I am back and starting off with Ivy's 2nd Birthday

Sorry I have been slacking on my blog.  One of my New Years Resolutions was to keep up with my blog and well I am off to an awful start. I have been learning how to better organize my time and schedule ( another resolution) so hopefully I can do more things like blog, knit, and read.  I apologize for the long delay but I promise I will do a better job.  Being  a stay at home mom is harder then one thinks. Yes, I hear it from a lot of people how hard can it be when Ivy goes to day care 3 days a week.  Think what you want, its only 6 hours a day, 3 days a week.  I don't have a car, and I am in a foreign city and doing my best and I am happy with how things are going and that is all that counts.
Enough excuses, lets get to the good stuff.  So as you all know Ivy turned 2 on February 13th.  I can't believe my little peanut is 2 already!!!  Where did the time go??  She had , well a 3 day celebration.  I tried to make her day special, but all it did was pour here as it does in the winters in Germany. We made the best of it and she had fun but we got soaked!!  Her and I spent the day in town doing some of what she loves.  If it were not raining we were to go to her favorite park.  Instead, we went to town and watched the fishes in the underground part of the market. She enjoyed a pretzel and had fun shopping with me.  Before getting on the bus we stopped and got a balloon for her.  Balloons are her favorite.  Then after her nap we painted and played until Kevin got home.  We had what I would call an Ivy hodgepodge dinner.  A hodgepodge of  all her favorite foods and we finished it off with chocolate  ( no cake since she was getting cake Friday and Saturday).  Then we opened gifts and played and let her stay up late.  I baked a cake for school.  Friday they had a little party for her.  Her tagesmutter made her a crown.  They sang songs, she blew out a candle , and they ate cake.  I got to see some pictures from it and she looked so happy and like she had so much fun.  Then on Saturday we had a little party at our house for her.  I have read that parties are not for the kids at 2 years old they are for the parents and family members.  I wanted to do something special for her and I wanted her to have a good time.  She loves being around other children and I knew that more then anything that is what would make her happy.  So Kevin and I decided we would brave it out and invite 5 children to our apartment.  We had a good turn out and had 4 out of 5.  We warned the other tenants of the building prior and I may be wrong but I think we were the only ones in the building that day.  There are only 3 other apartments but I think we scared everyone off for the day.  Any way, I didn't do the typical American theme party, or a structured party.  After all, it was a 2 yr old birthday.  I invited what I would call her best friend from school. Her name is Laya.  I hope to get some pictures from her mom and share them with you at a later date if possible.  Kevin and I were so busy we could only get a few pictures.  Any way, I let the kids have free play until 3 (party was 2-5).  I played kinder musik in the background.  At 3 we ate snacks. We did family style since they all ate at Ivy's little table. I had a plate of veggies and cheese, and a plate of fruit and butter crackers. Oddly, the veggies went first , then the cheese and crackers and only a little bit a fruit.  Smart kids!!!  Here are some pics of them sitting around the table eating!!! Ivy decided to wear her crown while she ate.

The little girl sitting next to Ivy is Laya.  They are just the cutest .  Her mother (Jen) and I are planning on getting together one afternoon with the girls and get coffee. Jen is going to show me some real German culture and I am very excited about this.  After snack , They had a few minutes of free time while everyone finished up eating. Then I decided to do a simple game with them to keep them busy.  The first game we did was dancing ( Tanzan) all the kids loved this and had a blast.  I would put on music and when I stopped it they were to freeze.  The kids who stopped and froze got stickers.  They all really enjoyed it and even the parents got in on the dancing.  Here are a few pics from that.  

Then we played one other final game.  I made some fish out of construction paper and put paperclips on the end of them.  I took a wooden dowel rod and attached a butterfly magnet we had to it.  They had to catch a fish. The fish had a number on it.  That number matched a prize.  They fished until they caught one and then their turn was over.  Everyone of course got a prize. They all really enjoyed it.  

Here is a picture of my little cutie taking a break from all the fun to get some water and some fruit!!

Sadly, Kevin and I were so busy during the cake time that we didn't get a picture of the cake ( I made it all from scratch even decorated it myself).  We also missed pics of her blowing out the candle as she went so fast she didn't give Kevin a chance.  Laya's mom says she has 2 ok pics from her phone and she would email them.  Assuming I get any videos/pics from her I will eventually post them.  Ok, well its late and I need to get to bed. I have decided one of the reasons I got so behind on posting was I wanted to keep you all up to date.  That was impossible when I just didn't post as much.  So if I get behind I will just move forward from that point instead of going backwards with things.  I think that will be easier. Since I started off with Ivy's birthday and I don't have anything at this point to share.  I will go back and post about Strasbourg next.  Before Ivy turned 2 we took a last minute trip to Split, Croatia.  I will post about that also.  I will try to get these two posts out in the next few days.  I hope you enjoyed this and I will do my best to stay on top of things this time.