Annie is 8 Months Old!!

Yesterday Annie turned 8 months old! I still can't believe we are getting closer to 1 year. Here is what our Annie girl is up to right now!

Annie is still a very, very good baby. She is patient and happy most of the time. However, my once great sleeper has gone away lately! She used to either not get up at night or only get up once and now she gets up either 3-4 times or not at all! And she has not been falling asleep on her own (I used to be able to put her down drowsy but still awake). She needs me to rock her until she is ALL the way asleep and then she only sleeps for about 25 minutes. I think it's a combination of a few things: teething, a bad runny nose and she's trying to figure out this crawling and standing up business! Yes the past week she has been trying to pull herself up on things, without success, but still....as if right?!!

Annie eats 2 solid meals a day. Usually oatmeal with a vegetable for lunch and then oatmeal with a fruit for dinner. She also loves to snack on Cheerios, Puffs and yogurt melts. Her favorite food is still pears, she loves it when we smash them up and feed her, LOVES! She isn't picky about anything though. She usually nurses in the morning and at night and then takes a couple bottles during the day.

This past week she finally figured out that she can sleep on her side and one night we went in to see her sleeping on her tummy!!! She loves her purple blanket and most recently a little pink lovie monkey. She gets really excited for story time and wants to touch and feel and taste every page!! She loves getting her goodnight kisses from Mark, Elizabeth and Daddy. She gives Daddy the biggest smiles ever when he gets home from work! Annie still loves to 'sing' herself to sleep, it cracks me up every single time! I sing a few songs to her...Somewhere over the Rainbow, You are my Sunshine, lots of Primary songs, Paper Moon and for some reason Just the Way You Look Tonight always gets in my head at bed time!

Annie is a very, very social baby. She loves being in the midst of all the action, loves watching other people, and loves playing and scooting around on her bum! She can get down to her tummy without face planting so when she really wants something she'll do that, but usually not. She LOVES to bang things together and the day of the twins party she started clapping!!!!! It is SO CUTE!

We just love our little Annie. She truly is a ray of sunshine in our home and is always, always, always making us smile!! We love you baby girl!!

Annie, are you seriously trying to pull yourself up on the couch?! Yes!!!

Party Like a 2 Year Old!!!!

The day after the twins birthday we had a Pancake Pajama Party!!!!!! I made a simple invitation on card stock asking people to join us for pancakes, bring their favorite stuffed animal or blanket and a dollar or two to donate to the Make A Wish Foundation. I stuffed it inside these little....well they started out as pillowcases but ended up looking more like, sleeping bags?? I don't really know! It was one of those things that looked cuter in my head then in real life. I got a lot of compliments though, so I guess the point was made! We invited some neighbors, friends and family. And all but one person was able to make it!! We were so excited!

The giving tree for the Make A Wish Foundation:

The party favors were little fleece blankets that I made with Marjean's help for their stuffed animals, a package of Teddy Grahams and a mini book.

Now you'll really get a tour of my house! Here is the dining room:

I decided to just have a few stations set up instead of trying to corral several 2 year olds into doing stuff as a group. I put up a big slab of kraft paper with a sign that says ' Let Mark and Elizabeth know you were here, sign your name and draw them a picture!' I filled a container with crayons and this turned out to be a big success!!

FOOD!!!! And a super handsome chef making delicious, silver dollar, puffy, pancakes!! We had lots of fruit for toppings too.

I made this banner....wait for it...without a Silhouette machine!!! Can you believe it?! LOL! I didn't know if it could be done, but I stumbled on a blogger that showed me it could!

I made this at 10:30 pm the night before the party. Enough said.

The most popular station of all...Make a Froot Loop Necklace!!!

Dress Up Your Stuffed Animal Station:

The Reading Corner, along with puzzles, station:

Oh and this cutie playing nicely:

We decided to have Donut Pops for dessert!

And here is Grandpa B entertaining the twins with Curious George on the Ipad!!

I found the perfect pajamas at Gap, Happy Birthday ones!

Sadly, I forgot to do Elizabeth's hair when she woke up, so she did spend her party with crazy bed head, oops, sorry sis!

The handsome chef:

Mark enjoying the pancakes. He loved to dip them in syrup and whipped cream!

Annie joined the party for a little while before going upstairs for her nap:

Here are some pictures of our friends that came. Lexie, Lizzy, and James:

Lizzy and I don't know which one that is...Lexie or Kenzie?!

Luke and his Mommy (Mark's cousin) Kay:

Cousin Lizzy:

Our most favorite twin sized neighbor Aubrey:

Yes her hair is real, and soooooo beautiful! As is her Mommy Timi:

Just before we took this picture Mark and Kenzie were looking at each other, we were so excited that they recognized the other persons presence that we had to get a picture, too late of course, but this picture still makes me smile!

One of our bestest friends Alicia and Lexie!

A baby that size looks good on you Alicia!!

Our lovely, lovely, can't live without, adoptive Grandparents, next door neighbors, Rodger and Sonya:

2 beautiful pregnant mamas, Rachael and Amanda!

More of our besties, Gabriel and Lillian, in some of the cutest pajamas of the day:

Gabriel

Lillian with her stunning Mommy Rachel:

Our nursery buddy Grant:

We decided on donuts for the twins:

They both cared for about 10 seconds before Mark wanted to get down and run and Elizabeth wanted to get back to eating her Froot Loop necklace!!

Present time! I didn't expect ANY presents so this part was totally unplanned. I assumed everyone would bring donations, but people were doubly generous and we are so thankful for that! The kids at the party had more fun watching and 'helping' Mark and Elizabeth open their presents then they did!! There was a lot so I won't name them all but every single one was thoughtful. I really felt like our friends got EXACTLY what Mark and Elizabeth wanted/needed!

After everyone left the kids napped and then we cleaned up!. Annie loved chewing and playing with balloons:

Elizabeth had fun gathering all the tissue pom poms, hiding....

Then saying boo!

For a good hour after people left I kept saying, 'that was so fun!' And the twins kept saying 'bye friends!' Thanks to everyone for coming!!