At the end of January, our little Annie Mae turned four. Four! While all of our children's birthdays are special to us, Annie's is particularly memorable because her actual birth day was so unique. Here we are eating the overnight baked french toast we shared the morning after she was born.
She was born with a wild head of hair, and not much has changed since. Here it is brushed and dried after a favorite pastime--swimming at the Northwest Rec Center.
A gal after my own heart, she always asks for the shower to be "burn hot--turn my toes red."
Other current loves: playing with play dough, building houses for her Little People with magnatiles, watching Umizoomi, and reading Clifford stories. Of course, nothing in the world matches her love for stuffed animals. At any given moment, her bed is overrun with at least a dozen. Speaking of beds, this toddler bed was her main present from us. Since the move, she'd been sleeping on a mattress in our room, so as soon as she saw the toddler bed she asked if she could move it in with Mom and Dad. Fortunately, she's adjusted pretty well to sharing a room with Talia and Eli.
NomiAnn made the awesome bedset pictured above and even gave Annie this cute doll with handknit clothes. But the present Annie was most excited about? A stuffed blue whale that was included as an afterthought.
Grandma Susie and Grandpa Charles drove down from Logan to help us celebrate Annie's special day. We made lasagna and they contributed this amazing salad, plus the cutest little owl dress for the birthday girl.
In case you forgot, Annie is four!
After dinner we invited over some friends to share our teddy bear birthday cake. As you can see, the ear suffered some major trauma. I stayed up until 2:00 in the morning baking and frosting this carrot cake supreme. I was just putting it away when the whole cake started to slide and I bear-ly caught it. So, so sad!
Fortunately I was able to do some reconstructive surgery in the morning with a new batch of frosting. The only real give-away is the ear's different shade of purple.
Getting ready to blow out candles on the cake. Joining in the fun were Annika's friends Lizzie, Tommy, Joshua, and Aven.
Our birthday celebrations officially ended with a preschool Teddy Bear Tea Party for T-week. Sipping apple juice from china with our teddy bear companions was so fun!
Annika, hanging out with you as a four year-old is delightful. I absolutely love how imaginative and creative you are. You have a spunky sense of humor (like when you ask me my name and then insist I am wrong), and you dream big (like when you asked me today for a zebra.) A stranger to no one, you are skilled at engaging everyone you meet in conversation, regardless of age, gender, or race (like when you chatted with a dark-skinned teenage boy for five minutes today until he lost his tough demeanor and broke out in a broad smile.) After all, who can help but grin at the tiny girl who runs up to them and says "What's your name? I'm Annie. How old are you? Can I pet your dog?" The best part of all is that you end most conversations by turning to me and saying, "Mom, I made a friend!"
I made a friend too, Annie, the day you came into our lives. So glad you're here. Happy birthday.
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