Happy Birthday Grumpy!

Friday we drove to NH to visit Gram and Grumpy.

When we arrived, MiniM.E. had a surprise waiting for her.  Nothing says fun like a 25 year old bouncy horse- for real. MiniM.E. is thrilled with it!  What fun!

Then MiniM.E. had to show off her solo trike riding skills:

And find the new toy on the swing set.

Saturday was Grumpy's birthday.  We went to Heritage Farm again (we visited last year) and saw the animals and had a great pancake brunch.  The baby cow was older and was caged in and the ground was wet and muddy, which we were a little disappointed about, but to make up for it, we got to go on a wagon ride with a St. Bernard/Sheepdog mix.

ooo, so the baby cow is so soft!

Hi, Fern!

petting the horse was the highlight of the trip

MiniM.E. even helped with the farm work!

Happy Birthday Grumpy!

Happy Birthday MiniM.E.

MiniM.E.'s actual birthday was yesterday.  I'm still having a hard time believing she's two.  Sometimes it seems like just yesterday she was sleeping in my arms.

And seriously, I wish I could have accomplished as much in two years of my life as MiniM.E. has in the past two years.  She learned to sit and crawl and walk and run and skip and jump.  She learned to babble and talk and speak in sentences and sing songs and count and say her ABCs.  She grew 13 inches and has 17 teeth.  She can do puzzles and make towers and trains.  She uses the potty and sleeps in a big-girl bed.  She can take off her clothes and (almost) put them on.  She just amazes me.

Happy 2nd Birthday MiniM.E.!

What A Party!

Since MiniM.E.'s birthday isn't until tomorrow, we threw a party for her yesterday.

It was a lot of preparation (I think I always bite off a bit more than I can chew), but it was a huge success and MiniM.E. LOVED IT.  She'd been talking about it all week: "and there will be lots of people, and friends, and a cake with owls and it will be purple and people will sing Happy Birthday and I will sing Happy Birthday to myself and there will be presents and toys and I can open them..."  I think it lived up to her expectations.

There was, of course, the cake (which is why I have been such a bad blogger lately).

Uncle Billy and Auntie Jen came to visit:

There was a lot to get ready for the party... decorations, games, a corn bin...

MiniM.E. was too cute.  Her favorite part of the party was when everyone sang to her.  She'd been singing "Happy Birthday" for at least a week, so I tried to get her to sing while everyone was there.  Of course, being the smarty pants she is, when I said, "Okay, go ahead and sing," she looked at me and replied, "NO! Everyone ELSE!"

loving the attention

 Eating the cake was a close second...

Possibly tied with opening presents.

It was a lot of work, but I was so happy we threw her a party when she exclaimed this morning, "I want ANOTHER birthday party!"  

Happy Birthday E!

Last weekend was our neighbor, Baby E.'s, 1st Birthday.  1st birthdays are kind of a big deal, and E.'s mom enlisted me to bake the cake and help with the decorations.  I was more than happy to help out!

Cake, decorations, and one happy birthday girl!

A Birthday Party!

Last week MiniM.E.'s friend turned one.  Of all birthdays, at least for 15 or so years, the first one is pretty much IT.  So I helped to make it a Dinosaur-tastic day for the birthday boy.

Using the handprints of his friends, I made this to commemorate the day:

**This is primarily a blog about my awesome kid... but just as an advertisement for my kid's awesome mom (i.e., me) I recently updated my website, krisdunhamillustration.com.  Check it out.  And let me know if you need custom childrens' illustration!

And made some cupcakes to go along with it.

This is the birthday boy in his new dinosaur chair.

The birthday boy wasn't feeling so hot (hence the lack of smile).  But the other kids had a great time.  Some weren't into eating cupcakes as much as ribbons...

MiniM.E. had a great time playing with toys and eating the sprinkles off a cupcake.  And wearing her "birthday party outfit" complete with tutu.

(we didn't wear the owl hat at the party)

Happy 1st Birthday S.!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

MiniM.E. and H. played more together on Friday.  It was the first time they actually seemed to be playing together and it was adorable.

care for some tea?

more kisses over coffee

Then Saturday it was my birthday.  I spent most of the day cutting wood for a play kitchen I'm making MiniM.E. (shhh! it's a surprise!).  While I cut wood, MiniM.E. was busy wrapping presents with Gram and helping to decorate the cake.

such careful little fingers

so many sprinkles in this cup...

and they should all be on the cake!

all gone!

maybe I can spread them around...

or just eat them!

and some candles

Later in the afternoon H. came over to say good-bye.  Cutest hug ever!

Then we sang "Happy Birthday" (to MiniM.E.) and blew out the candles- THREE times.

The best birthday present I got was MiniM.E. singing "Happy Birthday" to me.  She actually tried to sing and it was pretty much the cutest thing I've ever heard in my entire life.  She was so proud of herself.

**Note: I apologize for the lack of video.  For one, MiniM.E. is really hard to record because as soon as she sees the camcorder, she runs over and says, "see baby!" because she wants to watch the videos of herself.  Whenever I DO get to record her, I don't usually have the time to upload the videos because my computer is out of space so uploading them requires that I back up other photos and videos and get them off of my computer... a project I am diligently working on in all my free time... 

Thanks for a great birthday MiniM.E.!