Birthday Festivities

Berlin woke up to a couple presents to help get her special day started. What could be better than balloons, new dishes for breakfast, candy for waiting til it was ready, and a fun birthday apron to wear all day.  We went to the children's museum in the afternoon and then headed over to Build-a-Bear. 

It's our tradition that when you turn 2 you get to go to Build-a-Bear. Berlin chose the shaggy dog along with some Hello Kitty jammies. When Ryan and I asked her what her puppy's name was she said, "Kitty!" We thought we heard her wrong and asked her like 3 more times, but Kitty it was. So she is now the proud owner of a dog named Kitty who wears Hello Kitty jammies. 

Next we took the kids to dinner. We asked Berlin what she wanted for dinner and she kept saying, "Chicken nuggets, pizza, and corn dog." Finley agreed upon a corn dog, so corn dogs it was. And there's no better place then Hot Dog on a Stick. It was her first time having mustard, and she wanted ALL of it (notice the tray of it she took from Ryan and placed in front of her.) I love the mustard mustache. 

Then we came home and she got to open her presents. She ripped thru all of them at once, not even stopping to look at the actual gifts. Then, once everything had been opened & the tissue paper thoroughly shredded, she went back to the gifts and began enjoying them. She got this darling Tinkerbell Precious Moments from Gma Leach that she would have slept with if we'd let her. Luckily, we were able to finally convince her that Tinkerbell would be more comfortable on her shelf. The one consoling thing was that she could wear her new Tinkerbell nightgown to bed (which she refused to take off for almost 3 days).

She's had so much fun playing dress-up in her new princess outfits. She wears one, if not two (sometimes all three) in a day. The first thing she says when her new dress is on is, "I go look in mirror momma." She has to see how pretty she looks before she can start playing.  And she and Fin have had a tea-party everyday since Friday. I love it when they play together like this. 

My favorite gifts ... (1) the blanket my mom crocheted, and (2) the white wicker buggy that I found at TJ Maxx. She LOVES this and has even climbed in herself to see how comfy it is. She was not happy when Ryan told her to get out. It had an ugly pink/white/green 80's plaid liner, so I took it apart and used the unstitched pieces for my pattern. I chose a fun Amy Butler print in brown/teal/cream and then made a coordinating pillow, patchwork chenille blanket, and a padded chenille mattress for the inside. I am VERY happy with the way it turned out. Even her old baby doll got a new outfit & hat that I made out of some scrap fleece. It made staying up 'til 4 am worth it (that's what happens when I procrastinate).

(The mushroom fairy cake is from her bday celebration at Grandma Lynne's house with all of Ryan's family.)

Guitar Hero - you ROCK!!!

For vday I gave Ryan Guitar Hero for the Wii. It is SOOOOO much fun!

I'll admit, ever since my college days of going to concerts and punk & ska shows with my gal pals, I've had a secret desire to be a hot base or guitar playing chick. Guitar Hero, you have fulfilled that silly adolescent dream. I am now the lead guitar & base in a band called The Sour Cherries and according to Guitar Hero, I rock. I also moonlight in a new start-up band called The Tea Party. We are just working out some kinks with the drummer, but don't worry, we'll be rockin' it in a venue near you sooner than later.

And I'm sure if you were standing in my living room watching me (probably from the floor where you landed when you fell off the couch with laughter at the sight of me trying to rock it), you would agree that it is a riot.

Finley and Ryan getting down Sunday after church.

    
 

My Birthday Girl

It's our Boo's bday today. I can't believe how big she is getting. Has it really been 2 years / 24 months / 104.3 weeks / 730 days / 17520 hours / 1051200 minutes / 63072000 seconds since she was born? Yep, and it's freakin' me out a bit to think that she is growing up so stinkin' fast.

Here are 20-ish things that I love about my birthday Boo:

1. I love the silly faces & giggles you make when you know we are watching you. You are very dramatic & expressive.

2. I love the way you whisper your little prayers at night or at the dinner table, so softly that it requires supersonic hearing to understand them. 

3. I love the way you grab my face and tell me, "mama, no more talking" because you want my undivided attention as you chatter on and on. (Berlin is a talker!).

4. I love the way you manage to take your pants, socks & diaper off (a gazillion times a day) and think nothing of prancing around the house in nothing but Baby Legs & a shirt.

5. I love the way you demand a hug & kisses before you'll consider laying down in your crib to go to bed. Not so sure I love the 100 books I have to read, the 100 princess songs I have to sing, and the 100 dolls you demand in your crib.

6. I love the way you break into song (Sleeping Beauty of course) whenever you see something pink, princessey, or something that resembles Prince Philip.

7. I love the way you play with my hair and rub my cheek when we snuggle on the couch and watch a movie.

8. I love that you love your brother and that you love playing and reading books with him. I love when I hear you say, "Wait for me Finley, wait!" I love that you think Star Wars, Robots, & Trains rock. I love that you can hold your own with Finley in a light saber fight, or while slaying dragons together, or while WWF wrestling on the floor. I love when you say, "whoa, whoa, whoa," as you wave the light saber around and then fall on the ground and cry, "I died, oh, I died!" I pray that you two will always be the best of friends.

9. I love the way you say, "I like the pink" to anything that's pink, even if it's the ugly dress of Cinderella's mean step-sister.

