Take 2: Anna's 2nd Birthday

Well, I'm not sure what happened with that last post - all pictures, no words! I guess that's what happens when tired Mama is working on the blog at 11:30 p.m. :). Oh well! Here are a few words to go with those birthday party pics!

Anna had an Elmo birthday party this year.  Elmo is her favorite these days...even more than baby dolls.  So to greet her guests, we made this Big Bird to stand by the door, welcoming everyone in.   

Other random Sesame Street props:

Her favorite ~ Elmo balloon wreath. She would point to Elmo and say "Anna", then point to Cookie Monster and say "Ben".  I don't have a clue why, but she pointed to it and smiled a lot, so that made me happy!

Giant Elmo / chevron birthday cake.  I loved the little lamp post on the side.  I wish I could say I made it, but I did not ;)

 

Our baby is TWO!

These brownie pops were Anna's favorite, even more than the cake.  I must have found ten of these, randomly scattered around after the party with the icing licked off, brownie still intact.  Culprit:  Anna Banana.

I had the best time making these favor buckets.  After the party, everybody picked their favorite Sesame Street character and filled their pails with goodies from the buffet ~ bouncy balls, Gold Fish, pinwheels, silly straws....you would have thought they won the lottery, ha!

Down in the basement is where all the fun was to be had....Abby's Dress-Up station was a hit, even with the boys!

We also made a Cookie you could feed cookies, and Oscar's Tattoo Parlor.  Anna and Ben had at LEAST eight Sesame Street character tattoos on their arms when it was all over!

Cake time!

Somebody had a great day!

The whole gang! (Almost....impossible to wrangle every single toddler, ha!)

We love our Anna Boo so much....there are just no words for how precious she is to us!  Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!!

 

Hilton Head 2013

This summer, we went to Hilton Head again on vacation.  It was a really fun trip....Grandmama and Grandaddy went with us; both Mason and Chandler happened to have friends down there at the same time to hang out with; and we had bikes this time ~ fun, fun trip!

This trip was extra special because Ben's birthday happened to fall during that week.  Beachy birthday celebrations were had!

 

Ben is 4!

 Daddy taught Ben how to ride the waves ~ first time ever!

 

Fishing with Bobo...

Mommy and Anna

Ben and Anna's favorite thing to do was play in the waves.  Here they are, having a big time!!

 

Ben and Mason

Ben and Chandler

 

This beach trip was extra fun with Grandmama and Grandaddy there!

 

Our little bumblebee :)

The big excitement one day was a real sailboat ride for Mark and Chandler.  They took it out all by themselves with another dad and son, and actually had a Man Overboard situation!  It was all in fun, though, and everyone made it back safe...whew!

 

Cutie pies!

I adore this picture!!

And we wrapped up a fun week with a family bike ride to the General Store for ice cream! 

 

Kachow! Ben is 4

Last month, Big Ben turned four!  He has really liked the Cars movies with Lightning McQueen and Mater for a long time now, so we had a Cars Pool Party.  Mater + swimming = 2 of his favorite things :)

The Whole Gang!

Besides the cool cake with an edible Lightning McQueen on top (Ben wanted a "tall cake"), one of the highlights was this ballon stop light!!  Ben is crazy about stop lights and checks them out everywhere we go.  After the party, we took it off the pole and hung it up in his room ~ so fun!

Most definitely, though, the most fun Ben had was swimming with his brothers in the pool :)

Happy Birthday, Ben!

Lots of his friends and family came ~ we must have had 50 people there!  Grandmama and Grandaddy came, and Meme and Pop, Grandaddy and Mrs Alice even came all the way from Gastonia!  What a great birthday!!  We love our Ben and are so thankful for him :)

 

Ben (Age 4) and Great Grandaddy Dunn (Age 89)

Happy Birthday, Baby Anna!

Happy Birthday to our sweet Baby Anna!!

Where has this year gone?  I'm not sure, but I do know it was such a sweet, precious time.  Our little Anna absolutely captured our hearts with her beautiful smile, easy-going attitude, and sweet snuggles and cuddles!

She loves to dance to music, and bee bops with her head whenever she hears a tune :)  Anna laughs a ton, especially at Ben and Daddy!  She's growing up and gaining independence...lately, she has decided that she will NOT wear a bow in her hair!  Oh no :(  I sure hope that's just a passing phase.  She helps me dress her by holding up her feet when it's time to put each shoe on, and pulling and tugging her shorts off for a diaper change.

Anna on the morning of her birthday...having a tea party with her best friend Bunny :)

Another tooth came through this month, and with it came a LOT of early morning wakings.  Mark and I started taking turns getting up with her between 5-6 a.m., until one day by accident she went to bed an hour later and just like that...she slept an hour later!!  Normally, wake up times haven't changed, or have only gotten worse, with a later bedtime.  Thank goodness for that late night, though!  She's now sleeping from 8:30 p.m.- 7:00 a.m...whew!

Apparently, Ben is not a fan of Anna's driving!

A huge change for Anna and Mommy this month was the end of our nursing journey.  It was a sweet, special time, and I'm super proud of us both for making it a whole YEAR!  Anna, being the wonderful, flexible baby she always is, switched over the the bottle just fine.  And, we still get lots of snuggle time in when she's drinking a bottle four times a day.

Anna's favorite trick right now is blowing kisses ~ it is so stinking precious!

Of course, we celebrated her first birthday in style with a "Lady Bug" themed party :)  On the actual day of her birthday, though, our family went to Winged Deer park for a fun picnic. 

Fun times with Chandler :)

** Daddy Love **

We love you so much, our Baby Anna!  Happy Birthday!

Ben's 3rd Birthday, Continued!

(Oops!  Looks like the post accidentally published before it was finished.  It wouldn't be complete without the big yellow bus and blowing out candles:)  Sorry to send duplicate emails, but the post is complete now!)

After everyone played a while, it was time for a ride on the bus - whoo hoo!!  Ben was a little apprehensive at first, but once everyone got on he had a ball! 

Here are all the kiddos!

Hank, Ben, and Chandler

This was the best picture we could possibly get with 10 toddlers, ha!

Finally, time to eat cake!  Check out Ben's school bus cake!!  He was so excited :)

Parting gifts for our guests ~ school bus goodie bags, of course!





 Happy Day for All!