Christmas Eve 2010

The kids were little bundles of energy...much like every other day. It was Christmas eve. The eve of Jesus' birthday. The eve when Santa would be making his journey around the world, hopefully stopping by our house along the way.

We'd been talking about Christmas for weeks -- reading the Christmas story from the Bible and various other books, acting out the story, watching Christmas movies, singing Christmas carols, making Christmas crafts, reminding Jacob and Annabelle that they needed to be good or Santa might decide not to bring any presents. **GASP** No presents? Surely not.

The day before, we talked about the importance of giving and sharing with others. For Jacob's birthday, Heath and I got a little caught up in the Toy Story 3 hype and bought him a Buzz Lightyear toy -- the one that talks and lights up, etc... We ended up not giving it to him. We knew there were other things he would like more, so we bought those other things instead. Buzz sat, untouched, unopened on the top shelf of our closet. Jacob knew the toy was there. He had seen it several times and asked, "Hey...why do you have that Buzz Lightyear up there?" I decided we would keep it until Christmas and have Jacob donate it to Toys for Tots, but we ended up taking it to another local organization. Jacob walked proudly through the door with Buzz and all the people who were working that day made a really big deal of it. They told Jacob how he was going to make some little boy very happy for Christmas. I don't know if he truly understood what he did, but he seemed to. He seemed genuinely excited about giving that "cool Buzz Lightyear toy" away. On the car ride over, I explained, again, that there are some children who don't have any toys and won't get any toys for Christmas. Jacob replied, "Oh. You mean, they forgot to tell Santa what they wanted?" Hmmm...how do you respond to that? After all, doesn't Santa bring gifts to everyone?

We spent Christmas eve day at Papa and Grandma's house. Annabelle discovered that it is great fun to jump off a bed onto a few old couch cushions. Her brother followed her lead and they jumped and played for the longest time.

Uncle Philip and Aunt Shelli were there too and of course, Grazie. Jacob and Annabelle love Grazie. Annabelle especially enjoys sharing her food (and sippy cups) with her.

Later that evening, after dinner, we moved onto the gifts. Jacob had been looking forward to this part all day. He had already been scoping out all the boxes and bags for the letters J-A-C-O-B. Both he and Annabelle ripped into their presents. Annabelle liked her gifts, but honestly, I think finding candy canes in one of her bags made her the happiest. Jacob was definitely impressed with what he received. At the end of the evening, I said, "Wow, Jacob you got a lot of new cool toys...and Santa hasn't even been to our house yet." Jacob looked up at me and said, " Oh! We should call Santa. We need to call Santa and tell him we don't need him anymore. We don't need him to come to our house." Boy, Santa sure could have saved himself a lot of money...had he known. ;)

After opening presents and playing with their new toys, the kids were exhausted..and so were their parents. We packed up the car and headed home. Jacob and Annabelle needed to get to bed, and Santa had work to do.

We put out a plate of cookies for Santa along with a glass of milk and a couple carrots for the reindeer. Then, we sat down on the floor beside the Christmas tree while Heath read the Christmas story from the book of Luke. The kids were a little tired and cranky, but we managed to get through it. They were just ready to be in their beds.

So, they went to bed...and "Santa" went to work. While I wrapped gifts that evening, I thought about God's miraculous plan and how it all played out that first Christmas eve. I can't even imagine what it must have been like for Mary, Joseph, even one of the shepherds. God is incredible. Amazing. Wonderful. Miraculous. I cannot fathom His greatness. Glory to God in the highest......

Thank you, God, for Jesus -- the most precious, extraordinary, most important, life-changing gift any of us will ever receive.

Christmas Cookies. Yum. Yum. Yum.

A week ago, we could hardly wait for Christmas to arrive. Now, we can hardly believe the holiday has come and gone. We had such a great time visiting with family and friends, and even got to see a little snow! It was, indeed, a very merry Christmas.

