Birthday balloons

A conversation with Annabel

This is most days for us..... makes me smile! :)

Today's your birthday!

Oh man, what a weekend! I still find it hard to believe that Annabel turned two years old today, but I suppose my serious exhaustion should be enough to convince me. Yesterday was Annabel's birthday party, and today we just celebrated at home with our little family of 3. The party was great.... My parents, brother and sister came, as well as Nate's mom, sister, brother-in-law and nieces. We were also joined by 3 of my friends and their kids and husbands. Annabel had a blast playing hard all afternoon and into the evening with her friends. She got lots of great presents, with her favorite being a Minnie Mouse doll that Brooklyn gave her. She has not put down since she got it.... Minnie has pottied, been fed blueberries, had coffee, and taken a few naps. As if pottying doesn't take long enough, now we have a mouse that has to come too??? :)

Today we played it pretty low key. I think Annabel was still worn out from yesterday (even after sleeping 13 hours), so she was pretty cranky this morning and we decided to hold off on any outings until after nap. Then she slept for 3 hours, so when she did finally wake up we didn't have a whole lot of day left. But we went out for some shopping anyway, and had a birthday dinner at On the Border. Annabel was excited because she got a salad, which is her new favorite thing. She didn't like it as much as an Arni's Junior, which is no surprise to me, but she still enjoyed the ranch dressing.... it cracks me up that she was chanting "salad, salad" at dinner! After that we came home, had cupcakes, opened presents and watched some Dora. All in all, I think Annabel had a pretty good day!

Here are some pictures from our weekend:

CHEESE! This was cupcake round #2, tonight. She actually only licked off the frosting. Oh well!

Brooklyn and Annabel trying out her birthday present from Nate & I - a little table and chair set.

My parent's got Annabel a Cinderella crown and fun dress up shoes. The shoes actually de-railed the whole present opening, because once she had them on all she wanted to do was walk around. Mommy had to finish opening her gifts. This girl LOVES her shoes. :)

Annabel enjoys her cupcake at the birthday party

Annabel's buddies - Mady, Brooklyn and Drew

The birthday princess

Yet another new pair of shoes.... These boots are made for walking!

I tried all weekend to get a cute picture with me and Annabel, and this was all I could get. It's so hard to get a cute picture, because she's so stubborn!

And tomorrow starts the third year..... pretty impossible to believe, but I am excited for all that it will bring!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

This was our minor effort to celebrate our partial Irish heritage on St. Patrick's Day - Last year I put green milk in Annabel's bottle, and I decided to try and make a tradition out of it. She could really care less this year, but I bet next year she will think it's kind of cool.....
We were able to enjoy the spring like weather today. Annabel particularly loves talking to the dogs in our back yard - behind the safety of our chain link fence, of course! She's so funny because she absolutely loves dogs, but only from a distance. She won't go near them on her own, and would be terrified if the dogs could actually get to her. Our neighbors have 5, and all are pretty big so they are particularly frightening. But with the fence, she can get close and have a conversation with them. Today one of them kept barking at her and she just stood there and said "What? What, puppy?" The dog never answered her. :)

Play time with Mommy

These pictures are from the playground at the Church behind our house. It's crazy to me to see how much better she can play on this stuff this year - she's so big! She has mastered the climbing wall, and loves to go down the tallest slide by herself. I am sure we'll be at the playground a lot this summer, because she loves it.

"Come on, Mom!"

Pottys and Tantrums galore!

As my good friend Lisa so nicely pointed out, it's been a little while since I've posted. It's the craziest thing - did you know that a toddler will keep you buys? OYE! Life is moving at a fast pace right now... we've got some big projects going on with the house (putting in an egress window in the basement to convert a bedroom), and then there is Miss Annabel. She is growing up at warp speed, and we are just trying to keep up!

This week, like it or not, we have started potty training. I wouldn't say that I wanted to start yet, but as my mother kindly pointed out, she was ready. So we've wrapped up the second full day, and so far so good! Don't get me wrong, we have had some tantrums and at times wrestling (that girl is STRONG!), but in general she is doing great. Her teacher at day care has been very impressed, and as long as you can ignore the occasional fit I really couldn't be happier. But man, it is tiring. Mostly because I think I get the worst of the tantrums for whatever reason. But we will make it!

In other news, she continues to be more and more talkative every day. Last night she even told me to go away - that was a new one! On Sunday she counted to 10 all by herself, and she can occasionally do the whole ABCs as well. I will try to get it on video, but for now if she thinks we're paying attention too close I think she messes up on purpose. She also knows some of her colors (but again gets them wrong when you ask because she thinks it's funny). Our favorite thing that she does right now is grab our hand and say "come on, Mom", or "come on, Dad"... sounds kind of common place but I think it's the way she says it that is so endearing. One of those sounds I hope I can always keep with me.

Annabel is really into pretend play these days.... she plays with babies constantly, and likes to take them everywhere we go and change their diapers and give them passies. It's super cute to watch for sure. She is also the biggest mimic you've ever seen. This morning I snapped the picture above, after Annabel found an old purse and insisted on carrying it to school. She also insisted that we find her toy keys, which she carried in her purse. And she had to wear a necklace like Mommy's. I can tell that it makes her really happy to be a "big girl" like me. Sigh.... my baby is growing up so fast! Who knew that she would be 2 so fast, and have accomplished so much by that time? It's amazing to me every day.

So anyway, that's what we've been up to...... sorry for the distance between posts. I'll try to be better! You can expect to hear from me after her birthday at least (just 2 weeks!). Here are some pictures.....

Just messing around last weekend

Did I mention that she also plays kazoo?

Still loves the telephone!

CHEESE!!!

and more CHEESE!

Annabel loves running around in her diaper..... and I love these blue eyes