Our Little Larkin Lou Turns Two!

Larkin celebrated her 2nd birthday on May 10th.  We can't believe how much things have changed in the past two years.  We are very lucky to have such a sweet, silly, and loving little girl!

    

Larkin's Birthday Party

    

Outside fun on Larkin's new swing set!

Getting ready for birthday cake with her little friends

Trying to figure out the party favors!

Time to blow out the candle

It's Abby Cadabby!  That is one hard cake to find.

Time to get cleaned up

Larkin and Rylee with their Build-A-Bears.  Rylee got Larkin Sugar Bear for her birthday!

Having fun opening presents!

Larkin LOVES playing dress up these days.  Here she is in her new fairy costume!

Still loving the fairy costume!

Trying out her new Mickey Mouse tricycle.  We are still working on actually pedalling and not just pushing all the cool buttons that make noise and light up.

Springtime

April came and went.....

Here are some of the things that happened in April and even the beginning of May

All Smiles!

Brayden began his smiling phase and Larkin continued hers!

Easter Time!

Larkin had a blast hunting for Easter eggs this year and Daddy had a blast hiding them.  The Easter Bunny also brought some playdough and a new pair of shoes for Larkin.  Brayden slept right through the Easter egg hunt!

The Car Show

One Sunday morning we ventured to Tempe to see some of the cars that the owners of ccrd were showing off.  It was quite the car show!  Of course Larkin was more interested in the motorcycles and was worn out by the end of the show.  Brayden again slept through everything.

A New Playmate 

Beginning in April Larkin got a new playmate.  I began watching Brody, who is almost the same age.  Brody hungout with us until his mom was done teaching at the end of May.  Next fall I will be watching both him and his baby brother.  Wish me luck!

 

Making one of many forts!

Baking cookies.  They are great helpers!

Chuck E. Cheese

Our first trip to Chuck E. Cheese for a school fundraiser made us adults realize that is was way cooler when we were kids.  Pretty much just a bunch of crazy screaming kids running around and a bunch of parents pretending they don't know them!  We will probably wait a few years to try that one again although Brayden did stay awake most of the time. 

Our Backyard 

Well no pool yet, but this year we (well Shaun) put rock down in the back and we decided to get a swingset for the kids.  This was Larkin's birthday present and she is loving every minute on it.  Kind of makes us wonder what we were thinking! 

Who knew it would come in so many pieces with no labels!  Here is just a little part of the setting up.

As you can see Shaun was definitely making progress.  He had it all put together and pea gravel put down within a week.  Just in time for Larkin's birthday party.  Those pictures are coming shortly!

Brayden

Our baby is getting so big.  He is actually awake much more these days and is working on that smile! 

Larkin

This little one is into everything these days and is talking up a storm.  We have begun potty training and Larkin finds it much more relaxing if she is reading a little something on the potty.  I think we have Daddy to thank for that one.  She also got rid of her beloved pacifier.  She still misses it from time to time, but she is sure growing up. 

The Nursery

Well Brayden's nursery was started before Thanksgiving and is FINALLY complete.  Of course that is not because of Shaun's handywork.  Shaun had the nursery complete just after New Year's, but our furniture, which was ordered back at the beginning of November, did not arrive until the end of March.  Yep, that is right, more than five weeks AFTER Brayden was born.  We were lucky enough to have the furniture store loan us some furniture until ours arrived.  Here is a look at all the work Shaun (with a little help from Larkin) put into Brayden's room.  It turned out great!

Just getting started

 Blue painting is done and crown molding put up

All the boards for the wainscoating primed, painted, and repainted.  And the wainscoating begins to go up 

Finishing the wainscoating, getting ready to paint the chair rail, and filling the holes

Painting the animals for the wall and doing the finishing touches 

 

The nursery is complete.... well with a borrowed crib and dresser 

 Finally the REAL furniture arrives and Brayden's name is put over his crib!

I have to say it was a lot of hard work, but Shaun did a fantastic job and the room couldn't be more perfect.