Our girl turns 2!!!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Anna!! It's hard to believe, but Anna had her big 2nd birthday today...where in the world does time go? We celebrated with a party last Saturday (pictures to follow), so today wasn't too exciting for her. Sadly, I had to work, so this morning Dane and Anna had a little outing to Cabela's to wander around and look at the fish display. They have a huge fish tank that is like a tunnel/cave that you walk under and there are fish all around you. She thought that was pretty cool. After that, they went to Costco and picked up a slice of pizza for each of us for lunch. Apparently Anna couldn't wait till lunch, so she had hers on the way home. :) Whatever she wants...it's her birthday! I came home for my lunch break and Anna woke up from her nap while I was home, so I got to sing her happy birthday and give her lots of smooches. She was in such a happy mood, it was really hard to go back to work.

Anna helped me bake some cupcakes last night to bring to daycare, so it sounds like those were a hit with the kiddos. Anna had two. Whatever she wants...it's her birthday! Kathy and Brittany (the daycare providers) bought her a coloring book and a Build-a-Bear kit, which she loved! I promised her as soon as we got home, we would put together her bear. When we got home, I saw that there was sewing required. Darn. I'm going to try to sew it tonight so that tomorrow night we can stuff it and dress it. She seemed pretty excited about it!

Her party on Saturday was a huge success. We had family and some friends over and all the kids had a great time playing together and helping Anna open her presents. Our friends Adam and Courtney bought Anna a little kids drum set, so the kids had a jam session for a while with all the instruments. Trust me...we will find a way to get back at them!

Anna, happy birthday sweet, sweet girl. Daddy and I love you so very much, and we thank God every day for blessing us with you. You bring joy, laughter and love into our lives continuously!! Hugs and kisses!!!!!

Anna at her new table she got for her birthday...you can color directly on it and everything!!
Grandma and Anna dancing to the singing Elmo balloon Grandma brought with her. Grandma is never invited back....that is probably the most annoying balloon ever made. But it makes Anna smile, so we put up with it. :)

Anna with her juice box, looking rather skeptical that Jaxson and Ches are playing with her playdough...she's thinking "hmm...how can I boss this situation?"

It may look like Jaxson has the upperhand here, but 2 minutes later, Anna came waltzing into the kitchen triumphetly holding the toy. Us Bauersfelds don't loose. :)

Daddy giving the boy some love. :)
Dance party U.S.A.!! We had the reggae music blasting and the kids we movin' and a shakin'!
Anna actually knew to blow out the candles! I thought for sure she would try to touch it.

The presents were okay, but still interested in the ever exciting paper.

Ah yes, here's a present that is sure to bring migranes to mommy and daddy...drums and tamborines!

Don't be surprised when you see this on our Christmas card (if I ever get them in the darn mail!)

One of those weekends

Have you ever had one of those weekends where it feels like nothing goes the way you thought it would? We had one of those this past weekend.

We started off Saturday on a fun family adventure of finding and cutting down our Christmas tree. We went to a local tree farm that has goats, hot apple cider, hot coco, tractor rides and just feels like "holiday". Sounds fun, right? Well, combine it with a 20 degree morning, a crabby little girl who's nap time was quickly approaching and a daddy who just wanted mommy to "pick one out already". Christmas is in the air! We ended up bringing home a beautiful tree and Anna helped me decorate it the next day. The picture below shows her "cave" where she felt all her ornaments needed to go. The best part was how proud of herself she was after placing each one carefully in it's spot. :)