Jacob and Annabelle were so excited about Christmas...especially Jacob. He looked at the calendar often and every morning he announced how many more days there were until Jesus' birthday. "Just THREE more days 'til Christmas!!!!" he would say, with a grin from ear to ear. He couldn't wait to see if Santa was actually going to bring him the space shuttle he wanted.

I thought it might be fun to do a little holiday baking this year, so a few days before Christmas, I headed into the kitchen with my two eager helpers. Donned in their new Christmas aprons from Papa and Nana, they each ran to get a chair to stand on so that they would be able to see and reach the top of the counter. We made pretzel-Rolo treats and chocolate peanut butter cookies -- both very easy recipes. Annabelle's job was to lay out the pretzels on the cookie sheet. She did very well, but added one extra step -- taking a bite of each pretzel first. I had to replace many of her pretzels with new ones since I didn't think anyone would really want to eat half-eaten pretzel-Rolo treats. Jacob unwrapped the Rolos and stuck one on each pretzel. Then, later, he placed the pecans on top.

We all unwrapped Hershey's kisses for the peanut butter cookies. Again, Annabelle could not help herself. At one point, she had both cheeks full of chocolate. I also caught her licking a few before putting them down on the plate. No, I didn't use any of the licked ones for the cookies...at least...I don't think I did. :)

Our baking days were a success. Jacob and Annabelle made a plate for Santa on Christmas eve. The next morning, Santa had left a note saying their cookies were the best he had ever tasted...even better than the ones Mrs. Claus makes. ;)

Choir Debut

Several months before his fourth birthday, Jacob began telling everyone he came into contact with that when he turned four, he was going to be in the preschool choir. That was the one thing he was most excited about. And why wouldn't he be? He loves music. He loves to play instruments. He loves to sing. And most of all, he loves to perform.

Traditionally, the preschool choir has a public church performance twice a year -- one at Christmas, one in the spring. Last Sunday, Jacob made his choir debut in the church. He couldn't wait. He was so excited. He had really been practicing his songs, singing them in the car and around the house, so I knew he was ready. Although, when he practiced at home, his singing was usually accompanied by a dance. I wasn't sure if he would be able to stand still and sing.

He did a great job or as Jacob would say, he was "awesome!" I was proud of all the kids. No matter how many times you rehearse with children, it's impossible to predict how the actual performance will turn out. I was more than pleased with this end result!!

MUCH to my surprise, Annabelle behaved herself during the performance and, like a little lady, sat on the pew "reading" the bulletin...without either of her parents by her side!

Beautiful Annabelle

We sat on the floor in her room, playing...just the two of us. Jacob hadn't yet awoken from his nap. Annabelle reached over and grabbed her baby doll's sippy cup. "Baby dink! (Baby wants a drink)" she said, as she held it up to the doll. She then changed her baby's diaper and placed her in the stroller after grabbing the diaper bag and throwing it over the stroller handle. Annabelle pushed the stroller around her tiny room for a few minutes, then came to a sudden stop. She climbed up into the rocking chair and said, "wok, wok (rock, rock)." I repeated her words to let her know she was understood. She looked at me and in the sweetest little voice, replied, "Sing...beeful...Adhewl (Sing Beautiful Annabelle)." My heart melted.

That's our song -- Beautiful Annabelle. The morning after she was born, she cried and cried. I held her tightly in my arms and rocked her as best I could while sitting in a hospital bed. Not sure of what else to do, I made up a little melody and began to sing.

Beautiful, beautiful Annabelle.

Beautiful, beautiful baby.

Beautiful, beautiful Annabelle.

You're so perfect to me.

I love you beautiful Annabelle.

I love you beautiful baby.

I love you beautiful Annabelle.

You're so perfect to me.

No, she didn't stop crying instantly, but a few short moments later, she settled down. I've been singing that song to her ever since. It's part of our bedtime routine. Each night, before she goes to sleep, Annabelle sits in my lap, sucking her thumb and clenching Minnie Mouse's leg in her little hand. We rock for a while and I sing a few songs, always ending with Beautiful Annabelle.

It makes me happy to know that song is her favorite out of all the songs she's ever heard me sing. And I love that she, now, specifically requests it. Yes, I certainly do love you, Beautiful Annabelle and these are moments I will cherish forever.

