Happy 2nd Birthday Ellie!

Can't believe my little Ellie turned 2!  Her birthday was on Thursday, June 7th and we had a great day!  Patrick took the day off of work to be able to spend the day together.  We started out with painting our toes(to-ees, as Ellie says it)  She loves her toes painted and will sit really still for it.  She even likes to help to blow on them when we are finished!

We then were off to get her 2 year pictures done at JC Penney.  They turned out so cute!  I will post more when I get them back.  We had to make sure to play at the mall play place and take a couple of rides.  

After that we were off to take a few pictures of our own for her birthday invitations.  They were much harder to get since she had already been sitting for a long time!  I will post the invite(which Patrick made) with her birthday party.  We got home just in time for a surprise visit from Aunt Krista.  I didn't take any pictures, but she brought her a present-paints, bubbles and stamps!  Ellie was very excited!  Then it was time for a nap.  

We planned on going swimming after her nap and of course, she decided to sleep for 3 hours!  I had to finally be a little more noisy in her room to make sure we got to the pool before it was too late:)  It was really funny because I went into her room and was just saying her name and she was so asleep.  She didn't even flinch.  I talked for about a minute and still nothing!  I then said, do you want to go swimming and without any hesitation she said yes!  Put on swimsuit.  And she was up like that!  We had so much fun swimming.  Ellie loves the water and is a brave little girl-scary for her mommy and daddy!  Luckily, grandma Judy got her a little life jacket swim thing and it worked great.  This way she could feel like she was on her own-even though we were always hanging on to her!  Uncle Derrick came with us and we had a fun time!

I really like the Logan Aquatic Center because it has the little kiddie area.  She can still touch and it's a great way for her to be a little more independent.  

She loved being in the deep part too-especially doing motor boat with daddy and uncle derrick.  She kept asked for the slide and finally convinced Patrick to take her down.(only after she started asking to go off the diving board when Uncle Derrick would dive)  Lets just say she would have spend the entire time on the slide if Patrick would have let her.  

We stopped and picked up McDonalds for dinner.  Her request of chicken nuggets and french fries:)  Then we had Moose Bars for Dessert.  I couldn't resist and had to put some candles in since we weren't having cake until her actual party!  

She did great blowing out the candles!

We ended the day with a bath.  Her friend Ivy got her some really cool bath fizzy's that change the water color.  She thought it was really cool and wanted to put them all in....:)  And she was out!  We had a really great day!

The next day, June 8th, we had a little party with her friends.  We just met at the park and had cupcakes and played.  Nothing big, but it was fun to get together with all her little friends.  I completely forgot to take any pictures:(  But we had a good time.

We had Ellie's 2 year well check on June 4, 2012.  She is healthy and doing great!  We didn't have any shots this time which was wonderful.  She was very apprehensive when the dr first came in, but she was back to her usual talkative self in a couple min.  Dr Horkley even said that she seems very advanced with talking and the things she knows.  She weighed in at 25.2 lbs in the 31st percentile; height of 33.5 inches in the 43rd percentile.  She hasn't grown much in 6 months which is crazy because I feel like she has grown a ton!  But I guess it is the baby fat that is disappearing and turning into a little girl!  Glad she is a healthy happy girl!

Here are a few things Ellie is doing right now that I don't want to forget.

*She loves to put on her own shoes.  I think we got some good shoes for this, because she does really well and is so proud of herself when she does it.  Here is a picture from this morning of her after she put on her boots!  June 10, 2012.

*We have been doing time out, not very much, but she remembers it and knows she is in trouble.  The other day she started putting herself in time out....not sure if this is a good thing...but it was pretty cute.  She has even put daddy in time out when he dropped food on the floor...May 28, 2012.

*Ellie loves books.  She loves to have them read to her, but also really likes to just read them by herself.  This is how I found her after I finished getting ready one day.  I am glad she likes books so much!  June 5, 2012.

*She loves animals and will point them out everywhere.  She does a lot of animal noises and even does a peacock noise(thanks to the Logan zoo, which has peacocks)  We have been going to feed the ducks at first dam more and more with the nice weather and she has lots of fun doing that.  She will even point out the geese and make the noise they make.  May 2, 2012 with Dutton Booth and Hadlie Doolin

 She also likes that we have horses by our apt.  We will go on walks and always stop to see the horseys:)  May 6, 2012.

*She found her binky the other day and likes to play with it acting like she's a baby....Its cute only because she doesn't NEED it:)  June 3, 2012.

*Ellie is extremely scared of the vacuum...it's strange because she used to really like the vacuum.  Now when I even get it out, she will say that she is going to her room and hide from the vacuum until I am done!:(  June 2, 2012

We love having Ellie so much in our family and can't believe she is already 2.  It seems like just yesterday when she was just a little baby and we brought her home.  I have enjoyed so much being able to be her mom and see her learn and grow.  It will be interesting to see how she responds to having a new little baby in our house.  She does really good with babies right now and is a very good little mommy to her baby doll.  I hope it doesn't throw her too much when he comes.  Happy Birthday baby girl!