Party-time commenced with some good fun and picture taking. Sadly, and this is a huge shortcoming of ours, we neglected (once again) to take a family photo with everyone at the party, or even a photo of Libby with mama and daddy. Mama is very sad about this fact, but alas, what can we do but enjoy the hundreds of pictures taken of the birthday girl in that 4 hour period.

 

Libby's first gift of the day is a new doll from Aunt Em.
She's off to a good start.


could it be?


Little Elena has snap on clothes that Libby loves to adorn her with.

 

As the table fills with new goodies, Libby prepares to open her new umbrella from Uncle Daniel. She calls it "duckie umbrella" and excitedly declares at least once a day, "oh yeeesssss! raining!" unfortunately, this wishful thinking has not produced rain, which isn't due any sooner than perhaps Monday of next week. Poor Libby is anxiously awaiting April showers...

Aunt Em reads Libby her next birthday card, but she seems a little uninterested. Let's get to the opening, shall we?

Grandma Anna shows Libby all the goodies in her "granny's purse".

Libby's face lights up when she sees a new set of dishes from Grandma Shelley and Granddad.

 

now that the gifts are open, Libby can finally enjoy her dinner. Granddad manned the BBQ while Grandpa assembled Libby's new kitchen (compliments of Aunt Brett and Libby's parents). Here, she dines at her new table and chairs (new dishes surround her) gifted by both sets of grandparents. She LOVES this table and chairs, and has eaten all but perhaps 1 meal here since her party, as well as several pretend meals, and even some coloring. One particularly fun evening, daddy and mama joined Libby at her special table for dinner. Daddy claims it was the most uncomfortable dinner he's eaten in years. Libby loved it.

birthday decorations included a photo timeline of libby's 2 years, marked by tulips showing her actual heights on March 5, 2005, 2006 and 2007. Mama wants Libby to pose by the tulips to show the difference in her height, but she wouldn't cooperate. Here, Aunt Em shows her how easy and fun it is to pose by Libby's 21 inch tulip from the day of her birth.

Ah, the birthday cake. Thursday morning Libby noticed mama's cookbook and, deciding it was in her way requested, "put it away mama." I explained to her that I had been looking through this cookbook to find a birthday cake to make for Libby for her party. She quickly changed heart and now requested that I, "take a look mama! find a cake!" Libby flipped through the pages with me and decided on some chocolate souffles. But when I turned to the big blue cake and asked her, "what about this one?" her eyes lit up and she replied with a resounding, "yes." I suggested that I could make this cake, and even decorate it in pink! Libby paused for a moment and said, "no. blue." So, blue it was and I think it turned out to be everything Libby had dreamed.

Click here to see Libby blow out the candles.




anyone with a day as exciting as this one, who has been posing for photos for this long, would be doing the same. she can't hold back the (big) yawn, and the room was filled with flashes. (see how polite she is to cover her mouth?)

what a sweet pose, patiently waiting for her cake. Libby had been anticipating her birthday cake for several days, and the big moment had finally arrived!


as an added bonus, she even gets a scoop of ice cream.

Aunt Em is the lucky recipient of some Libby love.

 

Happy Birthday Libby! ... (I'm Two!)

Monday morning Libby became two years old. How unbelievable. She is such a joy and a delight, we can't imagine these two years without her. When she woke up on this special day, Libby woke to a treat. Daddy and mama have decorated her room in balloons and streamers, and lined her doorway with the same. Needless to say, it was a fun way to wake up and Libby continues to carry her balloons around the house in her own honor.
Aunt Wendy came to play with Libby, and after her nap Libby and mama went to play then meet daddy for dinner. It was a fun day, though an exhausting one after our travels the day before. Libby is looking forward to celebrating on Saturday, which will be her surrogate birthday, a day when mama has more energy, daddy is home, and many family members will come to celebrate with her. She doesn't know what she's in for!

 

Libby is a trooper, and despite the loaner carseat since Libby's didn't catch the flight back home, she keeps a smile on her face. Since the "sun is bright" she requested her sunglasses and when I turned to check her out I couldn't resist taking this photo. The birthday girl and I are making an impromptu trip to the playground at one of the malls, since the children's museum is closed on Monday and we had our hearts set on a playful outing.

