Amelia turns 2!!

I can hardly believe my baby is two, truly! She's still my baby. Yet she's so big, so independent, trying so hard to be grown up.

She was quite the popular girl at the breakfast table, everyone wanted to sit right next to the birthday girl!
I love a two year old's birthday, the simplest things please this little one! We put on a new dress, which she was thrilled with, and then headed to the grocery store for donuts and a ride on Sandy the horse. She was in heaven! Daddy brought balloons, she felt so special.

Being the 4th child, Amelia knows the birthday drill and she loved being the center of attention for the day.


The boys used some of their own money to buy gifts for Amelia. T&R put their money together to buy her this purple ball. I wish you could see the smile on her face when she opened it, she was so happy!

Andrew bought Amelia a candy bar and then created a scavenger hunt for her to find it. I thought it was so thoughtful of him to put it all together and then give her a boost to find her treasure. Love these kids!

We love this girl! She's such a fun child to have in our family. Amelia is funny, and she knows it. She realizes when she has the attention and she can put on a show being silly, teasing, dancing, and laughing.

Amelia continues to be incredibly content. Often, I hear her in her crib when waking in the morning or after a nap. Rather than screaming, crying, etc., she'll roll around, talk, sing, and when she's ready she calls for mom. The boys love to go in and hop in her crib with her. She thinks that's pretty cool.

Amelia loves to help others. If she hears me ask the boys to put away their shoes, flush the toilet, close the door, (you know, all the endless reminders a mom is known for) she pipes up, "I do it!" She'll run to the chore and complete it with pride and announce, "I did it!"

This girl loves to wash her hands! She climbs up to the sink and says, "I wash, I wash!" She soaps, soaps again, rinses, soaps again, and again. I think she especially loves the "soapy".

Speaking of "soapee" this girl adds a "ee" sound to everything. Here are a few of our favorite "ee" words she says.

Gankee- blanky

Reidee- Reid

Toyee- toilet

watee- water

coldee- cold

shoeee- shoe

Amelia is a dream to put down for a nap or bed time! When we lay her down, she wants fresh water in her sippy cup- always requests a trip to the bathroom to refill the cup- but then she lays down and waves goodbye with a smile. Love it!

We love this girl and we are so happy she's part of our family! Happy birthday big girl!

Happenings

This is a random post capturing what we've been up to the last month. This picture below was taken today! Yes, green grass, shorts, T-shirt, and muchin' on a cucumber! The kids played outside most of today and I guess it got a little warm for Reid, funny kid!
Amelia has grown up so much to me! She now knows how to open all doors, including the sliding glass door, which involves removing the dowel in the door, unlocking it and pushing it open. After doing all this, she grabbed her paper, pen, and scissors and headed for the backyard. She was pretty proud of herself.
T&R after a game of dominoes. Can't you tell this is the Detroit temple? Tanner has vision.
These pics were taken a couple of weeks ago when we had a little snow on the ground, but it was gone by the end of the day. It's been a weird winter, but we're enjoying biking year round in Michigan, who would have thought?!


Funny boys taking a break from playing restaurant in the basement.
Mike was in Mexico last week and came home with this adorable hat for Amelia and wrestling masks for the boys. He couldn't have brought them anything better!


We hosted another MBA dinner, unfortunately, two families had already left when I remembered to snap a picture.
We celebrated my birthday with my favorite banana cake with lemon cream cheese frosting and raspberries, made by my awesome husband!!
T: Remember, we're nice.

R: Ya, Tan, we're nice and so is Andrew

T: I'm not going to call you Mr. Screamy Pants anymore

R: Ya, cause I don't scream anymore...and I share

Amelia is a tough cookie! She's had a few falls recently that make my heart hurt for her! The above bruise came from falling face first on the edge of the wood trim on our stairs. She immediately grabbed her face and screamed like I've only heard her scream a few times. So sad!

Below, the strawberry on her face happened when she was on her way back from the drinking fountain just as Andrew's basketball team ran to the other end of the court, flattening Amelia on the way.
That's it for now! Amelia's adorable birthday pics are forthcoming!