Kayla's birthday weekend (cont.)

Here are a few more pictures from the weekend with my family. We loved being able to spend time playing at parks (when it wasn't raining), blowing bubbles, reading stories, and viewing some great Seattle attractions.

My dad took us to a German shop near Pike's Market and the nice German lady working asked us "Would the little girl like a wiener?" (spoken in a German accent of course.) Sure! Kayla loved eating that German hot dog! The weather was very nice when we went into Seattle on Saturday so we were able to enjoy great views from the Space Needle. We also walked around the grounds where there was a fair going on. It was huge and there were all sorts of interesting people there. We saw people dumpster-diving in the compost bins, and others asking people to sign petitions to legalize various drugs. Some people were dressed in Medieval attire, others wore top hats made of leather. We felt like we were back in Cambridge! I guess there are fun people-watching opportunities in most of big cities.

A Little Birthday Girl

Kayla celebrated her second birthday last week. She is growing up so fast! Kayla knows many of her letters and numbers, colors, shapes, animals (and their sounds), and can recognize songs from "Cinderella" and "Beauty and the Beast" on the car CD player. She is a very sweet girl who loves to laugh and is usually very good a sharing. Some of her favorite outdoor activities are playing at the playground (especially if there is a slide!), bubbles, and chalk. "Beauty and the Beast", "Cinderella", and "Shrek" are the top three movies Kayla asks to watch. She loves to help around the house. One day she spilled her yogurt everywhere while I was cleaning the bathrooms and I found her using some paper towels to clean it all up. We love this little girl who makes everyone around her happy!

My mom and little sister flew up from California to join us for Kayla's birthday celebration. On Wednesday morning Kayla had peach pancakes and OJ for breakfast. Then we all headed to the mall for her 2-year-old pictures. Then we got "moothies" (smoothies) from Jamba Juice for lunch so Kayla could go down for a quick nap before her well-baby check-up. She weighs 26 lbs. 2 oz. (50th percentile) and is 34 in. tall (50-75th percentile). She is developing very well and has almost all of the 2-year molars. After her appointment we went back home where my dad and Braden joined us after their days at work. We had some of Kayla's favorite foods for dinner: grilled chicken, broccoli, artichokes, grapes, garlic bread, and root beer. Kayla's Aunt Melanie brought her three boys over for cake/ice cream and presents. Kayla LOVED being sung to and blowing out candles (we had to re-light the candles several times to get one of these pictures, which our Little Miss thoroughly enjoyed). Now on to some pictures...

Easter 2011

We had a great Easter this year. Last year we were traveling back from Boston after attending MIT's open house for incoming LGOs. This year, though, we were able to enjoy a very sunny Saturday by going for a hike and grilling hot dogs for dinner. On Sunday Kayla had tons of fun finding plastic eggs with candy surprises inside, eating a delicious breakfast, going to Church, and having a yummy Easter dinner with family and friends, along with another Easter egg hunt. Kayla devoured all the candy she could find. Luckily several pounds of candy doesn't make her sick! Here are some pictures from the weekend...

Kayla with her Easter basket. She ripped into the Cadbury egg right away. Great breakfast!

Some of the eggs Braden and I decorated on Saturday night after Kayla went to bed. Notice the four top eggs? One for each member of our family :)

Do you like these little guys? They are bunnies and chicks! The kiddos loved eating them too!

Looking for and finding more eggs. She was determined to get more of that candy goodness!

Oh Kayla!

Kayla has been very busy lately. We moved her to a "big girl" bed last weekend. She's been doing great at falling asleep quickly and staying in bed rather than constantly climbing out (except one horrible naptime). She also really wants to be potty-trained, but we're waiting until we come back from Utah next weekend to get serious about that. Here's a few other things she's been doing...

decorating cookies for Spring (but her favorite part was eating the frosting!),

reading stories with Daddy,

picking out shoes to wear for a walk around the apartment complex (notice the 3-pound weight in the background? Kayla likes to workout to the Jillian videos with me!),

getting into Mommy's mascara and putting it on (by the way, black, waterproof mascara does NOT come off with baby wipes),

bear-walking on the way home from the playground,

and asking insistently to watch "Cinderella". This is Kayla right after she woke up this morning pleading to watch it. Luckily I already have that movie memorized so I don't mind having it on in the background all day. I wonder what her birthday cake will look like next month...

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival - More Dirt

Well, mud actually.  Luckily the rain broke long enough for us to check out the tulips, daffodils, and all manner of bulbs at "RoozenGaarde".  However, Tiff and Kayla decided to live by the motto of PITD and get covered in mud - see below.

The coolest part was seeing the swaths of bright red and yellow in the middle of the gloomy gray that is the Pacific Northwest this time of year

And this lady painting tulips in the rain - she loved her tulips

The rest was just enjoying springtime, and letting Kayla out to roam to her little heart's content!

A Late April Fool's Joke

Today we woke up to this:

I think that's a pretty mean trick; especially since when I checked the weather before Braden left for work and it showed sunny skies all day. I was thinking, "Woohoo! We'll go to the park. Perfect!" Not so sunny and not so warm.

We've already had a rough week. Sunday night Kayla was having difficulty breathing and was up every few hours coughing and wheezing. I took her to the doctor on Monday and she has ear infections in both ears and RSV. So now she's on antibiotics for the ears and albuterol for the wheezing. And now it's too cold to play outside, too bad she doesn't understand that (she keeps standing at the door trying to get out). Time to break out the finger paints!

A very tired and sick girl on the 500-yard drive home from the pharmacy.

Luckily she is feeling much better now.

Moment of Glory

The Dread Pirate Roberts won the voting, but as I contemplated shaving my 'stache to match, I realized that  my mustache is much thicker than his.  As such, if I shaved it up from the edge of my lip I'm afraid I'd look a little too much like Hitler...

...so I went with a progression.  Here are the highlights, pick your favorite!