Later in the day on Saturday, I had scheduled pictures to be done at Target at 3:40. So we got there at about 3:30 and there was a family in the studio still, so we took a seat to wait. Keep in mind, I have a 2 year old to keep occupied. This family ahead of us took FOREVER. There was about 5 kids in the room, grandma was in there, along with moms and dads. They had a bazillion outfit changes. Every once in a while, they would march a kid out of the room and put them in a timeout. One time, the mom brought out a girl about 5 or 6 and scolded her for not smiling pretty enough. I'm not even kidding. She shoved her in front of the mirror and forced her to smile like the "pretty princess" that she is. In the mean time, us along with the other families that are now waiting were throwing dirty looks their way anytime they came out of the room. "Get back in there and finish your pictures!!" We did not get in for our pictures until 4:30. 50 minutes PAST our appt time. Not cool. Anna was surprisingly okay. She had wandered around the store getting adoring looks from everyone. Dane was not okay. If I thought he was cranky at the tree farm, I was sadly mistaken. THIS was the crabby Dane. Bless his heart for not up and leaving us at the store. We got in and out as quickly as possible, and got some GREAT shots of Anna in her Christmas outfit. I was a little disappointed with the lack of pictures (quality pictures) we got of her "2 year" shots and for our family pictures, but there was at least one of each I could order, so I was happy! Here are some of my favorites:

So to top off our already rocky weekend, Sunday late afternoon Anna and I were over at our friend Courtney's house letting our kids play while our husbands watched football at a buddies house, and Dane calls me saying he just got home and had started making dinner, when our power went out (we had a HUGE wind storm the night before). Perfect. So he came over to Adam and Courtney's and we had dinner and then figured we'd go home and put Anna to bed around 8:00. We got home and our house was freezing and the area was pitch black. So we packed up and went over to spend the night at Dane's parent's house. Turns out a huge tree fell on a power line and they had it cleaned up later that night and the power back on within a few hours. Who would've known?

Truthfully, we weren't too sad to see this weekend come to an end. And now we get to look forward to Anna's 2nd birthday party this Saturday!! Stay tuned for pictures from the big event!

Belated Thanksgiving Review

Here are some pictures from our fabulous Thanksgiving weekend...details below. :)

The kiddos doing a little coloring at Nana's house...quite the artists!
Here's the crew....I'll be darned if we could get a picture of Anna actually looking AT the camera.
Anna, Myla, and Cole pretending to sleep while snoring.
I kept asking Anna to look up and say "cheese". So with her most annoyed face she obliged.
Here's Anna at my parent's house with her new grocery cart that Grandma and Grandpa gave her for her "early birthday" present. :)
Grandma and Anna in bed watching "Annabelle's Wish". If you don't have that movie, GO BUY IT! It's a tradition for us to watch it EVERY Christmas season, and we cry every time. :)
Out for a walk in the neighborhood...she loved the neighbor's lights!
"Grandpa, get your car out of the way...me and Elmo have some shopping to do!"
Playing in the back of Grandpa's truck.
Just being adorable. My girl LOVES taking her shirt off...should I be worried?

I know this update is about a week overdue now, but I still had to share about our wonderful holiday weekend. Dane and I both had Thurs. and Fri. off, which is rare and it was quite a treat! We headed over to Dane's parent's house on Thursday for Thanksgiving along with his brother and family. We had tons of great food to graze on as well as a delicious meal with all the trimmings. The kids had a great time playing and creating their own games...it's so fun to see them play together as they get older. We were over there pretty much all day and then came home and crashed in a turkey coma. Thanks for a wonderful holiday Nana and Papa!

Friday afternoon we took off for my parent's house for the weekend. It was such a nice and relaxing couple of days and it was wonderful to see my parents. They had a great time doting on Anna all weekend, taking her outside for walks, playing games, watching movies, & giving her lots of snacks. :) I got to sleep in (thanks Grandma!) and take some naps which was divine. Dane and I took off for a couple of hours on Saturday to go see "The Blind Side". What a FANTASTIC movie! Such a feel good movie...if you haven't seen it, you MUST! There was a lot of football being watched all weekend and again, lots of eating! My mom and I got away one evening to do a little shopping of the sales. I got Anna's birthday present and picked up a few small items for Christmas for she and Dane. It wasn't much considering all the sales going on, but to be completely honest, I'm just not much of a shopper. I was tired after about 10 minutes. It might have to do with the ginormous belly I seem to already have. I swear, there must be three in there, given how big I feel already. And this little guy is a mover and a shaker! He is constantly doing cartwheels and jumping around in there!

