Birthday Party Season: OPEN

It's that time of the year again!  Spring brings flowers, rain, sunshine and birthday parties galore!!!  This past Saturday we attended one of Abby's classmate's birthday party and siblings were invited so it was Lilly's first time to experience a real, aka NOT a family party in our home, party with fun activities, pizza and cupcake.  Abby had a blast with her classmates and did such a great job trying to help Lilly keep up with everything.  Lilly held her own - not a shocker for those that know her.  I've got to sign her up for gymnastics - she'd be so good at it.  Great balance, good coordination.  Reminds me of a little me.  :)  And since the weather was so nice this weekend, we pretty much spent all weekend outside.  On the flip side, I'm done with putting on sun block and bug spray already and it's not even summer!

They love to make a wish and blow on dandelions.  I love the innocence of it all!  

Blow!

One of the activities required all the kids to close their eyes and face the wall while the instructors hid little plastic cupcakes all around the gym.  Lilly did such a great job doing whatever her big sister did.  I just love this picture of my girls - I don't usually take pics of their backside!

Lilly was the youngest one there so it's no wonder she turned around first.  :)  Bring on the birthday parties!  We're all pros now!

Lilly's Birthday Party!

My sweet baby Lilly turns 2 this Thursday and we celebrated her birthday this past Sunday at our house with a Sunday Brunch.  It was also Ruby and my birthday so it was a joint party for 2 Baker girls that day!  We can't believe our baby is going to be 2.  She has felt like a big kid for quite some time now since she's so big and tall.  I'm so glad I thoroughly enjoyed her cuteness when she was still a baby.  Lilly is roughly 35.5" tall and 32 lbs and aaaallll sass!  She's speaking in 5-7 word sentences now, learning more Chinese every day, starting to manipulate Abby to get her way, LOVES playing outside, continues to eat us out of house and home and working on her numbers.  Her party was Hello Kitty themed and I actually made this cake for her party!  I was quite shocked that I pulled this off and I hope to make it again one day.  We were only missing Ruby, Kirk & Lucy!  Let's get on to the pictures!

Evidence that I have some artistic talent.  Not much, but some.

Homemade cinnamon glazed donuts.

THE BIRTHDAY GIRL!!!

And yes, she's wearing the same dress Abby wore for her 2nd birthday party.  I just really love this dress and Abby really loved it too.  She wore it for her first school picture that year as well.

Throw Back: Abby at her 2nd birthday party that coincided with Easter, hence the coveted chocolate bunny.  After looking back at these pictures, we all noticed how much they really look like sisters.  ♥

My attempt to get a picture of us birthday girls!

Nothing cuter than chubby fingers and Hello Kitty tattoos!

Lilly has always liked toys that make noise when you push a button.  See the intense concentration?

"Reading" a card.  :)

Grandma & Grandpa's card came with a birthday girl crown but someone was more interested in the gold Hallmark sticker than the crown!

Gift opening chaos!  Look at that happy smile!  Makes me happy to see it.  :)

Willow wanted in on the action too!

It sounds cliche but I was thrilled to get a new toaster oven for my birthday.  Our current toaster oven is 12 years old with one foot in the grave.  And apparently Willow and Lilly were equally thrilled with the oven as they were each pulling with all their might!  It was quite a sight to see!

I didn't get a picture of the cake with the candle in it but here is Lilly anxious to get her piece!

Grandma, Grandpa & the girls!

I couldn't get these girls to look into the camera and smile with the cake in front of them.  But I knew that was going to happen! 

BIG BITE!

Lao Nian, Lao Yie, Willow & the girls!  Thanks everyone for coming out and celebrating with us!

Houston Rodeo, St. Patrick's Day Parade, et al.

Whew!  We had a fun spring break this year!  It was really laid back with a few notable outings.  First we had a classmate play date at a local park.  I remembered seconds after arriving why I never take the girls to that park - it's one HUGE sand pit!  Sand and glitter are in the same boat for me - I DETEST IT.  It gets everywhere, spreads like wildfire and takes DAYS to get it all out of their hair and clothes.  But I was proud of myself: while there, I embraced it and let them get dirty.  Don't get me wrong, I was (quietly) cursing up a storm the second we set foot back in the house and I was in clean-up-mode to the max.  All's well that ends well.  The important thing is that they had fun!

We were able to take the girls to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo this past Friday.  Lilly is finally old enough to enjoy the experience and Abby hadn't been since she was Lilly's age!  Luckily we caught the weather on a good day.  We were able to hit all the highlights.  The only thing that really bummed me out was that we didn't get to go into the petting zoo.  I remember Abby really enjoyed that but this year, Lilly decided to have her first public melt down right outside the line.  In her defense, it was well past her nap time and she had already wore herself out from earlier in the day.  If only she'd fall asleep in a stroller or car like a normal baby!  Abby got to get a pony ride and ride the huge ferris wheel with me.  Lately she's been obsessed with taking pictures on her camera and she took some great pictures while at the Rodeo!

