Happy Birthday, Carlee!

My baby turned 2 years old last Sunday, December 7th and I can't believe that she is a full-fledged independent toddler that screams when she doesn't get her way, holds her own with her brothers when wrestling, loves to play babies with her sister, can "do it myself", "help Mommy", and just cruise around like she's one of the big kids.

At this point in her young cute life, she is obsessed with Tinkerbell, so naturally we had a Tinkerbell party for her. I couldn't find anyone that made a Tinkerbell cake and we had a crazy weekend so I didn't make one but luckily Dad found an ice cream cake in Tinkerbell colors and Carlee was so excited about it. When we pulled it from the freezer, she ran over screaming, "My Tinkerbell cake! My Tinkerbell cake! Woo Hoo!"

She loved the Tinkerbell party plates, cups and napkins and wanted to eat dinner on them as well so she did. Tinkerbell is the only movie that she will actually sit through and watch and she wants it almost every day. For dinner she wanted chicken and noodles, corn, and peaches. Those are her favorites although sometimes the corn comes back out after it goes in. I think it's the only veggie she actually knows.

After dinner she opened her gifts. She got a Dirt Devil vacuum, Snap n Style Babies, Barbie's Christmas Carol movie, and a Build-a-Bear named Twinkle and dressed like HSM. She was so excited to carry around her bear and vacuum the carpet. Her siblings were a little too helpful in opening her presents so there was some yelling of NO! and screaming but she loved the attention and having her presents "hung" over her poor head.

All day long, she kept singing, "Happy Birtday to Cahlee!" and couldn't wait to blow out her candle. It was great to see how excited she got. She even read her birthday cards to the whole family.

Here are some fun things she does at the age of 2:

--She is quite the character with a spunky personality

--She loves to eat all day long

--She'll push chairs and stools over to the pantry and refrigerator to get what she wants. The other day I was upstairs and Joe was on the computer. When I came down, she was sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor with the ice cream scooping it out with her hands. She was in heaven. --She loves chocolate and wants "a bite" of anything anyone else has.

--Carlee is a great talker and has been for about 6-8 months now. It is amazing how well she articulates her words and speaks in full sentences.

--She loves to tell strangers her name and how old she is. When we go to the store, she'll talk to the employees and they just laugh and carry on her conversations.

--She likes to talk on the phone about anything and even throws back her head to laugh.

--She likes to go to the store and help push the cart.
--She loves to play with my hair

--She loves her blanket and baby

--She loves calling Daddy at work and running to him when he comes home

--She loves to play Barbies with Katelyn

--She loves when Clark picks her up and does "tricks" with her

--She likes when Jake plays babies with her

--She likes to "flip" over the footboard of her bed to go to sleep

--She loves being tucked in with hugs and kisses for her and her baby after reading "just one more" story

Carlee brings us so much joy and we can't wait to watch what she does over the next year. She is a sweetheart and so fun. We love you, Cargo! Happy Birthday!