Birthday Party!!

Today was Lizzy's birthday party. And what a party we had!! We had ALL of our family here. All of the Jakubs and all of the Zachs. That doesn't happen very often, but we all love Lizzy so much. We also had the six pack and the kiddos here to help us celebrate. It was a little tight in our rental, but we made it work. I think everyone had a good time and Lizzy definitely loved it. The cake was her favorite part. She loves talking about birthday parties and going to birthday parties. What a fun age two is! She also learned to hold two fingers up when she tells people she is two. It's pretty much adorable.

 Her fabulous cake, made by Grandma Jakub, of course

Happy Birthday baby!

Showing Jim the iPad

A quiet moment with Grandma

These two are thick as thieves right now - adorable!

Caden followed Kierstyn around - so cute!

Full house!

Opening presents. She loved the apron and oven mit from Jonathan and Sarah

A handmade cradle from Gma and Gpa Z

Blowing out her candle

The kiddos eating their cupcakes

Lizzy thoroughly enjoyed hers

B-Ball and Brooklyn

We went to see Jordyn play basketball tonight and Lizzy loved it! She loved watching the game, and loved seeing her cousins even more. Brooklyn is so good with her. She's old enough to let Lizzy have her shy time and come to her when she's ready. And Lizzy just adores Brooklyn. We even brought Brooklyn back with us until Lizzy's party tomorrow. The two of them chatted for about 30 minutes in the van before falling asleep. So adorable.

Watching and eating popcorn with daddy

Sharing with Brooklyn

Hanging out with Brook

Someone put some clothes on that poor little girl. Lizzy just saw me placing this photo and said "I'm naked"

Portraits at 2

Taking photos of little kids isn't easy. The mood has to be right. The light has to be right. And the photographer's got to be on their toes to get that great shot when the kiddo is ready. Lizzy was in a great mood today and the weather was actually warm, so Jon met us at Sunken Gardens for a quick photo shoot. The stars were aligned today and we got some GREAT shots of Lizzy... and my growing belly.

Dancing Princess

Jon's cousin Craig got married last weekend. I was big as a house. Lizzy was a dancing fool. We had a great time! 

A shot of the family, including the ever-growing bump! Lizzy refuses to smile for pictures. She really had a great time.

Here she is dancing the night away with daddy. Adorable.

This girl has two signature moves. 1)  Hands down at sides, bounce bottom while bending knees and 2)  twirl in circles. I'm not sure why her hands are in her pants here, but she wouldn't leave the dance floor all night!

She had plenty of friends to keep her company.

Birthday Girl

She's two. My baby is two. Someone please explain to me how time can go by so quickly. How a newborn turns into a baby and then a toddler in the blink of an eye.

Lizzy at two is just such a sweetheart. She is so thoughtful, always offering part of her snack or lunch to whomever is around. She is so funny, making her daddy and I laugh all the time. She is so adorable, and getting cuter by the day. Some of Lizzy's favorite things at two are:

• Broccoli, pizza, ice cream, cheese, macaroni and cheese, apples, blueberries, and chocolate
• Elmo's World and Lion King; she asks to watch each of them daily
• Grandma and Papa; her face lights up when we or she talks about them
• Hanging out in "mommy's room" cuddling in bed or playing her iPad games
• Doing things herself; I hear "Lizzy do it" about 100 times a day
• Blankies
• Kitties; she still calls them "meows"
• Puppies; she can spot them from a mile away
• Talking about her baby brother; she says the baby will cry and she's going to help with diapers
• Saying "two"; now that she knows she is two, everything and everyone is two - she wants two apples, daddy is two years old, mommy is having two babies...

Lizzy is so talkative these days! She comes up with the cutest things. It's so fun to hear what she comes up with. Sometimes it makes you wonder what her thought process could possibly be. She also has a great memory. She talks about things she did for months. And she notices everything. If I move something or wear something different, she talks about it. Conversations with a two-year-old are just the best, aren't they?

Lizzy, I really cannot believe you're two. You have filled our hearts and home with so much joy. Watching and helping you grow has been the most wonderful experience of our lives. We cannot wait to keep going on this journey with you. We love you SOO much!!

