One humongous cake, coming right up!

This is going to be a long post, you guys. I have not only a whole entire birthday to cover (and a rather adorable one at that), but I have to cover last week's snow day. So this might be a doozy. HOWEVER, it will also be picture-laden. So keep that in mind before you scoff and turn off the computer.

The SNOW Day

To begin, last week there was a snow day. I know, right? In Boise! It was quite shocking. It first started snowing like crazy last Monday, and didn't stop all day and all night, and soon there was a 3 or 4 inch layer on the ground. And it took Mike like three hours to get home from work. Not really, but it felt like it. People here don't know how to deal with wintertime weather, because usually we don't have any.

Then it all froze, and we all huddled in our houses trying not to fall and break our hips. And apparently doing our Michael Jackson impersonations.

Then, Thursday, it did it again, on top of the snow from Monday that had hardened instead of melting. Which meant it was a snow day. Which meant that my mom invited us (carefully) over to play in their yard with the very much not-in-school aunties and uncles.

This is the snowman Parker made the night before we went to their house. He named it Richard Nixon. Sam told me this like it was some hilarious joke, but I'm pretty sure he had no idea why it was funny.

Also, the thing is about the same height as Mike, including the hat. And that's tall. Mike's 6'4".

As soon as we pulled into their garage, Katie took off into the front yard. Have I mentioned before that her favorite movie and song and winter activity this year was Frosty the Snowman? Well, she took off to go see "Frosty." Good thing we had her bundled up ahead of time.

Auntie Emma was trying to teach Katie to make snowballs and snow angels and such, but all Katie really absorbed was that fresh snow is delicious. She wouldn't stop eating it. So we had to keep a close eye to make sure she only ate fresh snow that hadn't been stepped on.

They did eventually get her to make a snowman, but her other favorite activity was getting pulled around the cul-de-sac on her sled. Pretty sure she got almost everybody in the family to take a turn pulling her around.

We only got a picture of her with her snowman (the mini one next to Nixon) because we told her she could still eat the snow in her hand.

Meanwhile, because I can't stand up for very long without getting all crampy and threatening to go into labor, I finished my adorable new hat. I learned puff stitches for this one, and I'm pretty sure it's my new favorite crochet move ever. So cute. I just don't have any pictures that feature a close-up of the puff stitches in the back.

We only managed to lure Katie in for about half an hour during the whole day (and I mean the whole day), and that was only because we had marshmallows, with some incidental hot chocolate.

As soon as she finished the marshmallows and could get someone to help her back into her gear, she was back outside. And she stayed there until it was starting to get dark and somebody accidentally zipped her neck when trying to zip her coat up. She's got a little scar there now that you can't remind her of or she'll start begging for sympathy.

But, because she fell asleep in the car on the way to Grandma's house, she couldn't take another nap, and was a little bit strung out when we got home. So she used what little is left of my lap to snuggle and watch a movie.

And then she went to bed early. And so did I. Okay, no, I didn't. I'm a ninny. But I thought about it.

The Incidental Before-her-birthday stuff

Friday, Mike and I finally went on our anniversary date. It was a good time, and we're super boring grown-ups because we picked up Katie at 9 or 9:30 and then we all went home to bed. But before our date, when I was putting on real makeup and trying to actually be pretty, Katie insisted that she was going on a date, too. So she put on her infant-sized slip over her clothes and got out a dress-up purse with beads all over it. And she wore both of them to Grandma's house.

The night before her birthday, I was trying to get her to sing "I am a Child of God" for the camera, and guess how well that turned out? You're right, it didn't. But I got some cute pictures. This one is what happened when I told her to look at the camera. "Fine, Mom. Whatever."

"Daddy, can I please have some cheese?"

The Birthday

For her actual birthday, I decided to take the low-stress approach. Which means that we didn't get dressed until, like, noon, because we were watching the horsey movie in Mommy's bed in our jammies all morning. When we finally did go downstairs, Katie insisted on helping me make the frosting for her cake. Therefore, we were still wearing our matching aprons when Grandma came to drop off a happy birthday happy meal for lunch.

After lunch, when I was starting to build the actual cake and frost it, Katie insisted that she was "freezy."

And at some point she took a nap, and I finished her cake. You may now all be very much impressed. Unless you can't tell what it is. Then you should just pretend to be impressed for my sake and shrug apathetically when I'm not looking.

