Olivia is TWO!

Whew! What a busy month we had. February was packed with lots of fun. And LOTS of celebrating! It felt as if we celebrated Olivia's birthday almost the entire month (which we pretty much did).

We celebrated with our family in Oklahoma one weekend, the next we met Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa Mike at a hotel near the half way point to celebrate (including swimming, cupcakes, and presents), then the next weekend my Mom came to visit and we all went to the zoo.

Her actual birthday was last Monday, February 25. I like to do something fun for the girls on their birthday so we met Daddy at Chuck E Cheese for lunch. 

This is their favorite game. They win lots of tickets on this one.

And Olivia can pull the lever all by herself! She needs a little help reaching the big button though.

Since we were getting lots of tickets on this game we played it for a long time. Then we played a few more games and came back to this one.

And since we were celebrating a birthday we just had to have cake!

Olivia got a birthday sticker when we walked in the door too. She was pretty excited to wear Chuck E Cheese on her shirt.

They even had candles and a lighter. Olivia loves to blow out candles!

So we lit them over and over and over!

She had a great time! And she loves being TWO!!

Grace's Birthday

On Grace's birthday we wanted to have a FUN day! So we went to the movies. After the movie the girls got to play in the play area at the mall before we headed home for lunch.

While Olivia took her nap, Grace helped make her cake. We had baked a heart shaped cake the night before but we had to make frosting and decorate it. She chose a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and it was pretty yummy!

Before dinner we let Grace open her presents. Since she had her party over a week before her actual birthday she only had a few presents to open but she didn't mind. 

 

 She is really into Fairies and Barbies so she got a couple of Barbies and a Tinkerbell scooter.

After her special dinner (she chose steak, smashed potatoes, green beans, and rolls) she got to blow out candles and we had cake and ice cream.

She told me that this was the prettiest cake ever! I am sure glad she thought so.

Happy Birthday Grace!

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY GRACE!!!!!!

 Four years ago...

And now...

Grace is 3!

Last Saturday Grace turned 3!
We had a FUN birthday party for her at our house. She picked the theme - CIRCUS! And then she picked her cake. So the week before her birthday we set out to make her the best cake ever. It took a little bit of time on 4 separate days but I think it was definitely worth it. Day #1 I made the brownie pops for the clown, ringmaster, and animal bodies. Day #2 we used fondant to turn the brownie pops into figures for the cake. Day #3 my Mom and Grace made the cakes - one 10" round and two 6" round cakes that would later be stacked to make a two tier cake. On day #4 we covered each tier in fondant and added circles and stars to the bottom layer and stripes to the top. Once I got the cakes home I had to assemble them all. It was MUCH easier than her first birthday cake. It turned out GREAT! One of the kids at the party asked if the cake came from Cake Boss. That is a huge compliment.

Dustin used 3 colors of crepe paper to create a "circus tent" look in our living room. We had popcorn and cotton candy for all the guests. We had a few carnival games set up for the kids to play as they arrived. Once most everyone was here we went outside and the kids jumped in the bounce house while the men got the pinata ready. After all the candy was collected from the ground it was time for presents!! While Grace opened presents I got the cake ready to be served (cut the entire top layer and about 6 slices off the bottom layer). Then I was told that I forgot about the candles. Oops! Grace didn't seem to mind that she blew her candles out after the cake was already cut. The party turned out great! It was a little crazy with over 30 people in our house but that just adds to the fun, right?

I took a few pictures with my phone before the party so I could put them on facebook. Things were a little too crazy during the party for me to take pictures but my Mom took several so I will eventually have them. Here is the link to my facebook album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.557316627254.2037355.140301183&type=1&l=3e16d0ec07

Jumpin' Jax

Grace was invited to a birthday party at Jumpin' Jax this past Saturday. She has some friends that recently moved into my parents' neighborhood. They are both girls and the youngest was turning two, her big sister is 4. Jumpin' Jax just recently opened in town and we were excited to check it out.

Grace in her train

There were several bounce houses and slides. As soon as Grace saw her friends she took off!

This blue one was her favorite. She went around and around in it and up and down the slide several times. She was too quick for me to get a picture of her on the slide!

Olivia got to try the piano with Grace.

