Birthday Girl

She's looking more grown up every day! Our little girl turned 2 years old today. We had dinner and birthday cake last night with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Lisa.

 

Charlotte was not interested at all in opening presents. She was having way too much fun with balloons and tissue paper from the gifts!

This is the best we could get for a picture of Mommy with the birthday girl. She did not stay still the entire night, much less look at the camera.

By far, the biggest hit of the night was the Dream Lights. Jack saw an advertisement on TV once for them (basically a Pillow Pet that shines light) and proceeded to recite the commerical to Grandma the next time he saw her. Of course Grandma couldn't resist and got a Dream Light for each of them :) Charlotte got a unicorn, and Jack got a penguin (which he and Aunt Lisa named "Tuxedo.)

Charlotte soon bored of playing with her new toy and went back to the old standbys.

Jack and Charlotte had actually been apart most of the weekend--Charlotte was home with me, while Jack was with Andy at the lake house. Can you tell they were excited to be back together?

Scoping out the cake early on. Thanks to Grandma for making such an awesome cake!

Grandpa wanted the kids to pose with the cake.

It took Charlotte about 2 seconds before she sneaked a swipe of frosting.

Grandma had bought a tiara for Charlotte to wear, but she was a bit skeptical. Daddy modeled to show her how it was done.

This was about as good as we could get it on her before she ripped it off.

Mmmmm, cake. Video below.

Charlotte was a trooper for her birthday night. She actually wasn't feeling well, though from the pictures you wouldn't know it--until I took this one toward the end.

The kids playing with their Dream Lights in the dark. See Jack shining his right into his face.

Videos of blowing out the candle, singing Happy birthday, eating cake. She was pretty subdued and obviously was not feeling like her usual bubbly self.

 

Charlotte barely made any mess with her cake this year. Much improved over her 1-year birthday, huh?

 

Charlotte, we can't believe you're already 2 years old! You are such a cute, happy, loveable, brave, spunky, and funny little girl. We've so enjoyed watching you grow up this past year--seeing you walk (and then take off running, jumping, and somersaulting); getting to hear your sweet little voice for the first time and then being amazed as you quickly started forming sentences; and seeing you charm everyone you meet while also impressing them with your fearlessness. We can't wait for what you've got in store for us this coming year. I have a sad feeling that by your 3rd birthday there won't be much "baby" left in you. Slow down, little girl!

Big slides and other summer fun

Here's a compilation of summer pictures; some that are recent and others that I just never got around to posting. We went to a festival last weekend, and the kids had a blast on the big slide.

Charlotte loves, loves, LOVES corn on the cob.

Sucking out every last drop of juice.

This was right before she started screaming as I had to pry the cob out of her death grip. She had started biting hunks out the end of the cob.

Here are some random pictures taken over the summer. Jack's sunglasses lost a lens, and for some reason he and Charlotte both thought it was cool to go walking around like this.

 Too cute for words.

 Snuggly warm towels after water play in the back yard.

Jack at nearby Rehm Park, where they have these cool hand-powered trains out on weekends. Rehm pool didn't open for family swim until 10:30 or 11:00, so it was convenient to have the park next door to play at until the pool opened.

 And finally, some cute Lou pictures. So sweet of Charlotte and Lou communing on the floor.

 The kids' outdoor toys came in handy for Lou in the hot weather too.

 Awwwww...

Weekend with friends/Mommy's trip to LA

One of the reasons I haven't posted in a while is that I was in Los Angeles for a conference most of last week. The conference kept us quite busy, but my colleagues and I still had a little time in the evenings to play tourist. Here are a couple pictures of our hotel, the Millenium Biltmore. It's a famous older hotel with great architecture that's been featured in many movies. I was excited to find out this hotel was where the "Slimer" scenes from Ghostbusters were filmed. I was not so excited to find out that the hotel is actually haunted (according to legend, at least).

Our hotel was right across from the U.S Bank Tower, one of the most recognizable buildings in the LA skyline. I actually didn't realize this building was there until the 2nd day since when you're right next to it you can't see the top :)

We went to Hollywood one night, and were disappointed that we couldn't see the handprints at Grauman's Chinese Theater because the X Factor was filming there.

And of course we saw the stars. Here's one I took for the kids.

And one for me.

Okay, on to the other pictures. A couple weekends ago, the Johnstons and Ben and Carson Lamkin came to the lake house. Bella Lamkin also came along and got her usual exercise fetching and swimming. The kids had a great time throwing things for her.

Ben and Carson. Carson was not a big fan of the water and spent pretty much all his time in the sand. We'll get him in next year :)

Carson and Will on the boat. I think they were attempting to do a fist-bump.

Jack's getting pretty good at driving the boat. Daddy even lets him turn and steer a little!

Cute pic of Courtney and Will.

Thumbs-up from Courtney and Will on the tube!

Since DJ was there, we actually had someone else to drive the boat so Andy could get a chance to wakeboard.

I did a little kneeboarding. Thanks to Courtney for taking these and some of the other pictures!

Bella, Lou, and the boys having fun in the water.

Carson is so cute!

A couple good pictures of Carson and Ben.

The 3 Stooges