 

After getting good and worn out playing, Libby and mama meet daddy for dinner. We went to Red Robin to have a kid-friendly meal in honor of the birthday girl. As a special treat, Libby enjoyed a fruit smoothie. Thankfully, she's very good at sharing.

as you can tell from her little face, birthdays can be exhausting

Here, Libby shows us that she's two.

sweet smiles

sweet treats

Back to our Home in Virginia

Libby and mama were blessed to spend a splended 6 days with our old friends in Virginia. There's so much to say about the trip, you probably should call me to get the highlights. Of course we had such a good time with Ben and Jaime and Josie. But we also got to visit several other old friends, and even attended a birthday party where we were able to catch up with many more. The weather was delightful, while daddy stayed home and weathered the worst blizzard this house had seen in 10 years. Meanwhile, we girls were playing at the park, eating and strolling the mall, and otherwise enjoying being out-and-about in lovely spring fashion.

Libby and Josie were again so fun to see together. We had some opportunities to learn about sharing and turn-taking, and the girls reacted well to these lessons and were so good about giving to the other. After a few days I noticed that the girls also took turns being vocal. It seemed that if Josie was particularly chatty for a spell, Libby was very quiet. Later, Libby would talk and talk and Josie would take her turn to listen. Not surprisingly, the girls absorbed quite a bit (if not everything) the other was saying and doing. Each of them repeated the other, if not immediately then a while later, and they always seemed to be aware of the other's doings. If Libby heard Josie say (while playing with Jaime) "where'd Josie go?" Libby would run out of her bedroom to go find Josie. If Josie spotted Libby munching on a cookie and wanted one, Libby would run to her snack bag and retrieve something for her friend. Perhaps by our next time together the girls will even do some real conversing. How fun that will be.

The photos below are beginning on Saturday and go back in time to last Tuesday, when we made our arrival. We didn't get any pics on Sunday, which is a shame because the girls were so sweet in their goodbyes, hugging and kissing one another. Libby told Josie she loved her so much, and Josie watched from the window as her mama left to take her friends to the airport.

Daddy would agree that Libby's language skills are constantly improving, he couldn't believe some of the things mama was reporting Libby as saying while we were gone. Unfortunately, it seems that mama is exceptionally gifted in understanding her little one. Not everyone is so blessed as to hear Libby's declarations on the first try. But, I can be quite the translator, and am happy to fill you in.

Some of my favorite "sayings" of Libby's were in the car as we left our morning activity of the day. Almost without fail Libby would name what we had just done and follow up with "fun". For example, "Musie fun!" as we left the music class. Or "library fun" as we left story time. A moment later she would tell us she was "happy." It was very sweet. She also enjoyed Jaime's Honda Element. She seemed to notice it was unique as a car, and told me she "like Jaime's car." I asked her why she liked it and as she snuggled into her carseat she said, "is comfy."

Libby was very affectionate with Jaime and Ben and Josie, and enjoyed giving them hugs and kisses before bed ("hug and kese Jaime" "hug and kese Ben"). In the morning she woke to the birds chirping (sounds sweet, but it can really be very annoying at 6 a.m. I had forgotten about our little pals chirping outside our window as the sun rises year round). She was laying in bed next to me trying to go back to sleep, the sun was on the rise, the birds started in and she couldn't do it. She finally gave up and turned to me and said, "I hear birds singing." Her little tone was so clear, she may as well have said, "there's no way I can go back to sleep." Just then Josie stirred next door and Libby said sadly, "Josie hears birds too." As if to say, "she can't sleep either." These early morning smiles on mama's face are the only thing that could get me out of bed. :)

Well, enjoy the pictures from our visit. We had such a good time and are looking forward to our next get-together with our friends. In the meantime, the girls will continue to grow and change and surprise and impress. I mean take a look. They're brilliant and beautiful. I couldn't be prouder of them!

It's Pajama (play) Time

Post-party, it's time for the girls to put on their jammies. But, they delay through play, and we have some of our most interactive playtime from our time together.

Libby is trying to take a picture of Josie with her cell phone. Does that seem incredible to anyone else? Our 2-year-olds are trying to take photos with their toy cell phones!

The girls work together to rock doggie-o on Lulu the Lamb.

When Josie speaks, Libby listens. And visa-versa.

 

The girls were playing along nicely when suddenly Libby gets a devilish grin on her face, crinkles up her fingers in that tell-tale fashion, and says, "tickle josie!" Apparently hers was a good idea, though a surprising one, because both girls enjoyed the tickles (especially being on the receiving end).