The Niece's Birthday.

I'm really enjoying this being an aunt thing. I get to see my niece once a week at Sunday dinners and for an hour or so she completely entertains me. This weekend we got to see her twice since we celebrated her 2nd birthday on Saturday.

We scored big time with our gift. I think they may need to install a permanent lawn mower track around the kitchen and dining room. I bet she's logged close to one hundred laps by now. That's no small feat when your legs are that short.

Her pink lawn mower has a secret power too. It blows bubbles. The bubble maker wasn't working very well on the hard wood floors but her fun-loving uncle showed her how to make it work.

I should probably go ahead and apologize to my sister-in-law now for all the dents and scuff marks that will be covering her walls and dining room table. Oopps.

Eventually, the bubble solution started leaking and got all over her feet. 

Good thing The Canadian was near by to remedy the situation.

She also got a super cool rocking horse. It took some figuring out but she eventually got the hang of it. Please notice Spider Man in the background. He may be the happiest child I have ever laid eyes on.

He enjoyed the pony too.

Making me proud, she promptly opened up all of her new clothes and tried them on. The new sandals and hat stayed on all afternoon. She's an accessories kind of gal.

I even managed to get her to sit still for a split second so I could snap a photo of her in the new pink hat. Okay, fine. She's staring at her goofy uncle and it took me about 1,000 attempts to get this picture.

The Canadian decided to give her a quick piano lesson while we were there. It would have been much more productive if he actually knew how to play the piano. She's scratching her head already. Maybe TC should have paid more attention to his piano lessons when he was a kid.

She eventually tore herself away from the lawn mower and the piano just in time to lick some frosting off a cupcake. Again, a girl after my own heart. She's going to go far in life.

At our weekly family dinner on Sunday she was sporting her other new hat and the matching dress.

It seemed like the perfect weather for mastering the art of steps so she went up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down...over and over and...you get the idea. It was like the Stair Master for toddlers. Even I didn't get that good of a workout on Sunday. 

I wish I was just turning two and not looking down the barrel of (gulp) 30. It's a whole new decade. It's all old sounding and non-young and basically non-fun. Wishing to be two years old again may be a bit of an exaggeration but 26 sounds like a nice round number. Hell, I'll even take 29 again. Maybe that's what I'll do. I'll just ignore my birthday next week and stay 29. I'll pretend my birthday doesn't exist. But if I do that will I still get my presents?? Hmmm...I'm may have to noodle on this one. I'm thinking The Canadian has something exciting up his sleeve so it may be worth getting old...I'll get back to you.

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Workout: Cardio - 105 minutes (2 spin classes and a 10 minute warmup on the elliptical) 

So, I thought my final weigh-in was today. I don't know where I got that idea. The deal was to lose the weight by my birthday which is next Wednesday, which means I still have a whole week left. Thank God for small favors because I was unsuccessful this past week. It was a long weekend and there was lots of BBQing, eating out, drinking, and 3 birthday cakes. 

Week 12 Weigh-In: 0 pounds lost. 0 pounds gained. Hallelujah. I feel like I've gained about 10 pounds.

Total Lost: 17 pounds

Remaining: 3 pounds by next week!! It's about to get tricky because I'm leaving this weekend to head to Maine for the whole summer. There is no gym, there is no time. There is only an unrelenting appetite fueled by days spent in the hot sun, manual labor and hard work. I don't know what is going to happen but we should all start praying now. Thanks.