Advent, Christmas Lights, Santa, etc...

Scene: Jacob and Annabelle are sitting on the living room floor by the Christmas tree putting puzzles together. A Christmas Wiggles DVD is playing on the TV behind them. Annabelle reaches over to grab a puzzle piece from Jacob's halfway put together puzzle.

Jacob: Annabelle, DON'T TAKE MY PUZZLES!! Do you want Santa to mark your name off his list???

Annabelle: AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH! (then, ever so sweetly) No.

Aahhh. Christmas. I love this time of year. Can't you just feel the love?

Four Sundays before Christmas marks the beginning of Advent and every year, our church recognizes this by displaying an Advent wreath. A different family lights one of the candles each week until the final candle is lit Christmas Eve. Last Sunday, our family had the priviledge of lighting the candle and giving the short devotion. When we were asked to participate, Heath and I were both a little nervous. Not about lighting the candle or giving the devotion. We were nervous about how our precious little gifts from God would behave. While our children may be gifts from God, they don't always act like it. I had visions of Annabelle flinging herself from my arms and knocking the candles over; or screaming and running down the aisle. Maybe Jacob would throw a fit because Daddy wouldn't let him light the candle. Oh boy.

All I can say is, "Thank you, God for answering our prayers." Jacob was very well-behaved and I've never seen Annabelle so calm. She remained in my arms, then Heath's arms with nary a scream or (much of) a squirm. Later that morning, several people commented on their excellent behavior and I just said, "Yeah. That was definitely God at work." Then there were a couple people, who know Annabelle well, who asked me, "What kind of drugs did you give her?" No drugs. All God. :)

I don't have any photos of the actual event, but we did take a few when we returned home.

Last Friday we made our annual trip to see the the Holiday Festival of Lights...and Santa. I've always loved seeing the Christmas lights and now, watching and listening to Jacob's and Annabelle's reactions make it even more fun. When Annabelle sees something she likes or something that surprises her, she says, "Wow!" But not "Wow" like you would think. Annabelle's "Wow" sounds kind of like a growl...a dinosaur roar...a tiger. I don't know why she says it that way, but it cracks me up every time. Jacob seemed more into the lights this year than last year, pointing out funny things that he saw and telling us which ones he liked best.

Several days prior, I began talking about our trip to see Santa. I knew Jacob woud be fine. He was all ready to tell Santa what he wants for Christmas -- a space shuttle. Annabelle, I wasn't so sure about. Last year, she cried for quite a while before we were finally able to get a decent picture. I was hoping this year would be different. It was. Although she wasn't thrilled to sit on Santa's lap, she didn't scream. She got all her screaming out while we waited in line. She wasn't really interested in smiling for the camera, but as long as she wasn't crying to get down, I was ok with it.

In line to see Santa -- Annabelle needed a pep talk. Jacob couldn't get there fast enough.

Jacob, as I expected, talked Santa's ear off about how he wanted a space shuttle for Christmas and how Annabelle was too little to tell him what she wanted. Santa greeted Jacob by saying, "Wow! Look how much you've grown!" I thought that was a nice touch. :)

We continued the night with a carousel ride and a few roasted marshmallows - except for Jacob, who likes his marshmallows "plain."

Back at home, Jacob and Annabelle are learning the real meaning of Christmas by playing with the Little People nativity set. It's one of the most popular toys at our house right now. They both play with it all the time. For some reason, baby Jesus seems to get misplaced quite often, so I constantly hear Annabelle saying, "Babe...Desus...go?" (Where did baby Jesus go?) When Jacob plays with it, he sounds like a preacher, telling the story and then ending with a talk about how much God loves everyone. Maybe he'll be a pastor one day. Who knows? A pastor... who also plays the drums in a band. :)

Thanksgiving 2010

Turkey, dressing (two kinds), mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato souffle, squash casserole, carrots, green beans, cranberry sauce, strawberry salad (a.k.a. the pink stuff), cucumber and fennel salad, pumpkin creme caramel, pumpkin cheesecake, apple pie -- another Thanksgiving dinner down in the books. Yum. I do love Thanksgiving.

