Happy 2nd Birthday!

Look who's birthday it is!

For about a week now, I have been telling JV that he's gong to be 2 soon.  It's going to be his birthday, but there have been quite a few birthdays lately and so every time I mention birthday he references a friend.  This morning I excitedly told him "Happy Birthday!  It's YOUR birthday today!"  It didn't take him long before he started to get the idea.

Self portrait during our (still in progress) t-shirt craft.  That blog is to come soon.



We borrowed It's My Birthday by Helen Oxenbury from our local library and have read it at bedtime for the last week or so.  It's a story about a little boy and his animal friends who work together to make a cake for his birthday. 

Yesterday we picked up cake mix and icing and I told JV that we would make a cake or his birthday just like the story.  I didn't catch his expression with the camera, but when he saw the cake mix it was priceless!  He knew exactly what we had to do next.

 

It wasn't long after pulling out the cake mix that daddy came home early (yay!) and we were all working together to make JV's birthday cake just like the book.



Pouring oil in the cake mix:



Stirring the mix:

And of course tasting the mix! 

(Yes, I know you shouldn't eat this, but it's too yummy to resist!)

Out of all these presents...

He ran strait for the tricycle! 

It took about 30 minutes before we could get him off the tricycle and that was only for cake.

 Looking at daddy while we sing "Happy Birthday".

"Yay!" I blew out the candles.

Finally, tasting the cupcake.

Apparently I'm in his way:

Sharing a cupcake with daddy:

After daddy took the tricycle to the garage he was able to focus on present opening:

And card reading:

Then it was back outdoors so he could ride again. 

Daddy teaching JV how to use the pedals



Checking off the Bucket List: Maple Grove Days

I was very excited to go to Maple Grove Days this year since it was the 1st year that JV would really be able to participate.  I couldn't wait to get there.  We were forced to park in the grocery store parking lot which was roped off with carts to separate the Maple Grove Days parking from the grocery story parking.  I don't know why they used the kids car cart, because just like JV I'm sure every kids that passed it wanted to play there instead of walking to the festival. 

JV refusing to leave the car:

The 1st exhibit we went to was the animal petting.  I couldn't help but love this chicken!



The camel was the most popular.  He had a lot of personality and wasn't afraid to introduce himself.   JV and BV and lightly hesitant but warmed up after a minute or two.  

This is the main reason I wanted to bring JV to the festival.  I always heard my mom talk about riding ponies as a child and thought that it would be so fun.  JV liked the idea until it was time to hope on.  You can see that he was holding onto me more than he was the pony!

Playing at the park beside the festival is probably JV's favorite event of the day.  Look how strong he is.

 Good thing dad was there to catch him!

Time for BV and me to race!

I had a good start but then I lost momentum :(

Now JV wants to race me.  

Pony ride #2!  Here BV is showing JV how nice the pony is.

Cheese!  JV looks more comfortable riding with dad.

"It's Raining!"

After telling Jackson that we were going to play in the water, he was more than happy to put on his swim trunks and run outside, but once he saw me pulling the sprinkler out he hesitated.  I had him sit on the stairs and told him that I would make it 'little'.  After getting the water just the right height, I persuaded him to get wet by telling him "it's raining!' and sticking my feet in.  It wasn't long before he was running in and out and asking for more (bigger) water.

Here he is washing rocks:

The water splashed him, but he didn't seem to mind.

Moving rocks from cup to cup:

Pouring water into the cups.  Later he would drink from it too.

Forget the cups.  I'll just drink from the sprinkler!

What a face!

Run!  Here he is yelling "run" and then running through the 'rain':

Look what I can do.

Time for another drink.

Another warm day = another fun day in Minnesota!

Checking off the bucketlist: Go Fishing

After July 4th dinner, we decided to go fishing.  JV's favorite way to get there, or anywhere, is by bike.  So that's just what we did.

In the bike trailer and ready to go:

BV testing out JV' rod:

JV's favorite part of fishing is reeling...

Sitting on "my rock".

 Here JV is interested in the fish, but doesn't want to get too close:

 Mama likes to fish too!

 My favorite picture:

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4th of July

Celebrating the 4th of July started off at Brooklyn Park Library.  It was our 1st 'toddler storytime" event and I was quite pleased with the way it was run.  It was like going to preschool for 45 mins.  The theme of course was 4th of July where the librarian alternanted between a book, a felt board story, book, song, and finally gave out flags for the children to march with. 

While we were there, JV didn't care to march with the other kids, but when we come home he literally ran in circles with Shogun as he cheered with the flag.

Running in circles:

Showing his flag to Shogun:

Later I had him make a the American flag.  I started by having him color this flag blue knowing that I would only be using the star portion for our project.  Because he has the attention span of a 2 year old, after all, he is almost 2, we took a break when he was done.

When he wanted to do more art projects I brought out the white paper and red stripes that I had cut the day before.  After showing him how to dip the q-tip in the glue and rubbing it on the paper I stepped back and let him work his magic.

While he was busy glue the stripes down, I cut out the stars section of the flag from earlier.

Here he is putting a little extra glue on the stars.  I guess he really wanted it to stick...LOL.

Happy 4th of July!

 Last, but not least, was a cookout with our friends.  Someone is VERY happy to be here!

 How cute is he?

And of course, you can't have a 4th of July cookout with out an American dish.  This could be the most delicious sugar cookie flag EVER!