We Love Astrid: Happy 2nd Birthday Astrid!

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday dear Astrid!

Happy Birthday to you.

Last night Astrid and baked together for the first time. She sat on the kitchen counter and stirred all of the ingredients together in a big bowl. I turned it into a mini math lesson with all the measuring. She loved pouring from the measuring cup into the bowl and stirring away.

The reason I decided to bake cupcakes instead of buying them, is because I wanted something healthy (and not full of sugar and empty calories). It's important for us that Astrid not eat any artificial sweets, and has healthy eating habits. Her desserts are fruits, raisins, applesauce, and yogurt. So we made organic bran muffins that had no sugar (just a little bit of honey) and baked them in pretty birthday cupcake wrappers. It was a lot of fun and Astrid was so absorbed. She loved helping me and doing something grown up.

The birthday girl dressed in a pretty yellow dress, a present from her nanny.

"It's my party and I can cry if I want to. "

Astrid put her left sandal on her right foot and her right sandal on her left foot. I tried to prevent what would inevitably come next (a big fall and lots of crying), but she did not want my help. Hence a little birthday tantrum on the couch.

Tantrum over.

Happily eating a piece of bread. Sandals are forgotten.

"See! See! See!" she's saying. She wants to see the photos saved in my digital camera.

My little birthday girl looking oh so cute in her pretty dress and pigtails.

Astrid dancing. Twirling around and around.

Yeah Papa's home from the office and he brought me a present!

Getting a birthday kiss from Papa.

Diving into her Duplo Legos.

"What's this? A little man?"

"I don't exactly know what to do with them yet. But thank you."

Standing on her tippy toes for a better look into the box.

Astrid and I waited downstairs while Uwe was upstairs blowing up 45 balloons (manually) to surprise Astrid.

"Can we go upstairs now? The anticipation is killing me!"

"Wow....balloons!"

A room full of balloons just for Astrid.

Here I am bouncing balloons up into the air while Astrid tries to catch them.

Uwe and Astrid playing in the balloons.

To celebrate Astrid's 2nd birthday in style, Uwe bought party hats for us to wear. Usually Astrid loves hats and she'll don anything we put on her, but not this year. We tried several times, but she just did not want to wear her birthday/party hat. So Uwe and I wore the hats and Astrid thought we looked quite funny.

Uwe is quite fond of party hats as you can see from my birthday a couple years ago. Click on the link below to view:
Birthday & Party Hats 2005

Here Uwe is holding the hat above Astrid's head, just so we can get a photo of her with it.

Ha! One for the scrapbooks. You know she's going to look back at this when she's older and laugh. She just refused to wear her party hat. But she looked so cute wearing it!

Here's a close up of the hat. It has a big felt "2" on the front, and came with other numbers that we can use each year until she's 6. I doubt that the hat will last that long, but it's a nice thought.

Playing with a big yellow balloon.

Good news - not a single balloon burst.

More balloon play.

Shouting "Balloons!" So excited. Uwe comes up with the best ideas.

New bath toys to add to her collection.

Squeezing one of her bath toys.

This purple whale acts as a pump and squirts out water. Here without water, it's squirting out air which makes Astrid laugh.

Sweet lil cupid doll surrounded by balloons.

Tired out from all the playing.

Uwe and I wearing our party hats.

Here's Astrid with her birthday cupcake that she helped make.

It's a musical candle that plays "Happy Birthday." Astrid can't help but touch her cupcake.

Uwe lighting the candle while Astrid watches.

Astrid can't wait to blow out her candle.

Okay one last photo and you can blow out your candle now.

Yay! We were surprised by how well she could blow out the candle. Probably the practice she gets from blowing bubbles, and saying "sh sh sh" when she sings "Wheels on the bus go round and round."

Since she was so fast and really enjoyed blowing out her candle, we relit the candle a handful of times and let her blow it out again.