you, at two.

Ev, I promise your hair looked perfect 5 seconds prior. You have a way of messing it up that is just unbelievable. It's a talent of yours, really.

To my Evie Janey, Evie baby, Evie girl, Boo-boo,

YOU ARE TWO! Here is a glimpse into little blonde, blue-eyed (with so much green/brown in one eye you almost have two different colored ones), tall, skinny, funny, happy little two year old YOU.

As a two year old you are BUSY. As a two year old you EXHAUST me! By the time your Dad gets home I can hardly see straight or think clearly, because all I can see or hear is YOU! You are LOUD! You are VIBRANT! You are EVERYWHERE! You are bursting with enthusiasm and joy and so much life. How I love, love, love that about you! Never lose your zest for life, sweet girl. Never lose your sparkle. You light up everything and everyone around you. You just SHINE.

As a two year old you are defiant. You don't like to hear "no". You give me a dirty look when I say it to you and you like to push the boundaries and attempt the behavior a few more times just to be sure I don't like it.  You find it interesting when you aren't supposed to do something, but that doesn't mean you aren't going to do it. I am ushering you out of my makeup drawer and away from the toilet (you like to dip your toys in it!) and out of my bedroom closet (etc, etc, etc) all day long. You love to surprise me. You love to be silly. You LOVE to sneak into the babies room when they are sleeping and run around in a circle in between their cribs loudly yelling "SHHHH, SHHHH, SHHHHH!!!!" until one of them inevitably wakes up. You can be a STINKER! You can be difficult. You are SO MUCH FUN.

As a two year old you are still a feather, but you are finally chunking up in a way that is noticeable. You always eat your breakfast, you usually eat your lunch and you rarely eat your dinner. You love blueberries and pita chips and ham and eggs. You eat your vegetables without complaint and have been known to want bites of my salad. You like yogurt with granola and pasta with red sauce and you LOVE Norwegian pancakes made by your Dad. Breakfast is the best time of day to load you up with the good stuff--you'll gladly have an omelet or a pancake, a waffle, some toast, fruit, bacon, orange juice-- you like it all and then it is pretty much down hill from there! You throw everything on the floor the second you're finished. And I mean the SECOND.

As a two year old you are adjusting to life as a big sister. And that's just the best way to describe it. It's an adjustment. I know it is hard for you to go from being an only child (and being doted on and obsessed over as only an only child is) to 1 of 3 children overnight. But you are handling it and I am so proud of you. Some moments you seem excited about your little siblings and you want to kiss them and pat them and point out their eyes and ears and noses and other moments are just jealousy. You have a hard time when I am feeding them. It lasts too long and you feel left out and will often sulk or act out during the process (your favorite is to throw something because it gets you immediate attention, albeit negative, you know I hate it.) I can't tell you how my heart breaks in these moments when I can tell you feel lost. I know you just want me--my adoration and love and full attention--and I feel so bad that I can't give it to you right then. I promise I am trying my best. I promise you we will figure this thing out. I am still yours heart and soul, girlfriend. Nobody loves you like I do.

As a two year old you are a TALKER! But not quite English yet. Lots and lots of gibberish with plenty of real words mixed in. You can repeat almost any word I say to you, but you aren't using these words to communicate in a way that makes sense just yet. Your vocabulary has taken a back seat to your walking these past few months (YOU FINALLY WALK- SING PRAISES!!) but you are still crazy excited to communicate and full of expression and tonality and hilarity. You never stop talking. Never, ever. Seriously, sweetheart, sometimes it would be nice if you would stop talking.

As a two year old you do things your own way. For the longest time everyone was worried about your walking. I took you to the physical therapist and I let them diagnose you and examine you and say this and that about you and meanwhile my heart always told me the same thing, "she will do it when she's ready". You just weren't ready. And then, one day, you just stood up and walked. It was as if you just decided it was time and now you were going to walk and what's the big deal (it happened the night before I had the twins, for the record). And now you walk. Now you RUN. You do things your own way. You march to the beat of your own drum. You have taught me so much about motherhood in the process. I learned to trust my gut and my intuition, because in my heart I knew it wasn't about your feet or your shoes or anything but YOU and your own belief in yourself. I knew you would get there in your own time, in your own way, and you did.

As a two year old you are fun! You are so happy and silly and man are you CUTE! You love Mickey and Minnie, baby dolls, books and any stuffed animal. You pat your babies backs and shush them to sleep. You read to yourself, pointing at the pictures and making up narratives and turning the pages like a little teacher. You love to watch movies, especially Tangled and Rio, and you dance like a maniac and sing "hey! hey! hey!" during the songs. You love to make movies with Mommy (I have a million videos of you just being a ham for the camera) and listen to music and wrestle and be tickled on the floor. You come and pat me playfully when you want me to tease you or chase you or play with you. You yell "MOOOOMMMMYYYYY!!" the second you wake up in the morning and cannot wait to start the day. You like play dough and Doc Mcstuffins and you'll still cuddle with me in the afternoons. You sleep with a ratty old piece of fabric known as your "sleep sack" and you still suck your thumb like a little lover and your eyelashes are longer than mine and you're just DARLING.

As a two year old I cannot imagine you being any cuter. I cannot imagine you being more fun or vibrant or funny or full of life. Mostly I just cannot imagine life without you.

You light up everything you touch, little one. You radiate sunshine and joy and you have made these past two years the best. Thank you for all of it, Evie Jane. We couldn't love you more. I'm telling you, sister, YOU ARE IT.

Love, 

Mama

a party.

we waited until g returned from dubai to have evie's birthday party this past saturday (even though i threatened and teased him many times about having it on her actual birthday while he was away) and we also decided to have it at my parents house, since we wanted to invite more than 2 people.

i had a lot of fun planning and throwing the party & it turned out perfectly without too much fuss or stress. i know a lot of people think it's lame to throw a party for a baby, but that's just too bad, because i loved it. evie loved it too. until i offered her some birthday cake, that is, and then she was pissed. moms can be so rude sometimes, right?!

oh, what's that? you want to see 100 more pictures? mmmkay.

i loved how this simple doilie banner turned out.

i made this vanilla bean cake with vanilla buttercream frosting. i made the teensy little mistake of asking g to frost in-between the layers and there wasn't quite enough frosting as a result (g doesn't like frosting at all, so it made sense that he didn't put much on there). it needed quite a bit more because the cake was huge and dense, but i still thought it was delicious. i'll definitely make it again.

 

 opening her presents.

(also, i feel the need to say that she had a cardigan on that was shed before any photos were taken. i am aware that it's winter. okaythanks.)

new clothes, new books, new toys, new movies! her favorite gift had to be her new dolly. she screamed when she saw it and immediately wanted to hold it. she loves all things baby and has had a dolly since she was 11 months old, which seems strange to me, since i always thought that was more of a toddler thing. but she loves her dolls. she pats them, holds them, kisses them, sleeps with them and can't own enough of them.

 look at all of her little girlfriends! how lucky is she!? holls, we were sad you guys were in mexico- briggs & beau would have loved all the laaddiees.

cake time.

the part we didn't catch on camera was her diva-attack when she threw her cake on the floor (before the tears, obviously). no worries, evs. it's your party you can j-lo if you want to.

thanks to everyone who came and helped us celebrate our best year ever.

aaaanddd to cap off this evie's first birthday celebration on the blog, i just want to list a few deets & then i promise i'm done.

evie, at one:

• you are only fifteen pounds! other than your weight, your measurements are very average. this month you had to have your iron levels tested and sure enough, you are anemic. i never doubted that you would be (i am anemic too). you are now taking iron supplements 3x a day-hopefully that helps you hang on to your weight a little bit better.
• you are a mama's girl. you are in that phase where you sometimes don't want me to set you down. you love to be right in my lap. even if we are sitting side by side, you will crawl in my lap or tug on my clothes, which is your way of telling me to hold you.
• you are stubborn! so, so stubborn. you are becoming really opinionated and losing your easy-going personality. where you used to just eat whatever, do whatever, enjoy whatever, now you know what you want & you want us to know what you want.
• you love to be read to and look at books. you still love mickey mouse clubhouse. you are starting to enjoy movies a little bit. your favorite, so far, is finding nemo. if i'm cooking i can usually get you to watch for 10 or 15 minutes before you are crawling in the kitchen after me or going for the dog food or heading into the bathroom.
• you are very particular and very smart. you remind me so much of your dad.
• you still wont let me do a thing to your hair. not a thing. not even on your birthday. i used to get away with pigtails, but you've figured those out, too. like i said before, you are very particular and too smart to not notice when i am trying to distract you while i hurry and do your hair.
• you say "mama", "dada" and "baba" really consistently. every now and then i can get you to say "hi", "nana" or "okay". you bark like a dog if we ask you what a doggie says.
• speaking of dogs, you are still obsessed with them. you think everything you see (horse, lamb, goat, cat, fish) must bark like a dog. on your birthday i took you to a huge pet store that had some cool aquariums (you love fish) and you barked like a dog at them the whole time we were there.
• you sing with me when i sing to you and sometimes i hear you singing along with the radio in the car. it is so so sweet.
• you LOVE blueberries, oranges, strawberries, greek yogurt, carrots, cheese and babas. you don't like peanut butter, crackers, juice or whole milk. you gag when you think something is gross.
• you LOVE the bath.
• you HATE to have your diaper changed.
• you still sleep really well at night and nap really well during the day.
• you are sweet as pie and love to be held and snuggled and rocked.
• you still suck your thumb.
• you still make my world a much happier place.
• you are still the best.

