Eliana is 2 years old!!!!!

Aimee and Aunt Marcie worked together to make this delicious cake!  Since the food theme was Mexican, they decided a fiesta cake with Dora would be appropriate.

Sophia, Jj, and their families joined us.  It was nice to have Eliana's neighborhood pals join us for the celebration of Kyle and Eliana's June birthdays.

                            Donald, Kelly, Taylor, Tanya              Ashlee and Dad

                            Tara and Trisha                                   Kyle, Uncle Michael, Ruli

 Nav, Jj, and Dj up front with April, Dominic, and Sophia in the back

 Mom, Aunt Dacra, Sarah, Aunt Marcie, Rachel, and Frank

                  Aimee, Troy, and Kallie                                Eliana's favorite spot for the party was this swing:)

 Eliana and Kyle received nice presents.  My favorite part was spending time with family and friends.  I loved how everyone was a part of the meal as we enjoyed three kinds of salsa, sweet fruit, burritos, chips, two tasty rice options, guacamole and more.  I couldn't decide what kind of salsa to try, so I had a little of all three on my burrito.  They were all fabulous!

 It is kind of hard to see the girls since they are in the shade of the tree, but it looks like Kallie wanted the cake as much as her cousin!!!

 Eliana has enjoyed using her desk, playing with the memory game I made, and playing in the sand at the volleyball court in our complex.

Thank you to everyone who made Kyle and Eliana's birthday celebration a fabulous day!

Things Eliana has been up to lately:
*Her vocabulary is exploding!  When I told Kyle to that recently, Eliana repeated, "Exploded!"  Last week after getting the mail she sat on the step near our home, patted the spot next to her, and said, "Sit awhile."  I was so surprised that she'd used awhile in context that I gladly obliged and enjoyed some of the morning outside.  I asked Kyle if he taught Eliana "awhile" and he said he hadn't.  My curiosity was solved at church on Sunday when Ruli remembered that is what he told Eliana when he and Rachel were watching her for a few days while we were at the mission expo.  It is so nice to have a Eliana talking with me.

*Eliana has been in the process of toilet training for a few weeks now.  We had some bumps in the road with us being gone for a few days and Vacation Bible School the week after we came back.  However, I will gladly share that last Friday she didn't have any accidents!!!  Her nap times are dry most of the time.  Soon, we'll start working on night time.  This past week I tried to stay home most of the time and really focus on toilet training.  We only went outside after she went to the bathroom, and those were for some what short periods of time.  She is bare bottomed at home so that she won't have to take the extra time fussing with a diaper, pull up, or panties.  We are still using a diaper at night and pull ups when we go to church or think we'll be gone a long time.  Although she did go to the bathroom at one of my baby appointments, she hasn't gone outside of the home since then that I can recall.

*Kyle and I are listening to To Train Up a Child by Michael and Debi Pearl.  We HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who interacts with kids.  Former Sunday school teachers gave it to us when Eliana was first born.  I listened to a cd and a half and thought it would be best for Kyle and I to listen to it together.  So, two years later we are.  We've already worked on being more consistent with Eliana and making sure she understands expectations and consequences.  I think it is part of what helped the toilet training this past week.  I've seen improvements with less whining and screaming.  Praise the Lord for improvements!!!

*Eliana's eating habits continue to vary.  Most days she enjoys breakfast and lunch.  Most days dinner is a struggle.  She loves fruit and she can correctly name many of them.  I think her current favorites are grapes and plumbs.  She also enjoys bananas, peaches, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, apples, blueberries, and a few others that aren't coming to mind.  In order to help her eat more of her dinner, we often keep the fruit on our plate and explain what she needs to eat in order to get more of the fruit.
The last few days her tummy has been upset, so we wonder if part of the lack of eating, combine with a clear running nose, and finger chewing means she is getting her two year molars.  So far we haven't had a fever, so that is a blessing.

*Eliana's current favorite book is Mitchell's License.  She and I bought it for Kyle's birthday last year.  I thought it would be a nice book for her and her daddy to read together.  Little did I know that it would be her favorite story to be read while she sits on the toilet.  We've read it so much that she knows some of the words for several of the pages.