Liv's 2nd Birthday Bash

Here's the Birthday Girl!

 

Invitation to the party... I ordered most of the personalized stuff from etsy.

 

Liv not wanting to share her cupcake with mom

 

 

 

 

Liv and Grandma Judie

 

Time to open gifts...

 

Liv's new car... All the other kids had fun driving around. Liv still won't have anything to do with it.

 

 

Liv's Grandpa Joel made her this adorable personalized chair. He also made the cute "Liv's Clubhouse" sign for her party.

Thanks Grandpa Joel!

 



At two years old...

You love to play at the park and take rides in the jogging stroller 

You love anything to do with animals...especially going to the zoo

You are a major Daddy's girl

You love to go get ice cream with mom and dad

You love going to the swimming pool and library

You know most of your shapes, colors, animals, alphabet and can count to 20

You love books and bedtime stories with mom and dad

You are talking and moving non-stop

You love to be around other little kids

You will try all sorts of foods and you love your fruits and vegetables (and anything with sugar)

You can sing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', 'Itsy Bitsy Spider', 'Happy Birthday', and your ABCs

You love to listen to music in the car

Your favorite shows are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, and Caillou

You love to spend time with your grandparents, aunts, and cousins

Happy Birthday to the sweetest, smartest, most lovable little girl!

Liv and the Alphabet

In addition to the alphabet, here are a few of our favorite things Liv says:

"I want to go to Grandma's yesterday."
"Sleep tight, Mom."
"Look at the pretty daffodils!"
"What's that those?"

What we've been up to....

Fun at the pool!

Making a leprechaun trap

Liv didn't catch a leprechaun... but there were some treats left for her

 

Checking out all the cool marine life at the aquarium

Liv is just the cutest thing ever... I can't wait to see what this year brings!

I don't make resolutions but here are some continuous goals that are "works in progress": 

1. be a better person (including mother, wife, friend, daughter)
2. take a lot of pictures (and share them!)
3. eat well - we eat mostly whole foods and are really good at not eating fast food (except Taco Time, of course) and not having processed foods in our house, but I want to grow more of our own food, or join a grower's co-op
4. exercise - I make excercise a priority, but I'd like to become a better, faster, longer runner and incorporate more yoga or cross-fit workouts
5. read more - so far I have been reading a lot more; my favorite books this last year were Born to Run, Unbroken, and In Defense of Food
6. keep on saving - 2011 was a good year and we have a lot to thankful for. We'd like to keep up the saving, put away more for college, and continue with little to no cc debt (which makes goals 7 and 8 more difficult)
7. update my space (I don't mean Myspace) - we re-did our extra bedroom (pictured above). Liv will be in a big girl bed soon so we will have a chance to re-do her room and her toy room; i'd like to work towards a greener, cleaner home
8. travel - Liv is our excuse for not traveling but we are eager to get out and see things; Liv still talks about Moab all the time... can't wait to show her the world

Happy 2012 to everyone - Hope it's great one!

The Holidays - 2011

We have been busy, busy around here so here's my very belated Christmas post. We had a wonderful holiday shared with lots of loved ones! We enjoyed a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner with Brett's mom and step-dad, Grandma Judie and Grandpa Joel. They proved that the biggest dinner of the year can gluten-free and wonderfully tasty. We didn't miss the gluten one bit and came away with some great recipes!

After dinner, I made my first trip to the craziness that is Wal Mart Black Friday to save $200 on a birthday (yes, birthday) present for Liv. I have to say it was quite the experience... I felt excited and dirty all at the same time. Gross consumerism at it's worst. I can see why people do the Black Friday sales but I don't know that I will do it again. 

We also decorated the house for Christmas over the Thanksgiving holiday. Liv is quite the little helper. She loves the step stool. Although she has had a few spills from the top step, she spends at least an hour on the step stool daily, eating, drawing, watching shows, "helping" mom in the kitchen, etc.

 

Lori and her friend spent the week before Christmas with us. We had a great time spending time together.

Making a ginger bread house (Liv was a lot of help but ate most of the candy or spilled it on the floor)

Christmas Eve party

We were lucky enough to have a lot of family spend the night so Liv had a blast on Christmas morning with all of her favorite people

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!

Homework

Family Pics 2011

I think I have finally learned my lesson and will schedule family pictures in September or inside someplace warm. The last two years we have had our pictures taken outside and it has been so cold. Our photographer, Jen, was a great sport even though it was nearly freezing. The 90 minute session was torture for Liv and she cried almost the entire time. This kid won't fall for anything (well, except sugar...we bribed her with smarties so there are a few pics where she is holding smarties). We all kept trying to trick her into smiling but she would look at us like she was saying, "You people are nuts! I know there is not a frog on the camera...". Brett and I discussed how Jen would have to be magic in order for any pictures turn out. These were taken at Daybreak, a large community about 5 miles from our house.