Happy Birthday Annie!

Annie turned 5 this week! It blows my mind that I have a 5-year old. We had lots of plans for the day, but most of them went awry because winter decided to drop one HUGE (and final - I hope) snowstorm on us. It literally blizzarded (not a word, but that's what it did) from 9 am to 7 pm. EVERYTHING got closed. We'd planned on going to the museum in the morning but it wasn't safe to drive. We were going to have friends over, but that didn't work out because of the snow. She was supposed to take cupcakes to her class, but school was cancelled. Several of her non-Whipple Park friends let us know they wouldn't be able to be there for the party, but I think Annie had heard "cancelled for snow" one too many times, so we didn't change the party.

This is making it sound like a bad day - it wasn't. It just wasn't the day we planned. We had a fun breakfast with a very tired, post-night shift daddy. We opened presents. The kids took a bath and did those fun sponge things. They rode their scooters all over the house. Then Annie got to help make things for the party. We had lots of fun with her friends that could come. It was a fairly eclectic party, but the activities were chosen by Annie. We decorated bunny masks, had a cake walk, played "pin the crown on the princess", and button button. We had cake and presents. Overall quite a success.

Annie is wonderful! Several times over the last few weeks I've had moments where I'm floored by how much I love this little girl. She is a great big sister - a role she takes very seriously. She and James play, laugh, and fight all day long. When it comes to Kate, she is nothing but sweet. She begs to hold her and is really good at making her smile and playing with her. I really do trust Annie to help me with Kate when she's grouchy or tired. Several times, I've felt that Annie and Kate will be very close. Annie is a very loyal family member. She loves to know about anything going on in her cousins', uncles', aunts', or grandparents' lives. She cares about all of them very deeply. Nothing is better to her than skyping with family. She and James would do it all day long. The other day we'd called Bobbie's family to skype and in the middle of it James had an accident upstairs, so while I was cleaning that up, Kate (her cousin) and Annie had a playdate over skype - complete with stuffed animals. It was the perfect entertainment. She seems to be really connected to her ancestors as well. She really loves all of her great-grandparents and loves to learn stories about her other ancestors. Annie's mind has always amazed me. She is constantly figuring things out - and she'll tell me so. If I ask her how she knows something a frequent response I get is, "I was just thinking about it in my head." She's done that with division on multiple occasions. And she is still a sponge. Anything she hears is sure to be regurgitated sooner or later. We've been doing "learning time" every morning and her reading is getting better and better. Annie has a deep desire to do what's right. She loves the gospel and will do just about anything she can to choose the right.