june 30th already?

the june post-a-day challenge has come to a close. thank goodness samantha created this wrap-up quiz (take it! you could win a prize!) for us to cross-post because i had z-e-r-o- ideas for today.

more photos, recaps, stories and cute things said by eleanor comin' atcha' in july. probably not every day. okay, definitely not every day. but frequently, i hope...

thanks for reading this month!

birthday gifts

it was a special treat to have our friends and eleanor's godparents, jeff and amy, in town for eleanor's party this weekend. we also got to meet their adorable little girl, violet jane, for the first time. she just turned 4 months old. this was our first glimpse of her when they arrived.

a few of E's more tangible birthday presents:
we gave her an easel with a chalkboard on one side and space for paintings and drawings on the other.
fun bath toys!
grandpa bill made this lovely toy box, which rob painted and we are in the process of personalizing with her name and some decorations.
our friends the boelks gave eleanor their deluxe kiddie pool and my parents gave her the water table (thanks for the idea, brandy and mike!), which we set up on the deck yesterday. she had a good time splashing around and pouring water from the pool into the table and vice versa.

party chow

only a few days left in the post-a-day challenge and i might just stretch out the weekend/party photos to make it to the end. above is rob tending to the grill. we ate burgers and hot dogs, baked beans, green salad, strawberry/cream cheese/pretzel jello (courtesy of my mom), chips, fruit and, of course, birthday cake and ice cream.
rob also baked E's birthday cake from scratch--chocolate with vanilla buttercream frosting, decorated with tweedle dee and tweedle dum. (why blogger flipped this photo, i have no idea)
here's the blow-out-the-candle moment (with the assist from mama). the cake was delicious and eleanor ate a sizable chunk...

birthday girl

this is what a 2 year old looks like!


(photos courtesy of unkie jeff)

more pics from the party to come!