Eve is 2!

Eve was so excited for her birthday. One day, immediately after she woke up from her nap she said, "Birthday coming soon!" We celebrated Eve's birthday the day before, on a Sunday, so we could all be together for it. I ended up flying out the next day to go to my Aunt Beverly's funeral. It was a fun Sunday, though. We woke her up and had waffles and berries for breakfast before church. We had family over that evening to eat and celebrate together. She got some presents that she loved including these balloons and a bear from Grandma & Grandpa Allen:

She also loved these Winnie the Pooh pajamas she got from them:

She got this baby doll from Grandma Marsha:

She got these cute little animals from Chris and Regina's family:

We all loved watching her open her presents since she was so excited about everything. She also loved a little Uniqua doll from Eli and the tricycle we got her. I made her a Cookie Monster cake:

For some reason she refused to blow out her candles so Nate did it for her. :) 

We can we say about Eve? Sometimes we wonder what our lives would be like without Eve and it just seems impossible to imagine. She's brought so much love, light, and laughter to our family. She is so affectionate and cuddly and she just boosts all of our moods. She gives me tight hugs around my neck (and says "Ah Mama") when I change her diaper, or big smiles from the shopping cart when we check out at Costco. She is our little ball of sunshine. 

Eve loves reading books. She loves sometimes hugging and kissing all the characters in the books we read. She loves music and asks for "Faffi" in the car (Raffi). She loves her "puppa"--George--and loves giving him hugs. She loves all dogs and gets excited if she sees them out of the car window. She's talking more and more all the time. We love it when she'll repeat "I" "love" you" one word at a time. She's very caring and loves seeing babies. She gets sad if she hears them crying. She loves going on walks, even when it's cold (she's warm in her little sleeping bag sack), and sits perfectly still while we walk--taking it all in. She doesn't love watching shows just yet and will only sit for a few minutes at a time (sometimes Sesame Street does the trick). She loves going to story time at the library and playing at the park. She loves to be outside, even when it's cold. What she especially loves is her family--our immediate family and her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. She loves us all and we love her!