Happy 2nd Birthday!!!!

My TINY BABY is 2!!!!!!!!! 

It was a wonderful day!  Daddy was off work and the three of us celebrated all afternoon together!

Kicked off the afternoon festivities with a trip to Freddie's Frozen Custard! YUM!

 Oh the choices... She's 2!  She can order alone, right?! 

This big girl had her VERY OWN custard!  With sprinkle confetti and fudge!!

Quick attempt at a family shot... then realized we were all dressed oh-so-cute!  HA

I've always been about comfort over fashion.. :)

Had to take a trip to Walmart for more balloons (we are busy decorating for the her big party tomorrow) and how can we take a birthday girl to Walmart without getting a new toy.. or three? 

After contemplating over Donald Duck stuffed toy, a nerf ball, and a few other randoms, she wouldn't let her grip off this keyboard!  I saw these cute lawn chairs and asked her to try it out!  She agreed, IF she could practice her piano skills... 

After buying the keyboard for the bday girl.. plus that cute lawn chair.. plus a new big backyard ball.. we headed to the park...

Pointing out some "tweets".. birds

Slidin' with Daddy.. 

 Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Thankful for these two amazing years she has brightened our days.. and sometimes our nights too.. 

Looking forward to many many more laughs and cuddles from this cutie pie.

Oh - and Chrissy, if you read the blog.. I hope you spotted her shirt!  Daddy dressed her today.. and although it didn't quite meet up to my "cutest ever birthday outfit", when I saw it was this shirt, we left it on :)  Miss you and our Shanghai gang.. lots!

We forgot to blog because...

 we've been....

Digging trenches in the backyard to extend and bury the rain gutter so this doesn't happen!!

Installing new cabinet fixtures in the bathroom!!  (I'll brag on myself here because I did this project solo while J was on a business trip!!)

 Laying sod and installing flower bed borders!  (not too sure what the previous owners of the house were going for with all the dirt and lack of flora?)  this is the "before we put sod in pic"

 Digging up cement posts ... UGH.. The previous owner apparently had 3 of these in the yard to hold up a tarp that covered the entire yard.  That left us with 3 cut off stumps!  What a fun thing for a child to fall on in the yard!  Let me tell you how much fun we had getting these out of the holes J dug!!

 We've been ....
Eating lots of chocolate pudding!

 Cooking new recipes !!  (this one is chili-mango chicken stirfry!) SUCCESS!  And look at my cute new pottery dishes from Barbados!

 Playing at the park and exploring new "big girl" things!  Yee... Hawwww

 Growing .. growing.. but still being cautious :)

 Cooking some more... Encrusted Tilapia with Fresh Beans w Almonds !

 Playing "mommy " to "dolly" and changing lots of diapers.. (think it might be time for someone to start potty training!)

 Missing Yang Ayi!  A LOT!  Doing lots of laundry.. (Disclaimer - yes, those are my undies she put around her neck!  Hey, I guess it's a start to having a helper fold laundry :)

 Enjoying being outside.. and this beautiful weather!  This particular evening we were amazed at the red wing blackbirds as they flew back north.. there were literally zillions of them flying over the neighborhood!  Yaya (as she calls herself ) loved the 'tweets' and still goes out back asking to see more of them fly over.  It was so neat to look straight up and see birds EVERYWHERE.. good thing they are potty trained! ha

 Having lots of outside play time.. with make-shift water tables!!

 Eatin' breakfast in our sunglasses...

 Driving around in our sunglasses..

 Learning to pay attention at Library Story Time.. (hmmm this pic was just as she was turning around to announce "DONE" to everyone that she had finished her fruit snacks!)

 We've been..
Working outside on getting the sprinkler system to work.. This pic was proof of my achievement!

 Playing outside.. more make shift water tables!  (Here you can see the new sod!)

 Cooking some MORE!  Lemongrass/Ginger Tilapia with soba noodles, carrots and cilantro!  Yum.. Trying to eat healthy!

 Wearing tubs on our heads!

 And this week, preparing for someone to turn TWO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Little Gym

If you read my posts on emschinajourney, you know how much Olivia loved The Adventure Zone in Shanghai!  We both miss our fun play dates there!  Luckily, our new friend Linh (and her 3 cute boys) introduced us to The Little Gym in Tulsa!

After our trial/preview class last week, there was no question as to IF we should join for the rest of the class (through June)... Olivia LOVED it!  The 'class' is once a week for 45 minutes.. Mommy or Daddy joins the "Beastie" (the well titled name of this age group - 19mo to 2.5yrs) in the class led by Ms. Tammy.  She's been instructing for over 9 years and is wonderful!!

Each week has the same overall structure, but with emphasis on different things.  Last week we sang the ABC's and made different letters on the mat with a jump rope.  For the "O" we jumped in ... jumped out... for the "W" we tip-toed around it.. This week we sang a song using all the kid's names and did several activities with a huge parachute!  After the main activity, the Beasts can explore on their own (with Mommy) or go over to learn something new with Ms. Tammy.  Followed by bubbles, singing, ringing bells, jumping, running, etc..  

Olivia experienced her first front rolls and even a back roll - with assistance from Ms. Tammy and Mommy, of course!  I was a bit concerned about how well she would like these 'rolls' as they call them, because 1 summersault and I feel dizzy and nauseous!!!  But this little Beast wanted "more, more, more!!"

After our first class last week, I was so proud of my growing girl.  For the most part, she listened to instruction EXTREMELY well, and was so eager to try new things.  I loved watching her be one of the kids who helped clean up when Ms. Tammy asked (putting balls in the bucket, bells in the bin, gathering jump ropes, etc).  And most of all, my heart smiled watching her explore something new and just love it.. she was all giggles and squeaks.. and constantly clapping and jumping with each new activity!  This is something we both look forward to each week!!

Here are a few pics I was able to capture!  (When I heard the class was 45 minutes, I wondered if it would go too fast.. but it is a perfect amount of time to have fun and get us both in the mood for a nap!)

First Trip to the ZOO!

Thanks to a beautiful February morning and a wonderfully sweet friend of my mom's who has yearly passes, we went to the Zoo today! With the sunshine and warm breeze, I momentarily thought it was May!

We stopped at a few select spots for some photos! She was a bit confused that we let her stand on this ledge by the statues!

The world spinning under our finger tips!

I'm not sure who enjoyed the time more - I loved looking at the animals.. Maybe after a few more trips, my little animal will be happy sitting and viewing for longer durations!

Come on, Penguins.. come swim!

My little animal asked to get in the tiger pit!

Children's Petting Zoo!

MMMMmmmmmmm

Sunbathing..

Nonna volunteered to go on the carousel ride! Whew - they make this momma dizzy!

What a big girl!