Abi turns two!

Abi turned two years old at the beginning of January. I just cannot believe it. We had a small tea party with some of her new friends and a couple of old ones including Arin, her BFF from Shanghai!!

the birthday girl

a cake with bright squiggly candles. hooray! Abi recently learned the 'happy birthday' song and insisted we sing it three times. 'happy birthday again' she says!!

She got to enjoy two of her favorite things. Balloons and a bouncy house. Unfortunately she didn't want to share, so she carried around 30 helium balloons on ribbon until she forgot about them and they floated away...oh, the tears! But the priceless vision of her climbing in and out of the small opening to her bouncy house with 30 balloons trailing her was worth any of the cost.

and there was, of course, a tea party, complete with tiny cupcakes. yum.

We are all loving our new California life, but I think Abi is definitely a natural west-coast girl, except for her aversion to sand...which we're working on. She has a very busy social life with her cousin Michael (yes, i'm a bit jealous!). The two of them, along with their nanny Martha, can almost always be found at either one of the local parks or one of the many music/story events that the nearby libraries put on for the kids.

needless to say these two are usually up to some very serious business

Michael turned two in early December. They had a huge blow-out with pinatas, ice cream, bubbles and bouncing. And of course airplanes...Michael will most likely NEVER have a party without airplanes in attendance in some for or another.

can't you just see the mischievous glint in his eye...?

lots of airplanes and a GIANT chocolate cake.

Abi got to play with the bubbles.

and had ice cream with Daddy and Uncle Dave (or Eeberdoo, as she calls him).

Abi has a growing appreciation for fashion flair. She insists on a number of accessories (some more appropriate than others) and most days insists on wearing a 'pretty dress'. We've gotten quite good at layering her up for the California winter.

Her absolute favorite is of course the fairy skirts that she keeps being given. Apparently our friends just can't resist. I blame Sonia and Jan for her first fairy costume...it's gone downhill (rapidly) from then, in the best way possible.

a trip to Los Angeles (for whale watching of course...what else do you go to LA for?!) gave her the chance to lounge poolside in her newest fairy gear. Thanks Aunt Carlyn!!

In spite of our discouragement of her creative side, Abi has discovered crayons and ignored all of our efforts to steer her towards calculators. (haha) So we have one new addition to the N38 office environment. It's doing wonders for our productivity. :)

welcome to N38, Abi!