This year, we celebrated the holiday at my parents' house for the first time in at least six years, if you can believe that!! I give my compliments to the chef for a fabulous meal. Daddy, you outdid yourself!! The food was absolutely amazing! Seriously, the turkey was the best I have ever tasted.

Jacob and Annabelle enjoyed their meal as well, especially Annabelle. I wasn't sure what either of them would eat because their tastes and appetites change on an hourly basis. I served each of them a sampler platter with a little of each dish on the plate. Jacob hardly touched any of the food, except for the "pink stuff," which is more like a dessert. His sister, on the other hand, ate almost an entire plate full of food -- a girl after my own heart. Annabelle seems to love Thanksgiving as much as I do.

My contribution to the meal was Paula Deen's Southern Cornbread Stuffing and a dessert I had never made before -- Pumpkin Creme Caramel. Heath found the recipe in a magazine and said, "We have got to make this!" Of course, when he said, "we" what he really meant was "you." I'm a sucker for anything pumpkin, so I obliged and tried out the new recipe. It was incredible (if I do say so myself). However, had I actually read the recipe before I decided to make this yummy-looking dessert, I probably would have opted to try something else. It was a little complicated, but well worth the effort.

We spent the better part of an hour being thankful (eating) for all the blessings God has so graciously poured out on our lives. Then, after dessert, came the clean-up -- my least favorite part of Thanksgiving...or any meal for that matter. We spent almost four hours in the kitchen washing pots and pans, storing leftovers, eating leftovers, rearranging the contents of the refrigerator to make room for leftovers, wiping counters, mopping the floor, eating more leftovers, rewiping counters, etc... It seemed like a never-ending cycle.

By the end of the day, we were all exhausted, not to mention, over-stuffed, but I wanted to do some black Friday shopping, so my mom and I headed out to Toys 'R Us. They opened at 10:00 PM. We got there at 11:00 PM. The line to enter the store was still wrapped around the shopping center and we were told it would be at least an hour before we even got close to the door. So, we hopped back into the car and drove over to the outlets instead, which were crowded, but much more accessible. We shopped a little, stood in line a lot, shopped a little more, stood in line a lot more. The lines may have been long, but we came away with some great deals. We went to a few other places afterwards and ended up arriving home around 9:00 AM. Whew. What a night! I'd like to think all the shopping helped me burn at least half the calories of that Thanksgiving meal, though. :)

It's a good thing I burned so many calories that night because the next day, we headed over to the Duncans' for more delicious Thanksgiving leftovers where I stuffed myself yet again. That's another thing I love about Thanksgiving -- the leftovers. Isn't it great to walk into the kitchen at any given moment and know that a whole smorgasbord of all of your favorite foods awaits? Haha...smorgasbord....that word just makes me laugh for some reason. :)

So, another Thanksgiving has come and gone. Now, it's full speed ahead to Christmas!

An Early Start

Every year, retailers push Christmas on us a little earlier. And every year, I complain about it. Ever heard of a holiday called T-h-a-n-k-s-g-i-v-i-n-g? Yes, I realize Thanksgiving may not be as big of a money maker as Christmas (except for grocery stores), but, c'mon. It's the pre-cursor to Christmas. It's the holiday that gets us thinking about family and friends and how much we love them. It's the holiday that makes us stop and think about how blessed we truly are...about how God has graciously given us so much. Counting our blessings leads us into the Christmas spirit. It makes us want to give back. God has blessed us with so much, why shouldn't we want to bless others? We need to take note and recognize this special holiday for what it is, giving thanks to God for all that we have and all He has done in our lives.


That being said........I've actually found myself "pushing" Christmas this year...just a little. I guess I'm just ready. Now, don't get me wrong. I am ALL ABOUT Thanksgiving. We are not forgetting Thanksgiving at our house. All month long, Jacob, Annabelle and I have been talking about Thanksgiving -- turkeys, pilgrims, Indians (Squanto, in particular), the Mayflower, being thankful, traditional Thanksgiving foods, etc... We LOVE Thanksgiving. But for some reason, I just couldn't wait to put up the Christmas tree.


