Charlotte is TWO!

Where did our little baby go?  She has turned into an "I can do it myself, talking all the time, independent" little toddler. We woke Charlotte up early before church on her birthday and she had a doughnut with candles.  We headed to church and then to the airport to get my mom.  That night we met Tim after work for Spaghetti Factory where everyone sang to her again and she opened her gifts.  This was when Gracie had the hardest time with the fact that it wasn't her birthday and she wouldn't be getting any gifts...so she pouted awhile but got over it when Charlotte shared her cupcake.

This was Gracie's gift to her and she loved it!

We had her party on Thursday.  It was unconventional and I felt terrible because I didn't even think about people having to fight rush hour to get here.  I was thinking of the holiday weekend, Tim's day off, and my brother and sister in law being in town.  I began planning awhile back beginning with ideas from Pinterest for an Elmo birthday.  Gracie was never into Elmo or Sesame Street when she was little (hers was a Bubble Guppy party) but Elmo is Charlotte's favorite so I knew it would be the perfect theme.  I really just did accents of Elmo with lots of color.  I was so glad nearly everyone we invited was able to come to our little house...but we made it work!  Thanks to a great rental company we had tables and chairs and even a kids table and chairs.  I thoroughly enjoy all aspects of party planning and especially diy projects for parties.  I saw the Elmo cupcakes on Pinterest and knew we had to do those for the kids, and we had a "Pin the nose on Elmo" game on the patio. Charlotte had a great time but was exhausted by the time it was over...and so was I! We are thankful to everyone who could be here to celebrate our little Charlotte, but we missed our far away friends and family!

4th of July 2014

We had our friends Pam, Amanda, and Jody visiting us the week of the 4th this year.  Early in the week we visited Multnomah Falls and then Pam took us to Benihana so they could do a birthday celebration for Charlotte a little early.  Neither Tim nor I had ever been there and it was such a fun experience!

The next day we went on a jet boat tour on the Willamette River even though it was a chilly and cloudy day!  On the way back we were able to visit the famous food trucks they have in downtown Portland and it even warmed up and became sunny outside! 

For the 4th of July we drove up to Longview to meet my Dad and Debbie for the Cowlitz County Go Fourth Festival at Lake Sacajawea.  There was food and there were vendors and then the fireworks.  It was a late night because Pam, Jody, and Amanda had to be at the airport at 6 the next morning and we didn't get back until midnight, but I am glad they were able to spend the holiday with us because we had a lot of fun!