Emma Claire's 2nd Birthday Party

Emma Claire's birthday fell on a Saturday this year so we were able to celebrate with friends and family on her actual birthday. We were blessed with beautiful weather again this year allowing everyone to enjoy the outdoors as well. Emma Claire started talking about her birthday literally from right after Christmas. She would sing Happy Birthday to herself and when we asked her how old she was going to be she would respond proudly, "2", while trying to hold up two fingers. Her party this year was Minnie themed and I spent a lot of time on it despite promising next year, "never again". I have to say it was all worth it because over a month later she is still talking about her birthday party, birthday cake, jumping in the bounce house, etc. The food was themed from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We had Mouseqedillas, Hot Diggity Dogs, Toodles Noodles, Pluto's Punch, and more. Thank goodness for Etsy & Pinterest where I found lots of great ideas!

The highlight of the party would be after singing Happy Birthday to her and letting her blow out her candles she proudly replied "again"! We lit the candles again and she insisted everyone sing to her again. Here is a video that Grandma captured as well as pictures capturing the day.

Our Little Drummer

One of Emma Claire's favorite things to do at Grandma & Pop's is play the drums.

Best of Cell Phone Photos

A few months ago I did a download of my favorite recent cell phone photos. Here is round 2.

1st Wolfpack Game

Cheesin' at Chick-fil-a

Hijacking Mommy's Tea

Carrying Baby Lilly

Feeding Goldfish to Baby Lilly

Monday Morning Sassiness

Being silly at the grocery store

Chips & Salsa

Helping Daddy in the garden

Her 1st solo ice cream cone

Our girly girl!

Too cool!

Despite appearances - she does have a diaper on!

She insisted her Mickey & Minnies be in the photo too.

Riding the boats at Pullen Park

Finally long enough again for a ponytail!

Marbles with Jeremiah

While Emma Claire's school was on break after Christmas, we had a playdate with Jeremiah and his mom at Marbles Kids Museum. It was a bit crazy with school out but they had a fun morning running from one thing to the next. I left my camera at home so here are a few pictures captured on my phone.

Visit with Momaw

On our way home from Charlotte, we stopped to visit Momaw. Emma Claire had fun roaming the halls and meeting Momaw's friends, looking at pictures, and playing with Momaw's decorations.

Meeting Baby Hailey

Back in January we finally got to meet Miss Hailey! Hailey's mom is Nurse April who took care of Emma Claire in the Transition Care Nursery at Duke. Emma Claire was very interested in Hailey as long as Mommy wasn't holding her. As soon as I held her, Emma Claire insisted I hold her instead. I was thankfully able to sneak in a few baby squeezes though!

January 2012

Here are a few random pictures from January.

She wants to swing on the "big girl" swing now.

Trying to ride the tricycle - she doesn't quite have the hang of the pedals yet.

Tea Parties with Daddy


Practicing her driving - this turned out to be a bad idea because for weeks after she wanted to sit in the seat with us and didn't understand why she couldn't.