How Can She Be Two?

May 2014

On May 1, 2014, my baby girl turned two.  Don't ask me how that's possible, but somehow, it happened.  My little firecracker has definitely added some spice to our lives.  She managed to invent a nickname for herself that I never considered when I named her Olivia - "Via" or "Via Gace" if she says her whole name.  Thanks to her big brother, who constantly talks to her and asks her questions, she has an amazing vocabulary for a 2-year-old.  When we're out in public, people are constantly asking me how old she is and commenting on how well she speaks. 

She hit the terrible twos right on time, and with much more force than her big brother.  We hear "No" and "Why" ALL the time.  Once, I was so exasperated with what had to be 10 whys in a row that I said, "Stop with the whys," which quickly became one of her favorite phrases.  She would ask why 2 or 3 times, look mischievously at me and say, "Stop with the whys, Mommy?"  Her other favorite phrase is "No, Via do it."  She wants to do absolutely everything herself, regardless of whether she can do it, or has ever tried to do it and will not take no for an answer.

She has every episode of Bubble Guppies memorized and loves to sing along.  She also loves fairies, the color pink, and, strangely enough, witches, who say "Ha, Ha, Ha" and apparently like to take things from people.  She sings her ABCs perfectly and also sings "Tinkle, Tinkle Little Star" (misspelling intentional :) ).

Just like her brother at this age, she is tall and thin.  Here are her stats from our doctor visit:

Height - 34 1/4 inches - 60th percentile

Weight - 24.4 pounds - 20th percentile

Head - 18 1/2 inches - 45th percentile 

For her birthday girl breakfast, she had powdered donuts, topped with a birthday candle:

Here's my big 2-year-old before we headed off to school on her birthday:

I can't believe how much she's grown in just a year (amazing what a little hair will do!)

Big brother was excited to celebrate with his sister:

After school, we celebrated with mini bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes.  I took a picture of Livi's cake, but sadly, didn't get any of the birthday girl eating her cake.  Stay tuned for birthday party pics!

Jack was such a great big brother.  He has moved on from his Strider bike to a big boy bike, so he decided it was time to give it to Livi.  Here's what it looked like before:



 

Definitely a boy's bike, so Daddy and Jack decided it needed a girly makeover.  First, was a nice new coat of paint in Livi's favorite color:



Then the whole family decorated it with Hello Kitty decals.  Jack was proud to show off the finished product:

Happy second birthday to my sweet, spunky Olivia Grace.  Thank you for completing our family in such a perfect way.  Your family loves you so much, baby girl!

The Easter Fun Concludes

April 2014

As if the Easter egg hunts for Pearson Farms and at school weren't enough fun, we had even more Easter fun planned this year.  On the Saturday before Easter, Nana and Papa invited everyone over to their house to hunt for eggs.  We tried to get a picture of everyone before we started.  At first, Lincoln was really excited!

But after getting baby Charlie situated and getting Olivia's pacifier out, he was more than finished with pictures and ready to find his eggs:

Finally, it was time to hunt for eggs.  Since our egg hunters were of wide-ranging age and ability, Nana had the brilliant idea of giving each kid a color of eggs to find.  

Lincoln hunted for the green eggs:

 Jack requested his favorite color, red, but the Easter bunny didn't have any red eggs, so Jack searched for the orange ones:

 

Livi, of course, had pink:

 

 

Charlie didn't do much running around, but he managed to round up all of his blue eggs: 

There were even a few yellow eggs for Miss Lucy:

Since it was such a beautiful day, we all sat outside to open our eggs.  They were filled with all kids of goodies - from socks to hair clips, stretchy bunnies to candy, there was something for everyone:

 

We had so much fun at Nana's house!  The next day was Sunday, time for the grand finale.  The Easter Bunny filled Livi and Jack's baskets with all kinds of treats and hid eggs all around the game room. Unfortunately, we weren't quick enough to get too many pictures.  Here's one of Jack showing some of his goodies to Mommy:

Crazy-haired Livi and her Peeps:

Of course, Easter wouldn't be complete without the dying of eggs.  Daddy and Jack look rather perplexed at the beginning:

But happy at the end!

Wouldn't you know it, they make Ninja Turtle Easter egg kits - Jack was so proud:

Livi was pretty proud of her princess eggs, too:

After the egg dying, everything quickly disintegrated into chaos.  I came out of my bedroom after talking with my mom to find this.  Tommy is sitting right in front of the TV, using a pot lid as a shield while the kiddos throw plastic Easter eggs at him.

Happy Easter from the Mhire family crazies!!

Easter Fun at KRK

April 2014

I'm not really sure why, but I love going up to Kids'R Kids each year to watch the egg hunts.  There are only ever a handful of other parents there, but Tommy and I have been every year that our kids' classes have had parties, since they could barely walk.  This is only the second year we've visited the Easter egg hunt for Livi's class.  Last year, she had just learned to walk and spent a lot of the time crawling around the playground to pick up eggs.  I can't believe how much she's grown in just a year!  This year, her class made adorable bunny ears for everyone to wear:

All of the bunnies were excited to get outside and find some eggs!

And they're off!

After the craziness of the Pearson Farms hunt, Livi was a pro at egg hunting.  She ran around filling her basket with eggs while most of the kids in her class realized there was candy in the eggs and stopped to eat after finding a couple.

  

 

Then we headed back into the classroom for the snack part of the party.  I love this picture - it looks like Livi is mastering the art of flirting early - we're in big trouble!

Here she is enjoying her snacks with her buddies:

Clearly, applesauce pouches were a hit...

But chocolate cupcakes weren't so bad either:

 

Next, we headed over to Jack's class.   He was really excited to begin his egg hunt:

His whole class was packed against the door waiting to run outside.  When the door finally opened, the group of kids practically exploded outside!

 At this age, everyone understands Easter egg hunts, and they all run around like crazy:

 

Jack ran around for a little while:

And then found a secret stash of eggs on the stairs of the playset that everyone had overlooked.  I think he pretty much filled his basket right there:

Livi's class came outside to their playground to play.  She was so upset that her whole family was on the other side hunting eggs.  Poor girl!

Here's Jack showing off his collection of eggs:

Then it was time to head inside for treats.  Somehow, Jack managed to get a cupcake and get seated at his table and dig in before anyone else even sat down:

 

 Finally some friends joined in the feasting:

As a working mom, sometimes I feel like I miss out on getting to see my kids play with their friends, so I love days like this when I get to see them with all of their friends, happy in their everyday world.