Ayda's 2nd Birthday (mostly)

Ayda turned 2 a week ago and she had a little pink princess birthday party.

The kids all got either a treasure chest (boys) or a jewelry box (girls) to paint and decorate. Atticus took this very seriously and got to work right away in covering the entire treasure chest in blue paint (if there's blue why bother with any other color?).

 Dillon was less serious about his task...

...and decided the paint would be better spent as make-up.

Somehow his chest managed to get painted.

And in the end Atticus decided to not limit himself with only blue.

Then there was pizza for supper.

Dillon proving he does eat a vegetable every now and again.

Atticus blowing out Ayda's candles before Jared was able to (Ayda never stood a chance).

The first present she opened was 5 pairs of high-heeled princess shoes.

And who's the first one in the high-heeled princess shoes?

Yup (he even chose the ones that matched his shirt).

And after all the partying and high-heeled princess shoe-wearing the remaining kids got shined up while their mommies watched the season finale of Survivor Samoa (yeah! Russel didn't win!).

BUT WAIT! The high-heeled princess shoe-wearing wasn't over yet (and he's as light on his toes as he appears in the picture). Oh no siree, there was much more to come....

Much, much more.

In fact, so much more that it tuckered this little ballerina right out (and by the way, nice Hammer pants, Atti).

Dillon took a pass on the fancy shoes and opted for a more low-key activity.

For the most part I left the kids home with Vin when I was out Christmas shopping, but on this particular day he taught a yoga class at 6 am and by the time the kids were up he was ready for a nap. So, I decided to pack the 3 of us up and get a bit more shopping done. I don't know how long he'd been asleep by the time I noticed he wasn't just looking at his shoes, but he remained this way until we got to the truck. Thank goodness for shopping carts that can not only hold at least 2 children (and one of those strapped in), but can also hold whatever it is you need to buy.

After we finished up some shopping we went over to my Auntie Dianne's so the boys could play with her grandkids. Cameron and Dillon are a month apart, and although they don't really play together they definitely notice the other one's around (and also has a soother!). Dill loves pulling Cameron's hair and taking his soother out of his mouth. I love that they're so close in age and I'm excited to see how they grow up together (I also really like his Mom - hey Amy!).

Cameron's older sister is 4 (ish). When we were driving over to see them Atticus was recalling that the last time he saw her she chased him and tried to hug him all the time, and he wondered if she'd be doing that again. The funny part is that she (Zayda) was telling her Mom at the same time that Atticus used to hit her all the time and was wondering if he was a bigger boy and wouldn't hit her now (don't bet on it). They don't see each other very often and I think they were both surprised by how well they played together and how little hugging and hitting occured.