Julia's 2nd Birthday!

Aaron and I were on vacation (best. ever.) during the month of December, so we got to spend all day with Julia on her birthday!

To start the day off right, I made Julia some egg-free chocolate chip pancakes.

Then, Julia had her two-year well-child-check at the pediatrician's office. She was so good for the doctor and she took her shots like a champ!  In fact, after the nurse finished, Julia said, "Thank you for my shots!" unprompted. The nurse was impressed... and a little stunned, I think!

Fun bandaids for the brave, immunized lady.

My parents took us all out to lunch for Julia's birthday to Julia's favorite restaurant. Yes, it's McDonald's. I try to feed Julia gourmet, healthy foods like white bean, kale, and crimini mushroom soup and spaghetti squash and broccoli casserole (since we're such foodies), but the girl would much rather have a patty of beef, sans bun, dipped in ketchup. And, of course, who could blame her?

Opening a present from Grammie Terri and Grandpa Gary.

Reading her new book!

After lunch, we went to Lowe's. We'd been having leaking on the floor around one of our toilets, so we decided to replace both of them. The old ones were original to the house and yellow, which was always so strange since you could never tell how hydrated you were. My dad spent the afternoon teaching Aaron how to replace toilets while Julia napped and played with me.

And I know I'm totally devolving since this is a birthday post and I'm going on and on about our new toilets, but the toilet in our guest bathroom is too hilarious not to talk about a little more. It's called the "Champion 4" and it can flush a couple dozen golfballs or a couple pounds of kitty liter (not that we'd ever do that). The guy at the store showed us this video and we were sold. So, basically, we have a pretty impressive toilet. Stop by and use it sometime and be amazed! Haha! Also, most importantly, both toilets are white, which is way less bizarre and dated.

My dad stayed and ate with us. I made one of Julia's favorite dishes for dinner - Avocado pasta!

Luckily, we got a better family photo than this at her birthday party a few days later. Not quite awkwardfamilyphoto.com worthy, but close!

 Then we e-celebrated with Aaron's family via skype! Julia opened their presents and had a lot of fun chatting with them!

Hello Kitty headband and...

Stocking cap and mittens from Aunt Jessica!

An easel from Grandma Mary and Grandpa Mark!

Then, I whipped up a quick egg-free microwave cake, because Julia's main association with birthdays is birthday cake, and I hated to disappoint! She loved it!

Nom nom.

It was a great day celebrating a special girl!