Hope is 2!

We like to draw out birthdays at our house.  Singing and blowing out candles at lease three times is pretty normal around here.  So we started Hope's day with birthday oatmeal.  She loved the song so much, she walked around singing "Happy Birthday to me!" all day long (see last video at the end of this post).  And you'll have to forgive a mother the sheer number of pictures I'm including in this post because no matter how similar each shot may appear to someone else,  every different facial expression, every dimple and twinkly eye is precious to me.http://youtu.be/O5b-ZfXX5nU

 We are loving all that she can say and do now.  Singing "...lead me, guide me, walk beside me" on repeat.  "Let it go!" at the top of her tiny lungs, needing shoes on her feet 24/7, and keeping us all in line with her little pointer finger telling us "No!" when she doesn't approve.  But even with all her spunk, she is just so incredibly sweet.  The first to apologize and freely forgive any wrong, ready to obey with an "O-tay!", a tiny little mother-heart that oohs and as over every baby (see pic with cousin Will below), saying "Hi" to every stranger and offering hugs to the downhearted.  Oh, how we love you, Hope!  (When she introduces herself to people they think she is saying, "I happy!"--because the words are always accompanied by this huge dimpled smile and some Snoopy dancing.  But she's really giving her nickname from Darren, "Hopey" :)

 "Oh no!  A spider!"

 Our first Lefty!  Matt and Michelle, she will need pointers from you!!

 A phone call from Mama KK and Papa Stan (who woke themselves up in the middle of their night) to call and sing to her!!  Dinner cupcakes, candles and song with our own little family on her birthday....

 Then, Sunday, we had Tom, Carma, Ryan, Laura, Rachel, Conlon, Jane, Will, Spencer, Mary, Michelle, Ben, Hans, Xander, Gabe and Mary over for a big dinner to celebrate one more time!

 The theme of our dinner was our little pumpkin, so we had pumpkin, beef and black bean chili with baked potatoes and salad, Mary (Lehnardt) brought the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and I made the pumpkin caramel Italian cream cake.  We all ate very, very well, but Hope only cared about the great people who came.   (I wish I had more shots of everyone, but I'm really bad at getting pictures when there's a lot going on!!)

 Thanks to Michelle for getting a few pictures for us!

 And after all the celebrating, I just needed to capture a few more angles of this precious two-year old face so I can remember every inch.  (And for these I had to include Eden, and the blankey and fa-fa, a few of Hope's faithful companions)

http://youtu.be/oT5rntW4yX8

Some of Eden's many talents

I received a message today from Edens primary teacher while we were out playing in the fall leaves. She wanted to know five of Eden's talents for their primary lesson tomorrow. I wrote them down and I wanted to record them here for her to read later on.  

Eden, you are very brave. You try new things with excitement and you were always thrilled to learn and experience something new.

You are kind and thoughtful. You can see others needs and you try to help them. When someone is sad you try to cheer them up, when I need help you are ready to cook, clean, or help a little brother sister.  

You are so good at making us all laugh and have fun. Your laugh makes my day. And the twinkle in your eye, your little dimple by your mouth, and your one raised eyebrow can bring a smile to anyone's face.

You are obedient. You follow the rules and you try to help others follow the rules as well. This will be a great strength to you as you get older and are faced with harder situations and harder temptations. Others will need your example of obedience in order to receive the happiness that comes from obeying the commandments of God.

You are full of faith, Eden. You understand the Scriptures and the gospel principles and you try to live them 100% once you have learned them. An example of this is when we talked about praying to have missionary experiences and you wanted to pray for your friend Bella to come to church. There wasn't a day that you forgot to pray for her to come to church and your own prayers. Once you know something is the will of God you do it wholeheartedly.

What a privilege it is to be your mother, sweet angel of mine.  Thank you for all that you teach me and all the joy you bring us every day.