Little O turns 2

Little Miss O has turned two! I know it's hard to believe. My little one is already two, but just wait, in week my next post may say she is turning 16! It is amazing how fast the time goes.
Everyone has hear of the terrible twos, and I think Little Miss O has perfected it. She has been practicing her temper tantrums for months now. Her best fit is the one she throws while I am cooking dinner. She waits for me to open the pantry, stands in the way so I can't close it, then begins to demand animal crackers. Her tantrum involves real tears, that seem to claim I starve her, screaming, I'm sure there are words but I can't understand them, and most importantly the stamping foot, because if you stamp your foot it gets results. If I open the freezer while she is in the kitchen the tantrum is over ice cream rather than animal crackers. No matter the scenario, my two year old has defiantly perfected it. She has also learned to over dramatize when her sister is mean to her. In many case her sister is pulling her hair, because Little Miss O has already done so to her. The real problem is Big Girl J does not pull Little Miss O's hair in the same vicious manner as what is done to her. However, the result seems to be the same, crying, yelling, and foot stomping.
As horrible as I might be making this sound, it really is. Just plain maddening! Lucky for me this is not a constant event. This at best is a once or twice a day happening. Usually resolved with a threat of no chocolate milk with dinner, or taking the number of books we read before bed down a number. Some nights the book count has gone from 4 to 1 and it seems the lesson still isn't learned, because both children throw a fit when I say no more books because they didn't behave earlier!
Alas, the real reason of this blog post, show off the cake! I attempted a topsy turvey cake. I am concerned that my decorations were a bit too big and took away the effect of a purposely slanted cake, so it just looks crooked...

Little Miss O seemed to enjoy her birthday, with minimal crying. I made the bottom tier chocolate with chocolate chips, the most popular by far. The middle was a homemade cherry chip with the lesson learned, this cake is wonderful fresh and does not freeze well. The top was white almond sour cream, I thought was very tasty, but still not as awesome as the chocolate cake!
Wonderful Husband and I had decided when Big Girl J was one, that we don't like to force people to bring gifts, and his dad can be a little overwhelming with gifts for the wrong age range. So we asked for no gifts at the party, just for people to come and have fun.
Grandmama thinks she is an exception to the rule, and likes to torture me, by bringing presents. At least the gifts are either homemade or good educational, needed toys.

For the record, on the no gift policy. My favorite part, now, is that my girls do not expect gifts. They do not open the door for their friends with the words 'where's my gift.' I have been to many birthday parties with bratty little kids. I have also found my least favorite part of the parties we have attended is the forcing of sitting a child down who was happy playing to open presents and having to thank people they don't really know. It makes me glad I don't do that. I understand why people do it, it was in all fairness the way we were raised. I just want my kids to want to have their friends to celebrate with, and be happy with that!

It seems time does fly!

While I look at the summer flying by, I realize that this is just the beginning of 'busy' summers. Big Girl J has had two different vacation bible school weeks, one in June and on at the end of July. She had a week with an afternoon hour of soccer camp. Little Miss O has turned two! Little Miss O and Big Girl J both had two weeks of swim lessons for a half hour each morning, however it seemed the day was shot after that half hour! We have traveled to the zoo, gone to an interactive farm, and many trips to the splash parks.
While I feel this summer has been great, quick and busy, I know that every summer with my growing girls will be different yet equally busy, and with any luck all of the summers will be fun!
One thing my girls have enjoyed this summer is working in the garden with me and eating the fruits and veggies of their labor, (mostly my labor, they just hold the basket!)
Now to catch you up with pictures in case you get bored reading all those words!

My Goal: Post about the birthday, the garden, the plum jam I made, and what ever else I am forgetting!