Happy Birthday Grace

Today was Grace's 2nd birthday and we had lots of stuff planned for her busy day.

Mom made a special breakfast and Grace got to drink her first ever glass of orange juice in a big girl cup.

Toasting her birthday.

In the morning, we took grace downtown to Navy Pier to go to some Spring festival they were having. The first order of business was to ride the train. And ride it again. and again. and then maybe again.

Next we stood around in the moon walk.

Then we found this moon walk/train thing where she climbs in and then works her way through a series of inflatable obstacles. She got stuck on a tough hill in the middle but an older girl was nice enough to stop and help her. We took off her socks for the second trip through and she was good to go. She went on it again, and again, and again, and again.

Climbing in.

Did I mention she rode the train a few times?

Then we went home and took a nap. When she woke up, we got dressed up and went to Sears to have her birthday picture taken. Then we went to Olive Garden for dinner. Grace had her standby, Macaroni and Cheese. When we got home, Grace blew out the candles on her cake but we didn't have time to eat it.





She still had to open her presents



Desperate for some attention

Opening a present from Grandma. I think it's her Blue's Clues notebooks.



Then we thought she had a poopy diaper so we changed it (false alarm) and put on her jammies. The rest of her presents were down in the basement.

Grace's big gift this year was a train table and a Brio train set to play with.

Wearing her conductor hat and trying to get Mom to put the Blue's Clues game on the computer.

All I said was that the Easter bunny at the Menlo Park mall was more convincing and he just jumped the railing and knocked me down.

Another busy East week for Grace this year.

She started the festivities with a playgroup Easter egg hunt at our house.

Next up was the annual Mundelein Park District Easter Egg Hunt for Pushy Mom's. This is the best picture we could get of Grace, Mom, Talia and Fran, and Grace's 6 eggs.

When we got home, Great Grandma Bihun sent Grace a birthday card with money in it. Grace just *HAD* to get her blue sweater out of the closet so she could put the money in her pockets.

Then, on the second day of Spring, it snowed 6 or 7 inches.

Grace and Mom dying Easter eggs.

Grace and Dad went over to Greg and Eva's house for a visit with the Easter Bunny. She liked looking at him but this was as close as she'd get.

Getting all her ducks in a row.

On Easter morning, we went to St. Charles for a quiet Easter brunch with Grandma and Grandpa Bihun, Uncle Jason and Aunt Melanie, and her cousins Tyler, Jackson, and Charlotte.

The best part of the whole day was that Grace could reach and take her own plate which she did more often than she needed to.


That darn Easter Bunny showed up again too.

Then it was off to Grandma and Grandpa's house for another Easter



All the cousins

Grace and Charlotte

Randycon!

Even though I brought my digital camera with me, I only managed to take one picture of Grace which didn't turn out anyway at Randycon this weekend. She had a good time and got to play with her friends Liam and Kaitlin. These are some pictures Aunt Heidi took with her camera while we were hanging out in their room.

Misc. Pics

Grace at her playgroup's Valentine's Day party.



Baking Daddy some chocolate chip cookies (finally).


Smelling Mommy's Valentine's Day flowers.

More Fun in the Snow

These are a week or 2 old by now but we had more snow on top of the already ridiculous amount of snow in our yard so we took Grace outside to see if she wanted to play in it. She did not.

More pictures of Jake trying to find a spot to pee in snow that is now taller than he is.

Someone Thinks She's Pretty Funny

Grace was eating some soup and accidentally exhaled when she should have been sipping. The results were pretty amusing to her so she tried to recreate it over and over again.

Grace and Olivia

Mike, Catherine, and Olivia came up to play today and go out to dinner.


For some reason, all of the Lincoln Logs had to go in the baby carrier.

Grace showing Olivia her cutting board.

Getting ready to go grocery shopping.

We're building an igloo in Central Park! It's going to be legendary! Snow-suit up!

We got close to a foot of snow last night. Here's Jake trying to find a place to relieve himself

Finally he resigned himself to drop a deuce in the middle of his path so he could go back inside. You can also here Lisa spilling milk in the background.

Some More Pictures

Pickin' a winner at Mickey Finn's.

Crazy hair!

Wearing the Baltimore Crab T-Shirt Aunt Bogie gave her for Christmas.

Mom's friend Jamie came over to do some work so Grace got to play with friend Luca who she hadn't seen in a while.

A Bunch of Different Pictures

Getting some help in the kitchen.

Grace and Sophia checking out groceries at the Kohn Museum of Bullying and Bad Manners.

Riding the clock at Chuck E Cheese over break.

We took Uncle Tony and Aunt Heidi to our favorite Libertyville eatery, Mickey Finn's.

Happy New Year!

For New Years Eve this year, we all went over to Scott's place for a NYE party. Kaitlyn and Olivia were there and so were Uncle Tony and Aunt Heidi who gave grace a really nice stuffed elephant from their trip to Germany. Grace now has an Elephant from Germany, an Elephant from Thailand, and a "blue guy" from Japan.

Here she is playing with piece's from Scott's Gemblo game. We won't tell him which ones she stuck up her nose.

Grace playing with Bud.

Eating some of the birthday cake dad told Scott not to get.

Kaitlyn brought some DVDs to watch in the bedroom and one of them was Happy Feet. Grace likes watching penguins so she stopped in the room every now and then to watch a little of it. Once scene in particular got her going though.