Look who's TWO!

Crazy as it seems, we now have a 2 year old in our house! Annaliese's birthday was much more casual than last year, in part because of the craziness of our life at this time and in part because I am just tired and didn't want to plan anything big. That does not mean, however, that we didn't spread out her birthday over at least a week! 

The birthday fun started with a visit from Grandma Kelley last weekend. She came to help us pack (more on that in a later post) and, of course, to see little miss Annaliese again. Annaliese quickly caught on to the whole concept of opening presents!

 Showing off her new shoes!

Thank you hug for Grandma!

 Grandma also brought along a gift from Auntie Sarah, Uncle Jon, Reed, and Kieran

Annaliese is a HUGE fan of the tunnel!! 

The birthday festivities continued with a trip to Washington to see Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks...we had to check out their new house, celebrate Thanksgiving, and have a baby shower for Auntie Kelsey and we thought now was a good to time for it all! (Again, a future post will be coming with more pictures from that trip!)

Thankfully Grandma H. was on top of things, so I was able to make Annaliese a birthday cake and we had a special birthday dinner. 

 Apparently we didn't really get any other pictures:(

On Monday, which was actually Annaliese's birthday, she was pretty worn out from the travels home the day before; and I, unfortunately, had to work for most of the day. But I was home in time for dinner; while we were prepping the food, Annaliese picked up the beaters for the mixer and said "I want to bake." Since there wasn't much in the house, our baking options were very limited, but I did find a package of instant pudding that she could stir (that was her second request!), but it was pistachio flavored and she was not impressed by the green color! In fact, she wouldn't even try it!

 Opening her package...it's an adorable little purse! As soon as she saw the tissue paper wrapping, she kept saying "It's cute. It's cute!" And today she's been walking around with it over her arm! Thanks Mark and Penny!

 And Grandma Kelley and Grandpa Jay sent a box as well...with this fabulous puzzle! It's also been a big hit!

A big thank you to everyone for helping to celebrate Annaliese and the precious little girl that she is! We are constantly amazed at how she is growing and learning new things, how her personality is developing, and how she is so quick to laugh and smile! We are truly blessed to be her parents!!