Good thing some of her favorite people were here to help celebrate her birthday

Pizza dinner for the birthday girl

Opening presents from mommy and daddy, with Lucy's help

Lucy should definitely wear the bow

Showing mommy how her new baby goes potty in the potty chair and loves her bink

Mmm, birthday cupcakes

Little mommy holding her new baby

The big 3-0

I had a fabulous birthday this year! We had nice breakfast party at work, Jon took me out to dinner at Outback with our favorite little two-year-old, and we had a fun party with our wonderful family and close friends. It doesn't get much better than that, folks! Hello 30!!

The best friends a girl could ask for. Seriously love these girls!

The best parents - and nephew - a girl could ask for!

The best husband and daughter a girl could ask for!

Even Lizzy and Paul were feeling the love. These two seriously love each other.

The best brothers and sister-in-laws a girl could ask for!

The best brother-and-sister-in-law a girl could ask for. Love birds!

And guilt-free dessert. I was eating for two, you know! I should also mention that I was nice enough to share this with anyone who wanted. When it came to Jon, it stopped. He probably ate half of it.

Valentine's Day

Holidays are so much more fun when you get to experience them with a little one. Lizzy had so much fun putting together Valentines for all of her friends at school. She has 12 other little ones in her class and we made some special packages for her teachers and friends.

Here she is with all of her loot. Suckers, fruit snacks, and mini-granola bars for all!

She loved the suckers!

Special treats for our friends.

We even made a cake for daddy for Valentine's Day. She had lots of fun helping with/eating the frosting. She talked about that cake for days!

Parent/Teacher Conferences

We just love Lizzy's new school. Aside from the fact that her transition to the new school went so well, she seems to be learning SO MUCH there. Their focus is on outdoor interaction and they make it a point to get outside as much as they can. They also do a lot of sensory work, which Lizzy just loves.

We really like her teachers, Miss K-Jo and Miss Cassie, too. Lizzy talks about Cassie all the time! I think she is growing so much because some of the other kiddos in her class are quite a bit older than her. She doesn't get a chance to be around older kids much, so it's nice for her to have that.

We had parent/teacher conferences this week. Lizzy received a glowing report, I'm happy to say. Her teachers have been very impressed with her potty training. She trained very quickly and RARELY has an accident. What a girl! :) They also said she loves to play with the babies, kitchen, puzzles, and blocks. Her favorite times of the day are music time and outside time. I can just picture her bouncing around and dancing during music time. So cute.

M's and Time Outs

We've been having to do some time outs at our house lately. Lizzy doesn't like it much, but kicking and throwing fits have to have consequences, right?? She usually cries in time out, but is happy to be done and obliges us by saying she's sorry and giving hugs and kisses. (That's the best part.)

The move might also be to blame for some additional potty issues lately. She doesn't want to go on the toilets here. She throws a fit when we try to put her on. Hmm... So, we resorted to using M&Ms as a bribe. It seems to be working. When we ask her if she needs to go potty, she says "M" because she knows she'll get one when she's done. We have Valentine's Day M&Ms so she always wants a "pink M" :)

"Move." House."

After having our house on the market for two months, we got, negotiated, and accepted an offer on New Year's Eve. We were so happy to sell quickly, but the reality of moving quickly sank in. 

It wasn't easy to find a home for the four of us - with three bedrooms and doggy acceptance. Somehow we talked the landlord into allowing us to have a dog at a great little town home not too far away from our old - and new - houses. 

I spent three weeks organizing, purging, and packing our home. Not an easy task, especially with a little helper. Lizzy had fun saying "move house" whenever we worked on packing. I'd be lying if I didn't say I loved getting rid of some things, though. It's always good to "clean house", so to speak. We piled boxes upon boxes in the spare bedroom as we prepared for the big day. It's always crazy how much stuff can fit into a little house...

I labeled everything, and color-coded stickers to make things easier. Lizzy found an alternate use for the stickers.

On the weekend of January 28, we had the big move! A big thanks to mom and dad Z, mom J, Jonathan and Sarah, and the Jareds for all your help! We definitely could not have done it without you!! Especially since I'm seven months pregnant and can't really lift anything... Thanks for putting up with me just pointing fingers and giving orders :)

The three amigos. Hilarious.