Birdy Post
What can I say- how cute is she?
Here she is, chillin’ with her ride:
Too bad her hair always looks like that. When she gets out of the tub, it looks like this:
And this:
I can’t get it to stay that way. She plays to hard!
This is a series of pictures of a new game she invented- climb onto Mom/Dad’s shoulders:
Ta Da! Don’t you wish you had a Birdy of your own?
Two-year-olds ROCK!!!!
I can’t get Birdy to smile for the camera these days (or do anything on command, come to think of it). She is a generally happy kid, mostly, but more and more we are seeing a lot of these kinds of faces these days.
Exhibit A- The Birdy Scowl:
Exhibit B: The “Awwww” (you have to say it in your best whiny-kid voice):
And finally, Exhibit C: The “I sad”:
And yes, her hair does always look like that. Like Birdy, it tends to do it’s own thing and she is adamant that we not brush, “do” or play with it. Ever. Sometimes (OK, most of the time) it isn’t worth the hassle.
The upside? We get a lot of these faces from big Sissy:
We are ready for Summer
We are getting excited (and geared up) for summer. Last summer, we bought a tent, so this summer we are getting ready to go use it. We got some camp chairs for the girls:
I got a bike and we got a bike trailer for the girls.
The girls LOVE the trailer. I think the time they’ve spent in it sets a record for the most time they’ve spent in close proximity without bickering or fighting.
We even busted out the summer clothes. We are ready to go!
I just want to know what happened to Birdies chubby legs (commonly called “chubby bubbies” ’round these parts). Her legs have gotten so LONG and skinny over the winter!
DMP got his childhood fishing rod last time we were in Salmon, and he has been teaching the girls how to cast. EJ is a rock star and can cast FAR.
Birdy is still learning, but hopefully she’ll be ready for our first family fishing trip!
An appropriate Monday Story…
Lately (like for the last week or so, every other day) Birdy has been commanding me not to go to work. She sweetly grabs my hand and say “No go to work”.
I started out by telling her “But honey, Mommy has to go…” but that quickly turns into a “no”, “yes”, “no” discussion that ends in tears when I have to leave anyway.
So I started to try a new tactic. I say “Why don’t you want me to go to work?”. She’ll reply with something like “Because I luff you” or “Stay and play with my kids” (meaning MY kids, not hers…).
It breaks my little heart.
How I know she’s 2
More than anything, this face lets me know that she’s 2.
She’s always been stubborn and bossy, but we are seeing the “Birdy Scowl”. A LOT these days. Her nickname is also “little dictator” – she tries to call the shots on who can sing and when, when I can talk to “her” daddy, what music we listen to in the car (IF we can listen to any, of course).
Heaven help me!
Birdy’s Birthday- Round 2
Saturday was Birdy’s birthday party with my family. Mom, Dad, Aunt Cynj, Aunt Jen and thier kiddos were all able to come and play at our playground and have a party. It was so much fun for the cousins to get together and play with each other in a space big enough for them to all run in.
The menu included yummy chicken salad sandwiches, grapes, veggies and dip, awesome potato salad from Aunt Cynj and chips and salsa made by Grandpa (well, the salsa, not the chips).
My favorite part were the birthday cupcakes. They turned out waaay cute if I do say so myself:
They were chocolate-chocolate chip cake with peanutbutter fluff frosting- super yummy. I also used regular canned chocolate frosting to get the half-and-half color effect. I got the idea from a great book I ordered called “Hello Cupcake“. It has tons of easy and super-cute cupcake ideas and instructions- I highly recommend it.
Anyway- back to the party. The weather was great. The wind picked up, but it just made it easier to fly kites!
The kids also had lots of fun swinging, sliding and playing on the playground:
Then we all went to our house for pup-cakes and presents! Birdy chose to eat her pup-cake like her cousin Gracie- “Look Ma, no hands!”
Birdy got a cute princess plate, cup and bowl set and some wildlife cards from the Maughan cousins, the Wren cousins gave her a baby parrot that makes noises and that also has a bottle. Grandma and Grandpa gave her a big Dora house that she and EJ have literally spent hours playing with- mostly peacefully. Aunt Kate and Uncle Matt gave her the perfect “noisy toy” a star that has Dora characters that talk. It is loud. And very popular.
A good time was had by all. Now she is a big two-year-old girl! Here is one more for Aunt Kate:
Birdy’s Birthday Round 1 (Plus Salmon!)
In what is becoming a scary tradition with us, we celebrated Birdy’s 2nd birthday twice. Once in Salmon with DMP’s family and once at our house with mine.
Birdy is lucky enough to have been born on the same day as her cousin David (only 1 hr apart!). They even got blessed on the same day – here is a pic- Birdy is just seconds away from bawling:
DNow they are both big two-year-old kids: 
David came to Salmon with his Mom, big brother and sister, so we decided to throw a party for them- complete with a Winnie the Pooh cake:
The party was lots of fun. Wren had to help David blow out his candles and the cake turned out really, really tasty.
We were all in Salmon to celebrate my nephew Danny going on a mission. I can’t tell you how proud I am of him. His talk was so great and I know that he is going to be a rock star missionary.
It was also fun to see Grandma, Papper, Aunt Kathy, Charlie, and for the Philips Cousins to play together. Here are some more pictures of our great trip!
Birdy loves Papper!
EJ, Birdy, and Philips Cousins. Getting these guys to sit still is HARD!
EJ LOVES her cousin Charlie!
Toes
I love having girls!
P.S. I’d like to pretend that the extra-sloppy paint job was a result of letting EJ do the work, but nope- that is just how I roll, or paint, rather. It comes off of your skin in the shower the next day anyway.
A Brag- I mean BLOG Post about Birdy
Here is a little conversation that happened between DMP and Birdy this morning when he went into her room to get her up:
Birdy: (holding her hands out with her fingers and thumb touching) Look Dada, Circle!
DMP: Really? Very Good (picks her up)
Birdy: Oh No- Broke my circle- it’s ruined!
Amazing things about this- 1) she knows what the heck a circle is and recognizes its shape (Thank you tupperware shapeball) 2) She used the word “ruined” correctly. Unfortunately, that isn’t such a novel trick- she’s been copying her dramatic older sister with that one for weeks now.
Speaking of copying the big sister, Birdy is interested in going potty and frequently announces she has to go- usually when EJ announces she does. She also is very interested in EJ’s big girl panties. EJ recently got some new ones which resulted in this:
Our Valentines Day
We had a pretty fun v-day. What can I say melted cheese + Melted chocolate = LOVE
Birdy loved the melted cheese fondue best:
