Totally Two

I've been wanting to post pictures of my totally two year old's birthday, but since she decided to get sick the day after, it's been hard to get much done.  Even now, she is sitting on my lap, burning up, and totally snuggled in while I type one handed.  Poor girl.

At least she wasn't sick for her actual birthday.  In fact, she was anything but sick and she had a totally fabulous time!  At this age, we usually keep birthday stuff to just family and we like to go do something all together.  So, since it had been a long time since we had a night in a hotel, we decided a night of jumping on beds and swimming in a pool were totally what we all wanted. So we packed up our bags and headed to our favorite hotel.

We have a rule in our house. One rule that has one very big exception.

RULE: We do not jump on beds

EXCEPTION: When we are at hotel rooms

I really have no idea where we got this idea.  Maybe we heard it somewhere, maybe it just made sense to us.  But we have had it for as long as I can remember and it totally works.  The kids think it is the best thing in the world.  They have absolutely no problem with the fact that we don't jump on beds at home because, in all their excited glee, they can shout, "We can jump on beds at hotels!" And yes, they can jump.  And they totally love it.  And I have been known to jump with them at times :)  And it makes already fun excitement of staying in a hotel that much better.

And swimming totally makes everyone happy...especially swimming pools with water slides

We woke up the next morning to a gorgeous view and a totally sweet two year old girl.

I've basically given up on wrapping paper here in Indonesia.  It is small, usually sold in single sheets, and most often incredibly ugly.  I have found that butcher paper and pretty ribbon works much better. 

I really love how Katie is totally checking herself out in the mirror...totally cute.

After our fabulous stay in the hotel we headed home to continue the celebration. It was almost impossible to keep the older kids from "helping" Katie unwrap her gifts.  They were all just too excited!

I could write a witty comment abut this next photo and how she is "reading" the packaging, but really I just want to show off how cute her teeny tiny piggies are.  I totally love having a little girl!

 

After her new little toys had a quick trip to "the potty" she said, "They go night-night."

And another gift that she refused any help with opening.

One totally sweet two-year-old princess coming up...

A princess can never have enough shoes...

After opening gifts, we continued on to our long standing tradition of "the birthday bed."  Normally we fill up the two-year-old's bed with balloons before he/she is awake. But since we were at a hotel...six of us in one room...there was really no way to accomplish that.  Once everyone was up, eating and swimming were on everyone's agenda and the birthday bed got skipped. No fears...the kids insisted we do it at home, even though it was five o'clock in the afternoon.  They even wheeled the bed out of her room so we could have enough light for pictures.  The kids then proceeded to fill the bed...

And then we played a game...the kids put the balloons as fast as they could while Katie tried to get them out.  She had a little help from her mama.

One totally happy birthday girl

After dinner we broke out the totally-whipped-together-last-minute cake and some candles.  And then we proceeded to sing HAPPY BRITHDAY and watch Katie blow out her candles at least twenty times.  She had little interest in eating her cake and lots of interest and blowing out those two candles over. and over. and over.  She just kept saying, "Again!"  As you wish, sweetheart.

Happy Birthday, sweet Katelynn.  We love you so much more that you could ever understand.  You have become such and amazing part of our family and we can't imagine life without you.  You bring so many smiles and so much laughter to our already amazing family.  Thank you for being you.  We are so excited to see you grow and change and be all you were created to be.  You are totally wonderful and totally loved.

Comments

[Ashley]

ah, totally cute! Love it :)

[Barbara]

Just wanted to stop and say hello, vs being a lurker. :) just was shown your site by a friend and I truly enjoyed my visit. I'll be back.

[Kitty Chen]

Hi Janet!
We haven't met until today even when you are at Indonesia. Was at Bandung last holiday but just for less than 1 day. :)
Anyway, I agree, wrapping papers here are mostly ugly or small.. usually I love to use some colorful art paper instead, at Jakarta it sold at Susilo Indah Kertas (Grogol) and add few ribbons on it and that's it. :)
Love your blog and your story... and just wanna let you know Lynne (Catscrap and Zig Zag owner) is the one who share your blog with us. :) And you had be a blessing!

[sally]

Happy belated, Katelynn!!!

[Judi]

Love the tradition of jumping on hotel beds! No matter how many times I say no jumping on my bed - no one ever listens! :)

[donna]

beautiful pics! especially the last!
i came across your blog a few months ago and have been enjoying it thru googlereader!

i have a "toally two" year old who is turning 2 April 4th...so this post especially hits home...

may i ask, what lens do you shoot with?