Ellie's 2nd Birthday

Ellie's second birthday began rather uneventfully - I had to go to work and Pete was out of town for the whole week, so our morning was fairly typical.  I DID try to have a little decoration for her, but Ellie tore it down before I could even see her initial reaction to it.

After she'd gone to bed on Wednesday night, I hung balloons on the stairs.  She was halfway down the stairs and had torn most of the balloons down before I had even gotten myself dressed!

Ellie's day school requests that if a birthday treat is brought to the class, that the parent brings a snack after nap and takes the child home afterward.  I rearranged my work schedule so I could do just that.  Fruit was the suggested snack, so I brought watermelon slices on a stick, and strawberries, kiwi, and blueberries.  When I arrived, she was wearing a crown!!  SO cute!!

Here she is sitting with her little school boyfriend, Anderson.  Sadly, Anderson has moved on to Busy Bees as he turned two before Ellie.  I'm glad their last day together involved a party.

After school we headed over to Joanne's house to play in her backyard and go for a walk.  Suddenly, she looked just like a two-year old.

Joanne and Jerry got Ellie one of the most special gifts:  A BIG CICI!!  Bigger than Ellie herself!  Big Cici is a blanket with a giant Cici head attached and Ellie loved it right away.  She recognized it instantly, called it "Big Cici" and started rubbing its ears and dragging it around, trying to show it to J&J's cat, Roscoe.

Then we walked to Graeter's for some celebratory ice cream.  Jerry was able to take a break from work to join us.  We made it home just in time to Skype with daddy for a few minutes before he had to go to another meeting.

Saturday, Pete was finally home after a week-long meeting in Boston.  We opened gifts from family and gave Ellie her gift from us.  

A fantastic cookie baking set from Matt and Jen for our budding cook!

Ellie's gift from us:  A Skuut Balance Bike!!  Her legs aren't quite long enough yet, but she likes to scoot around as best she can while Pete or I help her balance.  Don't worry, we have since had her fitted for a helmet, and she knows she must wear her 'helmet hat' if she wants to ride her bike.

So that was Ellie's 2nd birthday!  We threw a party for her on Sunday afternoon - I'll try to post about that tomorrow.  Sorry there's not an update on the basement remodel - the contractors did not come Friday as planned, nor did they come today as planned, so hopefully tomorrow they will actually make it to finish the project.  Then I will happily give an update!!