It was great to be spoiled by my mommy and daddy for a weekend, and we were sad to see our four day weekend come to an end. But another weekend is just two days away! We have big plans of getting our Christmas tree this Saturday as well as getting Anna's 2 year pictures done. I would like some family shots and Christmas shots as well. I am TOTALLY stressing out about how this is going to go. Anna has been a huge stinker the last two days, and I am envisioning a major tantrum in the studio. Here's to hoping I'm wrong!

The results are in

I sat down to write this a half an hour ago, and then Dane walked in the door with a Butterfinger Blizzard for me. God bless good husbands...and blizzards.

So the BIG news of the day (besides my blizzard) is that we are having a BOY!!!!! We are so so excited and look forward to adding a baby boy to our family. I asked Anna tonight if she wanted a baby brother to live with us. She responded "no". I asked her if she wanted a baby sister to live with us. She said "no". So then I asked her if she wanted a million dollars to her name. She said "no". Can you guess what her favorite word is? :) I know Anna is going to love being a big sister once the shock wears off and I am sure she will take her new role seriously. One thing is for sure; this little boy is going to get so many hugs and kisses from his sister!

I've just gotta say that I was shocked when the technician told us we were having a boy. I was POSITIVE we were going to have another girl. This preganacy has been exactly the same as it was with Anna, I feel like I'm carrying the same, and it just felt like a girl. We were referring to the baby as "she" and everything. So when she said it is a boy, I was very surprised! Then I was overwhelmed with joy and the tears began to flow. :) I can't imagine what it's going to be like to have a boy in our family, but I can't wait to find out!

I am sure we will have many "boy" related questions, so those of you with boys, be prepared to give lots of parental advice. For example...I've always wondering how you potty train a boy. Do they stand up? Do they sit down? If they sit down, do you have to point their "man bits" (thanks Sara, I love that term) down? Otherwise, doesn't it miss the toilet? So many unknowns...there's going to be lots more where that came from. :)

We couldn't be happier for the newest addition to our family, and now we just need to agree on a name! We can't wait to meet you baby boy Bauersfeld!

Its gotta be said...

I am a newcomer this season to "So You Think You Can Dance". So far I'm loving it. The dancing is fantastic and more times than not, I am left with goosebumps after their performances.

With that being said...what is the deal with the woman judge's voice?! I'm not even sure what her name is (Mary?) but I literally have to mute the tv when she is giving her critique. Especially when she gets all exciting and squeely and screechy. Oh. My. Goodness. My poor ears. I didn't know the human voice could get to that decibal.

I know there are other SYTYCN fans out there...does her voice make any of you deaf as well? Maybe I have ultra sensitive ears, but holy cow. Unlike anything I've ever heard.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post to disclose what gender this baby I'm growing is going to be!!

There once was an old lady...

I guess it's high time I talk about the thing I'm having a hard time talking about. On Monday, someone had a milestone birthday. It...was...me. I'm 30. Oh my Lord, that still sounds so old! No matter how many times I tell it to myself or others, or however many different ways I try saying it, it still sounds old. If you would have asked me a couple months ago if I was having a hard time with 30 creeping up on me, I would have said "I could care less, it's no big deal". I don't know why it's so hard for me, but it is. I know great things are to come for me and my family in my 30's and I just need to focus on the positives. It's no big deal...it's no big deal...it's no big deal.

