Annie Bananie

Our little Annie pie turned two about 2 weeks ago. She is our little fireball and we love her. I was just thinking today about how empty our family would be without her. It would certainly be a lot less exciting. For her birthday we kept things pretty low key. We went to dinner at Chick fil a and then came back and had cake and ice cream and opened presents. And for the second year running her favorite present was a toothbrush.
Here are a few fun facts about Annie at 2 yrs old. I was trying to keep this short, but apparently I really adore this girl, so here you go.

1. She's very independent and likes to copy what we do. She is constantly changing her clothes and putting on socks and shoes (usually mismatched and on the wrong feet). I came out of the shower the other day to find her stripped of her jammies but with socks (one of them mine) and shoes on.
2. She is feisty. When she gets angry or frustrated she grits her teeth and unleashes her fury. Poor Lauryn is usually her target and despite being about twice her size is usually outmatched. We are working on Lauryn standing her ground and Annie controlling herself. We are also working on not hitting mommy:)

3. Her verbal skills have really blossomed in the last few months. I love waiting to see what will come out of that little mouth next. The ability for Annie and I to communicate with each other has really helped to reduce the frustration for both of us. She understands when I say, "Annie, that is enough." And I understand her when she says, "Mommy, don't say that is enough, okay?" She also tries to tell jokes and be silly and thinks she's so funny. The other day we were driving in the car and I said, "Annie, I love your guts" to which she replied, "I love your guts, car" and laughed like it was the funnies thing ever.

4. She loves to play rough. She loves when you throw her around and tickle her like crazy. If you stop she'll even grab your hand and put it back on the spot you were tickling. She'll sometimes put her forehead right up against mine and push as hard as she can while growling.

5. She can be super sweet. Every once in a while she'll run up to me, squeeze my leg, and say "I love you, mommy!". She loves to be held and snuggle into you. She and Lauryn love to give tackle hugs to each other. She also loves to snuggle and hold dolls and stuffed animals.

Drum roll please...Vacation part 2

Okay, I know I stink. Posting vacation part 1 and then waiting forever to get the rest up. But for anyone who cares, here is part 2. For the rest of our Florida trip we went to Disneyworld. Paul's conference was actually at Disney, so we were able to stay at one of the Disney Resorts. We went to the Magic Kingdom 2 days. For the second day, Paul's brother Charlie and his family came with us. We really had so much fun. On the days we didn't go to the park Paul had meetings so the girls and I just hung out at the resort. It was a little cold for swimming (although we did get in once for about 15 min.), but it had sand beaches so we played in the sand and it had playgrounds. Maybe the best part of the whole trip was the dining. As a promotion with the room we were able to eat on the Disney dining plan for free. We ate lunch with the princesses at Cinderella's Castle and also ate at Chef Mickey's with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Donald. Anyways, I tried not to post too many pictures (since I took 150 or so), but here are the best ones.

Vacation- part 1

We just got back from a fabulous vacation. Paul's work sent him to a conference that just happened to be at Disneyworld, so we decided to make a full on family vacation out of it. We went about 6 days before the conference to spend time with family. We spent the first few days at Grandma and Grandpa's with plenty of visits to Paul's brother Charlie's new house. Then we packed up and took a road trip over to Fort Meyers to visit Paul's sister, Saane and her family at their new house! It was so great to spend time with family, especially those we don't get to see very often.

On the road!!

In Fort Meyers we went to this really cool park and rented surrey bikes.

Look closely (or click to enlarge)... yes that's an alligator in the pond at the park.

Just a little cuteness

Here's a little of what we've been doing lately:

Waiting for waffles

Making marshmallow snowmen for FHE

Looking cute for church

and even giving a talk.

Being happy...

and being sad.

And just in case you were wondering, Annie is still crazying it, for instance...

No big deal, she's just tearing up pieces of wrapping paper and sticking them down her diaper.

Living room reveal

One year ago we were packing up our townehouse and getting ready to close on our home. Here we are a year later and we have finished a good portion of the upstairs. We are done with everything except the master bedroom and the bathrooms. So here is the before and after for the living room. We painted, replaced the carpet with hardwood, took out all the floor tile and replace the fireplace surround with slate. And when I say we, I mean about 25% me and 75% Paul. One thing you can't see in this before picture is the blinds, which were metal and the same forest green as the carpet (just really lovely as you can imagine). Also, the picture doesn't do justice to the old tile (marbled with forest green) and the forest green grout. We'll get some pictures up of the rest soon!