The Celebration

Just a few pictures of celebrating Natalie's 2nd birthday. We started off the celebration yesterday by going to the mall (yes, the mall) and riding the carousel. We're lucky the kids are so easily entertained because they were in heaven. I thought Andrew was going to burst waiting in line to get on. He was jumping up and down, shaking his hands in front of him, grinning from ear to ear. And then we really splurged and got ice cream!

I took Andrew out to Wal Mart while Andrew was napping to get a few things for today. I wanted him to have a chance to pick a gift for her also. I pictured him getting caught up in the excitement of giving and pictured her unwrapping the gift and both of them embracing...not exactly how it was. He did pick out a great gift. A Little People zoo train. Natalie has been saying she wanted a train for her birthday. This was the perfect train and who better to give it to her than Andrew. But Andrew was having a hard time wrapping his mind around the fact that the train was for Natalie and not for him. When we got home I told him that the gift was going to be a surprise for Natalie tomorrow, so to put it in the laundry room on the way inside. Instead, he raced inside, showed Natalie the gift (he really was excited) and asked her if he could have it. We managed to wait and wrap the gift and Natalie opened it today, and immediately Andrew asked her again if he could have it.

So this morning we got Natalie up by singing Happy Birthday. She loved the balloons and streamers and the special princess cereal we got her for breakfast. And she especially loved the princess scooter she got from my parents. She was riding it all around the house before church.During church, Natalie proved that she really is two. During the Sacrament she was climbing on the chair in front of us, so I got her and told her that we don't do that during the Sacrament. She crouched on the floor and said emphatically, "Don't say THAT!" and the THAT was a scream. A long, drawn-out scream. And then she repeated it, in case I didn't hear it the first time! Did I mention it was during the Sacrament?

After church and nap, John's parents came over for lunch, cake and presents. Natalie got to eat on the You Are Special plate. ( I love that plate!) John's parents gave Natalie the perfect gifts: fun dress ups, tiara, shoes, a little tote to carry. She immediately put the tiara and shoes on and was carrying the tote around for a while. Too cute.Andrew wanted to open all of the gifts and was a constant in the background asking over and over, "Can I open this Natalie?" or "I will open this for you Natalie." I think it is a hard thing to ask and expect a three year old to just observe presents being opened. There was the expected fight over the train Andrew had given to Natalie, but it was all worked out quickly.I made a princess cake and Natalie managed to blow out both candles, one at a time.