A Huge Hit - Bath Crayons

Aunt Kel sent Addison a birthday box (on top of the raincoat she'd already gotten her).  One of the fun new toys are shower crayons.  Addison doesn't love to shower - she prefers a bath - but sometimes it's just easier and faster to put her in the shower with us.  When I asked if she wanted to color in the shower she couldn't get in fast enough and then she wouldn't get out.  She showered for more than 40 minutes and used half the orange and most of the purple crayon (purple is her favorite color).  We have a wand in our shower and so she could draw and "erase" her pictures at will.  I colored with her for the first 25 minutes or so and then I was able to get out and get ready while she was still happily coloring. 

Thanks for the great gift Aunt Kel - we're sure it will provide many more hours of fun (and peace for mom)!

Still Baking

Addison and I spend a lot of time in the kitchen but usually dad isn't home to record our fun together.  On a rare occasion he got a picture (I don't even remember what we were making).  I think baking/cooking is great for Addison - she is learning to count, pour, scrape, stir, wait, etc.  I just realized last week that she might not be old enough to dump liquid yet since it ended up all down the counter and over the floor - but the mess is worth all the learning she's doing!

Let's not forget the best part of kitchen help is tasting - mmm tasty!

Hiking at Silver Lake

The only remaining part of our basement project is installing the carpet - we can then reclaim our living space!  Currently - the clutter and lack of organization are driving me crazy and I had no desire to spend another day at home!  So, when Addison woke up kind of cranky this morning I decided it was time to go for a "hike".  Her cranky attitude flipped a quick switch when I asked if she wanted to go hiking.  She was excited to get her hiking hat, hiking shoes, and hiking socks.  We also took her bunny, fish, milk, whistle, glasses, and snacks (most of which waited for us in the car). 

We headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon to walk around Silver Lake.  My quick google search doesn't say how long the "hike" is but I would guess it's about a mile with boardwalk most of the way, scattered benches and plenty of squirrels, bugs, fish, ducks, etc. 

I've been trying to get a good 2-year picture of Addison but when you ask her to smile she does a very cheesy grin.  She has an adorable natural smile - just not to be caught on camera.  Here are just a few of our zillion attempts. 

We stopped at every bench, water outlet, and nearly every rock for a rest/break/snack.  She only bawled twice that I wouldn't carry her and we eventually made it all the way around (in 90 minutes).  We weren't in a hurry for any reason so I didn't mind the slow pace.  I'm not about to carry her at 8 months pregnant and I'm not a sucker for her tears like her dad.  It's good for her to learn to hike/walk and when all was said and done she had a good time.

A family of ducks swam over to see her (mom and 2 bigger babies) because I think they thought we had food.  Addison talked to the ducks for a long time during one of our breaks.

Towards the end Addison stopped and climbed up on a stump only to exclaim "mom - take my picture!".  Apparently she started to get that I was trying to get a picture of her.  However, I wouldn't say this one was any more successful then all the rest!  She's still awfully cute though!

While the hike was nice our day just got more eventful when we got home.  I got in the shower and Addison has been doing great playing in her room while I shower - or sometimes she'll just play in our closet in the bathroom.  I was impressed by her independence today because she wasn't in and out of the bathroom a hundred times asking if I was done.  I turned the water to REALLY hot and enjoyed the few minutes of a break.  When I finished and got out of the shower I could hear her bawling her heart out!  I hurried to go and see what was wrong only to find that she had locked herself in her bedroom.  Not just closed the door and couldn't get it open - but literally locked the door handle on the inside in her effort to get it open. 

I sat outside her door and kept asking her to turn the middle part of the nob and then I finally talked her into going and getting her binky from her crib so that she could calm down.  After about 15 minutes I called her dad on the phone and he came home from work to try to help.  She had finally given up and went back to playing in her room.  I eventually realized that it is the only door handle upstairs that is different from all the others and I was able to unlock it with a flat head screw driver.  When I finally got her door open she was happily sucking her binky and rocking on her horse.  She was most upset that I made her put her binky back in her bed! 

Yep - just a morning in our life!  I can honestly admit that I was really glad when 1 pm came around and it was time for nap!

Chuck E. Cheese's

We planned to take Addison to Chuck E. Cheese's for her birthday but decided to postpone the adventure for another day.  We ended up going last night and it was fun.  The one by our house in Sandy is tiny compared to the one I remember growing up - and I don't know if it is because I was little and it seemed big or if the Sandy one is actually small.  The thing I was most sad was missing was a ball pit - that used to be my favorite part of Chuck E. Cheese's.  

Addison danced and watched the characters sing while we ate and then she rode on some of the rides and played several games (don't mind that she bawled when she first saw them and thought they were terrifying - but you can see from the pics that she warmed up).  She really wanted to play the car games - but in her age of independence - had a melt down when Oliver tried to put her on his lap - but she couldn't reach the peddles to make the car go.  So we tried to stay clear of all the racing games.  We ended up with 20 more tokens then we needed so we can now go back again with our stash!  It was a fun way for our little family to celebrate Addison for her birthday!