The last thing we did was attend the St. Patrick's Day Parade in our neighborhood.  It was really windy and cold outside but Abby still had fun hanging with all her friends while catching beads and candy from the floats.  :)  Poor Lilly was touch-and-go because the parade was during her usual nap time but turns out if you let your kid eat copious amounts of Cheetos, she'll stay put and not cry long enough for her big sister to have some fun.  Ah, the life of a younger sibling!  On to the pictures!  There are some random pictures from the week mixed in there too.  Enjoy!

Us at the park play date.

I had to work hard to look away and let this go.  All signs indicate "get her out!" but I let her be and she had the time of her life in that sand.

Abby and her camera.  My ever calm, sweet Abby does this while all the other kids run wild around her.  

Lilly really loved jumping on this bridge!

Abby accompanied me to my eye doctor appointment and really wanted to take a picture of all these pretty flowers just outside.  So I took a picture of her taking a picture.  :)

You can tell by Bryce's body language that he was not excited about waiting in line for the shuttle to take us across 610.  We ended up walking it.  So much faster and not that bad of walk (just like I remembered it).

Abby is so great at keeping Mei Mei distracted when there's down time (aka in line for corndogs).  Their favorite thing to do is play patty-cake or just give each other Eskimo kisses!

What kid doesn't ♥ corndogs???

Lilly is wearing exactly what Abby wore to the Rodeo 3 years ago.

Was it an accident?  Heck no!  Identical down to the shoes!

Photographer Abby, Lilly and chicken.

Lilly's favorite doll is her stuffed baby chick who she calls Cheep Cheep so she had SO much fun looking at real Cheep Cheeps!

Picture of picture of egg.  :)

This year Abby was old enough for the pony ride and she had SO much fun!

Look at those HORNS!

I've become one of those mom's that makes their kid pose in front of statues.  :)

The one and only thing she HAD to do before leaving - get her face painted.

Abby and me up on the ferris wheel ride.

I love this little girl of mine!

Great backdrop of the Astrodome and other carnival rides.

This is a picture mid-giggle from the very top of the ferris wheel!  Wheeee!!!

This picture is not centered because I took it blindly while walking ahead and pushing Lilly in the stroller but again, you can tell from Bryce's face that he was DONE.

And apparently so was Xiao Xiao.

But that darn Lilly - wide awake the whole drive back.  Silly girl!

Apparently we brought the Rodeo back home.  Abby's on a trail ride!

This is from the St. Patrick's Day Parade.  We're still really into doodle bugs!

Abby and her best friends from across the street!

Three girls staring at horses.....ooohh...aahhh....

And lastly, can you find Lilly?  She did a great job hanging back with Daddy and eating to her hearts content.

Random Update

Thank goodness for nice weather!  The girls love being outside and I love it too.  Cabin fever starts to set in otherwise.  Abby is on spring break this week so we've been enjoying our relaxed schedule.  I love day light savings since it's brighter in the evenings.  And the girls have been sleeping in in the mornings since it's still dark outside.  My two girls continue to be sweet sisters.  They are always together or else looking for one another if they aren't close.  I must say our entire family (well, not Bryce) is neck deep in all things FROZEN related.  It's so cute to hear Lilly sing along as well.  Lilly has made even more progress with her ABCs since I discovered she knew all but 3 letters already.  We've been working on it more (like I did with Abby) and I just love when they learn new things.  You can see the excitement and joy in their own faces when they do something new.  Abby will be 5 years old in 1.5 months and Lilly is at a super fun age of constant new discoveries.  I must say I'm thoroughly relishing, cherishing and enjoying this stage for both of them.

Both girls love this super soft blanket (thanks Amee masi!).  But that's not why I posted this picture.  I posted because one of my favorite features of Lilly is her super cute butt!  You can see she has quite a caboose and I love it!!  I call it her squishy tooshie!

Playing well together!  ♥

Abby found her camera recently and it's been attached to her hip for a week now.  Lilly loves watching Abby play games on it.  What she doesn't love is her sister chasing her around telling her to stand still and smile!

The safest place to be.  ♥

Mei Mei got all her favorite dolls and was "feeding" them her Cheerios.  She's so good about sharing!

Her first over night pull-up.  That's all.

Considering Abby didn't learn to jump until a week before she turned 4, it's needless to say that we still find it strange that Lilly can climb up on furniture and climb/jump back down safely.  I always heard other mom's say their kid jumped off the coffee table or something but I could never empathize.  Lilly's not quite doing that but even this small gesture is so new to us.  She's got a great sense of balance too.