As if on cue...

Little Anders Johansen turned 2 this weekend. And as if on cue, all before 11:45 a.m. on his 2nd birthday celebration day, this is what he did: He threw a whole bowl of food all over the floor, pulled out part of a box of wipes, pulled out part of a box of Kleenex, opened up a wet diaper from the floor and pressed it to his face, and also played in the toilet. That night, he awoke at the bright and early hour of 2 a.m., thinking he was awake for the day, until he was finally ready to change his mind two and a half hours later. Do I remember that this is called the Terrible Twos for a reason? Oh yes, it is starting to come back to me very clearly.

Regardless of the antics of His High Mischeviousness, we wanted him to have a special day. But how do you make a special day for someone who doesn't even know it is his birthday? We decided to do the things he likes. (which might make him think every day is his birthday, because that's mostly what we do anyway).

We had his favorite breakfast: Pancakes (with lots of butter) and Bananas and Strawberries

Played with Uncle Ritchie, putting money in his bank. (He better start saving now if he's going to have any money at all)
Played on the Sit N Spin with sis
Jumped on the trampoline. Alone. The alone part is essential because otherwise he doesn't get to jump. He gets jostled and bounced around. Not very fun when you're 2 years old and only have 20 lbs of body weight to hold you down.
Had birthday lunch of hot dogs, chips, and more bananas. And "juice", which really, is anything in a regular cup. The Birthday boy sat at the table, while the other boys (Dad, Grandpa and Uncle Ritchie) sat watching football. Andrew lost his eating-in-the-living room privileges after the aformentioned food throwing episode. But the girls were happy to sit with him.

His birthday cupcakes were works of art, really. Since the child could subsist solely on marshmallows and M&Ms, that is what we put on the tops of his cupcakes. The only thing missing were gummie bears, if you recall. (Oh wait, he ate all those the other day).

I wanted to see if he liked the sparking candles any more than his sister did:

He didn't. (Aubs was more than happy to blow out the other one though)
Oh, but he'll come back for the marshmallows and M&Ms.


Toys, toys, toys. It was like Christmas around here. Aubrey was ever so helpful with opening all presents, including cards, this one from Grammie and Grandpa.

A remote controlled car, which I had just seen on Jon and Kate Plus 8. He's traumatized by it, but the rest of the family loves it! (especially Aubrey).

The large box a toy came in, also doubled as a ball pit. Fun for the kids. Especially the clean up part. A million styrofoam packing peanuts all over the floor! Wheeeeeee!

No, no, Andrew. They're styrofoam peanuts, not real ones.

Here's some great pics of Andrew:

(I almost just posted one when they were pulling him out of my belly, but it was rather graphic, so I decided to post the one of my meeting him for the first time...)
This one makes me laugh every time... He cried a lot when he was new, and Aubs tried to be patient...


I know, a lot of up close and personal shots, but hey, I just love his face. He got a lot happier as time went on.

But still, there are some days he's not always smiling:

Some other sides of Andrew:
These are some of the most recent ones we have:

Happy birthday Andrew, you crazy little rascal! We love you!