Come swing on by for a Birthday Party! Our little Monkey is turning two!

(this cake is from pinkcakebox.com)

A complete change of heart in your 2nd birthday party plans. The theme for this years birthday party is going to be Monkeys!! Since you are our little monkey and love monkeys its a perfect fit! I have already ordered your adorable dress, picked out invitations, have sent the picture of the cake we are going to have made to the baker, and decided on favors. We have one major dilemma...we have yet decided where to have it! When writing the guest list we counted 60 plus people. So much for having a small party this year. Anyways, our house can not exactly accommodate 60 people so now we are trying to figure out where to have it. I know it really doesnt matter as long as our family and friends are there to celebrate with us, but I just want to make sure everyone is comfortable and has a great time.

2nd Birthday Party Planning

In just two very short months you will be turning two years old. I feel like just yesterday I was writing a blog about your 1st birthday party planning. Wow, what a difference a year makes in the life of a 22 month old. You are a little person with ideas, wants, needs, a view on this crazy world that is only yours. You have opinions, throw tantrums, and most importantly are the sweetest little thing I have ever seen. You say things like

"Goodnight Mama, Sweet Dreams, I love you".

"Be careful driving Daddy we love you"

"I'll find it"

"Oh My Gawwwwd"

and so many more things I could no way list them all here! Your vocabulary is amazing and it makes me think back to when you were just a few months old and my biggest worries were if you would develop normally and learn to talk and how do I know if I am teaching you all the right things in order to get you to talk. Should I give you the pacifier or will that delay your speech, are sippy cups ok or are they better with straws? I have no idea what we did right or wrong with you....or if it even mattered either way. I do know however it was a big old waste of time worrying and I should have just enjoyed the ride a little bit more. You would learn at your own pace and you would be fine! I can remember stressing because you weren't walking on your first birthday....is everything ok? Why isn't she walking yet? What a waste of time....the day you learned how to walk you started running the next day. Now you are jumping and skipping and perfect!

Anyways I have two months to reminisce on your second year of life, no need to get emotional already. Really though, your second year in this world is already almost behind us and now we are moving onto bigger and better things, like potty training and preschool or atleast thinking bout those things. Scares Mommy to death, but hopefully I remind myself over and over to enjoy this ride and watch this life through your eyes to truly enjoy it

2nd birthday party bash is going to be on Saturday April 2nd (your actual birthday) at Amazement in Bradford. We are going to do a Strawberry Shortcake theme. Mommy has found the invitations she wants to order, and a cake that she wants made. The only other ideas we have so far are all the guests making their own strawberry shortcakes! We will just base the whole party around strawberry themed foods and of course Mommy has found you the perfect strawberry outfit! Heres a little sneak peek at the planning!

Birthday cake will look something similar to this....http://www.flickr.com/photos/claricakes/2581258630/

Invitations will be made from this seller on etsy and look just like this.....http://www.etsy.com/listing/66112745/strawberry-birthday-invitations?ref=sr_list_18&ga_search_query=strawberry%2Binvitations&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=3

Full time stay at home Mommy!

Never in a hundred years would I have guessed I would ever be given the opportunity to be a full time stay at home Mommy. It's happening though, and I couldn't be happier. Thanks to Daddy, "Generous" Electric, and Auntie Jenny. Mommy is given the opportunity she never thought possible, to stay at home full time with you and baby Jacob. You will have your cousin around to play with during the day.

If someone had asked me just 5 years ago where I pictured my future I would have never said being a stay at home Mom. Not because its not what I wanted, its just something I never believed possible. I'm about to experience life with two under two (part time) This could be the deciding factor if you will ever get a brother or sister. I cant make any promises.....Jacob is such fun, but at the end of the day he goes home and you go to bed! You are amazing and you like to sleep at night, Mommy does too.......

I have a feeling my posts may be getting a whole lot more interesting with our days filled with fun, chaos, and funny stories! I can't wait and wouldn't want it any other way!

Snow!

We have gotten an absurd amount of snow this winter, every week the news is predicting another major storm for New England. Its February 3rd and we have no place else to put it! The first few storms were fun to watch, play in, and be stuck inside for, but we've had enough and are more than ready for spring! Cabin fever has set in.....we've been spending a lot of days stuck inside reading, coloring, watching the wiggles, and baking! Last snow storm we made homemade honey wheat bread. You even helped out a little with the mixing!

