2nd Birthday!

Pinata fun!

Our neighbor M in the pink, trying to get Aria out of the range of D's swing...

Picking up candy and toys...

Aria, Lala and friends

Pictures from Aria's 2nd Birthday

Casey eating cake...

A happy tatted up Aria...with the neighbor and her Daddy

Aria and her Daddy. Poster in the background was made by two 8 year olds, M our neighbor and cousin Abby

One of Aria's absolute favorite people, D, the 5 year old who lives across the street

Visit from the Schultz Family

Uncle Harold and Aria. I love this one.

Our neighbor M and Abby almost exactly the same age...both major dog lovers.

Elmo, Elmo, Elmo...and Cookie.

Aria LOVED all the characters, immediately, hugs for Abby, Zoe and Grover in the main play area. We did the lunch with Elmo (Big Bird, Cookie, Burt and Ernie) When Elmo came on stage she let out hysterical screams/laughs/sobs that had other families and staff around us laughing... Then she rushed the stage, I kid you not. It was the most amazing thing to see my shy little monkey go crazy ! The last 10 min she danced up on stage with the characters and the other kids. Priceless.

At the Elmo Breakfast, Busch Gardens..

The opening act!

Naptime, but seeing Elmo instead!

Holding Aria back. She tried to rush the stage!

Meeting Elmo for the first time...

More playing at Busch Gardens!

Meeting the Sesame Street Characters at Busch Gardens!

Our tree, casualty of the tornado, timeouts and more!

Cutting down the rest of the tree...

Barney getting a "Timeout" note the crossed arms...

Memorial Weekend 2009

We are enjoying visitors (Bob, Laura, Justin and Jake) the pool, the beach, the Children's Museum...busy weekend!! Great weather! Aria has really taken to the water: both the ocean and the pool. She has started to go underwater at the pool all the time. Loves it. So fun.

We started 1-2-3 Magic this week. It is working really well. We are having such a great time. Can't wait for summer...

Hard to believe Aria will be 2 years old in less than a month!!

We have been taking swimming lessons...we finally joined the Y. Aria LOVES the water! She jumps in off the side (holding my hands) goes underwater, and just started blowing bubbles. The instructor says she is one of the two best kids in a pretty good sized class. We try to go every day if the weather is nice. We have a frog slide that goes into the water and she will continue sliding down forever if we let her!

This past weekend we went to the Chesapeake Jubilee. She's not a fan of the carousel or some of the fast or noisy rides but loved riding on the train and flying on the helicopter ride with her daddy.

We are looking forward to friends and family coming in the next few weeks. Summer is almost here and I can't wait!

Before and after...

Spring is finally here!

So much has changed! Aria's communication continues to astound me. She makes 4-5 word sentances, says "Oh Goodness" and "Oopsy Daisy", has continual demands "Mama change diaper", "Eat pretzel fish"...it is so amazing to be able to understand her. Her favorite thing is lovey, favorite person (other than mom and dad) seems to be Susan (and David), her favorite activity: swimming in the heated outdoor Y pool (open since mid-April) and "walking outside" or "backyard". She is wearing 3 and 4T clothes so we are finally having to buy a few things for her. We got over strep a few weeks ago and croup last week, other than those we've had a relatively healthy year.

Pics coming soon!

Spring has sprung!

Our beautiful pear tree in full bloom!

Aria's "helmet". She is obsessed with motorcycles and school buses and helmets.

Recent trip to the Norfolk Zoo

Hugs from K, a playgroup pal

K and her mommy C at the zoo