An amazing birthday week for our two year old

Tatum's birthday celebrations started last Friday when we were to take her to Disneyland for the first time. It was pouring rain and not a day for a theme park but Tatum was so excited to see Mickey and Winnie that we couldn't let her down. So we all went to Downtown Disney, which was Disneyland to Tatum and she loved it. Especially the huge Winnie the Pooh area in the Disney store!

Saturday was her birthday party which was to be held at a local park but due to the rain, we had it at Grandma's house. Here's the beautiful cake her Godmother Shauna made for her.

Hanging out with her friends Aaron and Baby Isaac.

She loved opening presents...

and eating her delicious chocolate cake, yum!

And it couldn't have been a complete birthday without a hug from Mattie. Oh Tatum, just accept it, Mattie's a hugger! :)

We loved having Shauna over! :)

Sunday, Tatum opened family presents, look at that smile.

And then the weather cleared up on Monday, her actual birthday, and we went to the real Disneyland, way better than the other one. :)

Tatum loved the castle and the Merry-go-round but when she saw the Dumbo ride, she had to go on it!

Then we headed to Toontown, so much fun...

and then of course to see Winnie the Pooh. We had to go on the Pooh ride twice and when we got off, the Tigger and Pooh characters were taking pictures with people. I asked Tatum if she wanted a picture with Pooh and she reacted about how she did with Santa Clause, absolutely not! Maybe next time.

At the end of the day, she allowed us to get a picture with Mickey, I guess she was warming up. All in all, Tatum had an amazing birthday and now asks me every morning if she could open another birthday present, as if that should be the way to start every day. Wouldn't that be nice. :)

Dress Up Time!

It was gloomy out yesterday when Tatum woke up from her nap so we decided to play dress up! Here she is as a purple butterfly...

a ballerina (whose shoes were too tight and caused her dance to be cut short)...

a beautiful fairy blowing fairy dust...

a royal princess waving to the crowd...

then it turned into more of a fashion show. Here's Tatum modeling her "water sweater" and boots due to the rainy weather...

and she threw in a scary Halloween shirt for fun. She loves Halloween and thought it would come back around right after Christmas. :)

"Mommy, I NEED it!"

Dana came over on Saturday to make cupcakes for a shower we were throwing the following day. Tatum was so excited about baking, she got right into helping (and eating). :)

Dana made different colored frosting for the cupcakes and I said Tatum could put her finger in the bowl and taste it. Well, after one finger full, she was hooked. She started diving her whole fist in and couldn't lick it off fast enough. She looked like an addict! :)

Is this the face of a sugar junkie or what?!

When we pulled the bowl away she said, "Mommy, I NEED it!!" and Dana and I were rolling. Oh no, I definitely have a sugar addict in the house, better keep my cupboards clean of sweets!

My two year old

I can't get over that my little baby is almost two! She is such a sweet little girl who makes us laugh daily and amazes us the same. Here she is in pig tails, doesn't she look like a big girl?!

And here is her "cheese" face. We might need to work on that. :)

She was so nice to sit still while Jenny and I put the pony tails in and she wore them all day. She was very proud of them actually and kept looking in the mirror and saying, "I'm pretty." We'll have to work on that as well. :)

Picnics and Parks

Grandma came to visit so we had a picnic at a park up the street. It was over 80 degrees so it was a perfect day for a picnic in the shade.

Tatum brought one of her new sand toys and loved it!

She loved it so much that the bucket had to go down the slide with her, the two were inseparable. :)

Then yesterday Tatum and I went for a walk along the bay (another beautiful day) and stopped at her favorite park. This is her favorite slide, a dinosaur!

It's a huge park with all different things to play on. Peek a boo! How lucky we are here in California to have beautiful weather in the month of January!

Our little princess

This is what my child looks like when her Mommy wears the crown...

And this is what she looks like when SHE gets the crown. Wow, what a princess I must say, I think we're in trouble. :)

Kidsville

I took Tatum to Kidsville in Poway yesterday to meet Julie and some other girls from our Mom group and Tatum loved it, can you tell! We weren't there 2 minutes and she had found a baby, of course. :)

Kidsville is a bunch of little play houses, around the parameter of the room, with lots of toys and things to do. Tatum loved the beauty parlor.

And there's a street that runs around the whole town with lots of cars to drive. Of course, Tatum won't drive the car, just enjoys putting her baby in the trunk and acting like she's going shopping.

Here Logan is sharing a train with Tatum, such a nice friend. We really enjoyed seeing Julie and Logan and loved this fun play area. I don't know how often we'll go since it's kind of chaotic and is a bit of a drive from the house, but it was definitely lots of fun for one morning.

Then we headed to a friends house for the Charger game and Tatum was thrilled that she could play with Kyla and Kaitlin. Both are a bit older and here they are playing their hand held computer games. Tatum loved just being one of the big girls and nicely watching. Wow, my baby really is getting to be a big girl. :)

Hullabaloo

We went to Java Mama, a coffee shop in La Mesa that has lots of kid classes, a play area, and the occasional Hullabaloo concert. First, Tatum enjoyed some play time in the play area...

Then it was concert time, which she had to warm up to (she wouldn't stand up and participate till 20 minutes into the show) but once she did, she was up dancing and smiling.

We enjoyed the concert with Tatum's friend Ellie and her mom and Grandma, so exciting! And the best part, there were scarfs and maracas, who could ask for anything more!!

My silly girl

Tatum loves shoes, of any kind, and comments on other's choice in shoes and whether she likes or dislikes them. Luckily, I'm on the like side. She loves my new slippers and enjoys walking the halls in them. Can you tell how proud she is? She is such a silly girl, loves to be goofy and laugh. She is growing up so fast, I can't believe she'll be two in a few weeks!

Fun days with Mattie

Tatum and I were up in Irvine for a quick visit and had lots of play time with Mattie. Mattie is a hugger and loves to express her love. Tatum, on the other hand, is a lover in many other ways but hugging is not one of them and she's always a bit put off by Mattie's expression. But after endless hugs, Tatum has begun to except her BFFs ways and will one day come around, I'm sure. :)

A slide in your house, how cool!!!

Tatum and Mattie went to Aubrey's for a play date and Tatum was again greeted with a hug from Mattie. Love that expression Tatum, she's still getting use to it...

The hit of the gathering was the blocks, we need to get these for sure.

And then lunch time as big girls at their own table, how fun!

Another fun day at the zoo

The sun finally came out down here so we headed to the zoo to get some fresh air and visit our favorite animals...

Tatum loves to kiss these days and hands them out anytime and any place. :) Could this be why we had an awful cold over Christmas?!

Another kiss for the baby monkey, babies always need lots of kisses. :)