I am (almost) 3!

My birthday is August 6th, but we had my kid birthday party today. It was sooo, soooo, sooo much fun. Here are a few pictures of the wonderful event.

Daddy told me to close my eyes as I walked down stairs in the morning. Here is what I saw when I opened them: balloons, balloons, and more balloons! I played with those balloons all morning. We later gave the balloons away as party favors.

The birthday party took place outside because we have a small house. Mommy and daddy moved the party from the backyard to the front yard in order to take advantage of some shade. It was a hot one today! Here is the front yard pre-party.

Another shot of the front yard pre-party. I wonder what the neighbors thought?

Now it is party time! Daddy did face painting and temporary tattoos for the kids.

We invited neighbor kids to the party and my good friends Jackson, Daxton and baby Ryder

We loved playing at the sand table. I strategically placed the red chairs at the table for the comfort of myself and my guests.

The rainbow cake! Yesterday, mommy and I made the cake in the afternoon. FYI: birthday cake is made up of A LOT of butter, sugar and flour. That is why it is delicious. Later, mommy made frosting and frosted the cake and daddy put the M&M's on it. I thought the cake was beautiful.

After lunch, all the kids sang happy birthday to me. I sang the loudest.

We opened-up my presents inside. This the fabulous new dress from Jada and Jackson that I insisted on wearing right then and there. I love it. I made sure to enthusiastically thank everyone for the wonderful gifts they gave to me. I wanted to play with every gift right after I opened them! What a great day.

The Cabin

Last weekend, Lindsay and Jeremy invited us to a cabin, that is owned by a friend. Here is the story of our fabulous adventure at the cabin in pictures:

All strapped in and ready for the 2.5 hour drive to the cabin.

Juliet is strapped in and ready to go, too, with her favorite butterfly toy.

Daddy and mommy are ready to go with their big mugs of coffee!

Playing with my stamps and ink pad at the cabin, while waiting to go swimming in the lake.

Juliet playing with her baby toys. Doesn't the cabin look nice? It is bigger than our house!

Juliet trying out her swimming moves.

Juliet being adorable.

Ready? 1....2.......

....3.....weeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

We spent a lot of time playing on the lake. Daddy also spent some time riding on the 4-wheelers, but I stayed behind.

The water was cold, but manageable. I only shivered a little.

Here I am nice and dry singing a great little song. It goes something like this, "All the time....in the whole wide world.....bunny bun...in the moonlight.....in the whole wide world...."

We were up nice and early the next day to go fishing. Scott and Ross found snails and clams in the lake to use as bait.

I did not catch anything, but I had so much fun reeling-in the fishing pole.

Ross caught a teeny-tiny fish. Don't drop it, Ross!

Silly Scott jumped into the lake with all of his clothes (and shoes) still on.

We had so much fun, that I sometimes had to zonk-out on the couch and rest.

Juliet Has a Tooth!

Yes. It is true. Juliet's first tooth popped up yesterday! Daddy was the first to see it. It is not surprising that Juliet has her first tooth. I had two teeth by the time I was four months old. Juliet had been a little fussy and drooling a lot last week while we were in Green Bay. It now all makes sense.

I was in Green Bay all last week. We drove to Green Bay for my Great Grandpa's 85th Birthday party. Afterward, daddy drove home and mommy, Juliet and I stayed for the week. We had a lot of fun. We went to Bay Beach, where I rode on lots of rides all by myself. My favorites were the helicopter (same as last year) and the big giant blue slide, which daddy rode on with me. I also ate cotton candy and had a bright blue slushy. We went to the botanical gardens and saw beautiful flowers. They had a little shrubbery maze there that I loved to run through with mommy and get lost. While I was in Green Bay, I slept in a big kid bed for the first time. It took a few nights for me to get used to it, but I liked it. However, I always insisted that someone lay down with me until I fell asleep. I almost forgot about the bonfire! I got to stay up late for the bonfire where we roasted marshmallows and lit sparklers. Juliet had a good time, too. Everyone wanted to hold and play with her. Babies sure attract a lot of attention. Sorry that there are no pictures of Green Bay. We were having so much fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa that we just totally forgot to take pictures!

The Happy Heffelbowers

Here are a bunch of pictures of the "Happy Heffelbowers." Life has been pretty good these days. I have been having fun this summer playing on my new swingset (pictures to follow), going to the park, strollering in the jogging stroller, swimming at the pool and playing with the neighbor kids.

