say cheese Liv Jade...

How funny is this little one?  Liv turned 2 on August 11th.  We had a party over at Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Frank's house.  We were all telling her to open her eyes and say cheese with her cake.  She would shut them tighter each time.  It was too cute!  We had a fun gather with family, food, cake, and presents.  She was spoiled by everyone.  Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa Wimmer for hosting. 

gifts from afar...

from Aunt Susi, Uncle Alfonso, and cousins Adrian & Lucia!  We are always very excited to open our packages from Spain.  They giftsalways have a touch of love and are very thoughtful in nature.  We really miss our family and haven't seem them in a couple years except through the computer.  We are grateful to have them in our lives and we sure do miss them!!!

Date night Monday

with Jack White:)  Teaf's buddy sets up lighting on tour for different bands.  He happened to be on tour with Jack White in Omaha and offered us free tickets.  I had no idea who Jack White was and had to be schooled on his history.  He used to play in a band called White Stripes.  (which is pretty popular)  He now has his own band and touring around.  He and his band were AMAZING.  I didn't know a single song and was jammin to every song.  That says somethin about a show when you don't know the music but are enjoying a 2.5 hour show.  It was nice to be out on the town with my honey.  It doesn't happen very often so when it does its pretty special.  Aunt Patti and Uncle Tom were gracious enough to have a last minute sleep over at their house with the girls.  We are ever so thankful for their love and support!  Can't wait for the next date night!   

Sunday breakfast...

Aunt Patti took the girls and I out to breakfast on Sunday.  She picked us up and we drove with the top down to this cute little dive breakfast joint in Omaha.  It reminded me of Pot Holder in Long Beach.  It was fantastic!  Great start to the day thats for sure!!! 

No Toys at Toys R Us...

We prepared the girls for no purchases by telling them we were going there to get ideas for Liv's birthday.  We talked about it a few times in hopes that we would avoid melt downs when they found a million toys they wanted.  They both did exceptionally well considering the task we handed to them.  You can look but we can't buy:)  Liv was so hilarious.  She was walking around the entire store getting ampted about all the toys but would simply look and say "just lookin"  Harper did good for the most part but got cranky when she came upon a lolliop and I reminded her we weren't buying anything.  We did take pictures of random toys we thought would be good.  We rewarded them with a ride on Mickey and Elmo.  Successful outing!

"Saturday in the park"...

" I think it was the fourth of july" ..by Chicago:)

We were hanging out in the park Saturday night for the concert in the park series.  It wasn't Chicago but was a local band that was pretty good.  Aunt Patti and Uncle Tom were with us and provided the fantastic picnic lunch!  The girls loved running around playing in the grass and found a new friend who was sitting next to us to play with.  It's funny because Liv is the initiator of the two.  Harper wanted so badly to play with this little boy and continued to watch him play for quite some time.  Liv finally noticed him, ran right up to him and started to play.  Harper followed suit and within 10 more minutes Harper and boy were playing and Liv was onto something else. The music was rockin and the people were dancing.  I love being outside, listening to live music with my family.  I love watching the girls explore the world around them and expose them to this life.  I love the time we spend with our grauntie and gruncle who take care of us and love us unconditionally.  A great "Saturday in the park...I think it was the 4th of August:) "

Day at the Musuem..

Saturday we headed to the children's musuem.  They have a Wizard of Oz room right now with lots of cool movie themed activities.  The girls had a great time as always.  This is definitely one of Harper's fav places to go.  We are less likely to come here over other places because of all of the germs.  Although their immune system seems to be rockin, it never fails that one of us gets sick.  I tried to tell them the rule was they couldn't put things or their fingers in their mouth.  Harper does it when she gets nervous or overstimulated.  Liv does it because she's almost two and things just go toward the mouth like the pretend food and such.  We are not overly crazy about germs in general but this place is a kindgom of germs because of all the hands on activities.  In the end, we go there because the girls LOVE it!

Gotta love the zoo...

especially when daddy gives the tour.  The girls frequent the zoo during the week with their dad.  He has the map down pat and maximizes the time spent there with the perfect routes:).  Last Monday we spent a couple hours checking out the animals and eating a picnic lunch.  The girls became a little unruley towards the end of the outing.  This happens when its close to naptime and sometimes it just happens because they are 2 & 3 year olds.  We got outta there with minimal disruption and headed home for the much needed siesta.  Fun outing for our family of 4!

potty training...

This kid loves to put on clothes on top of clothes and swim diapers:)

Liv Jade turns 2 years old on Saturday.  We started potty training last week.  She is almost there with a few accidents.  She has mostly dry diapers at nap and in the morning.  We use the 3 day method of having her wear nothing on the bottom half for three days.  She picked up on in really quickly and gets so excited when she goes potty in the toilet, yelling "I did it!"  We all get overly excited screaming, chanting, and clapping.  She has even moved beyond the potty chair and wants only the toilet.  We don't mess around with pull ups in our family.  She loves to wear her underwear and always wants the Tinkerbell ones.  It's nice that both girls were able to catch on so quickly.  It helps that we have a stay at home parent, making the transition a lot easier. We started a bit earlier than with Harper because Liv was just born and we had a lot going on.  Harper was trained right after her 2nd birthday.  Having them potty trained is a huge milestone and it really hits home that Liv is becoming such a big girl!