Happy 2nd Birthday, Avery!

Yes – we officially have a toddler on our hands now. Avery turned 2 on Sunday!!! The whole weekend was great. My parents flew in from Amsterdam (their last trip from AMS to BOS, as they have moved back to the states for good now…crazy!) on Thursday night. Avery was THRILLED that they were here. As we were leaving daycare that night, all that she kept saying to everyone there was “Opa, Grandma at my house!!!” She then proceeded to run around like a maniac all night on Thursday night when she got home – she was so excited. Friday morning, my parents watched her while I went to work – she had a great time with them walking around the neighborhood and playing in her sandbox. I came home at noon from work and the rest of the weekend was spent getting ready for the big party on Sunday.

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve decided that I’m going to do my best to make a cake for the kids for every birthday. Mind you, I have never in my life baked a decorative cake, so I truly have no idea what I’m doing. Perfect example – the 25 pound (no, I’m not exaggerating) lady bug cake that I made for her first birthday – little did I know, I didn’t need to make TWO layers using the largest cake pan I could find. This thing was bigger than Avery. This year, however – I ordered a Barney cake pan that was much more of a practical size. And, it actually turned out really well, if I do say so myself! For some reason, my camera makes the frosting look blue, but I swear it was purple – very purple, actually.

This year, because we have just moved into the house, we just had family and a few friends over for Avery’s birthday (i.e., not a huge party with 10000 kids – maybe next year). It was the first thing that we have ever really hosted, as this was the first occasion that we had enough room to host, so it was fun. We ended up bringing our patio furniture in from outside and setting that up and then borrowed some chairs and silverware from friends so that we had enough for everyone. Oh, and Avery contributed her part by putting a Barney sticker at each place...

So, maybe not the “prettiest,” most perfectly coordinated table, but it worked! Then, seeing as how it was Mother’s Day as well, I got a bud vase and put a flower in it for all of the moms to take home that day, which ended up working perfectly as a centerpiece.

Oh, and then , since it was a Barney theme, we had Barney Plates, Barney Napkins and I made everyone wear a Barney hat. Funny thing was, the only ones not wearing the hats were the 2 year olds. And, I’m pretty certain most of the adults are still cursing my name (as you can see in this picture of my father), as it became obvious that the hats were in fact hurting everyone, as the string was a bit tight.

However, after seeing my enthusiasm over the hats, none of them said a word about this until I announced that I thought that my circulation was about to be cut off and that everyone could take the hats off if they so choose – at which point, I hear a huge sigh of relief from everyone, as they take them off, only to leave a bright red line under their chin where the string had been. Sorry about that!

Avery had a great time – she was a little overwhelmed by all of the people and the short nap that she took that afternoon didn’t really help (doesn’t it always work that way? They never take long naps on the days that you need them to), as she got a bit tired as the day went on. But, overall, she enjoyed herself and had fun playing with Asher in the sandbox and on Grandpy’s tractor that was still there from mowing the lawn earlier.

She got some great gifts and especially loved the bike that Grandmy and Grandpy got for her! She hasn’t quite yet gotten the concept that, if you push the pedals, you will go, but she’ll get there. Josh and I also got her a kitchen set, which we put together on Saturday night - what a pain (I swear, they couldn't make those things more difficult to put together if they tried). But, she loved it when she woke up on Sunday morning. Of course, I only have video of these two gifts and I can't figure out how to upload that onto my computer, so instead, here are some random pictures of Avery opening other things...

So, overall, it was a great weekend. Thank god my parents were there! I really couldn’t have done it without them. It was so nice having the extra sets of hands and, most importantly, having someone else who could occupy Avery so that we could get some stuff done!

Oh goodness! Winker II! Poor child – he/she is already neglected and it isn’t even born yet! I had a dr’s appointment on Monday and everything looks great – the baby is actually measuring a bit larger than normal – 4 lbs 4 oz. and the ultrasound showed a due date of July 3rd with every measurement that they took, so it makes me wonder if I’m really a week further along than I thought? Either that, or this one really is just a bigger baby. Who knows. Anyway – here is a belly picture at 32 weeks. I’m actually pretty psyched, because this shirt isn’t even a maternity shirt – granted, I think that this was the last time that it will really work, as it was getting a bit short, but hey – not too bad for 32 weeks. Only 7 more to go!!!