Flower girl, part II

From November 2009

Annikka also really enjoyed the reception at Dan & Lori's wedding. She played games, jumped on the sofa (one of her new favorite activities, unfortunately), and danced the night away. It was a beautiful wedding & great evening, too bad Joel didn't get to be there.

From November 2009

From November 2009

From November 2009

From November 2009

From November 2009

While in southern California, she also got to meet Joel's aunt Billie.

From November 2009

Flower girl

This past Saturday, Joel's uncle Dan married Lori Hanson (nka Lori Baumgartner). Annikka got to be their flower girl. A two-year-old flower girl is a bit of a gamble, but Lori was willing to take the risk.

From November 2009

At Friday's rehearsal, Annikka enjoyed playing in all the fallen leaves. And she was able to talk others into joining in the fun, like Joel's cousin Jessi ...

From November 2009

... Uncle Bob and Grandma...

From November 2009

... and Grandpa.

From November 2009

After squeezing in a short nap the next day, Grandma helped Annikka get ready by tying her bow just right.

From November 2009

From November 2009

We explained that a flower girl's job is to walk down the aisle with a little basket of petals, dropping them along the way.

From November 2009

Lori had her practice that at the rehearsal, and it paid off. Annikka loved walking down the aisle dropping petals, so much so that we wondered if she would move aside for the bride. :)

From November 2009

From November 2009

The wedding was a real family affair. Rachel and Dave sang a song.

From November 2009

Jessi (Dan's daughter), Kathy, and Uncle Bob were groomsmen.

From November 2009

It was a great wedding and Annikka really enjoyed her role as flower girl.

From November 2009

From November 2009

From November 2009

Halloween

I can honestly say that I don't remember the last time I carved pumpkins, but we had a lot of fun doing it this year.

From October 2009

From October 2009

Annikka also enjoyed going outside to see them glowing.

From October 2009

She had two Halloween costumes this year. There was the skeleton for the pajama party at daycare...

From October 2009

And the spider for trick-or-treating...

From October 2009

She picked the spider costume herself, and was very proud of it.
But the part she liked best of all was passing out candy to the kids that came to our door.

From October 2009

Second birthday party

We had Annikka's second birthday party downtown at the Play Factory. She had a lot of fun with all her friends and asks if we can do it again.





Twelve ~2 year-olds with cupcakes is quite the sight.




It was so fun to see them all playing and interacting, very different from last year's party.



And we had a very tired girl at the end of it all.

Doing more for herself

The cooler weather has brought out another trick in the toddler room--teaching the kids to put their jackets on by themselves. Annikka demonstrates the technique for you.



Now if only she'd catch on to potty training that quickly...



but she's still content to use a diaper.

Talking... & talking...

For those who haven't seen her recently, Annikka is a talker. Maybe more than the average 2 year old, or so we've been told. And it's so interesting to see her put ideas together. Tonight, as we were driving home, she says, "That car has a bike on it." And it did, on a roof rack, so we agreed with her observation. Then she says, "That was funny." (Then she goes on to talk about her goldfish crackers, etc.)

Later at dinner, Joel is trying to tell me about his day, but Annikka keeps interrupting. He tells Annikka that daddy is talking to mommy and it will be her turn to talk next (they practice taking turns a lot at daycare). He asked her to sit quietly to wait for her turn. But she looks at him and says, "But there are no babies sleeping, Daddy." What can you say, she was right.

Fall fun

From October 2009

You never know how long we will get to enjoy fall before the rain comes, so we used the beautiful fall weekend to take for Annikka out for a hayride at a pumpkin patch. The tractor that pulled the wagon was also a big hit for our toddler.

From October 2009

From October 2009

There was also a giant haystack to climb on.

From October 2009

From October 2009