I can totally see their personalities in these pictures...

Now that it's almost Annika's birthday...

... just thought I'd update that Alexa did, in fact, turn 2 July 1st! and I made cupcake cones.
and we all enjoyed them.

The end. :)

2!

Two years ago...

My little monkey turns 2 tomorrow!

My yummy little girl is growing up to be a sweet and spicy little thing...

the sweet: her sharing heart, her kisses, her compliments: "I wike yo' parcels [sparkles]"... and the spicy: "NO. I do it... odaaaay?"

Oh, Alexa. What would we DO without you?! So thankful for God's gift of you!

No words necessary...

Mad Skills

My oh-so-talented child! These skills will take her far, I'm sure...

putting on her coat...

...and next, a little something learned from Daddy...
picking things up with her toes.

Mommy's favorite (yep, that's sarcasm!).

Flowers for Mommy

"Stay right there!" as I ran to get the camera...

flowers for Mommy- I had to capture the moment.

Impressive!

Look at this hair!

...and here's a little bit sweeter one...

"Lex..."

"Where's your belly?"

"'dis belly. Here..."

My squeezable girl, Her Yumminess.

{seriously. Don't you just want to squeeze her? Or is it just me?}

Date Night!

Andy and I are blessed to get fairly regular date nights. One night when we were getting ready to go, Annika asked, "can I go on a date with Mommy?"

I just so happened to know of a musical that was playing locally that weekend, so we were set!

Such a great night! I thought we would leave at intermission, but she was pumped to see it through to the end.

I got a little misty-eyed when the music began that I was seeing my first (of hopefully many!) show(s) with my daughter. :)

Atrocious, I know...

Another two-month break... sorry!

I'm scheduling a bunch of posts so I'll be regular for a bit longer. Promise! Clearly I struggle with balancing enjoying life and documenting it.

Here's my "Goodbye winter, hello spring" wreath. I was so happy with it, when I first put it up I kept opening the door to admire it!

More Louisville

So we got dressed and ready to go this day, and I told her, "Annika. Do you know where we're going today?" (talking in that tone of voice that says "even though it's not really exciting, I'm going to act like it is, so you get excited too!") And I told her: "We're going to the MALL!" Expecting no response...

She was giddy. Ecstatic. Over-the-moon thrilled. I was bewildered, since I don't even think she knows what the mall is!

Then she took her glasses off and put them on the counter. "Snoodlerella [Veggie Tales character, Cinderella-type story] doesn't wear glasses to the BALL."

Oops. Oh, honey. "Sweetie, we're actually going to the MMMMALL, not the ball. I'm sorry."

Expecting a meltdown. Because that's a pretty big letdown! Not going to the ball... But she is not devastated.

Okay, here we go. We actually went to two malls, and Panera in between for lunch. Finally, we were on our way back (many hours later), and she asks...

"Can we go to ANOTHER mall?"

Who is this child?!

So here's my little shopper:

This girl is one good traveler.

Wearing her headphones ("hambones")

We also went to a place called FunDome, which was described to me as a really big Chuck E Cheese-type place... I call it Chuck E Cheese on steroids.

But Annika had a BALL on all the inflatable stuff, made a friend, and plain wore herself out that day!

So thankful for the time with Annika... it is so fun to see her outside of home, interacting with others, and growing up to be a sweet little girl.

Our trip to Kentucky

Last week Annika and I went to Louisville with Andy. While he was at the Farm Machinery Show, we had some girl time. Lots of fun at the zoo

My favorite!

Attempt at a mother-daughter shot!

We had such a fun day!

Don't they look so excited?

What's really going on here: they often create cute moments (usually them snuggling) that they know will make me say "awww," and they call me over to take a picture. Characters, those two!

Currrrrrrs

Annika thinks curlers (she pronounces them without the "rl") are the coolest thing, and when she's at Grandma's house, she gets curlers in her hair. The only problem... she doesn't realize that curlers are not the final result, only the means to an end. Because of this, the removal of the curlers is pretty devastating.

But while the "currrrrrrs" are in, she is a very happy girl!

(love that ridiculous cheese face!)

More sister love

sister love

This was on my birthday.

I love that I can hear the giggles.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Christmas decorating

Are you loving the flashbacks to a few months ago?

And PS, I am fighting with Blogger right now. I can't rearrange my photos, so I apologize for the disorganization.

So of course it makes sense to start with the finished product. :)

Their post-decorating treat; a GIANT marshmallow

YUM
Don't you just "pity the fool"? ;)
I was so blessed to be able to wrap someone else's loads of gifts-
wrapping is so much fun; one of my favorite things!

And then we'll end with the picture of the girls helping decorate.

Annika turning 3

Annika turned 3 in December. Miscellaneous birthday pics

Birthday morning

Alexa tries on the sunglasses

that came with Annika's guitar cookies

I didn't know they were magic candles!

So much fun (but of course a bit sad!) to celebrate my little girl getting bigger!

She is such a blessing.

They won!

So the Packers won, and this house was excited.

Annika kept repeating an [unprompted] "Praise the Lord!" Alexa was wearing a few layers under one of my t-shirts, so even though it looks like we had her in pads, know that we didn't. :)