Okay, fine. It's Rapunzel's tower with her hair spilling out all over the place, with lots of pink and purple flowers. Now you can act impressed more effectively. You know, for my self-esteem.

As soon as I finished the cake, we headed over to my parents' house for Katie's birthday party. By the way, that's what she asked for for her birthday. Every time we asked her what she wanted, or what she wanted for dinner, or what kind of cake she wanted, her reply was this: "I want a humongous cake, with candles, and I can share with all the uncles, and everybody, and Parker." So we threw her a pizza party with cake and candles and uncles.

(Photo preface: I got my camera out and told everybody to take turns, because I can't go around taking exciting pictures and squatting and such. So all the blurry ghost-looking pictures are not my fault.)

This is my very studly brother James. I had to include this picture because he never looks normal in pictures. Like, never. He has never once in his life taken a picture where he wasn't making a goofy face or doing his weird, nerdy close-lipped smile. This one's legit. Isn't he handsome?

And Katie got really enthusiastic about decorating her own pizza. Especially the sauce. I'm pretty sure she took over sauce for several people's pizzas. She was just a little bit vigorous with her spoon and we may have had to patch the dough up slightly before adding any more toppings.

Here's a picture of me without my belly where I don't look like a giant hippopotamus. Again, for my self-esteem.

There is a tradition in my family that rather than just sing "Happy Birthday" like most people, we sing every birthday song we know. There is a particular order, and we have all kinds of quirks to it (like Sarah imitating claves and maracas for "Feliz Cumpleanos"), but we sing every single one. And we finish with the version from Emperor's New Groove, while everybody slaps the table in rhythm. And Katie has experienced this for other birthdays and was excited for it all day, singing the different versions.

But when we started to sing to her before dinner, she was so busy spooning an entire bottle of sauce onto one pizza and shoving giant pieces of Canadian bacon into her face that she was totally oblivious. We just kind of were some background noise that didn't really bother her while she played in the pizza sauce.

After everyone ate too much pizza for their own good (except for my dad, whose pizza was the last to get in the oven, so he ate during presents) we went to open presents.

I shall now describe the video someone took that was too long for my blog.

While we tried again to sing her all the birthday songs, she picked her first present (one from Grammy, which is what she now calls Mike's mom), put it on the floor in the middle of the room so everyone could watch, ripped off a piece of the wrapping paper, and took off to throw it in the garbage in the kitchen.

Needless to say, we all broke off the song to start laughing. At which point my dad accused her of being "such your kid!" Yeah, maybe. I might have had the reputation as a kid of being really slow opening presents because I would open it where it was folded instead of just ripping the paper off.

After this incident, James went and got a trash bag to limit trips to the kitchen garbage can, and we proceeded. Do you want to know what a girly girl my Katie is? She pretty much just got clothes and dress-up stuff for her birthday (from Grammy, Grandma, and me) and she was so happy about it. She was so happy, she had to try on every single new dress or outfit as she opened it.

(This one is the dress I made her. We don't have a clear picture of it yet. But I made it with a big 'ole twirly skirt. She'll wear it on Sunday.)

And then one of my genius brothers handed the little princess a loaded nerf gun. And she started turning to face whoever said anything, with her finger precariously placed on the trigger. It was like roulette. Several people (mostly Abuelo) almost lost facial features.

Then we convinced little Charlie's Angels to get out of her pretty dress so we could get out the Rapunzel cake. Please note the fork in her hand (I don't know if you can see it) which she had poised over the cake. I kept having to stop her from digging straight into the cake while I got the plates and my cake server ready. She just wanted some cake, okay?

So I gave her the tower (made from cupcakes I shaved to the right shape).

All that sugar may have made her a little bit excitable, which made her dance, which made her fall off her chair. And there was some tragedy, so she needed to snuggle Mommy for a while. As soon as I had given her sufficient (apparently) sympathy, she ran over to Abuelo, who has magical cheering-up powers, as all grandpas do. (Ha! I called him a grandpa! Don't tell him.)

And then we played and played and played and played. And went to bed rather late. Which means that when we had to go to the grocery store this morning, she threw a very much two-year-old tantrum in the car, complete with writhing, screaming, and contrariness. Which she hasn't really ever done before. I guess she just had to confirm that she is now, indeed, two years old. Or, as she says, (while holding up both hands and all ten fingers) "I'm two olds!"

And now to finish off the post, remember that one time when I used to be really good about taking those sideways pregnant lady shots to see how big I was getting week by week? Well, I haven't taken one since, like, week 15 or something. Now I'm 25 weeks, and I'm pretty sure I'm about as big as I was when Katie was born.

