The outnumbering continues...

It's gonna be 3-1 for poor Dustin!

Cute little foot!

Home Sweet Home

We're pretty much firm believers in the practice of dumpster diving around here.  We live in a new subdivision with lots of houses being built right now so the opportunity for finding treasures in the trash dumpsters occurs quite often.  Dustin's been collecting wood and the other day whipped out this little playhouse for Mikayla from all his dumpster finds.

Dustin surprised her with flowers and built a little flower box for the front window.  The flowers lasted two times playing in the house before they were completely picked over and gone.  

Like how she spilled her water and looks like she peed her pants?  :)

Since I took these pictures they've added a little kitchen with a counter, a bench and a cubby/cabinet for all her treasures which pretty much makes the house livable for the little Missy. Dustin got paint from the mis-tints at Home Depot for it as soon as someone is ambitious enough to conquer that project...She loves it and I love that she loves to go outside more often because of it!  Good thing for a creative dad and free wood!

The little lady is 2!

Mikayla is obsessed with lady bugs (aka "bay-buh's") so we did a little ladybug themed family party for her big #2 birthday.  And, as always she's pretty much the star of the 1 man show around here (for a few more months at least) so we took lots and lots of pictures of her to document the day.

The almost birthday girl!  We had a family party on the Sunday before her birthday with her grandparents and aunts and uncles since weekdays get so crazy.

My big helper helping me make bay-buh cupcakes.

The finished products...she was thrilled about them and that's all that mattered.

Mammy and Pappy

Somehow Mikayla talked her grandparents into having a picnic with her on her little table.  I think it was her evil plot to steal all of Mammy's dinner, but they were all more than happy to oblige. ;)  We had the very finest hot dogs and "bip bip" (sour cream/ranch dip) for dinner-some of Mikayla's favorites.

In my family it was tradition to put a sparkler on the cake so we used the sparklers as antennae for Mikayla's big ladybug cupcake.  Dustin got a little excited and put 6 sparklers on the cake, which not only set off all the fire alarms, but scared Mikayla to death. 

"All done!"  Grateful those nasty sparklers are done!

Blowing out her candles-her way of blowing is puffing out her cheeks and letting a little poof of air out.

One of the 2 minutes that she lasted in her ladybug wings.

All the girls playing with Mikayla's new tows.

The peanut gallery-the aunts and uncles who made even the most innocent toys Mikayla got out to be freaky or evil somehow and had a comment for just about everything.

Whew!  Being a birthday girl is hard work!  Mammy and Pappy gave Mikayla this chair for her birthday and she loves it, but she is very cautious with it because it tends to tip over on her when she's getting out.  Uncle Bubba left so we can't blame the chair falling over on him anymore. 

On Mikayla's birthday morning I went in to get her and sang "Happy Birthday" as I was walking in.  She got so mad at me and started yelling "NO NO NO!"

Things didn't go any better when we put candles in her pancakes for breakfast and tried to sing to her again.

 

Seriously child?!?  Glad your Dad went into work late for that reaction!
She refused to talk on the phone to anyone all day long and did NOT want anyone to sing to her, thank you very much.  Such a stinker!

We spent the rest of the day celebrating by painting her nails, going to the park, playing outside, playing play-doh, eating tater tots for dinner, going to PetsMart to look at the animals, going to Bookmans to spend her birthday gift card, and ending all the 2 year-old celebrations in style by going out for ice cream.  It was a good day...We're falling in love all over again with this little chick who has completely come out of her shell the last few weeks and has been so much FUN!  She has turned crazy on us, but we love her to pieces!

P.S.  I tried and tried to get a video of her showing how old she is, which she does by holding up all her fingers and separating her pointer finger from the rest..."I come in peace" style or something.  True to her new age she threw a fit when I asked her to do it.  Yep.  She's now officially 2.

The Amen Queen

I asked Dustin if it would be terrible for me to record one of Mikayla's prayers because they make me so happy and I want to remember how she said them.  If it's terrible, then sorry, but it's for memory's sake. :)

Our new additions!

Nope.  No twins here.  Just some cacti excitement. :)

Someone gave us some saguaros and Dustin and his little helper were stoked about them and excited to have a work day to together to put them in the front yard.

Helping Dad's holes stay put

Thank goodness once again for my Dad and his tractor!  Dustin, my Dad and a family friend made it look so easy to move those puppies.

We talked Grandad into moving some dirt in the backyard, too.  It's been a while since Mikayla's had a chance to ride the tractor and she loved it.  She did the official beauty pageant contestant wave to me each time they drove by.

The new additions in place and looking great!

If I was almost 2

I'd wake up with hair that looked like this and think I was beautiful, too.

It's all about volume, right?

Big helper

A couple of Mikayla's chores are unloading the silverware and helping set the table.

The silverware drawer is always an adventure when you open it these days.  She can't see over the top of the drawer so it makes for some interesting placement. 

It makes me happy every time I open it. :)

The table settings are always interesting, too.  It's hard to see, but check out the fork placements.  

I love how she knows where everyone sits and who gets what color of cup (Dustin=green, Meagan=red.  Always.  Keeps me from having to wash a gazillion cups.) and whether they need a big kid fork or a little kid fork.

She takes her kitchen chores very seriously.

Now if she'd see her other chores, like cleaning up her toys, as important we'd be good to go.  We're working on it. ;)

*Our random funny for the day: I was in the bathroom the other day and Mikayla totally went and got a magazine and slid it under the door for me.  Because everyone needs something to read in the bathroom, right? See?  I told you she was a big helper!*

Keepin' Busy

Here's what I do to keep myself entertained while Mikayla plays outside...

I take a million pictures of her.  That shouldn't surprise anyone, though...

MORE, MORE!!!

We took Mikayla to the zoo on Monday and that's about all we heard-MORE, MORE!!!  She loved the zoo, which was way fun for us.  She liked all the smaller animals, but hated the big ones.  She freaked out whenever she would see the elephants, giraffes, or the rhino and scream "no, no, no!" until we walked away.  We're gonna have to figure out how to toughen her up.

Her favorite animal?  The anteater.  She would get so stressed when it would go out of sight and say "all gone! uh-oh!", then "MORE, MORE!"  Of all things to fall in love with!

"There it is!"

This lazy leopard kind of made me happy. :)

For some reason, I love this picture.  Mikayla was enthralled with the otters playing in the water and kept pushing her face up against the mesh, which is what I was trying to capture, but I like this almost as much.

Some days it makes me sad Mikayla is growing up so fast, but then times like Monday at the zoo when she is so alive and fun it makes me so happy to watch her grow up and discover the world.  It helps me remember how fun life is!