Celebrating Lucy's 2nd

This year for Lucy's birthday was very low key.  We had so much going on that we just did a family dessert night to celebrate our little girl.  We did count Disneyland as her 2nd birthday celebration, but we felt we still needed to celebrate with some cake and the special people in her life :).

 

I made a cake and we got together with grandparents and aunts and uncles one Sunday evening in March.  Lucy was in good spirits that day and she was pretty happy to dig into her cake when she finally got the opportunity to :).

 

 

Even though the cake wasn't perfect, I had fun making it :).

 

 

 

 

Lucy was so good at saying "thank you" to everyone and giving hugs after each present was opened.  She's getting to be such a big girl!!  Happy Birthday Lucy!!



LA and Visiting Jeremy and Family

Its been almost a month so I figured these pictures should be documented and posted :).  Seems like life has been non stop these days with trying to catch up on things, but it looks like things might be slowing down a bit.

 

Disneyland was one highlight of our trip down to LA but we got to spend some great time with Jeremy, my aunts Marta and Lidia, and with my sister's family.  It was busy, but so fun to be all together!  We got there on Wednesday, went to Disneyland on Thursday, spent the day all together on Friday, and then we all headed home Saturday morning.  It was a whirlwind trip!

 

We soaked in the time together :).

 

 

 

Saturday morning, March 7th, was Lucy's real birthday.  We were going to be driving all day, but my aunts made the morning special and we got to celebrate this wonderful little girl in our lives.

 

My aunts got her this cute Minnie balloon bouquet (very appropriate for this week) and they made a wonderful breakfast complete with fruits, coffee and Lucy's favorite...pancakes!  Everything was delicious!

To make this morning and Lucy's birthday even more special my aunt Marta (she's always been an excellent cook, baker, and cake maker!) made Lucy this adorable birthday bear cake. 

 

 

For some reason, and it was a little funny a the time, Lucy gets a little emotional and shy when the "Happy Birthday" song is sung :).

 

And you have to have presents at a birthday!  Each girl got a little stuffed bunny to open and we will be going shopping for some new clothes for Lucy with some birthday money :).

 

What fun we had!  And boy did these girls shed some tears on the way home knowing that they weren't going back to the same place anymore.  Good memories once again.  We have so much to be thankful for!! 

 



Disneyland!!!

We finally got to go to the happiest place on earth! :) A couple of weeks ago we were headed down south to visit my brother and family, so while we were in Southern California we thought we could squeeze in a first trip to Disneyland! 

 

 

 

We felt like little kids anticipating this day with our little girls. Brandon had requested this week off of work almost a year ago and we had no plans for the week. With my brother recovering from surgeries and a long hospital stay we wanted to go and visit him as a family. Since we were already in LA we decided that a day at Disney would be so fun! We planned to go just one day and push the girls through their naps and spend the entire day there. We couldn't have planned a better day! The weather was absolutely perfect (as would be anticipated in Southern California) and planning to go to Disneyland in the middle of the week in March was wonderful. No lines. Virtually no crowds. Two excited little girls. Perfect. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There really is something magical about Disneyland. No matter what your age it seems like all the imagination, the characters, and ----- make for a very magical experience. We dressed the girls in matching shirts, received their "1st Visit" pins (and a birthday pin for Lucy :), had enough snacks to get us through the day and we were ready for the best day just the four of us. 

 

Aubrey is all girl and although a little nervous, she was so excited to meet the princesses. Lucy was just too scared to even get out of daddy's arms :). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tea cups were one of the first rides we went on and it was a hit! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Autopia was another fun ride for Aubrey!

 

 

 

And the jungle cruise was more of a hit than Pirates of the Caribbean :).

 

 

 

Dumbo was also a favorite for Miss Aubrey :).

 

 

The finding Nemo submarine was fun for both girls :).

 

 

You could not wipe the smile off of Aubrey's face the entire day :).

 

 

 

Aubrey was so excited about meeting all the characters.

 

 

 

Lucy once again wasn't the biggest fan :).

 

 

 

Sometime during the middle of the afternoon, Lucy just couldn't take the excitement and she finally caved into taking a little nap.

 

 

 

Now this might be an everyday occurrence for some parents having their child fall asleep in the middle of the day in a stroller, but this is something that is very surreal to us. This little girl was tired and we were thankful for the little cat nap she took in the middle of all the business. 

 

Aubrey enjoyed a little pineapple juice and Dole whip in the meantime :).

 

 

We did make out with a little less than what we came into the park with. We lost a shoe and a headband during a couple of tantrums from Lucy not wanting to get off of a couple of rides. Who could blame her for not wanting to get off a ride really, but throwing her shoes has been a fun little "stage" we've been in. 

What an awesome day we had! And I'm so glad we got to finally take the girls. It was a day we will remember for a long time (and we know Aubrey will remember it well!).  She says she misses Disneyland weekly :).