Alyssa's 2nd Birthday

What another fabulous birthday for Alyssa. It was spent with wonderful family and everyone had a great time. Of course she was napping while everyone arrived, it seems to always be the case. And just in tradition with celebrating her birthday, the power went out again. We'll see if 3rd time is a charm next year.

She woke up from her nap to find these huge balloons in her living room.

And she went running straight to Cookie.

But then she caught a glimpse of a Cookie Cake sitting on the kitchen table and pushed the Cookie Balloon aside and went running for that. She honestly stood there and couldn't believe it. It was precious!

The look on her face as we all sang Happy Birthday to her says it all. She knew the day was for her!

Watching as Daddy takes off Cookie's head...surprisingly, it didn't freak her out!

Even Cookie showed up for a visit. She wasn't too sure, so he only got a high five.

Alyssa will finally sit on her Uncle Dale's knees, but only because he was going to protect her from the odd looking Cookie Monster!

Honestly, her first 'girly' toy! She played with it for almost 45 minutes after everyone left!

What is it? "A chair," she says

Play, "where's Alyssa?"

Aren't Grandma's the best?

Swimming Lessons

We tried Alyssa in swimming lessons a few weeks ago but it was at 5:00-5:30. It didn't go so well since 6pm is her usual bedtime and we were so rushed. We were going to wait until Summer when we could get to the beach, but when they called to inform us that they had a Saturday Duck lesson opening, we jumped at the chance. Craig took her since it seems to be getting more difficult for me to move around at that level. You could still hear her yell "NO" across the pool, but she seemed to be having a better time. She was tired afterwards, but came home and had a great nap before her birthday party.

What we do for our kids...

Because Alyssa is obsessed with Cookie Monster, Craig and I though we'd take on the daunting task of creating a 3 dimensional Cookie Monster. It went smoother than we thought, and after 4 full batches of home-made chocolate cake we think it turned out awesome! She LOVED it! She dropped everything in her hands and went running right to it. She knew exactly who it was!

Nothing like caving a cake with an electric knife!

Cookie gets a mouth.

Notice the blue hands?!?! Mr. Clean Magic Eraser was the only thing that took the dye off his hands! Best Dad ever!

My job was the eyes!

How much she has grown...

I look at our bubbly daughter every day and stare in awe of how much she has grown and how different our life could have been, or is. I cannot believe how much she takes in, has developed and continues to grow each day. She makes us laugh every day with each new thing she comes up with. She is just an amazing little miracle who has turned into one smart cookie! And then I look at my dogs who have the biggest patience of all. I think they love having a toddler around so they get to clean her high chair after she eats (if she let's them, she's pretty bossy towards them!).

Alyssa and Riley May 12th 2009 - 2 months old

Alyssa and Riley October 7 2009 - 7 months old

Alyssa and Riley January 31 2011 - 22 months old

A weekend at home

We had a great weekend at home. Alyssa and Daddy went into London on Saturday while I worked on my report cards, but we did manage to get some play time in.

Story and tea time with Cookie!

Making our 3rd batch of bran muffins...we still haven't found one we really like.

Although, I think she liked this one as she ate an entire muffin. They were sweeter than normal muffins.

Cookie Monster even gets to go through the tunnel.

Playing peek-a-boo in the tent.

The dogs are waiting patiently for Dad to return from his run.

Riley found a cozy spot, where hopefully the toddler wont bother him.

Not much chance of that! She was saying "cheese, Riley...cheese, Cookie...cheese, Alyssa"

Her new obsession

Her obsession with Cookie Monster has just taken off. So we found a cookie monster from Amazon and gave it to her on Saturday when we went to Port Huron. She has not let it out of her sights since. It's the first thing she asks for in the morning and the first thing she asks for when she comes in the house. He has a special place in the rocking chair when she is at the babysitters and she doesn't want to leave him then either!

She wanted Cookie to pose for the camera and say "cheese"

Then she decided to join in with him.

Here she is pointing to the TV saying 'cookie' wanting to WATCH cookie monster while holding cookie monster...too bad it is well past her bed time!