the meal of love.

g had a pretty rad birthday, in case you were wondering. he had to work late, so we stayed home that evening and i cooked him the meal of his desires, including meatloaf, garlic mashed potatoes and dessert (which deserves it's own paragraph!). i proved my love by making him meatloaf, which i have despised my entire life (meat! in a loaf! no thank you!). but thanks to my friend, i scored a brand-new meatloaf recipe that was heavenly and i enjoyed the meal of love just as much as the birthday boy, can you even believe it?

let's talk about the dessert for a minute, can we? listen, i know that picture up there does not look appetizing in the slightest, but holy mother, dessert was good. i wanted to give him everything he has ever wanted in one dessert, so i knew it had to include chocolate, hot fudge, caramel and salt and DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT I DID, PEOPLE!!

i made him a mini molten chocolate cake, which is basically a tiny chocolate cake filled with hot, delicious fudge that oozes out when you eat it and then i served the whole thing with salted caramel ice cream. OH YES I DID!

i'm pretty sure i'm his favorite sister-wife, but don't tell the others.

so, bubba.

Today is your birthday!
I know. What?

The vet just informed me of this, via email. Gosh that Vet is on top of things, isn't she?! I love that Vet. Do you remember that one time you had an ear infection and so I took you to see that Vet and she proceeded to pull black, goopy, bloody infected hairs from your ears in order to save your life? And you winced in pain and I cried out  "No! Not my precious Bubba! Take me, instead!" and then proceeded to faint in her office because of the whole ordeal?

That was pretty heroic of me, no?

And remember that one time you got attacked by an evil dog in my parent's front yard and I almost died of a broken heart? Do you remember how I fell to the ground in a heap of pathetic tears & cried out "don't die, Bubba Boy!!" And then I got home and proceeded to write the cheesiest post in the entire world.

Except you didn't die. You lived. Remember?

Anyways, "Happy Birthday Jack!" the email said. And for a split second I was like, who is Jack?!

I then I remembered, you're Jack. Jack Bauer Olsen, to be exact. Except you're not. You're Bubba. You're my poop-eating machine. You're needy as hell. You're jealous of Evie and yet, you secretly like Evie. You're fat. You're ridiculous. You're sweet. If I died you would guard my smelly body for the rest of your life.You're my gosh darn dog. And apparently you're 4!

Remember when you were my one and only true love? Remember when I rocked you and held you and pretended you were a baby? Remember when I thought I couldn't live without you?

Yah, me neither.
Wait, what??

What I meant to say was Happy Birthday Bubba Boy!
Do you really think you'll live to be 15? I mean, I don't really think that's necessary, do you? 10 sounds like a long and full life to me, but whatever.

We love you!
Sometimes.
When you're clean.

happy birthday, cute boy.

today is my g's birthday!

and even though he is no longer a boy & most definitely a man, i still can't stop myself from posting this picture of that cute little toe head in flannel. pictures like these make me so excited about the fact that i get to have his babies & they might look just like him...i can't wait!

this morning i woke up at the crack of dawn to make him norwegian pancakes 

& then i dropped him off at work with lunch & carmelitas for all his work buddies.

i'm sure he was very embarrassed, but i just can't help myself...i love this man! 

and for those of you who may not know, g is a twin, so it is tyler's birthday today as well. happy birthday ty! jennie & i most definitely know the answer to this question, but can the rest of you guess which twin is which?

23 years.

birthday weekend festivities:

• grasshopper shake from millies
• movie with friends
• park city outlet shopping
• lunch at davansas where i managed to get us a free taco!
• g washing my car for me!
• beautiful weather
• long boarding and playing outside with jon & meg
• gas station for treats
• jon, meg & g humoring my childish ways and taking me to the park to swing. so much fun! i was in heaven...swinging is one of my favorite things to do (and yes, apparently i am 3 and not 23).
• dinner with g at melting pot
• almost puking after 4 course dinner at melting pot
• g giving me a new ipod touch! (dreams really do come true!)
• late night chick flick in bed
• new anthro birthday dress to church
• surprise visit from holls, luke & briggs!
• grandma singing happy birthday on the phone
• afternoon nap
• dinner at ty & jennie's
• yummy mashed potatoes and sugar cookies
• lots of sweet emails, texts, comments and phone calls from all of you- thank you!

i had the greatest weekend and i am so excited for the new year ahead. i have a feeling that 23 is going to be my year! thanks to those of you who helped make my birthday so great, especially my sweet g, who took me to the park and happily participating in my swing acrobatics, even though it was so silly and immature. thank you, g, for loving me the way i am and for letting me be myself. i love you!