Party Girl

We had our usual get together at our house for Austen's 2nd birthday party. Low-key, with food, cake pops, friends, and presents. Austen lucked out with the weather, and we got to drag out the 'ole bouncy house for the first bounce of the season. The kids had a blast, and the parents don't complain about their children being well-occupied for a bit. :)

I am tired and a bit overwhelmed, so here are a whole bunch of birthday pictures for the book.

Both girls love balloons, so this was an exciting surprise from mama

No, the sky isn't yellow in real life. I mess with editing and am too lazy to go change it back. So, have some yellow sky

Austen got a disco ball and capes from Mama and Daddy. The disco ball because these girls love to shake their booties, and the capes because of a favorite bedtime story. You know those Mercer Mayer books? My brother and I used to have them when we were young, and the girls got a huge stack from Aunt Stacey. They like them because they are fun stories, and we like them because they have some substance, but are a reasonable bedtime story length. ;)

Anyway, in Just Go to Bed, the main critter says that he's going to fly over the city like Supercritter to avoid going to bed. Our girls use anything they can get their hands on - jammies, cloth grocery bags, towels - for "Supercritter capes." The first night Austen asked me to be Supercritter was when I was putting on her jammies and she started to get frantic about not putting her feet in. "I wanna be Supercritter!" (a.k.a Leave my feet out so I can use my footy jammies as a cape). Well, if you are going to be that cute about it, how I can say no?

So I set her down and she flew around the house chanting "Supercritter!"

Kaitlyn is getting so good about helping her little sister

The birthday girl didn't want anything to do with her cape, so her big sister obliged and let me take pictures.

Cake pops are going to be the death of me. I have a love-hate relationship with these little buggers. I do enjoy making them, which is why I keep doing it, but I don't love how long it ends up taking. I am usually up late two nights before creating the pops, then really late decorating the night before. But, the girls love them, they taste good, and they add to the half ****ed decorations I come up with.

This year, I decided on a spring/Easter theme. This means that the pops followed the theme, and I sprinkled some colorful confetti on the table. I don't even know if my efforts meet the definition of "theme." Oh, well...I'll continue to enjoy going to others' parties with real themes. :)

How cute is this picture??! I think Owen and Brinnley had a good time

I swear she didn't break her neck! She was laughing and having a great time during this stunt, and we call her Gumby

Her life is now complete with her very own baby stroller

Oh hi! I got my own bike!

Look who decided to be a Supercritter:

We love our big two year old!

Big 'Ole Picture Post

For the sake of the infamous books (and, okay, for the sake of my personal problem of not being able to leave anything out), here are a whole lot of pictures that have been sitting in folders since the end of January. It's going to be heaven to hit "Publish" with this one, and to check it off the 'ole to do list.

Just like with Kaitlyn, we waited until 2 to get Austen her first haircut. The mullet was asking for it. I have no sentimental reasons for waiting this long with both kids. Pure laziness, and I'll own that.

All done!

Mullet be gone!

Just bein' cute

Checkin' out Valentine's Day loot from school

Playdate with Reina, Jason, and Hitomi

Fashionista

I think Austen looks like me in this picture, and since she rarely does I had to be sure it made it in :) It may be that she looks like childhood pictures of me, but I'm stickin' to it

And I believe that I used to make this face around this age

Cutie

My "I'm sooooo excited that Grammie and Papa are here!" face

She turned two, and this situation came with it. She is proving daily that she is, indeed, two years old (the "Rug" - thank you to the Underwoods for this genius timeout spot)

This picture sums up a big part of life right now. When you see a chair that's been moved, you go looking for the three year old who moved it, and what they snuck from the pantry, fridge, junk drawer, counter, etc., etc...

Mama and Kaitlyn got a pedi while Daddy and Austen ran errands - she did the "trying not to smile" face most of the time, then beamed once we got to the car.

This would be an action shot of the "bounce up and down on Mama until we knock the wind out of her" game

Just documentation of a family art project - we can't keep everything! :)

Shaggy

She smiles for pictures now! Hallelujah!

Blog catch-up with January/February pictures: Check.

Update blog with current pictures/happenings: _____

Austen is Two!

Happy second birthday to our sweet, funny, fierce, I'll-try-anything girl. We love you, little Austen Jean.

Long Time, No Blog

We've been busy. And tired. And when I'm busy and tired, I tend to put things like blogging onto the back burner. Then, as the pictures and stories build up more and more, I put it off more and more. Oops.

But really, we've been busy. Let me paint a small picture:

The girls had their Broadway debut last weekend as little piggies in my school's production of Charlotte and Wilbur. Rehearsals after school (thanks, Mom and Dad for driving them up), making costumes, practicing the piggy dance, and FOUR one and a half to two hour productions in two days. Oh, and did I mention that Jeff was out of town from Thursday to Monday this same weekend? He got to come to the Thursday morning show, then was off on his much-anticipated Arizona Spring Training trip. Was this the best weekend for him to be out of town? Nope. But, we shooed him out the door because this fun had been a long time coming, and Daddy was somewhat giddy about it.

This play was exhausting for both the girls and Mama. Getting to school, changing outfits, sitting a little bit still while waiting for their part...I'd do it again in a heart beat. It was so.much.fun being a part of this with my girls. In fact, you know the big "wedding letdown" after you've spent all that time planning for the big day, then it's over in two seconds? I've been experiencing Little Piggie letdown. What an unforgettable (well, maybe forgettable...do you remember things from when you were two? Dangit) experience for both of them, and for me.

I'll stop and show a picture. More to come.

And more busy: Projects. Jeff was gone, leaving me with two non-stop little girls; why not get that photo wall up that I've been picturing (ha!) for ages? It turns out that I am not so good with a level and a ruler. This took way too long, and I feel for the guy who's gonna have to patch up my "work" when those come down. But, I'm in love with it! We still have yet to have any professional pictures taken of our kids, but there's something about having captured these moments myself, as their mama, that makes their amateur look just about right. (Yes, they are a tiny bit uneven...I figured I should stop before pulling my hair out.)

More busy:

Play dates are a "busy must":

Austen decided to do a little work around the house as well. The kid table needed fixin':

Busy lovin' on Riley:

Busy using the Mama jungle gym:

Busy, busy, busy...

Well, it's 10:30 and I'm supposed to be finishing the girls' capes for Austen's birthday, putting together a cute little birthday snack for their school day tomorrow, and other time sensitive last-minute tasks. Once again, 4:30 is going to come early...

Time to get busy. ;-)