Gabriella's School Birthday Party

Today was Gabriella's Elmo themed school birthday party with Gabriella's class. A fun time was had by all.

I had ordered a bakery cake in addition to the one I made because I wasn't sure how mine would come out. It turns out that mine was much cuter than the bakery's! I loved that every kid and teacher in the entire school was able to have a slice of birthday cake because we had so much!

The birthday girl with her party hat:

Ava joined Gabriella's class to celebrate with her. Ava with a frosting nose!:

Getting ready for cake:

Taking a taste!:

While we were singing happy birthday to Gabriella, she acted a bit surprised, like she didn't realize why we were singing to her! It was very cute!:

Ken helping Gabriella blow out her candle:

Digging into the cake!:

Yum!:

Everybody enjoying cake and ice cream:

Ava specially wrapped and decorated a birthday present for Gabriella. It was a Hannah Montana flashlight for our camping trip next week (we are going with Ava's family):

Our two special birthday party helpers, Aunt Kathy and Ken:

After the party Aunt Kathy, Tita Candace, and I took Gabriella and Ava to McDonald's Play Place to release some of the sugar energy!

Gabriella on the McDonald's birthday throne:

Gabriella kissing Tita through the play structure:

The girls loved running around the play structure:

My little loudmouth!:

Ava and Gabriella dancing!:

Tita twirling Gabriella...:

...and Ava!:

Tomorrow is Gabriella's big day, her actual birthday. We are very excited to celebrate the day with her!

The Start of Gabriella's Birthday Week

Tomorrow begins Gabriella's birthday week. Her birthday is on Tuesday, August 4th, but the festivities begin tomorrow. Tomorrow Gabriella is having a birthday party at school. Her school party will be an Elmo theme. This is the cake that I made for her school party. I also ordered a cake from a bakery because I didn't have faith in my cake baking and decorating skills, so I wanted to be on the safe side. The Elmo cake that I made didn't come out too bad, though, especially since it was the first cake I've ever made!:Tuesday is her actual birthday and she will be spending it with me, Ken, and other family. I made this Princess cake for Tuesday's family party. Actually, the Princess looks more like a Hula Dancer with a straw skirt, but again, not too bad for the second cake I've ever made!:Saturday is her big birthday party for her friends and family. That party will be a Princess and Pirate theme.

I keep recalling how I was feeling last year at this time when her foster family was planning her first birthday party. I had expected that she would have been home by her first birthday party and I was so sad that I was not with her for her first birthday. I may be going a bit overboard in celebrating her second birthday, but I don't care! I missed her first birthday and am so excited to have her home with us for this birthday. Stay tuned for lots more photos from the week of celebrations...!

Weekend at the Cape House

Gabriella spent the weekend with Grammy and Grampy again at their Cape house. Mommy did much better this time with the separation! Actually, it was very welcome this weekend to have Gabriella away because we are having ceramic tile installed through most of the house and the house is in complete disarray, so it is not safe to have a toddler running around here. Plus, Gabriella's birthday is on Tuesday, so I was busy with all of the planning for Gabriella's birthday "week"!

These are the photos that my mom took this weekend with her cell phone, so they are not the best quality but, being a photo fanatic, I am happy to have them.

You Know You Have a Problem When...

Do you know those silly e-mail quizzes in which you fill out random facts about yourself and share with their friends? Well, my sister filled one out today. One of the questions was "Yesterday's Best Moment." My sister's response, "When my niece threw herself on the kitchen floor (of a house Steve and I were looking at) because my sister wouldn't let her pet their cat ... loove it!" It's true. And to make matters worse, there were other people looking at the same house simultaneously, so we had an audience. These "tantrums" are becoming a daily occurrence and I am grasping at straws trying to figure out how to nip it in the bud.

They look like this...:

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Day Out

We had another great day with Aunt Kathy and Ava.

We started off the day by stopping at the school for some pizza at a "Hawaiian" Pizza Party.:

Then we went to the Children's Museum.

Ava has always LOVED the make-up / face painting at the Museum, but Gabriella has never really been that into it. Ava was more than willing to paint Gabriella's face and and Gabriella was a very willing participant.:

Gabriella was proud to show Aunt Kathy and me the make-up that Ava put on her!:

Then, for the first time, Gabriella thoroughly and very willingly applied her own make-up!:

This was Gabriella's first time applying "make-up" and I was sure to document every second of it!:

Look at the concentration...:

...and precision!:

Wow! Great work, Gabriella!:

Then she discovered the mirror! She was too short to see the mirror while seated, so she decided to stand on the seat. I never let her stand on a seat, of course, but I was fascinated and mesmerized by how into it she was!:

A beautiful masterpiece!:

Gorgeous!: Let's hope she doesn't apply this much make-up when she is getting ready for the prom when she is a teenager!:

Silly girl!:

Then the girls played dress-up. Again, Gabriella usually doesn't usually participate in playing dress-up as much as Ava, but Gabriella really got into it today.:

Two beauties!:

Ava and Mimi (Aunt Kathy)!:

Posing!:

Little Viking!:

My treasure!:

I LOVE this picture. Ava was using her TONGUE to knock over the blocks and I was right on time with my camera to catch it! Too funny!:

Here comes than tantrum! It's time to go!:

Enjoying a snack during the ride home.:

Another fun day with fun people!

Dora Is in the Toilet!

Gabriella is at the age in which she is into EVERYTHING and needs eyes on her CONSTANTLY! She is always managing to get into things that is not supposed to be in and doing things she is not supposed to be doing. She is certainly acting her age...TWO..."Terrible Two!" I certainly wouldn't call her terrible, but she sure is a handful!

Last night Ken went to use the toilet and guess who was in there...Dora! Poor Dora! Ken got to fish Dora out of the toilet! When I was little I flushed a paper cup down the toilet on Christmas Eve and my lucky parents had to call Roto Rooter out on the holiday! I denied doing it, of course! They can't prove it was me! :) So my parents said luckily Gabriella didn't flush it and luckily it wasn't Christmas Eve! My parents are thoroughly enjoying watching me experience things with Gabriella that they experienced with me. They are especially enjoying Gabriella's stubbornness and her need to do everything herself in her own way since that is how I have always been!