How Hal Spent Her 2nd Birthday

That picture about sums it up. 

She did whatever she wanted.

Sitting on the table naked trying to grab the balloons? 

yep.

If she were able to carry on a conversation she'd probably tell you that her day was all about balloons. Well to us it was about more.....but don't tell her that.....it was a day FULL of BALLOONS!!!!! She awoke on her birthday to find a floor full of pink balloons. I had snuck in earlier that morning to toss them on the floor. I was milling around in the kitchen when I heard her start hollering with excitement. "BOONS! BOONS!!! Momma!!! BOONS!!!!" I felt a huge smile form on my face as I imagined how she felt upon waking up and seeing her floor. When I walked in she looked at me as if to say "mom, have you seen all this?!?" We counted the balloons and talked about what color they were and then she realized that I was using it as a "learning moment" and had had enough. Hehe. She requested to get out of bed and started pouncing on them and trying to collect them all. 

A little groggy yet excited

"Are we just gonna chit chat or can I get out of here??"

I was a little scared about how the day was going to go after we had a little incident. Incident = devastation over not being able to collect all the balloons in her arms at once. Just. Horrible. 

Maybe someone needs a couple more hours of sleep??

I may have had to do a little bribing to get her out of the room and away from the evil balloons that kept popping out of her arms. I had picked out the perfect birthday outfit and bow for the princess earlier in the week and was nearly exploding with anticipation to dress her in it. It was well worth the wait. Can I dress her in this everyday, please?!?!

I followed her around like a hound dog chasing a scent with the intent of getting a good picture of her in her birthday attire. Instead of smiling for the camera she helped me do a little "decorating" on her lemonade stand....

"This looks a little better right here momma"

After I'd snapped around thirty unsuccessful pictures of her indoors we decided to try our luck outside. Instead of smiling for the camera outdoors she took her "boon" for a "wide" in the wagon....

Oh yeah, and she got an imaginary boo boo somewhere in the middle of all the picture-taking....

Her attempt to side track me ;)

I was working up a sweat chasing her from one end of the driveway to the other. She didn't seem to mind at all that I was being led on a wild goose chase. But alas, my wild goose gave me the perfect shot. All it took was me acting like a complete fool. I have no shame, no shame whatsoever. This is shot #45 out of 45. ;) Just look at that grin.....

So what did the birthday girl do after her photo shoot? Hallie had a date with Nanny at her house. I had a date with Walmart. Riley stayed back at the house that morning before heading to work so that he could assemble her present. I stocked up on party food and had just enough time to unload the bags before I met Hallie and Nanny at the waterpark. Us girls had a lot of fun there spending most of our time practicing her kicking, jumping and GOING UNDER THE WATER. Eeeek! The girl was a champ at it and surprised her skeptical momma. She was in two-year-old heaven. Nanny tossed her up high in the air too many times to count, she helped Hal practice her kicking and they did plenty of sliding too!

We stayed about an hour until it was time for Hal and Nanny to head back to her house for a nap. A nap sounded simply delightful. But I settled for an afternoon of party planning instead. Don't let my sarcasm fool you....I LOVED getting ready for her party. In fact, I think it's my absolute favorite party yet! I rounded up all of the food and remaining party items and had enough time left over to do some cleaning at home and finish decorating before she woke up from her nap. Birthday girl was playing with Aunt Ky when I got there to pick her up. Once we got home Riley was more than ready to surprise her. Her gift was sitting outside on the back patio and just calling her name. Riley and I had picked up her gift a couple of weeks ago while we were in OKC. I just knew she would love it. And I couldn't have been more right. She let out a squeal when she saw her new playhouse.....

Priceless!

Riley was almost as excited as she was. This was an adorable moment to watch as she checked out every inch of her house while Riley led her around showing her all of its "features".....

Her favorite part? The set of nails and hammer. Do not ask me why her playhouse came with this interesting setup.....

Every girl needs to learn how to be handy around the house, right?

She made herself right at home and began making rules about who was allowed to enter her house. The dogs did not make the list nor did the parents. She checked her little mailbox, turned her stove on and checked the integrity of her fence. All was well in Hallieville....

The birthday fun wasn't over yet. The family was on their way over for a cookout to celebrate the July birthdays. Gman arrived at our house around 7:00 and unpacked his car load along with his two pups that he brought along. Hallie was loving the new house guests as she walked around with her bowl of chips taking it all in.

Papa, Kylie, Katie and Carmen rounded out the cookout crew. Luke and Nanny were both working and weren't able to eat with us. Papa brought along Hal's birthday gift and it was a big hit for sure. The adorable picnic table couldn't have matched her playhouse any better. I can see many, many days spent outside in Hallieville ahead of us. The fam tested out the table while Riley finished grilling....

Check out those two sweeties side by side

"Can I come in Hal?"

Finally letting people in her house

"I think this is how you lower it Aunt Ky"

Checking out her umbrella

Hal was stripped down and enjoyed a birthday dinner and cake of course.....

"Am I the only one using my hands??"

The cake gave a shout out to Hal, Riley and Luke who all share end of July birthdays......

Lil Red didn't know what to think about everyone singing to her......

"What's the big deal guys??"

"Ok really. What's going on??"

We had a relaxing remainder of the evening sitting around waiting for Team USA to walk out during the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics. Nanny was able to make it over to share the rest of the evening with us. Carmen and Riley did some entertaining for us....

My idea to get a family birthday shot came to a screeching halt once the birthday ballerina hit her evening meltdown moment.....

"Peace out guys"

Her grumpy frown turned into a smile once I plopped her on Gman's lap.....

We all watched the ceremonies until USA came walking through. By that time it was past 10:00 and I wasn't the only one who was wiped out. I helped Gman set up his room and Nanny helped put Hallie Grace to bed. It was quite a day, quite a day indeed. We all went to bed to get some rest for Saturday's upcoming festivities.

Our little angel turned another year old and we finally grasped the idea that we now have a full blown two-year-old on our hands. The way I look at it is, the bigger she gets the more of her there is to love. Our little love bug had a mighty fine day.