We love summer!

Although summer has not been around long yet, we are already having so much fun! It is so nice to be outside all day long. Julia spends her sleeping hours inside only, the rest of the time we are in the backyard or at the parks. Here are a few of our favorite activities thus far....

at the park with friends

at the zoo, feeding giraffes

jumping around
pool time, even dogs love pools!

at birthday parties, catching ladybugs

Update

Hello everyone! I have not posted anything in a bit so I am now doing a lot of pictures over the past few weeks. It has been a busy few weeks. Julia has been spending a lot of time with all of her cousins lately, on both sides of the family. It has been really fun! First was her birthday...we cannot believe that she is 2 now! I know everyone says this, but time really has flown by. It has truly been the best two years of our lives and we have cherished every moment of it. Julia has been a true blessing to us and we just adore the sweet, funny, silly, adorable little girl that she has turned into. She continues to amaze us every day.

We have been to the Children's museum, Seattle Aquarium and Remlinger Farms in the past two weeks, so I posted some of those pictures below. We have never taken Julia to Remlinger before (except to pick pumpkins when she was 4 months old, but that doesn't count). I honestly forgot how fun that place is. Julia had a blast and did not want to leave. She had her first pony ride, fed a goat and was on endless rides. Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

Julia's 2nd birthday (loves her baby crib that she got)

her new sand a water table, tons of fun and tons of mess!

I can dress myself (kind of....notice my leg is in my waistband and vise versa)

Children's Museum

Father's Day at the Stanley's

My first shooting class, Uncle PJ had me shoot the weather man...loved it

Aquarium, I am a scary octopus

Pony ride....my mom was more excited than I was. I just pointed out all the pony poopies on the walk

Hello goat

2nd Birthday Party!!!

It's official, Julia absolutely loved her birthday party at Kidz Bounce. For as much as she talked about it before hand I was unsure if she would clam up or ham it up at the party, and she hammed it up! She got to hang out with all her friends and family and she never once wiped that smile off of her face. She had an absolute blast, and FINALLY got to eat her birthday cupcake. I think in total she asked Jim and I about 100 times if she could eat her cupcake, and when she finally got it it lasted about 1 minute. She has been having a blast playing with her new toys (although she is a bit tired today as she only slept 6 hours last night....you turn 2 and you become a horrible sleeper?!). Anyway, thanks to everyone who was able to make it to her party, you truly made her day, perhaps year!

Blowing out her candle....

Opening gifts with Logan and Allison

Opening gifts with Wyatt

Here is the smile that never left her face!

First Haircut!

Julia got her first haircut yesterday. She was a bit aprehensive in the beginning but then ate it up and had a blast. She loved playing with the toys and watching a movie. She got a clip and glitter in her hair at the end and she keeps saying, "thank you hairdresser". I put the clip in her hair this morning and she was so excited all over again about her haircut. She actually loved it so much she cried when we left :-(.

Before

During, taking a picture of mom taking a picture of her :-)

After, Beautiful!

Helping Daddy

Jim and Julia did a little gardening on Sunday while the weather was nice. Julia has a watering can, rake, shovel and bucket in her size and enjoyed helping daddy spread dirt over the plants. Below are just a few pictures of their gardening.

One day she will smile "normal" for the camera

Shoveling the dirt........

Sweeping the dirt she just shoveled....

Who needs a lot of toys?

Who needs a lot of toys when one simple one will provide hours of entertainment? Julia found MANY uses for her ABC mat the other day. She started out by laying under it and saying "sleep". I thought this was pretty hilarious myself, but it just got better and better as time went on. She then used it as a rain coat, but was very upset that it had no hood. After the coat there was a blanket for Lucy. Thank goodness our dog is to tolerant because Julia "plays" with her all day long and Lucy just takes it all. After the coat for Lucy it was a saddle and she was riding Lucy, almost made 8 seconds ;-). See the series of pictures below to see how much fun one toy can be for a 2 year old (well, almost 2).

Julia sleeping under her blanket

Rain Coat

Blanket for Lucy

Saddle, Giddy Up!!!

Cousin time!

Jim's sister and neice visited from Kansas this past week. Julia had so much fun with her cousin, Arundhati (of coarse we did too!) and Aunt Erin. Erin came to visit the new twins that Jim's younger sister had in March; which I need to post pictures of also but I forgot my camera last time we visited......

Erin, Arundhati, Jim and Julia (and yes, that is her smile for the camera)
Big hugs and smiles!