The Bday

We spent a lot of Addison's bday doing this:

She did get out of bed to sit on the porch and eat a popsicle and was very excited to see her trampoline assembled so she took a chance to jump.

She then asked if we could make cake and so we baked and then she went down for a nap.  After dad got home we had more singing of Happy Birthday and several more rounds of blowing out candles.  The bottom two pictures are of Oliver and I telling her to hold her cake and look at dad - but she was too busy sticking her fingers in the cake and tasting it :)

 She sat up at the counter - had 2 bits and was done.  But all in all it was a nice low key day.

Note

We're lucky to live close to almost all our immediate family - the only three missing members are Addison's Aunt Emily and Uncle Taylor and her Nana.  These posts are for them since they missed her second birthday party - I know that most of the details and all the pics are a bore for the rest of my 2 readers :) 

The Party Girl

Here are a few shots of her before her party.

And here are her adorable cousins sharing her food table in their awesome church attire - I just should have gotten a picture of their shoes so you could see the completion of the look.

The Song

Addison can sing the first two lines of Happy Birthday and it is her most requested song lately.  She says constantly "sing Happy Birthday me".  She has a toy cake that plays the song and Great-Grandma and Grandpa Lyon got her a card that sings it at her command.  There has been a lot of singing around here!  Here's a picture of her conducting everyone at her party after she commanded "sing Happy Birthday me!"

Cake

Addison's most favorite and anticipated event of the night was the cake.  She loves the Happy Birthday song and we probably sang to her three or four times during her party.  She loved to conduct everyone else singing to her!  I carried the cake in which is what she is watching for in the first pic and then, because of our ceiling fan, we had to do the candle part twice.  She promptly snatched the tiger eyes off her cake as soon as the song and candles were done and ate them both!

Today, even feeling horribly, Addison requested cake.  There wasn't any leftover cake after her party and when she wasn't eating at all today - I was happy to oblige.  We made another chocolate cake, frosted it, and, other than grapes, a few crackers, and a Popsicle, it's all she's had all day.  She apparently LOVES cake!  Which is comical because neither Oliver nor I are that excited about it.

The Presents

Addison wasn't especially interested in opening the presents when we started because all she could think about was cake.  After every gift she opened she would say - "cake now".  She kind of got into after a little bit - but she was most excited about CAKE!  Addison started by opening her gift from Uncle Nick and Aunt Tasha which I'll post pics of after this.

Aunt Holly (and fam) bought her a bunch of fall clothes that are darling!  Addison attempted to "wear" everyone she opened.

She then opened a wagon, baby, and new outfit from Grandma and Papa - the baby powder that came with the new baby doll is one of the things that she has been playing with non-stop.  It's funny the things that she has latched onto.

Oliver and I gave her a set of four Curious George book - she's had them for less than two full days and I'm ready to pack them away - we've read them a ton!

Her Nana sent a Go Fish game which Kyle was very excited about.  He was sad we couldn't open it that night - but he'll be over to play another day!

She loved ripping and throwing the tissue paper out of the bags.  

Nana also sent a matching tea set to the one she has at her house.  Both Nana and Grandma & Papa have tea sets at their homes and it's one of Addison's favorite things to play with - it's now fun that we have one in our home too.

The gift giving culminated with Addison receiving her Beta fish - which she has named Beta.  She is really sad that Beta only eats twice a day - but she loves talking to Beta and dancing for Beta. 

Dress Ups

Aunt Tasha made Addison a dress up dress.  We couldn't get her to try it on with all the people around - but after most everyone had left she was happy to put it on and dance around.  She loves it.  She also received a beaded necklace and a package of bracelets.  She's been parading around the house wearing her new bangles. 

Party Decor

Addison loves animals and thanks to Aunt Holly and Grandma both having zoo memberships - she can see them often!  We decided to theme her second birthday party accordingly.  

Here's the kids table - there were 14 adults, the birthday girl, and her two cousins.  We decided we'll wait and throw a friend party when she's a little older - for this year it was family (Aunt Holly, Uncle Evan, Aiden, Kyle, Grandma, Papa, Uncle Nick, Aunt Tasha) and Addison's surrogate family (Anamarie, Craig, Bryce, Bailey (we missed Bobby), Madison and Cameron) that live around the corner and in Provo. 

We served haystacks and Grandma brought fruit - all of which was great party food!  Easy to do - easy to prep in advance - and accommodating of the food allergies and dietary restrictions of our friends and family.  I made 15 cups of cooked rice and we ran out (sorry Cam!) so in the future I'll have to remember to make more!

We had a wonderful time and it turned out perfectly - thanks to everyone that supports our Little Miss.

The Morning After

The balloons were just as big of a hit the next morning.  Shhhh - don't tell - but I popped and put them in the trash after she went to bed tonight because I was tired to the mess in our living room.  I was also sad that I forgot to send any home with her cousins - because heavens knows we had plenty!