Well, this past Friday my sweet eldest daughter (boy is that fun to say. Eldest daughter. Because I have two now. Happy happy joy joy!) turned two years old. She is the most two year old two year old you've ever met. Everything you know about two year olds, good and bad, manifests itself in her at different points each day. She is incredibly creative and interested in everything, playing and learning on higher levels every day. She can now count to ten, knows almost all of her colors and a few of her shapes, and her favorite activities include scribbling, beading jewelry, playing little people, dolls, pretend cooking, and legos (thanks to her brothers), and reading with mom or dad. She is sooooo smart, and her conversations are really getting advanced. I love the little sentences she says now, like, "Uh oh, doggy fell down and went boom!" or "More raisins right there please, daddy." I am amazed by her every day. On the other side of the coin, she is also so incredibly bossy and very much a little tyrant. Jeremy has commented on several occasions that she is "all Redmond girl." I'm not sure, but I don't think that's meant to be a compliment! :)
Despite these occasional difficulties, I can honestly say that she has brought me so much joy and sunshine, excitement and fun, and I cannot believe that I was ever able to exist in a world where she didn't. Every morning her smile fills me up to the top, and I find myself grinning like a fool and dancing with pure joy at the sight of her. I have a small glimpse of what it must be like to catch the eye of our savior and be just filled with love from head to toe. How I will dance and sing for Him!
Anyway, we started the day with the traditional all-over-the-house decorations. In our house we include streamers, lots of streamers, and balloons. Julia loved them all!
Friday night we had a family birthday party at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was very nice! We had tortellini (her favorite) and spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, and I made a paw print chocolate cake with blue frosting for dessert, in keeping with this year's Blue's Clues theme. Here are a few pictures:
On Sunday, we had some good friends over to have another little Blue's Clues party. We found paw prints to discover what special thing Blue wanted to do today: Have Julia's Birthday party! Then we played a hide-the-bone game, a puzzle game ( which I stupidly made way too hard), had cupcakes (blue ones of course!) and watched a Blues Clues video (one with Steve, of course). In case you haven't figured it out yet, Julia looooooves Blues Clues!
She got way too many presents, of course, but tell me that face doesn't just beg to be spoiled.
One of her favorite gifts was a beading set from her Grandma and Grandpa. She has been making some really fun things with it. Here are a few examples:
So there you have it. Another milestone reached, another birthday party finished, another year I can never get back gone. I am still trying to perfect the potion that will keep her this age forever, but until I do, I will have to enjoy every little bit of it. It all goes way too fast!
