Catching up: Lizzie's Birthday

Right, we'll get to Christmas soon enough, but first we should probably get a post up about Lizzie's birthday (15th of December).  She was starting to understand the concept more this year, and Joe thinks next December is going to be a very exciting month for young miss Elizabeth.

Lizzie frequently asks us to draw monkeys for her, and Joe has a quick version of a monkey face that has become his standard, and thus that became the design for her cake.  The color scheme bore no resemblance to an actual monkey, but rather was based on the color of fondant we had leftover in the freezer from my birthday cupcakes (no need to make a new batch when we had some lying around).  Joe would like me to make the disclaimer that Lizzie is rocking some post-nap hair styling.  I try to do cute stuff on occasion but when she rolls around so much doing this, that, and the other, it's a hard thing to maintain.

 Opening presents from the parents: play kitchen stuff.

Eating brinner.  At one point we asked Lizzie what she wanted for her birthday dinner and she said pancakes.  We were never able to verify that that was what she really wanted, but she got it anyway (thank you Aunt Beth for the awesome winter-themed pancake fry pan). 

Opening presents from Grandam Swensen while she watches on Skype (Oh Skype, what would we do without you?).  My mom can find the best "old School toys" on e-bay and such.  I hope some of you out there recognize these toys from your childhood.

Enjoying presents from Grandma Kay and Grandpa Joe (also Skyping in).  This is a Spider Man quiet book that Lizzie seems to think seconds as a nice pillow when one must take a break from birthday festivities.

Here is Lizzie with the candles lit on her awesome monkey cake.  You never know, this caricature could end up in a children's book someday so watch out for it.

Here is a video of us (me, Joe, and Utah Darowskis) singing Happy Birthday to Lizzie.  She started crying.  Let's just say the Darowskis are not known for their singing. I don't think I'm a terrible singer, but Lizzie was not pleased with the performance.  Although I secretly like to believe she was starting to wonder why it was taking so long to get to the important part: eating cake!