Happy Birthday, June!

We interrupt these Frost reunion posts to bring you big news:

June is now two years old!

She was pretty reticent during our photo shoot, and all the close ups I took were slightly blurry, but oh well. The photos capture her little personality.

Because her birthday was on Sunday, we broke up the festivities over two days: swimming and ice cream on Saturday, dinner and presents on Sunday!

Jiichan & Baachan and Rika & Brady joined us at the pool. June didn't really want to swim, but she enjoyed the water. She even got a fun new water table from Jiichan and Baachan that she immediately took to playing with.

I'd like people to note the evidence that Mom was in the water, which almost never happens. She sinks unless she's got a flotation device, as evidenced above.

I tried to think of things June loves to make her day special. I decided bubbles would be a fun activity for the party, so I bought a GALLON of bubble solution and made fancy bubble wands in anticipation of THE BIGGEST BUBBLES IN THE WORLD!

As you can see, the bubbles were lackluster, to say the least. They barely worked with the traditional wand, let alone the big ones Joel and I had made.
But Joel added some dish soap and corn syrup to the mix, swished it around, and giant bubbles were born!

Dane had an absolute blast chasing the giant bubbles around:

June was...pretty much oblivious. She was so engrossed in her new water table and she didn't even notice the amazing bubbles floating around her. Observe:

But we had a lovely time, and she did notice a few of the bubbles after a while.
Everyone was kind enough to hang out with us TWO days in a row for June festivities:

Then, it was time for presents!
She got a very cute plush Noah's Ark toy from Grandma Frost

Jessie and Bullseye from Rika & Brady

Some fun water toys to go along with the water table, and some books that she really loves.

Also, some big girl undies, which she immediate wanted to put on:

Then, the cakes. I must say, I'm usually disappointed at how my layer cakes turn out, but both the regular cake and the smash cake turned out quite well this time:

Have you ever had the Berry Chantilly Cake from Whole Foods? It is delicious. I decided to make a copycat recipe, and it did not disappoint. I used a sponge cake recipe, and the texture was...spongy. I liked it, but it might not be for everyone. (Note, I doubled the recipe to make a three layer cake, plus a baby three layer cake.) For the smash cake, I used the same sponge cake with a chocolate buttercream recipe that we got from the restaurant at Joel's old work. Very buttery. And I tried my hand at chocolate decorations. They weren't super beautiful, but they were passable. I don't know, I've never had good luck (or good skill) drizzling chocolate beautifully. I mostly drizzle chunks and uneven lines. But June didn't care!

Then, candle time! June was wary, but she had a kind big brother willing to help her out:

It was a lovely night, and I'm so happy to have June in our family. What can I say about her presence? She has an amazing ability to drive you crazy and melt your heart, all at the same time. She is picky and demanding, snuggly and sweet, smart and spunky, strong and willful. She love her shoes and purse, which she keeps loaded down with about 20 cars. She loves to wear Dane's Spongebob fedora, and she is adept at drawing tiny swirls (sometimes on paper, usually on her arms and legs). She learns new words every day, loves getting pedicures (and, by extension, smudging pedicures), and is completely unpredictable in what she'll eat. I love that she now loves Toy Story, and I love her sweet smile and cute laugh. I am so happy to be her mom, and I can't believe she's already two. I love Junie. Happy Birthday, sweet baby.