So, our tree is up and decorated. It's the earliest it's ever been up at our house. I usually wait until the Thanksgiving festivities are over, but not this year. We set it up over the weekend and added decorations yesterday. I thought it might be fun for Jacob and Annabelle to help decorate, so I pulled out all the boxes of decorations and waited for naptime to end. Jacob was very enthusiastic about trimming the tree and immediately tore open boxes searching for his favorite ornaments to hang on the bare branches. Annabelle.....well......Annabelle's enthusiasm rivaled Jacob's, but she didn't care anything about hanging ornaments on that silly tree.



First, she dumped out several storage containers -- red, green, and silver Christmas balls...everywhere. Then she began taking them apart, one by one, removing the hooks and throwing them onto the floor where they got lost in the carpet. I attempted to divert her attention by showing her an ornament. She walked over to the Christmas tree and I taught her how to properly place an ornament on a branch. Jacob gave her a little lesson as well. Annabelle immediately ripped several ornaments off the tree and took off down the hall, laughing and squealing with delight. As I chased her through the house, hoping I could salvage at least a couple ornaments before they were destroyed, Jacob took off after me. "ANNABELLE!!!!!! WHY are you MESSING UP Christmas???" he yelled. "Can't you just be HAPPY???" My frustration level was at its peak, but hearing the complete exasperation in Jacob's voice made me giggle. His sister was "messing up Christmas" and he was going to do something about it!


As the afternoon progressed, the situation only got worse. Annabelle was dead-set on pulling off every ornament within her reach and Jacob was on a personal quest to save Christmas. The tone at our house was less like Christmas and more like World War III. After Annabelle climbed up onto the counter and broke the lid to my cherished snack jar (it came from my grandparents' house), I decided to call it a night...in terms of decorating. Whew.


As I swept up a million tiny shards of glass from the kitchen floor (the remains of my snack jar lid) and Jacob cried because "...now we don't have anything to keep our snacks in!", I debated even putting out anymore of our Christmas decorations. The tree has lights. Does it really need anything else? What about that Nativity set? Maybe it should just stay in the box this year. And that glass snowman platter? There's no way I'm setting that on the counter.


Well, today was a new day. I got up early and put the finishing touches on the tree. Jacob helped. Let's get real. Having a Christmas tree with no decorations was out of the question. I set up the nativity and put out that snowman platter (along with several other things). Annabelle slept until almost 11:00 this morning, allowing me plenty of time to decorate and store away all the now empty containers, not to mention, pick up all the hooks that she threw all over the floor.


Jacob couldn't wait to show his sister what we had done. He couldn't wait for her to see all the decorations, but he was also worried she would "mess up Christmas" again. Much to his surprise (and mine), we are well into the afternoon, and "Christmas" is still intact. A couple ornaments have disappeared throughout the day; we had a minor incident with some Christmas bears; and the time out corner has been visited several times......but don't worry, Jacob. Christmas is NOT messed up!


Besides.....it's not time for Christmas...yet. It's Thanksgiving. REMEMBER??? :)

School Update

Here's a post (mostly) for the grandparents, as I am sure you are curious to know what kinds of things Jacob has learned during these past 12 weeks.

So, what is Jacob learning? Well, I think the more appropriate question might be, "What isn't Jacob learning?" He's got all the basic subjects covered, plus a few more: history, science, math, art, music, reading, English grammar, geography, Latin, Bible.

Yes, we are twelve weeks into Classical Conversations and still, I am amazed at what Jacob is learning -- things like nominative pronouns, the 1st conjugation (pluperfect tense) of the latin verb "amo", the geographic locations of Constantinople / Istanbul, the European rivers,and mountain ranges, etc... It's incredible.

