For Annie’s 4th birthday we started the celebration at Five Guy’s Burgers. We all wolfed down our burgers and fries in anticipation of yummy cake to be served at home. I had already pre-baked and frosted the base of the cake earlier in the day, but Daddy and Annie put the finishing touches on it together. A tiara was the main theme since Annie is such a cute princess. The cake was promptly eaten, and then it was time for opening presents. Rather than wrap a bunch of gifts, I decided to fill up Annie’s brand new Tinkerbell backpack with the goodies in all the various pockets. Consider it a “back-to-school” sort of theme. Annie soon discovered in the pockets/pouches that she received a princess jacket, birthday t-shirt, headphones, box of chalks for the rarely used chalkboard, Barbie Princess coloring book, drawing pad, Thumbelina cartoon dvd, and LeapPad learning system. I’m especially excited about the LeapPad thingy (Annie doesn’t know it yet, but she is, too.) because it aids in the learning of reading/writing/math skills/etc. {I hope that it will help keep her busy on our upcoming plane trip. It has an outlet for earphones; hence, the reason for headphones as a gift. I also got Mimi a pair of headphones, so she can watch the DVD player on the plane. I wonder if I will get a moment of peace.} Anyway, Annie seemed to really enjoy her birthday and all the gifts she received. She also got some money from Grandma Indiana and Grandpa Minnesota and an envelope of goodies from Grandma Minnesota (which we forgot to give her–we’ll have another celebration the next day), and birthday cards from anuts and uncles. Thanks so much for thinking of her. When you get a chance, take a look at the pictures from the “event” on the memories page under “Annie’s B-day 2007“.

Today is the day my little, princess turns 4. She has been reminding everyone daily since she heard us slip up again and mention it. I’m very proud of the human being I’ve created. Annie is making so much progress in her kid skills, education, and sense of humor (a must in this household). I will post pictures after her birthday “party” tonight. It will only be the four of us, but we’ll party just the same. All day today Annie has been carrying around a pink, gift bag that she found in a closet. In it is an assortment of objects that she’s going to use to decorate her party and bake her cake. The bag has accompanied us everywhere including Office Depot.

Not one to leave anyone out, I’ll mention Mimi as well. Her little personality is so cute. She’s adopted the crossed-dressed crocodile as her baby. Mimi shows no prejudice in her love for others. Various letters from the alphabet are finally starting to inhabit her memory. Now instead of every letter being “E”, “H” is also making appearances. But seriously, Mimi does seem to be making lots of progress in this area. Oh, she also did something that I thought was cute. She brought over her empty snack baggy and proclaimed with much glee, “Mommy, I ate my snack all gone!” I don’t know why I thought this was so adorable, but I immediately picked her up gave her big hugs and kisses. Of course, Mimi was up for it, too:~)

Annie has a new, favorite song and is asking to hear it constantly. It’s called “Toast” by Heywood Banks. However, sometimes her little brain gets mixed up and she requests, “Bread”. This song was a favorite of Mike’s when he was younger, and I about died when it came on XM Kids a few weeks ago. I immediately hit the record button. Now each time we’re in the car Annie begs to hear it over and over. When bread is part of meal, Annie also makes sure to ask for toast and then adds, “YEAH, TOAST!” Just thought I’d share since I’m hearing about it persistently around here (this isn’t as good as the radio version, but it’s acceptable).

In other news, Annie has been greeting me each morning with items she plans to pack for the trip. All these items will, of course, fit into her Dora backpack.You don’t have to remind me that we were silly to slip up and tell Annie about the upcoming trip.

Help me! My husband is trying to kill me! The other day Mike was talking to our German neighbor who happened to invite us on a little adventure on Columbus Day Weekend. Apparently, he, his girlfriend, and her kids have taken a liking to taking bike trips with camping in between. The place they like to go has 185 miles worth of trails. So what I heard from this: biking all day, camping at night, 185 miles. And, Mike thinks this is a great idea. Evidently, in the almost 10 years of marriage Mike really doesn’t know me that well. I can barely bike to/from our house to the neighborhood park. I’ll let you know what the verdict ends up being.

Last month I co-hosted a baby shower for Trang. I was in charge of the cake, favors, decorations. The theme was nautical since Trang is having a boy and has decorated the nursery this way. Here are a couple of pictures of my craftiness (Mike helped with the cake, Trang made the origami boats for the cake):

Last weekend we attended Geo’s birthday party (a friend from Mike’s work). The girls were invited as well, and they had a blast running around with the other kids all night. The event was catered by Guapo’s fajitas. It was wonderful! Of course, cake was involved as well. YUM! I was assigned to be photographer for a bit. Here a few pictures from the festivities:

This is what I was greeted with one morning. Annie was proudly showing me how she dressed up her “baby”. The croc minus the dress was a gift from Uncle Tiger. What comes to my mind is how is this crocodile feeling? He looks embarrassed and maybe even confused. Should I even refer to him as a male anymore? Annie is all about being girly and making everything around her girly. This poor thing had no way of escaping it. Sorry, Uncle Tiger, for defaming what represents Louisiana: gruff and tuff crocodiles.

We were in the car the other day listening to a mix disk that is a combination of mommy and kid songs. While c.d. was transitioning from “Ladybug Picnic” to “Starlight” by Muse Annie exclaimed, “I like this song!” I aked for clarification, “‘Ladybug Picnic’?” “NO! This one,” Annie corrected me. How is it possible that an almost 4-year-old prefers grownup music to silly kids’ stuff? Maybe I should avoid having her listen to my music anymore. She’s growing up way too fast.

Is it just Annie or do other kids her age talk non-stop? I made a meal for a family from church who just had a baby the other day. While cooking it I happened to mention that part of the meal was a new family with a baby. So there it began, the endless questioning. Below are just some of the actual questions thrown my way, most likely asked more than one time. Now keep in mind, I’ve never seen or heard anything about this baby.

1. What’s the baby’s name?
2. Is it a boy or a girl?
3. What color is his hair?
4. What color is the baby’s house?
5. What color is the baby’s car?
6. What is the baby’s mommy’s name?
7. What is the baby’s daddy’s name?
8. What color are his eyes?
9. Does he look like his mommy or daddy?
10. Does he have a garage at his house? {Yes, she really asked this question.}

After either attempting to answer or avoid answering her incessant questions I finally told her not to ask anymore questions regarding the baby? Did she stop? Are you kidding me!!

Apparently, Mimi has developed a phobia for bugs. The other day while in the backyard Mimi started screaming as if she were being attacked by pack of hungry wolves. I run over to see what’s happening. A mosquito had landed on her. Yes, that was it. Granted, I despise mosquito bites as much as getting a paper cut, but her reaction was a bit much. Other than that, Mimi is quite a cute kid. The other day I caught her during naptime in the playroom being quiet as a church mouse. The little sneak. I’ve also been working on teaching her the letters. So far everything is “E” to Mimi. I try not to compare her to Annie who already knew all her letters by her 2nd birthday, but it’s hard to not get a teensy bit frustrated. It will happen one day, I know.