A la Playa

One of Annalia's favorite books is Dora at the beach.  She loves the sand and the water.  This girl has no fear.  She would have walked right out into the bay if I let her.  Instead, she had to live vicariously through Elmo.  As she was able to toss him into the waves, and he always came back to her (except that one time Mommy had to wade out to retrieve him.)

Ode to my Children

I was convicted recently that I, as a parent, need to make sure that I share the blessings of parenting.  (Not just the "poop in the hair" or the "she ate a cricket" stories, and good as they are).  A friend recently mentioned that Justin and I have convinced him not to have kids yet, with our night-time tales, and the crazy things that kids do.  (Don't get me wrong, I know he loves my kids, he showed up with an Elmo couch for Annalia one day, just because.)  So, I wanted to share some of the beautiful stories.

• I had a really bad day, where everything I tried to do seemed to fail.  I was sitting down with Annalia, feeling sorry for myself, and I asked her "Can you say, 'Mommy's a failure?"  She looked me straight in the face and said, "No Mommy, I can't say that."  Then she held me as I cried tears of joy.
• Most mornings, Naomi wakes up happy, and when I come in, she is cooing, playing with her hands, and just all together beautiful.  When I walk into her line of vision, her eyes meet mine, they light up and her face breaks out into the biggest smile.  My heart just melts.
• The other day, as I was nursing Naomi, Annalia was, ever so gently, rocking Ernie to sleep.  While holding his head, she used her whole body to gently lay him into Naomi's Moses Basket.  When I said I need to put Naomi to sleep, she calmly informed me that Ernie was sleeping there and Naomi would have to find another place to sleep.  Eventually, she was able  to agree to a co-sleeping arrangement.  She is such a good little mommy.
• For the past couple weeks, everytime Justin comes home, she runs into his arms and says "Mommy AND Daddy are home now!"

I will have to share more later.  I promised the cutie we would play with sidewalk chalk today. 

Annalia turns 2!

Annalia turned 2, on September 12, 2008.  We threw a small party for the cute one, and me, who has always hated theme parties, went crazy creating a Super Why party.  Princess Pea cake, Super Why invitations, and a full Super Why story game where the kids had to find Super Letters all over the house.  I must say, it was worth it.  Annalia thought it was a ton of fun.   

My first attempt with fondant.  I made her a Princess Pea cake.  And it must have looked something like her, because Annalia announced "It's Princess Pea" as soon as she saw it.

A little love for Naomi.  Ella and Anna giving her a kiss.

Last year, she was more about the wrapping paper.  But this year, she knew how presents work, and she was all about what was inside.  As soon as she would get the toy out, she would hand it off to Justin  saying "Could you open this please?"  The politeness started to wane as the evening went on.

I asked her what flavor of cake she wanted, and of course, it was chocolate.  She is Karlene's daughter after all.

Naomi had a good time too.  Here she is making a face at Becky.

She loved her Princess tent.  Of course, she thinks it has something to do with Princess Pea. . . oh well.