Annie's 2nd Birthday

Due to the wisdom of my wise, sometimes-balloon-bursting-but-always-loving husband, we spent Annie's birthday quietly at home with just us 5. If it had been up to me, there would have been stress expressed poorly, money spent foolishly, and lots of messes quickly shoved in corners or behind the shower curtain in an attempt to have a party worthy of our cute little girl. Instead, we spent time enjoying each other, playing on the floor, converting her room from baby-ish to big girl worthy, and just being a family. It's probably good that we (I) didn't try to live up to or exceed the sweetness of last year's party anyway...you can't replicate the essence of what the weather was like and how the kids were playing so wonderfully together and how our friends sang songs to Annie anyway.
We just opened presents right away (which goes against my general "Let's wait until later, when it is the Right Time to open presents" but doesn't actually make sense because opening them early gives the kids the fun of playing with the new toys all day!). We hid the presents for Annie to find and she did it all like a pro. One of her presents is my old My Little Pony nursery and she (and the boys!) love it--diapering the ponies and putting them to bed, so cute! We did venture out to Peter Piper Pizza because we had free coupons and we ended the day with the Birthday Donker and *pink* cake and ice cream.

Annie at 2 years old loves climbing, eating salad, and following her brothers. She is brave and confident yet still very attached to Mommy. She loves to say "My Nannie" which means "It's mine" (mine Annie) and pretty much says it about anything little or pink or cute. She speaks pig latin without trying--"ump-jah" (jump) "am-sah" (Sam) "up-kah" (cup), and also says "mink" (drink), "wank-ke" (blanket), and "bubbies" (brothers). She likes babies and she plays so differently than the boys, but she loves to take her shirt off and wrastle on the bed with them. She makes funny faces and sleeps in one place (not travelling all over her bed like Sam). She loves the water and is nervous around dogs. There's so much more I could write but there's just not time. Here are a few videos that are special related to Annie. The first (1 min.) is the precious one of us bringing her home from the hospital after she was born. The second (4 min.) is a little compilation of pictures I've taken over the past 2 years as she's grown.

Oh For the Love...

I don't know where the statement, "Oh for the love..." came from, but it has been in my mind as I have been thinking about some random things I love about my kids and life. So I write this post for the love of...

...the creative mind of my 6-year-old, who constantly comes up with ideas to send to magazines or to share with the world or his Sunday School class. Here's one of his latest inventions/concoctions--"Banana Corn Pops" (the recipe is written out behind it)



(and here he is with a Lego creation he made from his Lego magazine--mommas, you should go on lego.com and sign your kids up for it because it's free!)

...the proliferation of funny, mad, scary, crazy, etc. faces

...Annie's hair, which has gone from looking like Anne Burrell (food network) to more like Jeff Daniels from Dumb and Dumber



(I don't know why everyone keeps politely asking me if I'm going to cut it...I guess I like my kids to look like ragamuffins. I think that's how I liked to look when I was their ages.)

...brothers just bein' brothers
...Samuel playing tea party with Annie (Evan sort of joined in later). That earned Samuel some gold stars (I don't know what that actually means, I just like to say it). He also earned them for saving Annie's life (or at least her neck and head) when she stood up and dove head first out of the shopping cart (he got a bloody nose in the process) and when he saw his former Sunday School teacher, whose appearance and cognition have changed dramatically due to her battle with brain cancer, and instead of shying away he ran up and threw his arms around her in the biggest hug. Yep, that's my kid (tear).
...the joy of dressing up and then going outside and splashing in rain puddles.
...playing wild animal park and other imagination games.

...friends who are neighbors (or neighbors who are friends--whichever way you look at it, it is a blessing!) over for dinner in the backyard


...entertaining another neighbor with a dance and music performance complete with curtains, signs, and a surprise entrance.

...coming into the living room and catching Annie sitting on the couch dressed in her raincoat (sweaty), wrapped up in Christmas lights (fire and strangulation hazard), sucking on a lollipop (stains on the couch), watching her first big monsoon rainstorm with wonder and excitement (priceless)....silly poses and intricate "set-ups" (when they put all their toys "just so" and then NEED me to come see them RIGHT THIS MINUTE...remind me to come right this minute because it's never as exciting if I put it off "in just a minute" or "after I finish this really boring grown up thing that isn't really important").
...summer traditions on our Things to Do This Summer list like eating blizzards at the Rolling Down Park (small hill by NAU). Check!
...eating snacks in laundry baskets
...watching t.v. in laundry baskets

...riding bikes on a beautiful day (if you click on the picture--which was taken on my cell phone while I was pedaling after them and towing Annie--you can see that they are trying to catch up with a very speedy unicycler riding a very large...wheel. I'm still sort of laughing about it.)

