Birthday #TWO (part two)

The partaaaaaaaay! 

The invite:

my random ideas brought to life by my adorable and talented friend Miranda

I love planning a party!  Here's the bummer...I'm so bad about taking pictures at the party!  When you're the hostess, you are kind of in crazy mode...setting up, not taking pictures, entertaining, not taking pictures, making sure everyone is good, not taking pictures...

buuuut, at least I do have a few goodies.  

playing in the soft play room

blurry family photo :( 

Again, Elmo theme was a must...
we made Elmo face cupcakes again and had cookies, goldfish, and rainbow fruit skewers.

I loved the party favors- a Sesame Street crazy straw, Sesame Street board book, Elmo bath fizzy colors (Makenzie's new fave), a ring pop, and Sesame Street stickers.

And of course, pin the candle on the cupcake!  

best part of pin-the-candle with 2 year olds= no need for the blind fold :)

one happy and loved girl

opening her presents later that night from the best friends anyone could ask for!

Makenzie at 2:
height: 36 in- 96%
weight: 28 lbs- 80%

funny Kenzie quotes: 

 ~(while wrestling with daddy) "Be careful Daddy"

~(when daddy was leaving for work) "Bye peeps!"

~hasn't stopped singing "Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you" over and over since her party

~(when told that she can't drink Daddy's diet coke) "Pease I hold it two minutes?"

Its your birthday, it's a turning point, embrace it...

Nina Storey says it best, right Jake?! :) 

(Nina Storey "Its your birthday".  it will forever be stuck in your head)

We do birthdays right in the Reynolds house.  It's the one month day that is all.about.YOU.  Why would you do anything else but to live it up!  And even drag it out to about 3 or 4 days :)

Friday- We enjoyed an awesome date night out with dinner at The Palm steakhouse in DC where we ate waaaaaay too much amazing food and then saw the movie "The Man on the edge".  

Sunday, Jake's actual birthday started off with his 2 favorite things- chocolate chip pancakes and presents :)  

He was shocked when he opened up his new Ipad2!  

Makenzie immediately wanted to hold "daddy's new phone"

(she kept holding it to her ear saying "hello?  hello?")

I made him a little map of where we've lived :)

Kenz seems a little distracted...

Celebrating with friends

My first triple layered cake was a huge hit!

Happy Birthday to my favorite person!  I hope it was the best yet :)
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII love ya! 

The City of Brotherly Love

A weekend with NO games???  You better believe we were hittin' the road!  And Philadelphia made for the perfect quick weekend get away!  I had never been and it's only 2 hours away.  

Our hotel was right at Independence Park,  so a walk across the cobblestone street put us right at the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.  And everything we did was a in pretty close proximity so we were able to walk enjoy the beautiful day! 

  Philly was just as I had hoped;  historic, charming, quaint, but big city, and great food!  

love. her.

Makenzie was snoozing in her stroller... but she knows we love her too. 

Jim's Steaks!  If the line is out the door it's gotta be good right?!!! 

My first Philly Cheesesteak!  I never thought I'd say this, but I wanted more cheese wiz! 

We had perfect weather and loved seeing and doing new things and just having an entire weekend with our boy home!  It was our perfect weekend get-away and we of course finished it off with watching National Treasure...although I wish we would have watched it before and then we could have gone on our own little treasure hunt...  :)

she is almost 2...

and i love/dislike it.  

I know I have been so bad about posting frequently lately, i hope to be better about regular posts, maybe once a week...yea I think I can do that.    

In less than one month our crazy, silly, cuddly, and oh-so-sweet Makenzie turns the big T-W-O!  I am so excited because 1) I HEART BIRTHDAAAAAAYS  2) she is more and more fun everyday. 

I am sad because, well, time is going way too fast.  

She is changing so much right now and i'm not good about writing things down when they happen so this post is a few fun facts and "makenzie-isms" before I forget them and they go un-journaled.  

Its amazing how much her vocabulary has grown just in the past 2 weeks.  She knows and says so much, i am continually surprised at what comes out of her mouth. (in a good way!)  

She loves looking at pictures and naming all her cousins and aunts and uncles.  This puts the biggest smiles on our faces since she doesn't see them all the time, yet she still recognizes and "knows" them.  And loves them, of course :)

She is CONSTANTLY singing!  Her favorite songs to sing are "E-I-E-I-O" (aka Old Macdonald had a farm), Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, ABC's, and her latest, "Head, Neen and Toes" (Head, shoulders, knees and toes).  

She loves to say "pease" thank you" "i silly" or "i funny", "i hold it?" "oh my goodness" "daddys coke" "i cuddle" "and "i two".   Everything is mommy/daddy, baby, like when we're talking about her letters- big A=" daddy A", little A= "baby A"  

She can count to 10.  Although wen she's playing by herself and counting it's "1,2,3,5, Ella, Bell" (Ella= Cinderella, Bell= Bell from Beauty and the Beast).  She's never seen any of the Disney princess movies, but she loves her "Ella, Bell and White" books.

She loves her "amals" and sleeps with 4 every night- sheep, kitty, puppy, and bear (one from Jake that she says is from "nice daddy")  She also loves playing with her babydolls.   She got a baby stroller for Christmas and is really racking up the miles on it.  

 This was our first real snow here in DC and Makenzie couldn't get enough of it!  

She walked with her tongue out and head tilted up 

She is obviously enjoying her first hot chocolate as well :)

 

Her hair is getting so long so it's "piggies" or "ponies" everyday and I love it! 

She is seriously obsessed with hats, purses, and sunglasses so this little ensemble was all her choice :)

 She is her father's daughter...

 She loves being outside and doesn't seem to even notice the cold.  

We've been lucky with a very mild winter so far here so we are still able to go to the park a few times a week.

 Making marshmallow rainbows with our Preschool co-op group. 

Representing the Wizards at her first game of the season!