birthday number TWO.

The littlest rascal turned two on Monday. TWO! She is crazy, and sweet, and cute.

Her day started quite well, when Bran and Nuala rushed in to yell "Happy Birthday, Maeve!" to her. Then Nuala got Daddy to help her get Maeve's "special breakfast" ready. Strawberries! Yum. Well, she would have gotten those anyway in her fruit course (the first course) of breakfast, but Nuala brought them upstairs for her. Very special. They love their baby sis.

Later that morning, we went out to play in the snow. It doesn't look exceptionally deep here, I guess, but we've got a LOT of snow. A lot. And it's freezing cold here, too. M insisted on wearing her coat over her snowsuit, because, and I quote: "My coat is weally, weally awesome!"

We went sledding on the driveway/hill down our street. It was so powdery. I just plunked Maeve almost chest-deep in the snow and then we set to work getting our run flattened out again for a few goes. It was fun, and then we went back home.

While Maeve napped, Bran and Nuala and I decorated for her birthday. And made her a wacky cake. Nuala drew a princess on this balloon on M's chair, and Bran drew Mickey Mouse. If you look closely at Mickey, you'll notice the poor fellow is wall-eyed. So are all the Ewoks Bran draws. It's cute. Slightly sad for them (I'm sure I'd get a headache), but cute.

Then Maeve woke up and we busted out some bubbles. I was hoping she'd be content to pop Bran's and Nuala's bubbles, but after about 90 seconds, she started petitioning for her own. Darn it! I did give her a container. Then Nuala -- NUALA -- spilled almost her entire bottle (which is why she's crying in the video).

Then Maeve started trying to get her presents down. The step-stool was not as helpful as she was hoping it would be.

Then she tried to hold up two fingers. It's pretty difficult.

Success! Yay! Little clown... about a week and a half before her birthday, I started asking her "how old are you going to be?" She picked up on "two" pretty quickly, but after a couple of days of rehearsing that, she got a little glint in her eye and started saying, "fwee..." Or "one," but usually "fwee"... Now she will NEVER answer "two." She thinks she's quite hilarious. And she's pretty right.

Then everyone helped frost/decorate the cake.

Then, FINALLY, Daddy came home! We ate dinner, and then it was present time!

Her Scooby Dooby board books were a favorite.

She kinda couldn't care less about her Scooby doll. And she got more books. And a Care Bears t-shirt.

And a Rody horse! She loves this guy. Her friend, Emily, has one, and the scuffles that ensue over it when we're at her house have tipped me off to how much she loves it.

Cake time!

In between the presents and the cake, Bran jumped off the kitchen counter and landed on Maeve's little push-toy kitty cat and snapped its head off. One of her absolute favorite toys... maybe even THE favorite. She seriously plays with it so much. Probably more than any other toy. Bran was pretty sad when it happened. Z and I were pretty annoyed, poor fella, so that added to his sadness. Maeve, on the other hand, was the sweetest and most forgiving little thing. She saw her beloved kitty lying headless on the kitchen floor, but just said, "that okay, Bran!". Then, as you can see above, she put her little arm around her sad brother when we forced him to come be in the cake pictures. She is so sweet. Not always, not always. But this was just one of those moments.

Here's Kitty, from earlier in the day. Hmmm.. I guess right before he was fatefully parked underneath the counter there...

See? Little sweetheart. Though, she did, for example, scream bloody murder at him for trying to touch her Rody horse today. She has her good moments and her not-so-good ones. Like all of us.

Singing to herself.

Yummm....

Then it was time for bed, and the big, strong 2-year old insisted that her horsie come upstairs, too. It's almost as big as she is. I helped her out.

It's super fun to bounce on as fast as you can, but almost more fun is making yourself fall off. (Until you bounce too close to the edge of the carpet and smack your noggin on the hard floor. Then it's not so fun.)

Yippeeeee for two! Maeve, we love you!

And here's a video, with some clips of the Maevsters on her big day...

In case you need help understanding, she says: ~ I don't know, and my open presents! And show (?) my birthday! ~ Mama, is this Bran's? ~ Bran draw. ~ Nuala cwyin'! ~ Blow the candles. ~ Mama, say that's okay, Nuala... ~ Nuala, STOP IT! ~ Mama, can I get my presents? ~ Brushin' Bran's hair. ~ Bran, one more time! ~ Nuala, let me try! ~ Me! ~ Daddy, I need a push! ~ (???) and she also get hurt, right here, and my legs right here, and my fall over! ~ Scooby want to ride with me, Scooby want to ride with me! ~ Mama, can you help me put beside me right here?