Happy Birthday!!

Today is Abbie's 2nd birthday and she has been really into the idea of birthday parties lately so we celebrated on Saturday by having a birthday party for her. We invited the neighbors with kids and her friends and Grandma and Grandpa P. I think she had fun. Here she is with some of the kids on her new picnic table. It has a matching sandbox and was a birthday present from Mommy and Daddy.

As you may be able to tell, she is sporting a new haircut. After not having her hair cut for almost a year, we decided it was time to get things in order, so they trimmed it considerably.

Yes, that is a juice box in front of her. We really never allow juice at all, but this was a special occasion and Abbie made the most of it. She downed 5 of those suckers before the day was over. Nothing like a good sugar shock!

Speaking of sugar shock, here is Abbie eating one of the sweetest cakes I have ever tasted. We got it from Sam's club and it was good, but really, really sweet. She loved having everyone sing "Happy Birthday" and being able to blow out the candles. Since the real deal on Saturday she has requested a number of repeat performances. Yesterday we stuck candles in the leftover cake, sang, and let her blow them out at least twice. Today we only did it once. I suspect we will do it again tomorrow, too.

Below is not from the birthday party. It is just a fun picture of Abbie covered in paint and working on a little project with some of the girls from the neighborhood. We have lots of huge pieces of cardboard in the garage lately (due to various deliveries) and Tess has put it to good use as a massive canvas. Of course, life with a toddler would not be complete without tantrums aplenty. We definitely have a toddler with MPD these days. Sometimes she is Abbie, the sweetest girl in the world. Other times, without warning, she is Abigail, our little demon seed. Its definitely been interesting . . . :)

July 4th

Here are pictures of Abbie from the 4th of July parade. All the kids in the neighborhood decorate their bikes, etc. and then ride down the street. Tess decorated Abbie's wagon with balloons, stars, flags, etc. and then got her a cute 4th of July dress. In general, the parade part went well, but it was followed by a mini-carnival of sorts, which we decided to leave early because Abbie was obsessed with trying out each and every "big kid" bike parked there. She seemed to think that it was irrelevant that none of the bikes belonged to her. Unfortunately, I think the bike owners may have disagreed.

After two weekends in a row with lots of excitement (Todd & Amy, then Grandma and Grandpa C.), we are just taking it easy at home this weekend. The patio project is starting to near completion and Abbie has been a big helper. There has been lots of good dirt for her to dig in and lots of nice sand for her to get all dirty in. She loves it. Also, the landscaper has had a bobcat parked in the yard, which he uses to move bricks, etc. Abbie thinks this is just so exciting. We'll post pictures when things are finally finished.