Even more incredible? He still loves it...everything about it. He loves reciting his memory verses. He loves learning the songs that help him remember his history sentences. He loves going to class on Tuesdays and he loves doing his show and tell presentations. Jacob says his favorite part of school is geography and "doing the timeline." By "doing the timeline," he means reviewing his timeline cards (160 flashcards that feature important historical events and people from creation to the present). And he is very good at geography. I give him a blank map and and a dry erase marker and he names and marks the European countries, cities, features, etc... He also knows the seven continents, four oceans and can point them out on a map. He learns about a different area of the world each week.

Jacob has now memorized 11 verses of the sixth chapter of Ephesians. We're working on verse 12 now. Yesterday, he asked me to make a video of him reciting his memory verses, so I obliged. I know it looks like he is reading, but he isn't. (He can read now, but not quite at the King James level :) ) He just likes to point to the verse number as he recites each one.

Hooked on Phonics is working out great for reading. Jacob enjoys the short cartoon lessons on the DVD and he gets excited when it's time to read another one of the little purple books. He actually likes doing work in his workbook too. Right now, we're working through the Kindergarten Level Two books. He's really zooming through this. I predict we'll be in the first grade books by Christmas.

Math-U-See is also going well. We have to wait until Annabelle takes a nap to pull out the math blocks because if we didn't, those little things would...be...everywhere. Although I haven't asked him, I think Jacob's favorite part of math is building numbers with the blocks. We spent the past couple weeks concentrating on place value, so he's been happy to finally use the giant hundreds blocks to build bigger numbers.

After Bible yesterday, we moved on to science:

Today, he learned about constellations. For his science craft, he made a little dipper that glows in the dark. As soon as we arrived home from school, he grabbed his little dipper out of his backpack, ran to the bathroom, closed the door and turned out the lights to see if it worked. It did.

Jacob looks forward to his show-and-tell presentations. Each week, his teacher assigns a different topic. This week's topic? Your favorite stuffed animal. Jacob has several and I honestly wasn't sure which one he would choose. We laid them all out on his bed and it didn't take him long to choose "E". Erika made this little monkey for Jacob and gave it to him for his birthday this year. He absolutely loves it!

For the first six weeks, the fine arts segment of Classical Conversations focused on drawing. Jacob learned about the basic elements of drawing -- things like basic shapes, mirror images, upside down images, abstract art, perspective, etc... For his final project, the children each drew a bird. They had to listen carefully to instructions from the teacher and copy what she drew on the board. Jacob did really well with it.

The past six weeks, he's been learning to play the tin whistle, which also involves music theory. He can look at a piece of sheet music and tell you what most of the symbols are and what they mean. He also expanded his vocabulary to include musical terms like symphony, harmony, cacophony, discord, legato, staccato, forte, and mezzo piano. As far as actually playing the tin whistle.......well........hmmmmm......let's just say he's better at the drums. :) BUT, he enjoys it. Today, in class, after playing his own special version of Mary Had A Little Lamb, Jacob announced, "Playing the tin whistle is fun, isn't it?!" I will say, he has definitely improved over these past couple weeks. And I'll admit, I can't play the tin whistle very well either. Jacob could give me a lesson or two. :)

I feel very fortunate that Jacob loves school so much. I never have to force him to do anything. In fact, sometimes, he is the one begging me to "do school." His desire to learn makes my job much easier. I'm sure there will come a day when he's not so "into it," but for now, I am certainly enjoying his eagerness and am trying my best to take full advantage of this time with my smart, precious, four year old student.

Two is the Magic Number

According to our pediatrician, there are certain foods children should avoid until a certain age. One of those foods is peanut butter. Doctors recommend children shy away from peanut butter until they reach the age of two years old. Jacob didn't have his first taste of peanut butter until a few days after his second birthday and I planned on following the same rule with Annabelle; but, with an active peanut butter eating two year old around, the rule becomes slightly more difficult to enforce. I know Annabelle has eaten peanut butter cookie crumbs dropped on the floor by her big brother and she also got into a bag of roasted peanuts once. She had several whole peanuts (shells and all) crammed into her mouth before I could reach her to stop the madness. Thank goodness, she never showed any signs of an allergic reaction. Despite these occurrences, I still waited until her second birthday to let her officially have her first taste of peanut butter.