Grace looks so small on the big throne!

But she was ready for cake! I think all the bouncing wore her out.

Olivia even had a good time too!!

Happy Birthday Grace

Today is a very special day in our household.
Grace turns TWO!

She is not my little baby anymore. It is hard to believe how fast time seems to fly. Was it really 2 years ago that I held her in my arms for the very first time?

And now she is so full of energy and excitement.


{Just look at that face!}

She is my big girl now and she makes sure to let us know!
She has told us she is too big for the highchair and too big for the little potty.

I love listening to her sing and talk.
And watch as she learns and makes messes.

{She loves to run and play!}

But she is still not too big to be rocked or too big to snuggle up in bed with us in the mornings!

Happy Birthday Grace!!
We love you!!

Birthday Cake!

Whenever we mention the words "make a cake" Grace gets SO excited. I don't think she really cares much about putting the ingredients in the bowl as much as she does about taste testing them! When we made my birthday cake she helped pour things into the bowl and then she would try to take some of the mix out of the bowl while we measured the next ingredient. And then, of course, there was her favorite part - licking the bowl.

Then when it came time to blow out the candles she was ready.

She even helped blow!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Hope you like your cake!

Grace's FIRST Birthday Party!

We had Grace's birthday party yesterday and I think it turned out great! We went to the Okinawa Zoo which is just about a 10 min. drive from our house. We were able to use a covered pavilion and the picnic tables that were there for no charge! We gave a guest list to the people at the gate and they just circled everyone's name as they came in and after the party I just went and paid for everyone's admission. And we were able to take anything we wanted - cake, ice cream, snacks, drinks, party favors, etc. We got there when the zoo opened at 9:30 and it was a perfect day! We sat up all the tables and then it was time for guests to arrive.

{Grace's cute cake! One of the cars collapsed in the night so we took it off}

{snacks - animal cookies, fruit and veggie trays, chex mix, and pb&j (the were supposed to be animal shapes but I thought the bear looked more like a rat so they ended up being triangles)}

{cups, plates, napkins}

{Jungle Juice and the cute animal cups}

When the kids started showing up (a total of 5 girls) we went and played on the animal statues.

{Her cute hairbow only lasted long enough for a few pictures}

Then it was time to ride on the rides! Before everyone got there I bought tickets for the carousel and the train.

{Grace wanted to ride on my lap}

{and then she wanted to stand up when it was time to get off}

{Dustin got to ride the train with her!}

I had a little trouble figuring out how to pay to ride the cars. We stood in line I thought I would just hand the guy working there some Yen for all the kids (and adults) who wanted to ride but we kept watching little Japanese children run out and hop right on. Finally, we figured out that you have to put your coin in the car which starts it!

{Dustin and Grace rode on the tank}

After we did all the rides it was time for cake!

{We sang happy birthday and Grace got to blow out her candle with a little help from Daddy!}

It started to rain and cool off while we were eating so we broke out the jackets. We were glad to be under the tent and several Japanese families were taking shelter with us!

And then it was time for presents!

{Grace got lots of cool new toys!}

After the presents were opened everyone got to walk around and see the animals. The rain had stopped and it was warming up again. We thought they were doing an elephant show at 11:30 (that is what was posted on the sign the last time we were there) but after waiting for a while the show never happened. My guess is that they did it early and everyone just missed it. Oh well, they still got to see the animals!

Overall her first party was a success. I think everyone had a good time!!

For more pictures you can check out the album I put on facebook HERE

Or my Mom's myspace album HERE

{Grace waving bye to her guests}

CHOO CHOO!!!

Since Grace's party is tomorrow we had to make the cake today! We made the cakes yesterday so they would be cool when it came time to frost them. This morning I made 6 batches of buttercream frosting.

{Grace was quite the fan! The icing made her pancakes even more yummy}

It took all morning to decorate the cake but the end result was well worth the time. I got to mix up all the colored frosting and my Mom put it on the cake. I actually did the window on the backside of the cake :-)

And here is the final result:

The tracks are made from black licorice and the wheels are oreos. We used the animals from the Little People Noah's Ark set that my Mom is getting her for Christmas (she got it early since we needed the animals!) It will be hard to top this cake for future birthdays!