I have to say that my husband did a GREAT job making me feel loved and special. Since Monday was a boring ol' work day for both of us, we celebrated on Saturday. When Anna woke up, Dane got up with her and I got to snuggle deeper in the warm down comforter and sprawl out across the whole bed while drifting back to sleep. About an hour later, I was awoken by my sweet daughter coming in to give me hugs and kisses. She brought me a card that she (Dane) made for me and it says "Mommy, for your 30th birthday I got you a delicious ice cream bar. But..." and then on the inside was a picture of Anna from the summer eating a chocolate ice cream bar (Sara, it was at your house) and it was melted ALL over her face and hands and the inside said "...it melted. :( So I bought you something else that doesn't melt." How adorable is that? :) Dane bought me GORGEOUS earrings with Anna's birthstone (Tanzanite) in the middle surrounded by four diamonds. They are truely stunning and I love them. He did good.

So then we all go downstairs and Anna and I play and snuggle while Dane makes me french toast and bacon for breakfast. After I get done eating, Dane tells me I should go get ready because I had an hour long massage scheduled for 10:30. Um, okay, if I must! It was heavenly, and even better because I have so missed laying on my stomach ever since my belly is rapidly growing, so it was wonderful to have their pregnancy pillows to use, which allowed my belly to lay comfortably in a nice hole. :) The massage gal mentioned that I was pretty tense in my shoulders and neck and asked if I had a stressful job. I told her I have a 2 year old who is a pro at acting 2. Enough said. :)

After my massage I came home and lounged around while my husband tended to Anna and didn't say a word about my laziness. :) That night, we went out to dinner with some friends and enjoyed great conversation and wonderful food. Oh, and there were 2 dozen white roses on the table when we got there from my ever wonderful man. If you're wondering, yes, I am spoiled by him on a daily basis. Don't be jealous. :)

We had a lovely day off today for Veteran's day. We did a little shopping at Kohl's this afternoon and brought Anna to the park while the sun was out. It was a beautiful day today (finally after days and days of rain) so we had to take advantage of it, and get our girl outside! This is going to be a long winter...she really really loves playing outside and doesn't understand why we can't go outside when it's a torrential downpour. Now it's back to work for only two days and then another weekend! Whoo hoo! Hope everyone else enjoyed their day off!

Only 1 more week until we find out if a boy or another girl will be joining our family! Can't wait!

Halloween and such...

Well, I am envious as I peruse other blogs and see adorable Halloween pictures of their kids dressed up in their costumes. I'm sure that was nice for you parents...you know, to have your kids to actually wear the costume you bought for them. My child refused. I found a very cute Elmo costume for her this year since he is her idol and she didn't want anything to do with it. Dane and I both tried putting it on her multiple times and she would fall to the ground in the most dramatic way possible and acted like we were beating her. In her most stinkerest fashion, she did let Kathy at daycare put it on her. Why is that you might ask...because she is a perfect angel for them, and saves her naughtiest behavior for us. :) Daycare had a Halloween party with all the kids in their costumes and lots of treats to eat, and it looks like it was a lot of fun. Kathy took pictures of all the kids, and since those are the only ones I have to document my child in her costume, I'll have to post them after she emails them to me.

On Halloween day we joined some friends and their little girl at the mall to do our trick or treating. The place was PACKED! From what I could tell, Anna was the only child NOT in a costume. That's my girl. :) Anna and Leah walked all over the mall holding hands though...it was really precious. I don't think Anna really caught on to what she was suppose to do, so I followed her around with the pumpkin saying trick or treat to all the people handing out candy. That evening, we had Dane's mom over to hang out and we passed out candy to the kids and just hung out. It was pretty low key, but still a great day.

Sunday was a full day in Seattle at our nephew Cole's 5th birthday party. He made out like a bandit with lots of great gifts and there was a ton of delicious food, so I was in heaven. :) It was a gorgeous fall day in Seattle with the sun shining, so we spent some time outside with the kids breaking in Cole's new wagon. It was a great family filled day!

