Tenacious E Turns Two!

"Hey! It's my birthday!"

That's right, Miss Elliott Delaney turned two years old. Although we didn't have a birthday party, we did have a fun weekend. (I know there are a lot of pictures here, but I am feeling a little guilty that we didn't do more to celebrate. It's starting to be a theme with Elliott's birthday.)

Nana (my mom) and Les joined us for the fun weekend. On Saturday we took them to Sea World- Nana's first time ever and Les' first time in many years. Kind of funny that Elliott was turning two and this was her third time to go!

The only penguin we saw today. A bit overdressed for the warm weather!*

Elliott started the day off cranky. Sort of an "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to" attitude. Also she has developed a new fear of those large costumed characters, which didn't help. But then we made it to the Viva! show and she started to enjoy the day. Abbey was thrilled to see this show again.

The very colorful Viva! show features dolphins, Beluga whales and acrobats.*

Of course the highlight of the day was seeing Shamu. This was toward the end of the day and everyone was hot and tired. But when the killer whales start splashing people (not us!) with their tails it's hard to be grumpy. Elliott was even chanting "Cham-oo! Cham-oo!

I told Elliott Shamu was saying "Happy birthday" to her.*


AWESOME!*



Overall, it was a fun day despite some of these moments...

The next day we had Elliott's mini party.

It's my birthday again?!

Elliott doesn't really like cake- something about the texture- so I made her a giant chocolate chip cookie with M&Ms. It was so good!

My masterpiece, minus a tiny piece due to an oven mitt mishap.

A serious moment in the life of a two year old.*

That is one beautiful, happy girl.*

Abbey gave her the first present and a sweet kiss, though I'm not sure what's going on in this picture. Elliott was making some great sound effects through all of this. When she opened this colorful fold-out Maisy book from Abbey she said, "Oooooh! Maisy!"

"Tank ou Abbey."

Elliott gets down low to inspect the Dora doll from Pappaw Bill.

More presents please! (Think she loved the Dora doll?!)

Quite excited about some markers and paper.*

Just what every Girl on the Go needs- a very cool turtle ride-on toy from Nana and Les.

I sometimes can't believe she is already two years old! It is easy to forget when she is so tiny and still wants to be held a lot. But then she fires off a three word sentence or climbs on top of the kitchen table or pitches a huge fit and I remember, oh yeah, she is two! We're so blessed to have our healthy, beautiful, hilarious little girl.

Of course this weekend was also Mother's Day and for the first time in years, I got to celebrate it with my mother! There's nothing like having kids to make you appreciate your own mommy. I am thankful for everything my mom has done for me and still does for my family. I hope all my mommy friends out there had a great Mother's Day, or at least a good enough day that you didn't wonder why you had kids in the first place! :)

*Several photos courtesy of Les.