Happy 2nd Birthday Baby!!!!!!

Here is the birthday girl in her new princess outfit from Jack and beautiful dress from Susan and Bill. Love the little "WINK" however, I think it is actually a little wobble as she was running towards Daddy in her new shoes!!!!

Annie had three parties this year and her second one was quiet with Mommy and Daddy. Mommy made Mapo Tofu and rice. We asked Annie what she would like for dessert and she said "pie!!". We then decided on lemon meringue. Here is Annie, loving her pie!!!!!! It is a little dark in the photo because we have our evening meal by candlelight. Annie loves her candles.

This next photo is Annie's Daddy dressing up in Annie's new princess outfit- earrings and all!!!

Annie loves beans so we did the pulled pork and beans meal again. Here she is enjoying
her food with the boys...

Annie also received lots of wonderful presents. As Colleen says, Annie is great to give gifts to because she appreciates each one, plays with it for a while and really LOVES to open them. Because of this we unintentionally had Annie open gifts all afternoon!!! I think the kids really liked it that way too.

Here are the "kids" playing with the 1960-70's Fisher Price house, school and accessories that Lisa and David gave Annie. We weren't sure at the beginning if the kids were ever going to have a chance to play with toys as the adults were right on top of it. Annie spent all morning today playing with her new toys. They are in perfect shape and Lisa even reupholstered the beds!!!! Thank you everyone for your generosity. Annie has new books to read, a baby to play with, a few new outfits, a teddy piggy bank AND a new stuffies to snuggle. Oh but Brad, a Nerf bat and ball, in our house, oh my...

Thank you to Colleen for everything you did to make it a special day- I don't think that I could have done it without you!!! Thank you to Veronica for taking time away from your "extra" busy job at the Olympics, to come over for the day. It was a wonderful surprise you little trickster fox!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Annie sure loves a party and it brings tears to my eyes knowing that we shared her first birthday with us as a family with our friends and family across the country!!!!!!!!!

Oh and the BEST thing ever was this morning during snuggle time, I said the usual "Mommy, Daddy and Annie. We are a family." Then Annie said "Annie's family". Yep, that made both Shawn and I cry. Beautiful girl, we are so thrilled to have you in our lives and as part of our Forever Family...

Chchch changes....

Happy Chinese New Year to all. With a new year comes change - Annie is taking her first nap in her "big girl" bed. We have had it for some time and it has been set up in her playroom with her quilt on it. She has been trying to climb out of the crib and achieved it the other day. It was time to get busy and make the big change. Annie had her screwdriver and we took her crib apart together. We then moved her bed into the spot that her crib was - beside our bed. We piled the crib pieces up against the wall so that Annie can see them. Our discussion centred around our family of three so that she understands that the crib is not going to be used by another child in our house. Annie is our baby and there won't be another. Shawn is a little nervous about putting her to bed tonight but I think that she will be fine. Annie just curled up in her bed and went right to sleep, happy as a lark at nap time.

I also thought that I would post a few of the photos from our trip east. The first is my sister and I making the pulled pork for the birthday celebration - Annie is turning two very soon. Her cousins Emma and Jude made the cupcakes with Auntie's help. We had so much fun - my sister's husband is a new vegetarian so Kate really, really REALLY, enjoyed the pork!!!! Talking about fun, Emma and Sally had a blast dressing Miss Annie up. We had to get a photo, she was just waayyyy too cute!!! Annie wasn't too sure about the whole thing but played along. We had such a nice time with everyone and the party was great. Looking forward to Annie's birthday party here in Victoria next!!! It is a tradition in my family to have at LEAST three birthday parties so we are carrying on the tradition with our little one.