The "first taste" was fairly uneventful. She ate it off the spoon, but didn't beg for more. I'm just glad she likes it. At least now I have another EASY lunch option to add to our menu. Annabelle, welcome to the delightfully delicious world of peanut butter!

Hmmmm...let me close my eyes and concentrate on what this stuff tastes like.

I think I like it.

Yeah, I like it! But, I like to play with this spoon even more!!

The other day, I overheard Jacob and Annabelle playing in the living room. They had arranged the big red blocks into a square and were sitting inside. I asked Jacob what they were doing and he said he and Annabelle were at their vacation house. "Do you want to come to our vacation house?" he asked. Before joining them inside, I ran to get the camera. When I returned, Jacob had apparently turned into a rap artist...or something. Check out his poses. Maybe he was pretending to be on an episode of CRIBS. After all, he was in his vacation house!

After they left their vacation home, they headed over to the bookshelf for a little reading time. I videoed them from around the corner, but Annabelle soon spotted me and turned on the "cheese."

I love these moments -- when they are actually playing together...and being nice to one another. No hitting. No slapping. No yelling. No biting. No kicking. Just having fun. I love those two little munchkins!!

More Adventures of Cowboy Sheriff and Little Cow

We weren't sure what to do or where to go Sunday evening, but we didn't want to stay home. We didn't really want to take the kids trick-or-treating and we weren't prepared to hand out candy to all the neighborhood children. So, we dressed Jacob and Annabelle in their costumes and headed out to......destination unknown.

We ended up at Rita's Italian Ice, first making a stop (at my request) at Starbuck's for a pumpkin spice latte. As we approached the door to Rita's, a lady yelled to us to come down to Piggly Wiggly because she had "something for the kids." We shuffled the cowboy sheriff and little cow down the sidewalk to see what that "something" was. She gave them each two little candy bars and two bags of pretzels. I realize that doesn't sound like much, but the cowboy and the little cow were thrilled. It doesn't take much to please a four and a two year old!

We got another pleasant surprise at Rita's. Since the kids were wearing costumes, they each got a free Italian ice! Then, later, Heath and I shared another FREE Italian ice -- pumpkin pie with vanilla custard. Yummmmm. We couldn't have chosen a better impromptu destination!

When we got home, the cowboy and little cow had a dance party. At our house, dance parties happen frequently...sometimes with music, sometimes without. Who needs music when you have Jacob? He's a human beatbox. He creates his own music. The funny thing is, Annabelle copies him. On many occasions, when we have sing-a-long time, I end up doing a Wheels on the Bus solo while Jacob and Annabelle dance around and make beatbox sounds. Where do they learn this stuff???

Earlier that day, Jacob chose a pack of Warheads as his after lunch treat. According to the package, these Warheads were extra sour. Jacob didn't seem to mind. He ate the entire bag, with the exception of the one piece I stole when he wasn't looking.

I know it doesn't seem like much of a treat, but Annabelle chose cheese for her dessert. I think it's the bright red wrapper that appeals to her. It opens like a piece of candy. Now, if only she always chose cheese over candy. Wishful thinking.......

Look Out World! Sheeeeeeeeee's Two!!

Hello, people!!!! I am two years old and I am ready for my Minnie Mouse party!!!!

Flashback to two years ago: I was waddling around our church's Trunk or Treat event helping my little astronaut (Jacob) play games and collect candy (mostly for me to eat). I joked about how all the walking, combined with excessive chocolate consumption, would send me into labor. As it turned out, my comments, made in jest, became reality. I began feeling contractions later that night. The next evening, at 8:41 PM, our little live wire made her grand entrance into the world. Annabelle has been running at full throttle ever since. Hmmmmmm...now that I think about it, perhaps all the chocolate and my insatiable craving for Texas Pete hot sauce had something to do with Annabelle's spunky personality. :)

