Oh Two-dles!

I can't believe my baby is 2! Annie had her birthday on the 13th, but we celebrated a day early. We had some of her friends over for a (very loosely themed) Minnie Mouse party. She had so much fun and kept wanting to look at her cake and say, "It's my birthday party!"

A little about Annie at 2:

- she is the ultimate snuggler! She will always stop for hugs. The past few months, whenever I hold her, she wraps her arms around my neck and puts her head on my shoulder. It's the best feeling ever.

- she is a chatty cathy. She talks a ton and constantly amuses us with the phrases she picks up. I love this stage because anything she says is cute and funny. (How come it's not so cute and funny when the 4 and 5 year olds say the same thing?) A few favorites are: Didjou see that?!, That's okay, I'm sorry mama, For meeeeee?!, Don't like it (insert item here), I wanna hold you!

-this girl is trouble! In fact, Richard has taught her to say "Trouble" when you ask her what she is. I can't keep up with her mischief! Just today she spread diaper cream all over her face, hands, and feet. After I cleaned that up, I gave her a little cup of yogurt for a snack. When my back was turned, she spread the yogurt all over her face. She was running around with a bottle of black paint five minutes later. Luckily I intercepted that one! Every day it's something new...dumping out the box of Cheerios, digging out every tube of chapstick I own, pulling all of Richard's clothes off the hangers, painting the table with applesauce, unrolling the roll of toilet paper, and on, and on. It sounds like I never pay attention to her, but she's just so darn fast. She's making a new mess while I'm cleaning up the last one!

-speaking of trouble, a couple months ago, she learned how to climb out of her crib! Ella and Ruby never did this, so it's all uncharted territory for us. I guess there was always a new baby on the way for the other two, so they moved into toddler beds around 2. Who knows? It was ridiculous the first couple of weeks. She would get out and we'd put her right back in. She'd run and hide under Ella's bed. Then we she got caught she'd immediately hug me and say, "I'm sorry Mama." It was hard to keep a straight face. Luckily, the novelty has kind of worn off and she stays in there at night now. Nap time is a little trickier. If she's not totally ready for her nap, she'll keep coming out since she knows the other kids are up. I have to admit, it's kind of nice that she gets herself out of bed in the morning!

-she is a sponge. She really listens to what her sisters say and I love when I hear her counting or saying letters.

-she LOVES her sisters. She and Ruby are becoming good friends, now that she's getting a little older. The other day, they were at the kitchen table coloring with markers and I hear Annie say in a really deep voice, "Let's get messy!" and Ruby was cracking up. They went back and forth saying the same thing over and over, both of them laughing just as hard every time.

-she is a whiz at the iPad. I don't know if that's good, bad, or just a sign of the times, but when she gets to use it, she knows exactly what to do to put Netflix on and watch My Big, Big Friend.

-she loves nursery. All through sacrament meeting she's asking to go to class and play bubbles. She has so much fun in there and every time we go to pick her up, she holds up her coloring page and says, "Look what I made!"

-she's really not interested in toys, except for dress ups. She loves to wear princess dresses and especially shoes. She walks around in those little plastic high heels all day, up and down the stairs.

-she definitely knows how to throw a tantrum. If she doesn't want to do something, she will cry and fight it. If it's something like eating, I usually just let her cry and after 30 seconds, she comes over and eats. I guess she just needs a minute to let it all out. She's also a pro at time out. I don't know if it's because she sees her sisters do it, but she actually stays there with her nose on the wall. It's hilarious!

-she is a sweet heart. She is quick to say sorry to anyone and loves to give hugs and kisses before bed. She's good about sharing and loves her family. She's a big mama's girl, but loves to play with her Daddy and give him loves.

For her party, we had Mickey shaped nuggets and cheese, goldfish, oranges, and juice boxes. I made Mickey/Minnie ears for all the kids. I thought they turned out pretty cute. Here's Nixon modeling the Mickey ears:


And Kensi with the Minnie ears:

Ben won our game of pin the nose on Minnie. I had a few other games planned, but the kids were just having fun playing, so we never got around to them.


Here's her sad, sad cake! The night before the party, I still had to finish all the ears, so we just bought a cake from Wal-mart at 10 pm. I scraped off the Quinceanera flowers (and damaged the white frosting in the process) and added the Minnie head. She thought it was great, so I guess that's what matters!


After a little instruction, she blew out her two candles all on her own!

She was very spoiled by her friends with presents. It is hilarious to watch kids during the present opening. She had lots of help!
We sure do love our little Annie Mae! She is a big blessing to our family. She is so full of personality. For every ounce of trouble that she is, she is ten times as loving and cute!