Let the bow making begin

This funny little smile is because she is watching The Little Mermaid. It's how I got her to sit still long enough to take a picture

Julia really loves her hairbows, maybe a little too much. She likes to take them out of her hair and play with them, she loves to put multiple (like 5-10) bows in her hair at a time and admire herself in the mirror, and she even likes to take a handful to bed with her.

It's all very sweet and girly, but the problem is she is losing them like crazy. I find them all over the place but I'm afraid I just can't keep up with finding them as fast as she loses them. So I've reached the point (that many mothers of girls reach, I'm sure) where I've decided I need to start making them myself.

I got a pack of fifty alligator clips thinking that was probably way too many, found a website with instructions on how to make hairbows, and got out all the odds and ends ribbon and scrapbooking supplies I had that might look like a cute bow. Three days into this and I've already used half my alligator clips, and yet, it doesn't even feel like we have that many yet. Here's what you may see Julia sporting around from now on (if she will leave them in):

Ring Around the Rosy

I just saw this video that Robert's brother took at Christmas. It's cute and all I have to do is post the link, no work for me! Enjoy.

Happy Easter

A little about our Easter this year...

Saturday our ward had a giant Easter Egg hunt at the church. Julia filled up her little basket and her eggs kept falling out, but she just kept putting more in (notice the purple egg falling out of her basket above).

Julia and I open her eggs and take all the candy out.

Later we got together with friends and had a smaller easter egg hunt at the park. Again, Julia filled up her basket. Maybe she needs a bigger one next year...

Sunday morning Julia got some goodies in her basket and we all dyed eggs before church.

After church we tried to get some pictures of her in her dress with some flowers by our house. Unfortunately Julia sat on the flowers and broke the stem, cutting off half the plant. We took them inside to hide the evidence and she dragged them around the house the rest of the day.

Julia's Birthday

I think Julia had a good birthday. In the morning we were getting ready for her little birthday party and she could tell something special was going on because she was going crazy running around the house as I blew up balloons and and hung the birthday banner.

After her nap Robert came home early from work and a few of her little friends came over for a party. We had to have a piñata since Julia loves watching the home videos of her 1st birthday and last Christmas when she hit the piñatas. She was a little less enthusiastic about it than I was expecting, but she still give it a few good whacks and then wanted to try again after the other kids had a turn (at Christmas she wouldn't even put down the stick after I told her to stop) . All the little kids took turns hitting the piñata and then I took a few good whacks at it and broke it, much to their surprise/dismay.

Julia's first swings at the piñata.

Her reaction when I broke it, kind of a "whoa, what just happened here?"

They got it over it pretty quickly and we helped them pick up their piñata loot: finger puppets, stickers, fruit snacks and animal cookies.

Afterwards we sang Happy Birthday and ate cake and ice cream. Julia has known and looked forward to this tradition for weeks since Robert's birthday at the end of March. I thought she was pretty funny during the singing because she just sat there solemnly and looked around at all of us. I could just see her thinking, "this is it, the time has finally come when they are singing to me." After I helped her blow out the candle and everyone had cake we just let the kids just run around and play hyped up on sugar.

In the evening Julia got to talk to a lot of family and open up presents family members had sent her.

Happy Birthday Julia!

Julia is two today! Where did our baby go?

Julia the day she was born (above) and at age 1 (below)

Some things about Julia at age two:

She is always jabbering about something. Usually I understand what she says which is really nice because she rarely has any tantrums anymore because I don't know what she wants (but she does have the I-want-what-I-can't-have tantrums). Sometimes when she's in a silly mood she likes to jabber in her own language and laugh about it. She can also count to ten, knows her basic colors, and is starting to get a good handle on her shapes.

She is already a book worm. We usually read a few books before she takes a nap and goes to bed. When I tell her it's time to clean up and and get in bed she frantically picks books that she wants and stuffs them between the bars into her crib before I can put them back on her bookshelf. Then she will "read" them in bed before or after sleeping. I often find her during the day "reading" a book by herself out loud. She does a good job remembering what the storyline is about and repeating the words she remembers.
She likes to sing and dance. Some of her favorite songs to sing are "Five Little Monkeys," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," "The ABC Song," "Row Row Row Your Boat," "Follow the Prophet," and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider."

She's pretty self-confident and social. She enjoys nursery and doesn't mind being left with a babysitter. She plays well by herself but is also always happy to see another kid. Last time we went to the doctor's office she stood right next to the doctor, put her hand on the doctor's arm and watched the doctor type on the computer.

She is very active. Even when she is sick she is always running around. Sometimes it honestly looks like she is running laps around the living room. She has also recently decided it's fun to run away from Mom and down the hallways at places like the portrait studio and doctor's office.

We love our little imp and are excited to see her grow and learn as a two year old.