Lola's Birthday Party

On St. Patrick's Day, we had a small party with family to celebrate Lola's 2nd birthday. Lola's favorite food is quesedillas, so we had them with green tortillas and guacamole! Quinn helped Lola open her gifts, and read all of her cards to her. She loves him, and he is so good with her.

 The fish took the cake! A blue betta fish. Auntie Rach brought it from Seattle, and Lola named it Blue.

 Molly and Joe brought this alligator that Lola loves riding and singing on.

 Listening to her Lola's heart with her new doctor's kit from Grandma Linda.

Giving Molly a shot.

 I gave cake balls a shot since Nana gave me a recipe book for them. These were made with confetti cake and cream cheese frosting, covered in green with rainbow sprinkles.

 After cake, Nana and Bub brought out this store, equipped with a cash register, scale, and scanner. Bub was her first customer. Lola passed out money to everyone to come to her store and said "You can buy something from me!" This will be a hit this summer with the neighbor kids that Lola likes to play with!

Lola is Two

 Happy 2nd Birthday Lola!

What a great day we had together on your 2nd birthday. We started the day by eating bacon and banana pancaked for breakfast. Then we headed to coop preschool to play and share some carrot cake pops with your friends, and Teacher Brenda. After lunch a a long nap, Dad came home early and Nana & Bub joined us to watch the Zags play in the first round of the NCAA tournament. They beat West Virginia 77-54! You opened your presents, had dinner, and ate another cake pop, this time blowing out the candles. We gave you a Spike doll, a puzzle, and a balance bike (just like Summer's) for your birthday. Nana and Bub brought you more puzzles, and some new books.

When did you get so big? You love to sing, dance, jump and run. You love to make food in your kitchen for everyone, often serving chicken noodle soup with pepperoni. You love babies and playing with baby dolls- we think you are going to be such an amazing big sister! You also love animals, and love to see them, pet them, and read about them. Your favorite foods are quesedillas, macaroni and cheese, rotisserie chicken from Costco, berries, apples, bananas, carrots, and french fries. Oftentimes, I will find you sitting and reading books out loud. One of our favorite things about you is that you love to kiss, hug, cuddle, and tell us that you love us. Thank you for being such a sweet girl. You are so easy to love, and so much fun to be around.

 At coop, reading to Alex and Michael.



Aunt Shelley

My Aunt Shelley- who is actually my mom's best friend from college, but I've always known as "Aunt Shelley"- came for a visit a few weeks ago. She works for ESPN (Shelley Smith) and was in Seattle for work. Once in a while, she's able to arrange her schedule so that she can visit us after she's there.

My family loves Aunt Shelley visits. She always has great inside scoop on athletes that we get to hear about, she tells us stories about my mom that we otherwise would never know, and we can always count on her to remind my mom how to drink like they did in college, providing us with constant entertainment :) She's a blast and we love her!

This trip, she brought Lola the cutest book. The Tickle Monster. It comes with furry, tickling gloves, and Lola absolutely loves reading it with us.

Lucy

Rachael's old doll (formerly known as Debbie) has been adopted by Lola, and is now known as Lucy. She has been a part of our family for awhile now, and Lola grows more fond of her as time goes by.

They do a lot together throughout the day. Lola often makes Lucy food in her kitchen, and Lucy likes to watch Lola eat as well. Lucy has a cradle in Lola's room and she gets cuddled up, rocked, and wrapped up in blankies. Lola loves putting music on and dancing or rocking to the music with Lucy. Lola is always saying things like, "Lucy needs some milk." "Lucy wants to listen to my music." "Lucy can come with us in the car."

I know it's just a doll, but it makes me look forward to Lola having a sibling to play with soon!

 Lola is reading to Lucy, who is in her cradle.

Lola was listening to music and riding "bare back" on her horsey while rocking with Lucy. I took a quick photo, and as soon as Lola caught me, she said "Wait, Lucy wants to smile too," and posed for the next picture.

Dancing and Hopping

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