10. I love the strong & sassy attitude you throw around these days. It shows you have spunk & personality.  I (and Ryan) love when you say, "Don't SHHHH me mom!" and "Let me WALK!" whenever we go somewhere.

11. I love when you put on your backpack and get a blanket in each hand then say, "I ready to go now mom."

12. I love when you stick both feet up your nose, wrinkle your face and say, "I got stinky feet. Yuck." and then so proudly say, "I smell dem!" with a big grin on your face.

13. I love how articulate & chatty you are for a 2-year old. It brings a smile to my face when I hear you converse with your dolls & toys as if you were an adult.

14. I love how the first thing you say when I get you in the morning or after a nap is, "I not stinky mom, not stinky."

15. I love that you are an adventureous eater; that you love pickles, like they are going out of style; that you can eat an entire flat of raspberries and then ask for more; that you will opt for steak, chicken, tomatoes, apples, corn, pink grapefruit and all the good stuff instead of mac N cheese.

16. I love when you just stand on your princess scooter (that's too tall for you) and say, "I'm riding my scooter, I'm riding!" despite the fact that you haven't budged.

17. I love that you love Bentley and that you find joy in giving him endless hugs, dragging him around the house, checking his teeth, kissing his nose, trying to ride him like a pony, and of course when you put your flower blanket on his head and screamt, "a ghost! WoooOOoo!" And Bentley on cue obliges you and sways his head up & down, back & forth, really looking like a ghost and you squeal with delight. I love when you tuck Bentley into bed, which consists of you laying with him on his dog bed and putting your blanket over the two of you.

18. We love your rocker hair, your rockin' booty shake, the way you sway your hips & body while playing Wii Fit soccer, just to immediately bail off the board.

19. I love in church when you get possesive of your church books and scream, "I want my Jesus," and "Where Lehi went?"

20. I love that you love me. The hundred times a day that I hear, "I love you mom" never gets old. 

Here is a glimpse of the last year of her life in review.

Thankful Thursday

1. for cold & snowy weather that gives me an excuse to stay inside and be lazy and not feel bad about it - nope, not one whit.

2. for preschool which gives me 2 1/2 hours to run errands twice a week (Tues & Thurs) without 2 kids in tow. One tempermental kid is SOOOO much easier and it's about all I can handle.

3. for pet & child friendly ant spray (that smells like vicks vapor rub). Die ants, DIE I say!!!

4. for Costco's new system that stores all coupons in the computer so I don't have to remember all those little coupons that never fail to fall out of my purse/pocket at some point during my shopping.

Thankful for...

A gal that I knew in our old ward does a "Thankful Thursday" post on her blog that I love. It makes me stop and think that I need to take stock of things that I am thankful for - both the good, bad, pretty, ugly, big & small things. Since Thursday of this week has come and gone (I spaced it folks, what can I say!), I am going do make this a belated Thankful Thursday post, but I want to try and do them regularly.

I'm thankful for:

1. Big brother's who LOVE to read to little sisters.

2. A husband who gets tickets to fun events (Flight of the Conchords show - see below post)

3. Elliptical machines that kick my butt (it so needs to be kicked!)

4. Grocery stores that stay open til midnight so I can shop without screaming kids (mostly screaming Berlin).

5. For Finley who reminds me to be nice when I get mad at him or at others. He's very good at telling me, "Mom, it's ok."

6. For a Primary President that got me to the Temple bright & early this past week (I hated getting up at 4:45am and will admit that I grumbled plenty) but I'm so grateful that I went.

Flight of the Conchords ... here we come!

I have the best hubby in the WORLD!!! He got tickets to see Flight of the Conchords at Abravenal Hall this May. Hooray! We think they are the funniest show/act around and I can't wait to see them live - even from our front row seats on the third tier (binoculars necessary). It will be a perfect "early" anniversary date.

good deals

So I don't normally spread news about a good deal, because I really don't find that many. But this past few weeks have sent some screamin' deals my way ....

WAL*MART:  

1. Garanimals cotton pants/leggings with lace trim. They are super affordable at $3.50, but I was surprised when they rang up for $1 that I had to go back and get a pair of black, grey, white, and pink for Berlin thru 4T. I just washed them today and they held up nicely (good sign for Wal*mart right). So for those of you with girls 6 mos - 5T be sure to check them out. They are perfect for the spring/summer.

2. Radio Flyer classic lights & sounds tricycle. Finley is getting this for his Bday in April (yes, I know, he should be getting a big boy bike, but he has to be 100% completely potty-trained for it and we aren't even close). Besides, he's never had a trike either, so he'll get this. They are $59 everywhere online and at the Target store. Walmart right now has a bunch of them on sale for $21 in both pink and red. I was almost tempted to get one for Berlin too. But I figured that once Fin is potty-trained, he'll prefer the big boy bike to the trike thus ending up with Berlin anyway.

LAND OF NOD:  Usually I just dream about buying something from this place, but for the first time I was actually able to do so. They marked down some of their vegetable storage bins for kids and I bit the bullet and bought some for all our toys. I already have 2 large ones and 2 small ones in the antique white that I got from TJ Maxx, but I've never been able to find more. So when these went on clearance I got them. Color selection is limited though. Luckily the tomato red worked for me. And if you google Land of Nod coupon you should be able to find a current Free Shipping code. These are the best storage bins ever (in my humble opinion).