A Birthday Party

Yesterday, Sadie turned two. She woke up in the wee hours of the morning in order to go potty, and never quite settled back to sleep, so she spent the day a little bit sleepy and snuggly. I had made whole wheat cinnamon rolls the night before (our family birthday morning tradition) and those baked while the girls and I sipped our morning decaf tea and let Erik sleep in. :) We had decorated her chair with pink ribbon and placed a construction paper crown and her present at her place. When Erik came downstairs, we shared breakfast with "Princess Sadie," and let her open the gift -- a collection of Paddington Bear stories.

After early naps and a family run in the afternoon, Sadie's friends came to celebrate with us. Three other families brought the child count to nine -- not including three-week old Megan, who slept soundly in her carseat throughout the whole party. The kids made teddy bear puppets, ate homemade pizza, ran around wildly through the house (our house is great for running in circles), and then sang "Happy Birthday" while Sadie got a little help from Mommy to blow out the candles on her teddy bear cake. She was pretty mellow... preferring to cuddle Mom or Dad rather than chase her friends. But she did like her cake - pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting. Yum!

She loved the refurbished antique doll bed from Nana. It's adorable, and was the perfect present. Twice today, she has tucked baby Faith in bed and sang, "Jesus Loves Me" to her sleepy doll. Now, we have four "daughters" to tuck in their cozy beds at each nap or bedtime, since Elisa's doll Abby sleeps in the old American Girl doll bed I saved up for as a girl living in this same house! She also made a grand production of tucking Grandma and Grandpa's stiff and shiny $2 bill in her piggy bank, and wearing the new fuzzy clothes from Uncle Adam and Aunt Kristen.


Blowing out the candles!

"See cake again, Mama. See cake," was the afternoon refrain.

Plates of pizza and lots of little girls. Believe it or not, nine girls and one lone and brave little man.

This is actually from today, but I am not good at rearranging the pictures I upload. Erik went for a long run in the snow this afternoon, and came back with a frozen beard, and in Sadie's words, "Covered snow, Dad. All-covered snow."

Happy Birthday!

Things we love about our Sadie --

~She is silly.
~She is sweet.
~She is a snuggly girl.
~She can say her ABCs (most of the way through; she tends to skip HIJK and go straight to LMNOP)
~She can sing entire songs unprompted, and dances with actual rhythm.
~She is timid about new experiences, but usually loves them. For instance, walking in the snow!
~When you give her correction, she cocks her head and says, "Oh," or "Sorry," and then (usually) changes her behavior.
~She is sensitive and receptive to instruction. She definitely has a hint of Wachob stubbornness, but the times of outright rebellion to our direction are few.
~She adores her big sister. If Elisa is still napping when she wakes up, she asks repeatedly to go "wake up sissy, please." However, she has also been known to pinch her big sister when big sister is not responding as she would like. We're working on that one.
~She loves "God-books," and will actually leaf through my devotionals and Bible for quite some time with interest.
~She is excited to be a big sister. When I weaned her a few months ago, I told her she had to stop nursing because the baby in my tummy needed the milk. She instantly stopped, and will often reach down my shirt and remind herself, "Mommy's milk, for baby." That might be more info than you wanted, but I think it's darling.
~She is becoming a more adventurous eater. In fact, tonight, she ate a tiny piece of banana pepper off Daddy's salad. Even I won't eat that! Her favorite foods are still waffles, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, pizza, and peanut butter - on anything.
~She loves her big girl bed, and has made that transition seamlessly.

We celebrate you, little two-year-old!