Elayna turnes 2

Well the big news at our house is that Elayna is actually a 2 year old now. I guess it wouldn't be that big of a deal, except she is really acting like a two year old and that is a little odd. Weston and Tyler both missed the terrible two's.. They are catching up with the obnoxious 4 and 5 year old phase instead! Elayna is filling in for them though and it's been a little rough at times. Mostly for her, since I don't give in easily - but I do have my days where I wonder why we ever decided to have 3 kids!

We LOVE Elayna and would never send her back. I just sometimes wonder if I could fed-ex her to Grandma and Grandpa's for a while! At least until we can get all the crayon, pencil, and marker doodles off the books, walls and people! And until we can find a way to install an electric fence around the perimeter of our home.

Elayna isn't old enough to know that the balloon fairy comes and leaves you balloons at the end of your bed on your birthday (eve). So when she got up she was very excited to see that she was under a canopy of balloons and then ran around showing everyone that 'she' had balloons. Weston and Tyler tried to explain to her that it would be more fun if they had all the balloons and she just had one, but she wasn't buying it - at least not after she realized what they were doing!

Elayna got to open her present from Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Howell before church, since we knew it contained her dress for the day, and Elayna loved her little baby she found in the cutest little purse that Grandma had made. She wasn't as excited about the dress - since she had just asked Daddy to put on her shoes and was quite happy in her lounge wear which now included that very cute purse!

Eventually we did get her in the dress and we made it to church. By the time we got home, it was late, and that is rough for a little birthday girl. We tried to have a quick dinner and dessert so she could open the rest of her presents before bed, it still took longer than we hoped, but it did turn out well.



We had Salmon which is one of her favorite foods (we think because it's pink); beets, because they are also pink (and John is needing a few more in his diet); and salad because she likes to dip lettuce and spinach leaves in balsamic vinegar and eat it. Weird I know - but healthy so we go with it.

After dinner we sang Happy Birthday and brought in her cake which seemed to confuse her a little since it was stuffed, but pretty cool since the candle didn't burn her. And she gets to have cake every day if she wants to. Seriously - she spits chocolate out and wont eat it, and wont eat cake at all. So we found a fun play cake and made a real dessert that we would all enjoy. A Berry Fool - a new recipe I found and absolutely wonderful. A definite keeper for the recipe file. Elayna loved hers and was getting a little too aggressive for a goblet so we finally transferred the rest of her dessert into the bowl - after she ate mine!


This isn't the best shot but it shows her eye lashes, at least a little. She has the most amazing eyes and eye lashes, long, thick, dark and curly - every girls envy. I can stare at them all day long with complete wonder.... What a lucky girl!


(bad picture - but still very cute I think. She just couldn't leave her cake behind!)


Then we opened presents - the boys seemed more excited than she was. But after a few minutes she became very posessive and has been a little since then. She loves the little horse that came with the carriage and will play with that all day long and brush it's hair. We are faily sure she'll be a 'My Little Pony' girl.


All in all, her birthday was a success. I was having serious camera user errors - hence the wonderful picture gallery you see here - but it was great to see her enjoy a special day for her.


Elayna has brought so much life and humor to our lives. We love her and I am so excited to be apart of her life. I look forward to seeing who she becomes, and to having a great friend as she gets older. What a blessing and complete joy she has been in our lives.