It's been awhile.....

I got a new laptop tonight which means no more excuses for the lack of blog entries I have been posting lately. I think its been 3 months since the last time I updated! I feel like a real tech savvy blogger with my macbook, and hot chocolate. So lets see, the last time I posted was October...whats going on in the world of Olivia Taylor these days.

We celebrated Christmas which was a complete blast. You were spoiled by everyone, and enjoyed having your cousin Austin around for the Holidays to celebrate! It was a good thing you behaved for the most part since Santa was also so good to you!

A few days after Christmas on January 3rd we received our favorite gift of all! 8 lb 1 oz baby Jacob Tremblay was born! You are absolutely in awe over him. Its amazing to watch you interact with this newborn baby when it seems like just yesterday you were the newborn baby. You are such a great older cousin and the two of you, I'm sure, are going to cause some trouble together not too long from now. During "tummy time" you love to keep Jacob company and talk to him. I am sure he will learn a lot from you.

Since its been so long since the last time i blogged this entry is somewhat rambling and all over the place but at least its an update!

Uncle Andy came home from Afghanistan and will be in Massachusetts with us for a couple of weeks before he has to go back to North Carolina. We are happy he will be stateside. Just one day before Uncle Andy landed on US soil Uncle Jake deployed. We will be keeping him in our thoughts everyday.

Great Grandpa Smith turned 85 yesterday so we went over to his house to have cake and ice cream! Next weekend Uncle Rob and Uncle Chris will be flying in so we can take him out for a birthday dinner!

In just one more day you will be 22 months old. I can't believe how fast time is going. Mommy is not ready to have a 2 year old. Especially one who is as smart as you are. You sing songs, speak in sentences, can spell your name, know the abcs, can count to ten alone and to twenty with some help. I am so proud of everything you have learned over the past year and how much you have developed. At the same time, I wish I could get back some moments with you as an itty bitty baby, but there is one thing Mommy can not stop, and that is time.

Baking, Baking, and more Baking!!

It's been too long since I have written a blog entry, but our baking has continued! We made peanut butter chocolate cupcakes for Shawna's birthday, and s'mores "cupcakes" well, because Mommy just wanted some chocolate! I think both were a big hit!

All this home cooking and baking from scratch reminds Mommy a lot of her Grammy Charlene. We haven't really told you too much about her yet, but as you get older I'm sure you will hear lots of stories. Your middle name actually comes from her.."Taylor" which was Grammy Charlene's maiden name. Unfortunately she passed away a couple of years before you were born, but she would have loved to have met you! I know she is watching you grow from heaven and smiling down on us. One thing I know she would really have loved was all this baking we have been doing. She was quite the baker and having 5 children of her own she knew how to cook things from scratch and work with what she had. I wish I had taken a lot more of her knowledge of cooking and sewing with me, and shown a little more interest in those things when I should have. There are days when I wish I could call her and ask her for her homemade chocolate cookie recipe, or how do I know if my bread is rising properly? Now that I have you, I would love to ask her to teach me to sew! She would say it is ridiculous that they charge 30 dollars for a pillowcase dress that she could probably have whipped up in an hour with 5 dollars worth of cloth!

She was one of the hardest workers I have ever met. When she set out to do something she did it, and she did it right. She always completed what she started. She raised 5 children including your Grandpa, and we think he turned out pretty good! Days before Grammy Charlene passed away she was out gardening. She would never think of not tending to the garden, or taking care of her family and home because she wasn't feeling well. Everyone else always came first. I will always admire that about her, and hope that I can always remember whats really important just the way she did.

More rain....

means more baking! Today we spent the day making homemade bread. When I say spent the day I mean spent the whole day....it came out delicious but I'm not so sure I will do that too often. Its a lot of work for a loaf of bread, but just like the cupcakes the taste difference was huge! The smell of this bread traveled throughout the entire house and if you ever feel like you need to "taste" fall you just need a slice of this! This recipe was also from that great blog I was telling you about, annies-eats.com She is amazing and has amazing recipes. Tomorrow begins Mommy's work week, so the baking business will be on hold until Monday when we make Shawna a birthday treat! Peanut butter cupcakes.