Meimei's Visit

A couple of weeks ago one of my mission companions came to visit!  The kids were so excited to meet their godmother, Meimei, and she did not disappoint. Both kids adored her (possibly to the point of annoying).  She and her mom have been sending the kids presents literally since they were born. This post is evidence (at the bottom).

It was SO fun to be with her again - I haven't seen her since China! She's been studying at BYU-H for a few years (she actually graduated, but still lives there because her husband is still there), and unfortunately we haven't made it to Hawaii, so she came to us. I wish I had more pictures, but I kind of slacked off in that department.

We visited the Church history sites one day, went to an RPO concert in Kodak Hall, visited Niagara Falls (where she did some missionary work with a couple of Chinese guys we met - it was so fun to be companions again), and had a delicious REAL Chinese meal she made (not akin to Panda Express). It was fantastic! We love Meimei!

Pirates :)

Annie got invited to a pirate birthday party the other day so we bought some bandannas for the kids, put on their St. Patrick's Day parade beads, and taught them to say "Arrrr!" Pretty cute pirates if you ask me. 

Annie's 4th Birthday

Annie turned 4 this month. We stretched the celebrations out over almost a whole week. On her actual birthday we started off the day with pumpkin pancakes with the spray whipped cream and syrup. She's been asking for this breakfast for her birthday for about a month. I set the table before I went downstairs to run. I put the red "You are special" plate at Annie's spot. When I came upstairs, James was sitting at his spot with the red plate moved in front of him. He looked at me and said defiantly, "My birthday!" I couldn't get him to say happy birthday to Annie until about 5 that night. I think I read the A Birthday for Frances book to the wrong child. Annie was so excited for James on his birthday.

Sadly, Brad had to leave early that day, so he wasn't there for the daytime festivities. After breakfast we went to the museum and Annie got to choose to go on the train or the merry-go-round. She initially wanted the merry-go-round, but then reconsidered because "James would probably like the train better, so let's go on the train". Love it! She's really been a peach lately. Brad and I both feel like she's really turned a corner as far as behavior. She still has opinions, but she's pretty amenable to being obedient, and just very sweet with us and with James. It's been a pleasure to be her mom lately (I've always loved being her mom, but it's so much easier when she's so good)!

After lunch she got to go to pre-school. There probably couldn't have been a better birthday present than having her birthday be on a pre-school day. She adores her classmates and teachers. She took in pink cupcakes to share.


That night we had pesto pasta and presents. Michael joined us, which is always a highlight for the kids. We gave Annie a bike for her birthday! I think it's a toss up who was more excited about that gift - Annie or me. She's been a little too big for her trike for a few months now, and this bike should transition well to when she legitimately rides a bike (currently it has training wheels on it).

 

We had a friend party a few days later. I kept it VERY low key. We ordered Little Caeser's pizza, had oranges and carrots, and popcorn and watched a movie. We ate a pink strawberry cake (nasty! in my opinion, but she loved it) with lemon frosting and real strawberries on top. 

We love Annie! She is such a joy! Like I said, I feel like she's in a particularly easy stage right now and it's blissful to me. She is a sponge. She listens to everything we say and absorbs it. She has a very sweet testimony. She is always full of funny things to say. My current favorite came a day or two after her birthday celebrations. We just finished reading her Charlotte's Web and at dinner one night she said, "I wish we could have a pig. But not a pig and a spider because then the spider would save the pig, and I like bacon!" 

Happy Golden Birthday James!

On March 2 James had his golden 2-year old birthday. Overall, I'd say he was pretty delighted with the day. At first I'm not sure he understood that all the celebrations were for him, but unfortunately we did a great job of helping him understand that fact by the end of the day. So well that when I said something to Annie about her upcoming birthday at breakfast this morning, he said, "No. My birthday." Shoot.

(Note: We DO NOT eat this much junk everyday.)
We started out the morning with waffles with ice cream and berries and/or syrup. So delicious! I've been craving it for over a week now. My brother called during breakfast prep and when I handed James the phone, James quickly yelled, "Happy birthday!" He was getting in the swing of things.

Annie actually had a birthday party for a friend (we seem to know an unusual number of people born on March 2) in the morning, so Brad and I took James on a trip to the Museum of Play all by himself. He almost didn't know what to do with himself without Annie dictating where he go at every minute. Since it was a special occasion, he even got to ride the choo-choo train with Daddy.

We asked him what he wanted for lunch and he responded, "Uh bagel. Uh donut." And since he was the birthday boy, he got a bagel and a donut. As did Annie. (We forced bananas at this point as well.)

During his nap, Brad, Annie and I created this choo-choo train cake masterpiece. But after making (and tasting multiple times) the frosting and decorating with loads (literally . . . haha) of candy, I couldn't stomach the thought of eating it when the time came. I was all sweeted out. Luckily James was not.

Michael came over for dinner. We opened presents first and then had some pizza for dinner. And of course, finished the day with cake. :)

James is such a wonderful boy! He's definitely entered the terrible twos (his nursery leader told me he's started terrorizing the other kids, when he'd always been one of the easy ones), but even in this stage, he still has a remarkably tender side. For example, when he opened his present from Michael which had lots of candy, he immediately took one for himself and walked one over to Annie. He adores Annie. When I visited Elizabeth in California, I had to wake James up from a nap, and in his totally groggy state his first words were, "I go Annie!" He is still super fun-loving. One of his favorite things to do with Brad right now is have Brad hold him and jump in a circle. He is learning to count, mostly because he LOVES to play hide'n'seek with Annie. He usually skips several numbers, but it's pretty cute. He is obsessed with brushing his teeth. He should have the best oral hygiene of any two-year old out there. He loves singing and does really well remembering the words AND actions to lots of songs. My favorite is when we do "5 little monkeys swinging in a tree" because he puts his hands way far apart to do the snap part. He is generally pretty tough - well at least he wants nothing more for a bonk than a kiss and it's all better. And he's super polite. He says thank you to me all the time unsolicited. This may be a funny place to record this, but since this is my record, here goes. He really seems to love the Savior already. He loves to point him out in pictures and things, but one day when he was doing that, I really had an impression that he would have a strong love of the Savior throughout his life. We love him and can't imagine our family without him!