One of my favorite things to do is to have people "tell stories." For example, mommy told me about my friend Jackson who broke his leg going down a slide. When the story was over I said, "Mommy, tell that story again." I will often make people tell stories again and again, unless it is a story that I have deemed "a sad story" or "a mad story." Then I say, "Stop telling that story. That is a mad story!"

It has also been fun watching Juliet roll over onto her belly again and again and again. She has been rolling over for awhile now, but last week she started doing it all of the time. Now, every time Mommy puts Juliet on the floor, Juliet "rocks and rolls" as we say around here.

A Tribute to Our Daddy on Father's Day

Thank You Daddy

Thank you for wiping our butts and our noses.
Thank you for kissing our heads and tickling our toes-es.

Thank you for being FUN FUN FUN.
Thank you for singing us songs and tucking us in when the day is done.

Thank you for killing spiders, drying our tears and keeping us safe.
Thank you for snuggling with us in the dark night and reminding us to "be brave."

Thank you for your calm and peaceful ways.
Thank you for your loving manner, even on the tough days.

Thank you for letting us eat our favorite treat--ice cream.
Thank you for letting us be our own true selves and letting us dream our big dreams.

Thank you for treating our mommy so wonderful and kind.
Thank you for making-up silly stories, making silly faces, and developing our little minds.

Thank you for baby-swing pushes, piggy-back rides, and carrying us around, too.
Dear daddy-dad, WE SURE DO LOVE YOU!

From your little princesses

Sophia & Juliet

Star Wars Exhibit

Daddy had the brilliant idea to get tickets for the star wars exhibit at the science museum for father's day! We had such a fantastic time. We saw storm troopers, Princess Lea, and Darth Vadar. There was also an exhibit where I got to ride (and steer) an actual hover craft. That was certainly the highlight. We also saw Luke Skywalker's prosthetic hand used in the film when Darth Vadar hurt it with his light-saber. I wanted daddy to tell me that story over and over again. I have not yet seen the star wars movies, but I am already a fan.

"Daddy! Are you blind? There is a storm trooper right next to us!" ---Juliet

"Princess Lea is so good and nice." ---Sophia

"Wow. This hover craft can really move. (I cannot believe they let a little kid like me ride this thing!)" --Sophia

"I used to have a hard time saying 'C3PO,' but now I can say it!" --Sophia

"You may be able to get Juliet to stand next to Darth Vadar, but not me! He's evil!" --Sophia

A gazillion pictures of Juliet's baptism

My family and Juliet's godparents---Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Jeremy Finneman

The Heffelbowers--Ross, Daddy, Juliet, Mommy, Grandma, Grandpa, Jeremy, Brett, me, Lindsay and Scott

Daddy, Mommy and Juliet

The Frigos, Mulloys and Heffelbowers---Great Grandpa & Grandma, Grandma, Daddy, Juliet, Mommy, Grandpa and me

The party at our house!

Us.

Us. Again.

The christening.

Juliet's Baptismal Certificate.

Another one of us.

Juliet was baptised on June 1st at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Minneapolis, only a few blocks from our house. She wore the same dress that I wore for my baptism. Green Bay Grandma made the dress. Juliet talked and talked during the entire baptism. She was so loud that I could hardly hear the priest! I guess she was pretty excited to be baptised! Everyone was at baptism. Afterward, we had a party at our house with sandwiches, salads and bars. Yummy. I could have eaten hundreds of those bars!

Green Bay Grandma & Juliet

Aren't they so cute!!!

Little Angel

Mommy says that I look like a little angel in this picture. In reality, I am a pretty good little kid and sometimes even angelic. At my friend's birthday party, a lot of the other kids were digging their hands and fingers into the carebear birthday cake before it was even cut. But not me! I happily sang happy birthday and patiently waited for my piece of cake. And when a little girl asked for a lick of my sucker and then would not give it back, I asked nicely and then graciously gave it up in exchange for some chocolate. I am also good at sharing and taking turns.

Juliet is 4 Months Old!

It is hard to believe that 4 short months ago Juliet was not yet part of our little family. I have several nicknames for Juliet. The latest is Juliebepa. Tonight, Juliebepa and I played a silly little game. Juliet was trying to roll over, so I gave her a little shove to help her along. She thought that was pretty great and so did I. I then got on my stomach and laid down next her and laughed and laughed. Juliet giggled and shrieked. I did not know that being a big sister could be so much fun.

Juliet had her 4 month doctor's appointment last week. She is now 13 pounds, 15 ounces and 24.5 inches long. Dr. Mackey said that Juliet was "perfect."