In The Hartland: Moving on to Year #2!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Moving on to Year #2!

Tomorrow marks the two year anniversary of the arrival of Miss Lia Elizabeth into our lives. And, oh how fast those two years have gone! Lia has been such a joy and delight in our family and I'm so grateful that she is ours. However, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the warning signs of the terrible twos have been surfacing lately. In fact, it's almost as though Lia knew that tomorrow marked the beginning of her second year as she kicked off the day by throwing an absolute FIT when Ron handed her a peeled apple slice at lunch (which she normally loves) and then followed that up with a screaming tantrum while I dressed her for church (something she hasn't done since she was a newborn). Do fun times lay ahead or what?!
Anyways, tonight we celebrated her birthday a day early with my entire immediate family in the area at my brother's house. Because they ROCK, Chris and Natalee graciously agreed to host a joint party for Lia and their twins whose birthday is just three days later. Here is a brief breakdown of the evening's events...

While some last minute dinner preparations were going on, the cousins ran wild! Lia and Riley enjoyed following each other around pushing their respective strollers. As you can see, Lia was already working up a sweat with the always accompany red cheeks that were glowing by the end of the evening!

Two of the silliest kindergartners in the Northwest doing what they do best...whatever that is.

Lia getting in on some of the balloon fun!

After a delicious dinner of Natalee's homemade lasagna and all the fixins, we moved to the living room for some gift opening. Of all the loot Lia received tonight, the winner HAD to be the adorable fairy ensemble that she received from Aunt Becca. She paraded around in it the rest of the night!

Lia checking out her fairy reflection in the bathroom mirror with a doting father looking on.

The fairy takes flight!

I attempted to make an under-the-sea themed birthday cake for the gang tonight since Lia has recently fallen in love with all things Nemo and water-related. As always, it sure did not turn out perfect, but the cake, lemon filling, and butter creme frosting all made from scratch sure tasted dang good!

The birthday trio working on blowing out the candles.