Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with my family in Ohio this year. Both of my brothers and their families were going to be at my parents' house and we hadn't all been "home" at the same time for a few years. We were excited for some family time, but not excited for the road trip. We have decided to never travel on the night before Thanksgiving again. We were in stopped traffic multiple places. But at least it was worth it!

For years now, I've run a 5k on Thanksgiving. Last year one of my brothers and I ran it together and it was my first and last race after Adalyn and before Cayden since I found out about a week later that I was pregnant. Ha! This year, Jonathan is into running and my brothers kids ran and our entire family came out to walk and support us. When the alarm went off bright and early Thanksgiving morning I honestly questioned why we PAID to wake up and "run" instead of sleeping in and watching parades on TV. But we got going and it ended up being a beautiful day. Jonathan came in 2nd in his age group and I was just happy to finish with my niece and nephew.

After the race while Jonathan was waiting for the medal ceremony.

 Adalyn with her cousins.

 Brother/Sister picture. We got this same picture last year:)

After we ate a delicious turkey dinner made completely by my mom since we all came in from out of town and didn't bring any dishes, we went outside and took some family pictures.

 My parents with all of their grandkids.

 Our whole family. I have to say that I'm impressed that both of my kids are looking at the camera and one is smiling especially since the camera was on a timer.

 Then the guys went outside to play football and one of my nephews spotted an Eagle. Pretty cool!

The guys had a pretty good game of football going on while the rest of us stayed warm inside.

I had to get some pictures of my little turkeys!

She was trying to tickle his chin so he'd smile. So cute.

My brothers and I all took piano lessons growing up, but my brother Aaron is the only one of us able to play by ear. He was trying to get Adalyn to warm up to him so he was playing songs that she knows. She loved it so she wanted to play the piano with him. I think she truly thought she was playing. It was so cute. She was all about playing the piano for the rest of the weekend. 

Friday night my aunt, uncle, cousin and kids all came over to visit. We had a great time catching up and hearing about Black Friday deals. (I didn't do Black Friday shopping but Jonathan and my dad were up at 5:30 to get their shopping in!)

I love this Little Man outfit and matching hat! C's head is tiny so I never put hats on him. I found this one for $3 at the Gymboree outlet so I had to get it. Love it! He's so handsome!

My dad with his boys and their boys. 

Getting some cousin lovins.

It's so hard that we only get to see some of my family once or twice a  year. The kids grow way too much in that time! But we did enjoy a few uninterrupted days of hanging out together!

Adalyn thoroughly enjoyed her cousins. They were so sweet with her and let her act like she was playing  Beyblades with them. It was pretty cute. On Saturday after all of the cousins left Adalyn was wandering around the house sad. I really think she missed them all!

Before church on Sunday we had to get more pictures. Of course.

 We couldn't get both kids looking at the camera and smiling. Oh well. Such is life and the outtakes are pretty cute anyway.

 We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. Of course a 4 day weekend was still too short, but we enjoyed the time we had with family. The ride back home on Sunday afternoon was a bit of a stresser because a certain 2 year old did not nap at all, but we made it home safe and sound. Now we're ready to jump into the Christmas season!

Pink Ladybug Party

Adalyn had a pink and green Ladybug party for her 2nd birthday! When I bought decorations for her first birthday I promised Jonathan that everything (including ribbon streamers) was reusable and I'd be using it for future parties. So we went with the same color theme and added a ladybug. I think it turned our really cute!

It was a beautiful day for a party! Of course my child went silent as soon as the first guests appeared. She gets shy in these types of settings. She did blow out her candles, but took only a couple bites of cake. (Enough to get her face stained by the black icing!) Here are some pictures from the party.

I love that Hobby Lobby now carries chevron fabric. So cute on the table!

The flower is one of my spring decorations and it worked really well with the colors of the party. The little favors were clear jars from Hobby Lobby with frosted animal crackers in them. (Did you know most places don't carry those anymore? Had to go all over town before finding them at Target!)

I love how these favor tags turned out!

The food table. We had chili, white chicken chili, Chick-fil-a nuggets, fruit, cornbread and dips. 

 Blowing out her candles. She actually blew them both out!

 We tried to get a picture with Adalyn in her birthday hat but by then her face was stained from the frosting. (Never again will we have dark frosting on the cake!)

 I love this precious outfit! She loves cards. She keeps all the cards she ever gets in a little bag, so even though she didn't have a chance to read them all at the party, they are well-loved.

 Adalyn received so many wonderful gifts. This is one of her gifts that she plays with daily. She honestly thinks she is vacuuming. It's precious!

 We had close friends, Adalyn's grandparents, and Adalyn's sitter at the party. I was thrilled to find out that my brother who lives in Florida was going to be in town for business that weekend so he was able to come to the party and meet Cayden! How precious is this picture?

I just can't believe my baby is 2 already. I feel so blessed to be her mommy!!

Two

Adalyn turned two on Friday. Wow. How do I have a two year old? I now understand the reason why my mom always remembers back to the events by the hour on the day of my birth. All day I would look at the clock and remember what part of labor I was in. It still feels like yesterday. (Maybe because it practically was yesterday, except it was with Cayden.) Ha!

Thursday night after Adalyn went to bed Jonathan blew up 30ish balloons and put them all over the floor of Adalyn's room. When Adalyn first woke up in the morning we were there to greet her singing Happy Birthday and playing with balloons!

She wasn't quite sure why mommy and daddy were singing to her!

 Enjoying the balloons daddy was throwing around.

I took the day off work and wanted to take my girl out for a special mother/daughter birthday dinner. Jonathan suggested the cafe inside our local bookstore. It ended up being a fun place to go for a girls day. And afterwards we went downstairs in the bookstore to the kids section and Adalyn got to play with some of the toys that were set up.

Headed to a special birthday lunch!

 My mom happened to be in town for the weekend, so I invited her to come along for a 3 generation mother/daughter lunch. What fun!!

 They had a sign up that if you uploaded a picture of your food to facebook and tagged the restaurant then you could get a free dessert. Of course I couldn't pass that up! We got a Peanut Butter Cream Pie.  Adalyn loved it!!! Can you tell how excited she was to dig in?

After a nap, we headed out for groceries for Adalyn's party the next day. On our way home, we picked up Adalyn's favorite dinner (as of right now): Pizza!!  After she ate an entire piece of pizza and a breadstick we had a dessert of cupcakes!  Adalyn didn't want to get her hands messy so she dove head first into her cupcake!

 She blew out both candles!

 Face first into the icing!

 Love this face!

 Adalyn opened a couple gifts from us. She knew exactly what to do.

 We gave her a Slice and Bake Cookie Set. Can you tell how much she loves it?

All in all, it was an absolutely wonderful day with my girl. I love her so very much. Every day she amazes me more than the last.