Happy Birthday Maggie!

Our beautiful daughter turned 2 this weekend. Maggie is growing so fast, learning so much and we couldn't be prouder. We had extended visits from both sets of grandparents over the past week. We enjoyed trips to the park, Chuck E Cheese, and lots of family meals. The girls certainly loved all the extra love and attention, and we enjoyed having our parents together in our home.

The birthday celebration was a weekend long affair. Saturday during Maggie's nap, we filled her playroom with balloons and set up her big present from us. The pretend kitchen, which was stocked with play food and dishes she had previously received, was a huge it. Later that afternoon, our friends the Treats came over for Maggie's birthday dinner. I dusted off my Wilton tools and made an Elmo cake for Maggie, which was a running theme of this year's birthday. I did Elmo's face free hand and was thrilled with the way it turned out, especially given my limited artistic skills. After dinner, and hyped-up on sugar, Maggie and Camilla chased the balloons around and had lots of laughs. It was hard to tear Maggie away from her new toys at bedtime, but as we were turning out the lights and giving kisses Maggie said, "Nite-nite Birthday!"

During church Sunday, I noticed that one of Maggie's two-year molars had arrived, right on schedule. My baby is quickly becoming a little girl, full of spunk, kindness, wonder, determination and love. I am so grateful she chose me as her mom.

At the park with g-ma

Hanging with Chuck E

Wow!

My first ride


Elmo-destructo...left-overs are yummy!

We'll worry about the metal in the microwave lesson later.

Cape May

Our only real vacation this year was a long weekend trip to the Jersey Shore. We spent four days in historic Cape May at The Columbia House, a lovely, old (yet updated) guest house. The kitchen and extra bedroom were "must-haves" when traveling with the kids. The extra space was especially nice on Saturday when we were rained in. Maggie slept in a big girl bed for the first time and did amazingly well, not rolling off or getting up to explore. I shouldn't be suprised though, that kid loves to sleep. Her sister, on the other hand, not so much. Claire's still recovering from a weekend of short naps and fragmented night sleep.

The Victorian homes were gorgeous, but the real beauty was the ocean. During nap time, I stole some alone time on the beach and saw a school of dolphin heading south. There must have been at least twelve of them, rhythmically swimming along. It was gorgeous. Maggie absolutely loved the beach and decidedly declared the word cold when the waves crashed on her. Despite the temperature, she was fearless about getting in the water, much to the terror of mom. We will have to add a sandbox on our ever growing list of "things to get when we move back" as Maggie spent hours digging and pouring sand from one bucket to the next.

Despite the tropical storm Saturday, and a few sleepless nights with Claire, it was wonderful to get to beach for a little R&R. Unfortunately, we won't be able to add "half a day's drive to the beach" to the aforementioned list.
Family Portrait

Buckets of Fun

Finally crashed out

Watch Me Run!

Summer treats - Maggie's first ice-cream cone

"Mine is good, but I think yours might be better!"

Sitting pretty

Today, I thought I'd try sitting Claire up with the boppy pillow. I was very impressed that she was sitting mostly on her own, with very little support! It seems she's skipped the "tripod" phase of learning to sit and jumped right into the sitting. She's still a little wobbly, but does a great job of correcting herself and getting back into position. As Dad and Grandpa both said, "She'll be crawling by Christmas!"

County Fair

We had a great time at the county fair this weekend, in part thanks to P&G (they provided tickets and food coupons). I had never been to a county fair, so I wasn't sure what to expect. My expectations were greatly exceeded! The port-a-pots were clean and the cow barn did not smell at all! There were so many beautiful animals to see; horses, sheep, goats, cows, bees and bunny rabbits. Maggie was a little afraid of the horses and the sheep. They are much bigger in person than in the story books, plus the one very talkative sheep was quite loud and scary. We enjoyed some home-made ice cream and met a nice family from New York City. The merry-go-round was a big hit, and so were the flying airplanes. It's a whole different world, the farming and 4-H-ing, and I sure appreciate all they do so I can have milk to drink and food to eat.