Happy (Late) Birthday, Addra!

Last-ish Saturday, we had a birthday party for our sweet Addra, who is turning two. It was so fun to have friends over (and oodles of kids) to play together and run around like mad. We bought an awesome cake from our friend Carlynne, we had pizza and hot dogs, we did a piñata, and we had some small obstacle courses and silly races for the kids. We cannot say enough what awesome friends our daughters have. We love you guys, and thanks for coming!

Our little Addra is so much fun (most of the time). The latest awesome thing she does started on Sunday. She saw a very squashed bug outside our church building, and she was just fascinated by it. She was then determined to tell me all about it, and after Brice explained to her that it was squashed, she came to me and slammed her hand down onto an imaginary bug and made a cute noise. … And now that I’ve written it out, I realize this will not even remotely translate well on paper. You’ll just have to trust me. It was awesome. (Or you could come visit and see it up close and personal.)

This is actually an extension of an overall personality trait I’ve seen in Addra. She is very interested in explanations. She needs to know—and share—the why and how of things. Whenever she gets a tiny hurt from bonking into a table or something, she comes up to me and explains (in her small vocabulary) “owie,” then points to where she got injured. Then she needs me to come see what hurt her. The explanation is not complete until I know what corner she ran into or what toy she stepped on or what sister plowed her over. And she needs me to say it back to her so she knows I understood: “Oh, Coriel tried to eat your nose and you bonked heads? Well, mwa! Now do you feel better?” (No, to my knowledge Coriel has never tried to eat Addra’s nose. But I wouldn’t be surprised if she did.) And once she knows she’s been understood, she toddles off to play some more. Another favorite time to do this is after Brice changes her diaper or she’s been on the toilet. She comes up to me, says “poo,” and shows me her hands to let me know they’ve been washed. Again with the supercute untranslatable hand gestures and facial expressions, by the way.

This works as well in the opposite direction. One night a while back, I was changing her out of her shirt to get her into some pajamas. At first she was happy with that, but then she started freaking out that she wasn’t still wearing her old shirt (she gets very attached to her outfits, but that’s a whole different subject). The only way to calm her was to spread the shirt out and point to all the stains and spills on it, letting her know that we were going to wash it so it would be nice and clean again. Then she was fine.

She and Coriel both love animals, but Addra seems to have a particular love of them these days. She calls cats “mlows,” cows “moos,” and dogs “foofs.” It’s pretty great. She also loves singing and conducting music around our house. She usually finds a stool or chair to stand on for this, and she looks very serious.

Her latest love, however, is Play Doh. A particularly favorite activity is getting one of us to make something for her and then her squashing it and giggling. 

And now for the picture extravaganza! (If you need even more photos, because this just isn’t enough, I have more on Facebook, here.)

We had the cow pinata hanging around the house for a couple weeks before the party, and the girls developed a very loving relationship with the poor thing.

This is what happens when our costume box throws up all over their bedroom (which happens on a regular basis).

The lovely cake, with (get this!) edible, nondisgusting fondant! (I bet you didn't think such a thing existed.) And no, I didn't make the cake (I mentioned that above, didn't I?). I have absolutely no cake-making abilities. I think maybe I'll dig up a few old pictures of cakes I've made, just so you can properly compare and realize that this cake was in no way made by me.

Addra wasn't entirely sure what to make of the cake, but she was definitely fascinated by it. (And, true to form, she did eat a bunch of frosting and fondant and very little cake itself. ... More for me.)

One of the obstacle courses. Did I mention that Brice planned this party and did such a good job?! I was a big poo about it, but he did great and everyone had so much fun, and it was lovely that I wasn't the one going crazy and overboard this time. :)

See? Who doesn't love face painting? Brice is always so full of fun ideas and spontaneity. I am really jealous of that about him, but at least I get to bask in reflected glory.

We also had these cool balloon-propelled car toys. Fun times!

More of our adorable friends. Must be mentioned: The baby on the left is about nine or ten months. The one on the right is five months. We love those two cuties!

I think Addra wasn't sure about whacking this creature that she'd been befriending. She got into the spirit of it though.

Everyone got a turn, even some of the adults. The beast was nearly indestructible. In the end, Brice pulled it down and just mutilated the poor thing. Then he tossed the pinata's guts all over the ground for a feeding frenzy.

Coriel got to whack him a couple times. Also, a few days later (because, yes, the carcass is still hanging around our house--but hey, at least it doesn't stink!), Coriel decided she had to give someone a haircut. Since I wasn't willing to let her work on me (how insensitive of me!), Brice suggested she give the cow a haircut. She did so very happily, and there are still tissue paper scraps on the floor.

I'm not sure why she was doing this, but I just really enjoyed it.

See these two adorable homemade dolls that a friend made for her? So great! One is wooden and colored with marker. The other was cut out of felt and had a bunch of changes of clothing to go with it.

Notice the outfit change--the shirt she'd just gotten went straight on (it has foofs on it!). And then the apron Meghan made went on right afterward. And then, of course, all the doll stuff went right in the pocket.

Coriel painted me this lovely flower.

Our beautiful neighbor Jean, the best adopted grandma ever!

One of the books Uncle Kem and Aunt Michelle and Cuzzie Ian sent. All she wanted to do was read those books, not open any more presents.

Yes, this hat is a birthday cake with three candles and three strawberries on it. It was an awesome gift from my sister Dawn a few years ago, and it has become a fine Stay family tradition.

The blue on her leg is paint. And on her shirt too. She's holding the Play-Doh toys she just got. Fortunately, I didn't get a photo of her nearly having a meltdown when it was too late to play with them immediately.

Back to the books from Kem's family.

Because Addra got to blow out candles, so did Coriel. Over and over again. They really like blowing out candles.