

 

This last photo just makes me giggle… these two are always rummaging through toys and making a huge mess in this tiny space we call the “toy area”. Adorable and hilarious:

.All of it, from December thru January

I just……. I just have a whole bucket load of photos and stories to post on this blog and I wanna get them all on here without too much time or effort. Ha! It’s crazy, but I am seriously posting all of the photos I have from December last year through January in one post. And I will do more similar posts in the days to come. Contrary to popular belief, I haven’t given up on this blog yet!

I have to admit, these packed posts will really be a perfect representation of our year so far, because so far 2016 has been just as quick and crazy and stressful and terrible and full of love and cute little people as these posts will be.

Enjoy?

 

Ok these first photos are old! I can’t believe how yiddo these two look only six months later…

 

Alice had an adorable milk mustache and then came the new year! Here were my top 9 photos from 2015↓↓↓

And this candybar was Air and my’s entire new years party haha… seriously though, so good!↓↓↓

We had some fun ice skate/sledding with the family to kick off the new year↓↓↓

 

It was great to have Tessa here from Hawaii for the holidays. Here we are at her farewell sushi dinner↓↓↓

↓↓↓Ames started PRIMARY this year. He is the cutest little sunbeam I have ever known. He has so many little friends in his class, he loves it//I “nailed it” with this recipe I saw online. Apparently when you set the oven to convect instead of bake, it can cause problems↓↓↓

 

↓↓↓At the beginning of 2016 I made one wishful resolution: That Ames would finally become interested in using the potty and get potty trained. Amazingly this boy was all trained up before January was even over! In this photo he drew a picture of me… with a head, hair, legs and a heart. Only the important stuff//A rare moment in this house when one of our kids falls asleep anywhere other than their own bed↓↓↓

 

One of Ames’s favorite activities in our house is jumping off the pony wall in our extra bedroom downstairs. He even does some really sweet somersault jumps onto the bed↓↓↓

 

We were so lucky the ice castle was here in Edmonton this winter. We had so much fun exploring this place with the family just days before is started melting away↓↓↓

The slides were the best part. If I look like I was scared, it’s because I was terrified! j/k

 

Aaron turned 32! The kids and I made him breakfast in bed and everyone came over in the evening for a party↓↓↓

 

*****

And here are some videos of course!

indoor playgrounds are the best

my husband is a dork

Alice is the best

probably one of the most creepy face-swaps out there

More to come!