Happy 2nd Birthday, Lily! (3/1/11)

Here is Lilia Christine Rysso as a newborn:

And at one year old:

And now today she is two years old! Where does the time go?

I started a tradition last year of taking Lily’s birthday off of work so that we could spend the day together. I spent a leisurely morning with my goofy girl. Here she is casually playing with her ponies while wearing her silly sunglasses upside down and crooked:

My parents met us at Castaway Café that afternoon which is a huge indoor playscape in Howell. I figured that Lily would love to play there and boy was I right. She had a blast!
Here she is in the toddler slide area claiming that she is stuck in a net (just like a whale was on one of her favorite Diego episodes):

She was so excited that she bounced up and down nonstop for the first 10 minutes we were there:

Looking up at the vast big kid play structure:

Happily running around:

Climbing up a huge slide from the bottom:

And sliding back down:

Lily finally got brave enough to climb up to the toddler slide by herself:

Wheeee:

Grandma caught my happy girl at the bottom of the slide:

She would go down so fast that she would end up sideways. She found it scary but delightfully fun at the same time:

After having so much fun and expending so much energy, Lily crashed hard on the drive home before we could feed her any lunch. After a nice long nap, she woke up hungry but excited that grandma and papi were still there. She drank some “chocolate juice” and sat in my old chair/step stool that my dad brought for her while Reiley chilled on the ottoman:

After Paul got home from work, Lily opened some of her birthday presents. She loved the Dora backpack that Paul and I got her, especially the map in the side pocket:

Awww, Lily giving the map a hug:

Putting it back:

Lily showing her new present to papi:

Playing with a musical birthday card from grandma and papi:

Opening another present all by herself:

A sing-a-ma-jig from Kathy:

Once she saw what it did, she was cracking up:

A Dora coloring book from Paul and me:

I don’t know why Lily was pouting but she looked cute nonetheless:

A fairy book from Lois with a magic wand:

Lily decided to snack on some leftover French fries before opening her next gift:

This one was the biggest winner. I bought her this Mega Bloks Dora house set that she insisted I put together immediately:

Happy two year old surrounded by her new toys:

I almost forgot to give her this shopping cart:

After presents, we went to Bagger Dave’s for dinner. Lily was excited to have “burger fries” twice in one day and loved the train that went around the restaurant. While we were waiting for our food, Paul stacked Lily’s Dora toys in an impressive tower:

I can’t believe that I caught Lily on camera knocking the tower over a few seconds later:

After dinner, Lily wanted to read her new fairy book and use the magic wand to activate sounds on it. She loves to cuddle and read with grandma:

Peek-a-boo, birthday girl:

We had a really fun day. I still can’t believe that my baby is now a two year old little girl. It has been such a wonderfully fun two years with the sweetest and silliest little girl ever. I thank God for her every single day!