The Terrific Twos!

I can't believe my baby is 2!  We celebrated Laina's birthday with a family Cookie Monster party.  She LOVES cookies and is always asking for one, she is her Daddy's girl, so I decided a cookie party would be perfect!
We invited Mike's and my families over for dinner and cookies.  Everyone filled up on taco salad for dinner but left plenty of room for dessert.  Did I mention we were having cookies?  Five different kinds of cookies to be exact.  We had Chocolate Chip cookies, Peanut Butter cookies, Lemon cookies, White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal cookies, and Triple Fudge Oreo Crunch cookies.  I got some awesome recipes off of Pinterest.  I couldn't believe how many cookies there were but the group polished them off with no problems.

Laina was so excited for it to be her birthday.  For breakfast we made her blueberry "Fuffins" and put some candles in one to practice for the big event that night. 

She didn't know what to make of them.
She did a lot better in the evening.  She tried to blow and with a little help from Mommy we got them out.

It was fun having everyone over.  The cousins had a blast playing together, inside and outside the house.  I often found Laina tagging along after her older siblings and cousins laughing and screaming along with them.

 Laina loved opening her presents.  She got a cute piggy bank and some "monies" from Grandpa and Grandma Staker.  Matt, Sara, and the boys gave her a cute little book and a much loved Minnie Mouse.  

 Grandma Hunt sent out a present full of cute clothes and a sweet book about 10 little monkeys.  And our family gave her a little Cookie Monster and a new microphone for all of her singing moments.

Laina is the sunshine in our family.  She adds so much fun to our lives.  I can't imagine life without her!  She is becoming such a big girl.  She is always running and dancing through the house, singing and talking up a storm.  She is always so concerned about where everyone is and loves having her whole family together.  She is so sweet and sensitive towards others.  When someone is crying she is the first one to run over and give them a hug.  She is the life of the party!

Two fun things about Laina:
1.  She loves being a girly girl.  She likes twirly skirts, pretty shoes, and lots of bracelets.
2.  She is a dancing machine.  At our nephew's wedding reception she danced the entire time.  She loves shaking her booty and likes to try and copy Aria's moves.

Sock Bun Curls

I've been spending a lot of time on Pinterest.  If you haven't tried it you are missing out on a wealth of information.  I just have to warn you, it is majorly addicting!  I found this tutorial on sock bun curls.  If you don't know what a sock bun is, it is a bun made using a rolled up sock.  It makes a beautiful bun.  We tried this on both Michela and Aria, but it worked the best on Aria.  After washing their hair we put in the sock buns and they slept with them.  In the morning we took the bun out to reveal curls!  Michela's hair is pretty thick so her hair was still a bit wet.  Next time we'll have to try getting her hair a bit more dry before putting it in the bun.  Aria's worked beautifully.  She has very fine thin hair so it produced super springy curls.  She loved it!  A little hairspray, a cute headband, and she was good to go.  Those curls put a little extra spring in her step that day!