Happy 2nd Birthday!!!

Today is my 2nd birthday! Daddy was very excited that I woke up before he left for work, so he and Mommy greeted me by singing "Happy Birthday!" After that, Mommy and I had breakfast together and she let me open my first gift - a pink ducky! I liked it so much that I didn't want any of my other bath toys in the bath, just the pink duck!
Mommy gave me another gift after my bath - a new shirt to wear for my birthday. Then we made cupcakes and went to my friend Ella's house for a couple hours so Mommy could meet with her Kids Hope friend. My friends had a special birthday gift for me, which they helped me open right away!
I shared some birthday cupcakes with my friends and we got very messy!
Mommy brought me home and I took a nap. When I woke up, Daddy was home! We opened presents together.
Next, we went out for an early dinner at Red Robin. I got a free kids meal for my birthday!Afterward, Daddy had to go direct a concert at school, but Mommy and I stopped at the mall so I could play a while. What a fun day!

Ice cream trip!

This afternoon Mommy, Daddy, and I went on a special trip with the Kids Hope students to Dairy Dayz for ice cream! I had my very own dish of ice cream with sprinkles! It was so much fun!

Doctor's appt

Mommy says, "This afternoon Lillian and I went to another doctor's appointment. Amazingly enough, this was the first time that Lillian and I went by ourselves. For all previous appointments Dan has either come with us or stayed home to watch Lillian. At any rate, I am happy to report that the appointment went very well. Despite my seemingly gigantor belly, I am measuring exactly on track with where I should be. We have officially entered the home stretch of the pregnancy, as I will now be seeing my OB every 2 weeks instead of every 4. Woohoo!"

Random...

Mommy says, "This is the sight that welcomed me in the parking lot of Meijer. It made me laugh and I just had to share!"

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, Mommy!
Daddy and I gave Mommy some nice gifts, including a big surprise - a new camera!I made sure to tell Mommy just how I felt about her on her special day.

Mulch

This afternoon I helped Mommy and Daddy spread some new mulch outside. I'm sure I was a big help.

Friday at Tulip Time

This morning Mommy and I met up with some friends at Tulip Time. First, Anna and I had a little photo shoot.
Anna was looking extra festive in her dutch outfit.Next we watched the Dutch dancers perform. Anna and I watched quietly the entire time!
Our friends Lindsey and Gabe joined us too.We walked down to Treehouse Books to play for a while, and then had lunch downtown.
I was acting a little silly.
There were lots of pretty tulips everywhere.
I got really excited when I heard the music for the Dutch dancers start up again!

Anna came over to our house and we both took naps while our mommies spent time together. Afterward Anna let me borrow her Dutch outfit for a couple of pictures.

Yard pictures and bathroom project

Mommy says, "Here is another installment of the current yard pictures. We are especially enjoying the fact that our flowering trees are in bloom!""Here is a close up shot of that same tree."
"I am very happy to say that we finally completed our bathroom project! Here is what it looked like when we first moved into the house."
"We actually didn't mind the wallpaper too much and lived with it for about a year until it started to peel. At that point we removed the wallpaper, patched up all of the bad spots, primed, and painted most of the bathroom.""After running into a strange issue with some nonexistent drywall, our friend helped us finish the project last week and I finally got to put the final touch up paint on! The project is now complete!"

Tulip Time parade and chocolate

This afternoon Mommy and I went downtown to watch one of the Tulip Time parades. Mommy says I was mesmerized and just sat and watched the entire time!Mommy says, "In case anyone was wondering, yes, the Holland High School marching band really does march in wooden shoes!"
Later in the day Mommy and I stopped at the store to get a few things. Mommy had given me a piece of chocolate before we left and was surprised to see what I looked like after our short 2-mile drive!

Home improvement projects

Mommy says, "Lately I have been in a nesting sort of mood and we have been getting a lot of projects finished around the house! Yesterday a friend of ours helped us finish our bathroom project from the fall by putting up a new section of drywall. Hopefully in the next day or two I'll be able to paint and complete the project!"
"Tonight Dan and I also started painting the new nursery. We decided on a pale blue color to coordinate with baby boy's bedding. It will be exciting when this project is complete!!"

Midwest palm tree

Mommy says, "Last Spring we had a storm that knocked down half of a tree in our backyard. When the tree fell, it mangled a pine tree toward the back of our property. We were told that this was not the first beating for the lonely pine tree, and it was left pretty sad looking. We took the opportunity to trim off its lower branches and turn it into our own Midwest version of a palm tree. Lovely, isn't it?"
"In all honesty, we intended to finish the job and cut the whole tree down last year, but never got around to it. And, the palm tree sort of grew on Dan and me. But, we decided the tree had to go, despite our fondness for it, to free up some room for a small vegetable garden. So, tonight Dan laid our friend to rest."
"It was sad, but we held back the tears."

Yard pictures and Kinderplaats

This morning Mommy took some pictures of our pretty tree in the front yard.
And of me smelling the tulips!After taking a good nap, Mommy, Daddy and I ate ice cream outside!
Sometimes Daddy likes to be silly...
Then we went to a special event called Kinderplaats. We had so much fun and I even made some new friends!There was fun music to listen to and dancing to watch.
And I even got a paper hat made just for me!But the best part of all was playing in the giant inflatable obstacle course!It was so cool! I even went back a second time!
Afterward we went downtown for a while and enjoyed the warm weather.

Furniture and Celebr8

Mommy says, "Dan and I have been working little by little to assemble some of Lillian's new furniture. We are planning on moving her to a "big girl bed" AKA twin bed when she turns 2 in a little over a week. This morning we put together her dresser."
"I guess I am a little on the type A - anal retentive side, because this is what the project looked like when I started."
"Tonight we had our quarterly worship night at church. This time the theme was Celebr8. Lillian had fun keeping herself occupied while we rehearsed and had the sound check ahead of time."