So, here we are, two years later. I know I always talk about how wild and crazy she is, but Annabelle is the sweetest little thing. I love her so much. She is more fun than I could ever imagine. She's spontaneous. She's funny. She likes to make silly faces. She loves it when you spin her around and throw her up into the air. She LOVES sweets and can polish off a cupcake in record time. She has an infectious laugh. She likes to climb on ANYTHING. She likes to dance...on tables. She's messy. She doesn't mind getting dirty. She has an odd fascination with the toilet. She sucks her thumb when she's sleepy and carries around her most treasured posession, Minnie Mouse, upside down, by the leg. She practices very good oral hygiene, brushing her teeth no less than seven times per day. She still likes to be rocked before she goes to bed. She loves music and can play a mean air guitar. She loves animals and gets super excited even when she sees a dog. She can maneuver her way out of any high chair, booster seat, stroller, buggy, etc... She refuses to be tied down. She prefers running over walking, and jumping over running. She likes a good nap -- three hours everyday. She likes to play hard. She loves to slide. She has no fear. With Annabelle, each day is a new, exciting adventure and I thank God for blessing our family with this beautiful little girl.

I can't believe she's two already. She's growing up so fast. Everyday, she learns and says new words. She recently started saying, "No tat-you." (No thank you.)

Me: "Annabelle, please just take one more bite."

Annabelle: "No tat-you."

How cute is that? Pretty good manners for a two year old, huh? Unfortunately, those good manners seem to come and go. She's a little inconsinstent -- one minute she's saying , "No tat-you", the next, she's slapping her brother in the face....or even worse....biting him. Yes, folks, it appears we've got a biter on our hands. Like I've been saying, she is a feisty one!

To celebrate her birthday, we had a small, low-key party at the house with family and a few friends. Although, Annabelle is so high-energy, I'm not sure if you can call any party for her, low-key. :) The party's main event was painting with pudding. I knew Annabelle would love it. It's messy. It's colorful. And the best part? It's edible. She started out fingerpainting and ended up shoving handfuls of pudding into her mouth...and all over her face. What fun!! Jacob created a masterpiece a little at a time -- a little pudding on the paper....a little pudding in the mouth.

"Yook, Mommy!" (Look, Mommy!)

After the pudding paint, we let the kids play for a bit. They needed to burn off some of that sugar rush before round two: cake and ice cream.

Since she loves Minnie Mouse so much, I decided a couple months ago Annabelle should have a Minnie Mouse cake for her birthday. My fabulous friend, Erika, and I searched the internet for ideas and finally settled on what I think is now my favorite cake that we've made. We were especially excited to try out a new marshmallow fondant recipe. I'm so glad we decided to go with the fondant over the buttercream. We were very pleased with the finished product! THANK YOU, ERIKA for helping out again this year!!!! I would never attempt these cakes without you...not to mention....it would be really boring if I had to bake and decorate by myself.

Yes, that is a tear under Annabelle's eye. She and Jacob collided in the hallway just prior to the cake celebration. And, of course, that little collision left her with a bruise. I guess we can call it "the birthday bruise." After I turned the camera off, everyone kept encouraging Annabelle to blow out her candles. She heard the word "blow" and blew her nose instead. Eventually, she stopped blowing her nose and focused her efforts on the two candles. :)

Annabelle is a girl after my own heart. She loves cake and finished off her slice in a few short minutes.

After every last chocolate crumb was eaten, we moved on to the presents. She had plenty of help opening her gifts. After all, opening presents is fun...even if they aren't yours.

Until recently, Annabelle never really played with toys. She's always been more into running, jumping, and climbing. Now that she's two, she seems to play a little more. She loves to push buttons and likes anything that plays music. She also enjoys her baby dolls and especially likes to push them around in her new stroller and grocery cart.


So, we've officially crossed the line into what everyone calls, "the terrible twos." However, I am choosing to think a bit more positively. I will call it "the terrific twos." I mean, Annabelle is already a "spirited" child. How much more "spirited" can she possibly get? Hmmmmmm....I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Let the fun begin!!!!!