A few random fun facts:

-Anna has gone potty and poop in her toilet!! Whoo hoo! We are no where near the end, but we've got to start somewhere, right? She went poop at daycare (I think it really helps to see some of the other kids using the potty) and then on Saturday she used the potty at home and we were SOOO proud of her! We bought her the "Elmo Potty Time" dvd and I think that might be helping too. :)

-We have an ultrasound appointment on the 19th of November to find out if Baby Bauersfeld #2 is a boy or girl!

-I am feeling the baby move now!

I'm attaching some pictures from the last several days...I'll post some of Anna in her costume as soon as I recieve them.

My work had a costume contest on Friday and I had access to a Cat in the Hat costume so my coworkers dressed up as Thing 1 (Bracy, on my left) and Thing 2 (Peri on my right). We came in a close second in the contest, but ended up losing to the Community Development Dept...their girls dressed up as zombie cheerleaders. We should have had it, if you ask me!

Anna and Leah (Minnie Mouse) walking hand in hand through the mall. Notice how Anna is leading...she's so bossy...and costumeless! :)

Cole letting Anna take a ride in his birthday wagon.

Double trouble...Anna and Myla hijacking the wagon

The awesome cake that Holly made for Cole...amazing, right?!

Anna about to give baby Aksel lots of hugs and kisses. She loves those babies!

FINALLY...Girl's Weekend '09 Recap

I know this is a week late, but I can't let it go without talking about it! Two weekends ago, my best girlfriends and I got together for yet another fabulous Girl's Weekend! This year, we traveled to Couer d' Alene, ID for our weekend gathering and it did not disappoint. Thankfully we had clear and sunny skies for all of our walking around and shopping, however I doubt it ever got above 45 degrees. No joke. It was FRIGID!! But we budled up and enjoyed the great shops along downtown and of course immersed ourselves in the delicious restaurants available to us. I'm going to be attaching some pictures, and most of them involve food...you'll see. :) We treated ourselves to lunches and dinners out and we found some outstanding places with delicious food that I'm still dreaming about. We also enjoyed a movie...in an actual theatre! We went to see "Whip It", which was a very entertaining movie...I love Ellen Page and she was really great in it. I just enjoyed getting to go out to another movie!!

One of the highlights of the weekend was on Saturday night, we all sat around in the cozy living room of our condo we rented and reverted back to our high school days. In 1998 the five of us sat in my living room in Yakima and wrote our predictions for ourselves and each other for where we will be in 10 years. We were a year late reading them, but better late than never! Brittany had the "time capsule" at her mom's house in Yakima all these years, and so we had her mom scan all 27 pages and email them to Britt. Thanks to modern technology and Megan's IPhone, we were able to take turns reading them aloud. Most of them caused sheer embarrasment because of how young and immature we sounded, but it provided for hours of gut wrenching laughter. By the end of the night, Megan had a new nickname (Megster), we determinded that Sara is bound to be a writer, Tara and myself will not be (we're more of the bullett point type), and that Sara and Greg's introduction to each other did not come close to Brittany's hopes!

The weekend came to an end way too fast, but we all left with new memories and with some old ones rekindled. I look forward to many many many more of these special weekends where we aren't mothers, wives, or daughters...just the best of friends! We always pick up right where we left off, and that is when you know you are with true friends.

This is how my weekend started off...with a big ol' southwest wrap. It was devine!

Sara could not get enough of their corn past salad!!

We came across a shop that looked cute enough at first glance...a closer look made us realize that it was a "cougar" shop...you know, for hot older women. In case you can't read the shirts, Tara's says "Trophy Wife" and Britt's says "Botox Free"...who would seriously wear these shirts?! Needless to say, we didn't spend any time in this store!

Sara and her artichoke hat!

Sunset on the boardwalk...gorgeous but freezing!

We warmed up with dinner at Bonzai Bistro...it was DELICIOUS!

Our dessert that our waiter made a ton bigger for us becuase he felt like he gave us bad service...we didn't notice the bad service but we sure loved the huge dessert!

