Celebrating My Birthday

Sophie and Abbie check out Paw-paw's new toy!

Here's an action shot-thankfully no broken bones or anything. (I'm just glad it's not a big trampoline!)

me and my girls!

The last Sunday in February, we celebrated my birthday and Uncle JoWie's (just a few days early) over at Nana and Paw-paw's house. Nana had prepared a wonderful meal complete with my favorite, strawberry cake, for dessert. We were provided with entertainment by Paw-paw's new toy, the Urban Rebounder, which he had just purchased. He decided to buy it along with some tapes to use for exercise. We were all giving my dad a hard time about it because he's usually not into exercise that much, etc. Well, the girls thought that it was the best thing ever! They loved jumping on it! Many of the adults took a turn on it too. My dad had heard all these claims about if you jump for a few minutes, it will do this, this, and this. My mom has to figure out what to do with the mini-trampoline now. =) On the actual day of my birthday, Sophie was able to take an art class with Anna Kate while Abbie and I played with Anna Kate's little brother, Will at McDonald's. After the class, we were able to go to lunch with them. Matt came in town on the afternoon of my birthday and we ended up going out to eat with my family at Carrabba's. All in all, it was a good birthday.

Chuck E. Cheese's

Abbie with Bob the Builder

Sophie with Uncle Phil

Sophie, Abbie, and Phil went up on the little stage where you can be silly

Abbie had a nice birthday. We didn't do anything too exciting during the day. Sophie and I made her some iced sugar cookies and she opened a gift from us. That night, we met Uncle Phil at Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate and eat pizza. It was a rainy, messy night so Nana and Paw-paw didn't get to make it. Abbie loved sitting on the rides but didn't like for them to vibrate. She enjoyed the carousel and climbing through the tunnels with Sophie. Phil also introduced her to air hockey. It was sweet because Abbie couldn't quite climb up the steps to get into the tunnels. Uncle Phil encouraged Sophie to help push Abbie up each step since she wasn't quite tall enough. Sophie did that several times even though Abbie weighs a good portion of her weight. They had a blast playing in the tunnels and coming down the slide. It's not very expensive to take Abbie to Chuck E. Cheese since she doesn't care about most of the rides. =) Happy 2nd birthday, Abbie!

Let's Get Ready to Party!

Mimi gives Abbie a "makeover" the night before her b-day party-really she's just pretending to put make-up on but Abbie doesn't know that!

Sophie enjoys playing with play foam for the 1st time!

Abbie tries it out too-fun stuff (as long as you don't try to eat it like Abbie was going to do at 1st)

Abbie had a Minnie Mouse theme for her birthday-I just loved the cake that Emily made!

Yesterday, we celebrated Abbie's 2nd birthday-whew time flies by! Her actual birthday is January 21st but we celebrated a little early since Matt's parents were coming in for MLK weekend. We mostly celebrated with family but included a couple of others. I forgot to take pictures of a lot of the people who were there, her gifts and the decorations (whoops) but I did get some pictures. We had one of Abbie's favorite dishes-spaghetti casserole alongwith salad and garlic bread. Then, we dug into the best part-dessert! We had the adorable cake shown above with ice cream. I had also made some Minnie Mouse shaped sugar cookies (which Sophie helped decorate) but I conveniently forgot about them until after the party. There was a lot going on with almost 20 people at our house to celebrate, food to cook, etc. The girls enjoyed playing with some play foam as the party got started and then after we stuffed ourselves and finished opening gifts, the kids enjoyed playing with our tunnel system which we had set up in the play room. Abbie really enjoyed being the center of attention!

Other Surprises

When we arrived in Richmond last week, Mimi had many new toys for Sophie to play with that she had found at yard sales. She had found lots of cool Little People stuff, a Wiggles microphone, and some other things. Sophie had a great time playing with these toys and going shopping with Mimi and Paw-paw Tom for a new baby doll. Abbie also had some new toys to play with but I don't think I got as many pictures of her.

We celebrated a late birthday for Sophie while in Richmond since Matt's family was unable to come down for Sophie's birthday in May. Sophie had requested a cake with Ariel on it from the Little Mermaid so that's what she got. =) I think Sophie enjoyed getting some late birthday presents and definitely enjoyed having another little party!

101st Birthday Celebration

Mary Tom & Phil

our family with Mary Tom

Yesterday, April 7th, was my great aunt Mary Tom's 101st birthday. She couldn't have had a more beautiful day weather-wise for a birthday. It was sunny with a high around 75 degrees. Last year, we had a huge birthday party for her but this year we kept things a little more low-key. Our family met at Rafferty's to celebrate and had cake afterwards. Mary Tom has been well remembered for her birthday. She does really well overall considering her age. We were glad that we could celebrate with her (even though restaurants can be a bit challenging with 2 little ones). She is a wonderful lady!