Happy Mother's Day!

Ella and Livy at Tulip Time in Pella on Saturday! 

Ella will drop everything for a chance hold her baby sister...and apparently will drop her baby sister for a chance to hold a tulip!

It was obvious that many children attend the Tulip festival,

the proof can be found by all of the "headless" tulips!

My sweet girls! 

Livy is such a trooper, she has been battling a cold for over a week now, but she is still a happy girl!

Ella and Livy helped Daddy make pancakes for Mommy for breakfast in bed on Mother's Day!  I guess Ella had to sneak a taste while she was mixing them up - I have no idea where she learns this stuff!

Look at my little chef - bed head and all!

Thank you Daddy, Ella and Olivia for a wonderful Mother's Day!  My love for you all, grows every day!  You are my world and I am so grateful for our time together and making beautiful memories with you!  I am the luckiest Mommy to have the most perfect family! 

I LOVE YOU!!! 

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's we love!

Sister Time!

The girls must be updating the blog on their computer!   

Stack 'em up!

Kisses!

Ella putting lotion on her baby sister Olivia after her bath!

Cuddles Before Bed!

 

Livy and Ella sharing some cuddle time before bed.  Ella can't seem to get enough of her baby sister!  Usually the first thing she says in the morning is "where is baby sissy?", and she is sure to always blow a kiss goodnight to Livy's nursery door since Livy goes to bed earlier.  Livy is just as much in love with her big sister.  She lights up with a huge grin when Ella is around her.  We love watching them together!

Happy Easter!!!

Finally a picture of all 4 of us looking at the camera!  Nice shooting Nana!

Ella and Livy in their matching Easter dresses.  Something I swore I would never do, is buy them matching outfits - now I can't stop!  It's just too cute!

Ella and Livy wearing one of the presents from their Easter baskets. 

Thank goodness for the $1 bins at Target!

Livy may be to tiny to hunt for eggs, but she is still able to show off how adorable she is!

Thanks for the help Uncle Ben!

Ella, Carson and Brady hunting for Easter eggs!  Carson was such a sweetheart helping Ella look for eggs and sharing the ones he found as well.  What a difference a year makes, last year Brady was the baby.  This year he was running around hunting for eggs and baby Olivia is here!

Carson getting some snuggle time in with baby Olivia.

I'm not sure what these three are up to but they look like they are about to get busted!

Yup, busted!  Two bowls of Easter candy!

I finally figured out how Ella will keep her piggy tails in, just send her outside to play!  She gets so busy that she forgets she has them in! 

Livy with her new BFF Sofie the Giraffe!  She loves this teether!  I took the girls to the Barnstormers game last Saturday and Livy sat contently on my lap chewing on Sophie.  In a matter of minutes Livy's outfit was soaked, as were both of my legs from all the drool! 

Fabulous Livy Lynn!

Daddy's Girl!

Smooch!

Ella pushing the stroller for Livy for the first time - YIKES!!!  You can't see very well in the picture, but trust me, Livy had some major fear in her eyes!!!  Ella is certainly in her "big girl" stage.  She doesn't want to ride in the stroller or on her trike very much, she wants to walk (run)! 

OUR LITTLE LADY IS 2!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLA MAZZY!!!

Ella in her Ladybug outfit!  Happy 2nd Birthday Beautiful Girl!!!

We Love You!!!

THE CAKE!!! 

I was so excited about making this cake for Ella's birthday!  My first attempt with fondant actually went better than I thought!  It was so much fun to make and really pretty easy.  I ended up making 5 cakes total: 2 - 9x13 cakes for the base covered with butter cream and green dyed coconut for "grass". 2 - round cakes for the Ladybug body and head baked in Pyrex bowls, I then covered them in fondant.  1 - 9x13 cake that was the most crucial part of the cake, it was the one that I used to snack on while I made the other 4!  I am so excited to do another fondant cake for Livy's birthday! 

Ella loved her Ladybug costume so much she didn't even mind that the antenna covered her eyes as she tried to open presents!

Ella opening her presents!

One of these days the Swanson family will take a good family photo - today is not that day!  However we all wore our red/white/black to go with Ella's Ladybug theme!  Livy even had a Ladybug on her shirt!

Aunt Megs with Livy!

Cake time!

Ella and Carson were quick to remove the black candles that were being used as Ladybug antenna and then plugged the holes with their fingers!

Ella favorite part was peeling off and eating the black fondant Ladybug spots!  All the kids enjoyed the cake deciding whether to have a piece of the body or the head!

Back for more spots!

"It's my birthday party and I can steal the ball from you if I want to cousin Brady!"  Ella expressing true 2 year behavior, everything is mine, mine, mine!  Good thing Brady is such a good boy!

More 2 year old behavior, being extremely loving and affectionate. 

Ella still watches over Brady like he is a baby.

Sunday after Ella's party was another gorgeous day!  Here is our big 2 year old girl playing outside!

Finally!!!  She let me put a ponytail in her hair and actually left it in for about an hour!

And this is what happens after a weekend long celebration of turning 2!  Passed out at nap time, but still sleeping with her hands behind her head like she did as a baby!

Okay, one more cake!  This one is on Ella's actual birthday.  We had to buy a small cake from the store so she could blow out her "2" candle.   

Pucker up sissy! 

 Ella giving her baby sister Livy a kiss before birthday cake!

Dive in baby doll!  That's my daughter, eating cake just like her mommy, who needs a fork!

Happy Birthday Ella! 

We can't believe you are 2 already!  You have given us the best 2 years of our lives!  Each day you present us with a million new reasons to smile!  You are loved more than you can imagine!