The mixologist Sara, who made some slammin' italian sodas

The happy customers!
Brittany is reading her 10 year predictions from Megster's phone and apparently Sara and I were finding it quite hilarious.

Sunday lunch at Scratch. FANTASTIC food...Britt, Tara, and Sara all got the "Grown Up Grilled Cheese" and oh...my...goodness. It was to die for!

5 years of wedded bliss

Dane and I had our 5 year anniversary on Friday...whoo hoo! We both worked (me during the day and him at night) so we barely saw each other. He and Anna did come and pick me up for a lunch out, so that was a treat! Saturday night was our big date night out. We started at Ricardo's for dinner. Ricardo's is a great little locally owned Italian restaurant here in Lacey. It has such an intimate and romantic atmosphere inside and the food is to die for. Unfortunately, earlier that day we did not plan well, and we both ate too much junk food over at a friends house while we watch the Huskies game (that was a heart breaking loss). So we were sitting there at Ricardo's and trying to decide between all these delicious entrees. Neither of us were that hungry, but we still forced ourselves to order a yummy appetizer and then a delicious dinner. It was wonderful. Next on our schedule was a movie...in an actual theatre! :) I hadn't been to a movie since before Anna was born...how sad is that? We were a little early for the movie, so lucky for us, there was an indoor mini golf course next door. So we played nine holes, Dane won, and I got mad. I hate loosing. I didn't let it ruin our night though, and we enjoyed the movie "Invention of Lying". It was very different, but we both walked out agreeing that we liked it. I just felt uncomfortable through most of it because everyone is brutally honest (they live in a world where no one knows how to lie). It was kind of vulger humor, but we got a kick out it. :) Dane's folks were awesome and came over to watch Anna for us and they put her to bed with no problems. She was once again a little angel while we were gone. :)

Today was a lazy day...Dane went over to his buddies house to watch football and Anna and I had a girls afternoon together. She made me laugh today at nap time. I put her in her crib around 11:15 for her nap and I could hear her up there talking to herself and wrestling around. After a while she started calling me for and wouldn't stop. So I head up to see what she was up to...she had unzipped her pj's and gotten one leg out of them and didn't know what to do next. So I got her all fixed up and left the room. 15 minutes later I still hear her up there...same senario. She starts called for me and saying "uh oh". So I head back up...this time I find her completely out of her pjs. So I tell her now she gets to take her nap in just her diaper. So I leave the room and close the door again. 15 minutes later she's still not asleep and now she's crying. I think maybe she's cold so I start feeling guilty. I head up and of course she's all smiles when she sees me. I put some sweats and a tshirt on her and tell her "I'm serious this time..it's time for you to lay down and go nigh-night." She looks at me sweetly and lays down. I leave the room. 15 minutes later I hear her start to cry and this time kind of hard. This is what I find:

She had pulled her shirt up over her head and had it stuck like that. As frustrated as I was with her, I couldn't help but laugh out loud...and I couldn't stop! She won. By then, it had been over an hour since "nap time" had started and she obviously wasn't going to sleep. I tried again at 2:30 and she slept till 4:30! Victory at last!

Here are a few other pictures from the weekend around the house:

Coloring with her markers...one of her favorite things to do. Anna knows about 7 letters and always requests which ones she wants us to write. "o" is her favorite and she's always saying "I want more "o's" after we've written one. It's pretty precious. She knows o, e, i, c, p, b, and d...I don't know if you've heard, but she's kind of a big deal. Oh, and if we write her name and ask her what that spells she says "Anna". Ok, I'm done bragging now. :)

Here, she was running around the kitchen corner and yelling "boo" when she saw me...it was cracking us up!

And here's my brave girl showing mommy how she can leap off of our huge fireplace step. She's such a daredevil just like her mama. She would clap for her self when she was done and say "yay!". She's so modest.