Our sweet baby girl is two this week!  Wow!  Anna is quickly developing into a sweet, funny, kind, polite, and sometimes strong-willed little girl.  We love what she adds to our family and are so thankful for her.

When asked all kinds of questions to plan her birthday party, the answers we continued to get were “yellow” and “pink”.  Everything is pink and yellow right now which is really cute.  We had a family birthday party with pink and yellow decorations, and served homemade pizzas, salad, and juice.  She LOVES pizza, so that was an easy choice, and when asked about drinks, she answered “juice”.  We finished off the night with yellow cupcakes with pink frosting.

Big brother was having a little issue with the fact that only sister would be receiving gifts, so in hopes of smoothing that over, I invited him to come with me and pick out a present for Anna just from him.  It actually did help.  After looking at toys, dollies, books, etc., James really had his heart set on getting her a little pink ironing board and iron.  So cute. He was so grown up about it…put the box into the cart himself, handed it to the checker, and helped me wrap it.  For days he’d ask when was it time for Anna to open her gift.  And, she LOVED it, of course.  It’s a permanent fixture in our living room right now, and hopefully next week when I iron, she’ll be right there beside me.

Anna, you are such a sweet little blessing from God.  We love you so much!  You LOVE your big brother, James, and enjoy being near him most of the day.  You have learned so many wonderful things from him already.  Your vocabulary is really taking off now.  You know SO many words and many of them are turning into two and three word sentences! What a big girl!  You have a wonderful sense of humor already at two.  When we ask you questions, you sometimes will give us the wrong answer on purpose, get a funny little smile, and laugh.  You know when something is silly.  And, your manners, my sweet girl, are incredible.  You are quick to use “please”, “thank-you”, and “no thank-you”.  We are so happy about that.  Just another thing you’re learning from James.

You enjoy being read to and looking at books yourself.  You are starting to love coloring, too.  You enjoy “working” in the office with James at your little table.  You love your pink bear and little baby doll with the hat, and need them in your crib every time you sleep.  You get your “ni-night” (pacifier), your bear and doll tucked under each arm, and then your blanket to cover up with.  You have a system for sleeping and it’s so cute.  Everything has to be just right.  You also love “talking” on your pretend phones.  Actually, you’ll pretend anything is a phone…a calculator, remote, pretty much anything.  You walk around the house pacing and talking just like mom and dad do.  So funny that you’ve picked that up from us.

You love to sing and are learning some actions for “Jesus Loves Me” right now.  When we pray together, you fold your hands and bow your head.  And, when asked to pray at the dinner table, you always agree, and repeat some key words: Jesus, thank-you, food, love you, Amen.  What a big girl.  We are so proud of you for learning these important things.

Anna girl, we love you and pray this coming year is a special one for you.  We love watching you grow and become the little girl God has planned for you to be!