Annika Turned 2 !!

Considering it's almost May, I thought I'd get caught up on my blog posts.  Starting with...

Annika's 2nd Birthday!

February 8, 2013

My baby is two.  Seriously crazy.  I'm having a hard time digesting the fact that I don't have a little baby anymore!  She is all personality - our little spitfire.  Mischievous?  Yes.  Malicious?  No.  Sweet as pie and cute through and through?  Absolutely.  Here's a peek at our little stink on her second birthday...

Good Morning!!  

The balloons are almost as cool as the presents.

Fisher Price's Little People are one of her very favorite things.  She loves the movies, the books, the toys, and the music.  (Anything Little People is super cool when you're two.)  

Slightly cooler than Little People... Monster's Inc. She LOVES Sully and Mike.  It's one of her favorite movies and for sure her favorite ride at Disneyland's California Adventure.  

I think her face says it all!

I struggled trying to pick a theme for her birthday party.  (She likes so many things equally.) So I decided that her theme should be, "These are a Few of My Favorite Things".  That way I could choose... everything!

Some of her favorite foods are: strawberries, GRAPES, apples, fishy crackers, juice boxes, and macaroni and cheese.  So we ate them all.  

Her favorite animal: the owl.  We can't pass by an owl at a store without her pointing and calling, "OWL!!  Hoo-hoot!!"  

So I made a bundt cake to look like a nest (using shredded wheat cereal) and put a ceramic owl piggy bank in the center.  

Grandaddy helping serve gourmet Kraft macaroni and cheese.

We never really need to invite friends to a party - not when you have a house full of cousins!!  

(Not pictured: Rosalie and James.  I think Rosalie was on the potty and James was cruising around - probably in my pantry.  He really likes it there.)

Annika must have sensed that the party was getting a bit dull.  So she thought it would be fun to pull her pants to her ankles and walk around like a penguin.  (Do not underestimate her.) 

Then when I said it was time to play games, she thought it would be better to hide in the cubby behind the couch until someone found her.  Unfortunately, I did not plan on hide-and-seek as one of our party games.  

Instead, we played a game I made up.  I called it, "These are a Few of My Favorite Things".  (Yes, a very intense and complicated game.)  I hid 10 tiny objects around the living room that represented 10 of Annika's favorite things.  Each cousin got to find one and bring it to Annika who was holding the collections basket.  Some of her favorite things included: a ball, a My Little Pony, Sully from Monster's Inc., a baby doll, Mini Mouse, a Barbie, a rubber duckie, etc...

But when Annika saw that she had an audience's attention, she wowed them by balancing the basket on her head instead of using it to play the game.  That's our Annika!  Oozing with personality :)

We finished her birthday party with a piñata.  Since Annika was first to take a turn, she wasn't sure what to do.  So she just poked it.  

It turned out to be an extremely strong piñata.  But we eventually got it open...

It was filled with M&M's (her favorite candy) and little toys.  

After that we sang, "Happy Birthday" and ate spice cake with cream cheese frosting.  She LOVES blowing out candles.  I think I let her do it twice.  

Silly glasses from the piñata provided fun for the whole family.

Once the masses had gone home, Annika got to her chores.  I let her since one of her favorite things is sweeping.  

Thanks, Annika, for being my little whirlwind.  I wouldn't have you any other way.