I'm also not quite on bed rest (woo!) but I might as well be for all I can stand up or walk around (ugh). So if I say something about things I can do while sitting down, it's not official yet. I just can't do any activity or anything without getting Braxton-Hicks, which are normal for most people and scary for high-risk twin pregnancies. Just so you know.

Oh yeah! The picture. Here I am. And yes, I look like a hippopotamus.

Happy Birthday! Now I have to go make sure my two olds daughter gets fed.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2013, fellow internet-ians! Aren't you impressed that I actually got on to blog today instead of trying to tell you happy new year on, like, the 20th? Because you should be.

Well, I think Christmas was quite successful, overall. You all got our Christmas card, right? Hehe, I'm just kidding. It was the previous post. We didn't do Christmas cards. I can barely stay awake for a shower every day.

So our Christmas began really when we flew to Grandma's house on the 23rd. Being two days before Christmas, I thought we might have to stand in line for maybe two or three minutes in security. But . . . no. The Boise airport will never have more than six people in it at a time. Except then something happened with our plane and it was, like, three hours late. Good thing Alaska airlines has a cute little play area with toys and duplos and Katie had totally the time of her life. Except that I almost starved to death. Until Mike got me some Quiznos (I just have a weakness for their Mesquite chicken, okay?)

We did have one new and exciting experience. What I was not aware of beforehand is that Alaska airlines is a cool airline where you go outside to a propeller plane and climb up the stairs. No wimpy covered ramp for them. I felt so Indiana Jones. I probably would have felt more so if it hadn't been heavily precipitating in both places and if I hadn't been quite so pregnant. And the flight itself was quite successful. Katie got a wee bit freaked out during takeoff and landing, but then we turned on Frosty the Snowman on our handy little portable DVD player and she was good.

The week itself was pretty awesome. I did basically nothing, but that's mostly because nobody would let me. People keep thinking that because I'm practically on bed rest I shouldn't go jogging or wrestle all the cousins all at once. Geez, guys.

Things we did do: have a slow, relaxing Christmas morning where we all slept in and took breaks to shower and eat yummy breakfast and not actually finish opening presents until about 3 pm; see The Hobbit with the brothers-in-law; go out to lunch with Mike's sisters because we finished our fitness challenge (they were quite lenient with me, thankfully); and go do sealings at the Seattle Temple with Mike's parents. That was a good time. I remembered to bring my family names so we got all the ones that were ready done.

Also, I had been worried that we were going to talk about going to see Mike's family and Katie wasn't going to remember them and she'd be all awkward and shy. Luckily, she started chatting them all up as soon as we got there and didn't stop until we flew away. When she got a new story for Christmas, she went around the room and had everybody take a turn reading it to her. ("How about you, Grandpa? How about you, Uncle Brett? How about you, Emily?") Score one for teaching my kid to be social.

Of course, then it was time (alas!) to come home. And right after we told them that it never really snows in Boise, we came home to snow. And it's still all white and crunchy out there. Katie loves it. And also Mike got the vicious stomach flu. We know it's the flu this time because everybody still back with his parents got it, too. Hurray! (It's okay, he's pretty much better now. He wasn't sick at work yesterday or today.)

But do you want to hear our really big news? Remember that one time how we kept saying we were going to take apart the crib and have Katie switch to her toddler bed? Well, it kept not happening. And we didn't get it done before we left for Seattle.

So last night we realized that we were totally just procrastinating and that it was really starting to cause me harm to lift Katie into and out of her crib, so we should stop procrastinating. So we totally took apart the crib and reorganized Katie's room.

The only problem we had previous to this was that Katie really didn't want us to take her crib away. She apparently was quite attached to it. So our first tactic last night was to offer to let her help Daddy take it apart. And at first she got all excited. But then she visibly realized what we had said, stopped dead in her tracks, and turned around, scowling. "No! Don't take a crib apart!"

Then I had a stroke of genius. "Katie, what if we let Daddy take your crib apart, and then we can make you a princess bed?" Oh boy, did that work. Except now I can't call it a "big girl bed," I have to keep calling it her  princess bed, which I am perfectly okay with.

And now, because you were so nice and let me ramble on about everything in such a boring fashion, you can see the video I got right before vacation. Keep in mind that I told her we could watch the movie after she sang me the song. So she's being bribed.