The day began with me making a midnight run to Cub Foods after working my serving shift at Millers Thursday night, I was so excited about all of the goodies I found and being the ONLY shopper in the store- HA
Once home I sat down to write [this post] at 1:11am, blew up some pink balloons and then headed to bed to rest my beautiful singing voice ;)
6.28.13 Aaron and I woke up, waiting for Avrie to wake up- as soon as we heard her up and talking around 8:30am we greeted her with balloons and mommy singing "Happy Birthday"- she had the biggest sleepy smile on her face and was pretty excited to see "bee-uunnnns! (balloons)"
After playing/popping balloons we made our way to the kitchen to make breakfast! I had plans to make Birthday Cake pancakes with powdered sugar frosting, sprinkles, whip cream and a candle on top! Avrie and I both had fun making her pancakes- she enjoyed dumping the ingredients into the bowl, stirring with the spoon AND her finger. At one point she sneaked a little taste and said "mmm yummy cookies mommy" haha...
Luckily Avrie is NEVER starving for breakfast so she was patient while the cakes cooked and when they were ready she was more than excited to blow the candle out and to eat this breakfast treat!
After this mid-morning sugar rush we got dressed for the day and played with some toys while waiting for Aaron to get back from getting a load of gravel for the driveway (we still had A LOT of outdoor prep to get done for AV's party the next day).
With it being a pretty nice day (cloudy but no rain, yet) we went ahead with our plans to spend the morning at Fawn-Doe-Rosa, an educational wilderness park in St Croix Falls, WI (about 25 minutes from our house).
Here at the park the deer walk freely so that you can feed them and many many other animals with purchased bags of animal feed (we got TWO for the price of one being that it was Avrie's birthday). The bag was filled with carrots, grains, doggy treats, corn and food pellets.
Avrie LOVED seeing the deer up close and personal- her face in the picture while Aaron is feeding them says it all! haha
I would have to say her favorite animal (besides the deer) were the bunnies. She loved being able to pet them. They were so cute, little and soft. Avrie loved petting them and saying "sooooft".
After walking the park- we came upon the pony rides. I was looking forward to Avrie going on her first pony ride and she loved it! Aaron and I stood back to get photos. She had the cutest little conversation with the pony girl- they talked about goats!
HAHA she kind of had a little fit when the ride was done- turns out the $3 ride wasn't endless, she got over it quick as soon as she realized she was getting dirty on the ground. After saying "hi" to the bunnies one more time we roamed the gift shop and then head back towards home in search of lunch.
Aaron and I had visited a pizza place in Taylors Falls, WI once before a few summers back and decided that this would be the perfect treat for Avrie and her birthday lunch. We found Schoony's Malt Shop & Pizzeria and ordered up three huge pepperoni pizza slices, root beer and chocolate milk- perfection!
After lunch we ordered ice cream to go- Avrie helped me eat my half scoop of peppermint bon bon w/ a sugar cone and soon fell asleep for a 15 minute cat nap (i followed suit). We had planned to lay Avrie down for nap once we got home but as soon as the car stopped she was wide away- SOOooo.. I decided to get in the drivers seat and take her with me to the grocery store, while Aaron stayed home to get some yard work done.
I decided to stop at a park on the way and we played until the rain (a pouring rain) chased us away. She was pretty bummed that she didn't get to go on the swing, her favorite part about the park! After the park we headed to the store then back home. We spent some time outside hula hopping and enjoying the after rain sunshine. We then headed inside so that I could do a little bit of work at my desk & some last minute cleaning while Avrie relaxed & watched one of her many favorite Disney movies, The Little Mermaid.
Soon it was evening time and Avrie was surprised when her cousins; Hannah, Ethan and Ryan all walked into the house! Then Grandma & Grandpa Sonnek followed! She was running in circles and did anything and everything to show excitement for her guests!
We all had a little pizza party in the office (YES pizza twice in one day- Avrie had mac 'n cheese w/ broccoli), played outside for a little while and then it was time for a bath, then presents and a late bedtime. Of course she didn't want to go to bed with some of her very favorite people over!
After she was dressed in her jammies, she ran RIGHT to her present and couldn't wait to see what was in the GIANT purple bag! She also got to open up a present from Grandma & Grandpa Sonnek- from them, she got some new fun & really cute books.
From Aaron and I, we got her a couple of little items, a singing Minnie Mouse card (which she LOVED) and best of all... a GIANT Minne Mouse! She hugged her new Minnie so hard... cutest. thing. EVER!
[p.s. i realize now that "minne" is incorrect but i am way to lazy to fix it!]
Before bed (and after avrie was done being silly with her pooh bear balloon) we had Hannah take a photo of Aaron, Avrie and I- a birthday day photo that I will treasure forever. Avrie's 2nd Birthday was special- in that it's hard to believe that just TWO years ago we were gifted the most special gift of all- our little baby girl! Aaron and I were picked to be her parents, she is ours to have and to hold forever and ever. It is our job as her parents to lover her, protect her, spoil her, teach her, encourage her, discipline her, laugh with her, laugh at her, brag about her, help her grow, care for her, read to her, help her set goals, learn with her all the while standing by her side as she maintains her unique personality of such a fun, loving, silly and beautiful inside and out, little girl.
Taken from the page of one of her many her favorite books; "we love Avrie through and through- yesterday, today and tomorrow too!"
**Next up... I will recap Avrie's 2nd Birthday Party celebrated on Saturday 6.29.13**