...beautiful rainbows after violent thunderstorms and children who tell me about God's promises from the backseat of the car as we drive by. Love.

More Fun, All Caught Up

Evan's 4th Birthday...breakfast on the red plate:


Our new birthday tradition, invented by Evan--The Birthday Donker:
For Evan's birthday, he wanted to go on "a aventure" in the woods, so we did. Samuel said, "Mom, this isn't fun. THIS IS AWESOME!!!":




Evan's birthday party, a conglomeration of all things Super Hero-esque:
Here's me, with an apron as a cape, explaining the Super Hero Training Obstacle Course to the eager Super-Heroes-in-Training:

Over the benches, across the balance beams...


...through Super Hero Headquarters, down the slide.......jumping through the hoops, crawling through the tunnel, across the hot lava, and then smashing through a brick wall to land on pillows behind it:



Each Super Hero had their own unique style as they crashed through the wall:This one did a somersault landing every time:


Hands out, brace yourself...
...landing successfully, but don't forget to open your eyes!
This one has mastered the opened-eyes-landing technique:

And this one enters daintily, giggling the whole way:





We made Super Hero communication devices out of Jello boxes (Joseph is having fun, I promise!):

Here I am, being Dr. Octopus for freeze tag (hey, it's for the kids!):
The Super Heroes were supposed to pose for the camera in daring acrobatic poses:
It didn't work out quite as I had planned:





Evan was so nice to include Annie in all his birthday festivities:
Otter Pops!!!


Kindergarten Graduation, at which I wanted to stop and have an Assembly Etiquette lesson for all the parents, but instead just told my dad to shove his way to the front and take a picture like all the rest of the parents:
Cookies!!!

Walking to school one last time for the all-important Board Game Day Because the Teachers Have All Packed Up and Don't Want To Do Any More Teaching:
Reading with Grandma:

Look! Annie and Evan playing together! Take a Picture!






New house colors and flowers blooming (grass is still a work in progress):


A post-kindergarten-graduation-and-birthday trip to CA (just Sam and Evan with Grandma and Crampaw and without the pesky little sister). Here they are at La Jolla Cove going into a cave/tunnel out to the ocean with Aunt Kendra (check out Evan's face...I'm not sure how he's feeling about it):



Contemplating life on his thinking tree:
I guess it was cold at the beach?


The boys and my mom and sister stayed in a beach house right on the beach at Camp Pendelton. In addition to walking out the back door and being at the beach, they got to see tanks everywhere!


Angry Birds!!!
I think my sister told them to drop and give her 20:



Going up in the Big Orange Balloon at the Great Park in Orange County. Everything in Orange County is so Great and Big and Exciting compared to our little life in Flagstaff (or so the people there seem to think):

Snuggling on Grandma's love seat:
Playing games, beating Grandma :)
Loving his beach ball so much he decided to lick it, I guess:




Neighborhood friends at Grandma and Grandpa's--Conner and Abby live next door and often invite them to go swimming (in the same pool I used to stare out my window and dream of swimming in most days in the summer when I was a kid):
Andrew and Anna live in the next house. They went to Scooter's Jungle with Sam and Evan and Grandma:Then, we came back to CA a few weeks later and look! Annie and Evan playing together again (this time at the Discovery Science Center):
Making a bug out of kitchen utensils--kind of clever:

Laying on a bed of nails:
Reunion with old friends from youth group (Kristyn, Tricia, April, and Ann Marie):
Annie playing with my friend Ann Marie's daughter. We follow each other's blogs and have decided that they are very much the same...our two cute little stinkers:
My family at the table for Jeremy's birthday...I like it that Ranger (my sister's dog) even stuck his head through the door to be in the picture:


We got to go down to my parent's friends (the Lasters) home in San Clemente. Their backyard is the beach. Here are the kids, checking out the surf, watching the sets come in:

Man, Annie and Evan played together a lot recently! But don't tell Evan or he will be sure to prevent it in the future:

The boys wanted to dig The Biggest Hole in the World. That's an idea that no other boy has ever thought of or tried before.
Jeremy dutifully studying...at the beach, not too shabby!





Ice Cream!!!
Playing games with Crampaw, not sure what the deal is with the barretts in her hair:
Shooting guns with Crampaw:
Now I am all caught up. Phwew.