2 Is A Magic Number

Tuesday night, Shawn and I kissed our sweet little one year old goodnight. It was bittersweet. We both knew that at 12:03 a.m. something magical would happen....she would turn 2.

Shawn took the day off of work to spend with us. It was the best gift he could have given his little girl. She adores him! When we heard her talking the next morning, we both jumped up and got ready to go get our sweet little two year old!

She wasn't as sure about our excitement as we were. Before she was ready to do any celebrating she wanted to put her "binks" in their "buck"...translation - she wanted to put her pacifiers in the little bucket we keep them in.

A little Elmo balloon for the birthday girl!

She was hilarious and I'm not sure she had any idea what to think of her mom and dad acting all crazy excited first thing in the morning. We also sang to her and she acted a little embarrassed for us. Too funny!!!

We made our way into the kitchen for some milk and birthday pancakes! We did this last year and I think it will just have to be one of our birthday traditions!

I tried to make Mickey pancakes and she was thrilled!

After stuffing ourselves full of pancakes we got dressed and headed to Build-A-Bear! Lauren got a bear last year for her birthday from a friend that was unstuffed. Shawn and I wanted to wait until she could really enjoy the experience and it just seemed perfect that we would do it on her birthday!

She was a little shy at first, but with mama by her side she warmed up quickly!

I was a little excited about the hearts...can you tell? ;)

It was so precious when Lauren picked a shiny little red heart and placed it into her new teddy bear. She was so careful and sweet about it.

After the bear had a little minor surgery to sew up his back, it was bathtime!

And then it was off to find some new clothes!

Of course she had to have the shoes that match! =)

We had such a great experience and Lauren was really excited about her bear box. Shawn promptly broke it down and stuffed it in the stroller compartment. Lauren wanted to hold her bear anyway!

Lauren took an afternoon nap while Shawn mowed and I tried to get my kitchen under control. My friend Tammy tried to sneak by and leave a note in my mailbox, but Shawn caught her and made her come inside! I was totally embarrassed of my kitchen and the fact that I had changed back into pajama pants for comfort, but it was SUCH a treat to see her...and she wrote me the sweetest card about Lauren turning two. I put it in the journal that I write to Lauren.

When Lauren woke up, we headed out again. We had a few errands to run and then we went to eat at our favorite hole-in-the-wall mexican restaurant. Lauren loves chips and salsa and flour tortillas!!!

Our last stop of the night was Cold Stone Creamery! We got Lauren an ice cream cake and the nice lady let us have a little cup of ice cream for Lauren. Of course, she chose purple!

When we finally made it home, Lauren had a present to unwrap from her friends, Drew and Luke! Notice the nice purple stain from the ice cream?!?!

She loved the adorable octopus beach towel and was super excited about her name being on it!!!

Uncle Zach and Victoria came by to eat cake with us and Lauren was so happy to see them both! There was much dancing and giggling and playing while these guys were here. =)

We had a wonderful day celebrating our precious little two year old!!! I can't believe that she has gone from this:

to this...

to this: