Avarie Sue turns 2!

Hard to believe that this was already two years ago! This picture of Tate was taken the morning of February 18, 2007 as he was saying goodbye to my belly and hello to his new baby sister. He was so excited! After weeks and weeks of keeping me company on the couch, he was so anxious to finally meet this baby sister we had told him so much about.

Here she is with her daddy at the hospital. Little did he know how a little girl could capture his heart...and she has.

Here is Avarie on her 1st birthday. She had just had her tubes put in and was such a happy girl. She was crawling all over and just beginning to pull up on things but not walking yet.

And, now a year later at 2 with her new dolly. It's fun how girly she has become; a year ago she was pretty happy with Hot Wheels and legos. She still loves to play with her brother with his Batman cave and legos, but she definately has embraced her girly side and plays dolls and kitchen too. She chatters up a storm and has LOTS of words. Just this week she has really started to string a few words together. A favorite topic is the dogs and how they drink water in their room. One of her favorite things to do is go to storytime at Barnes and Noble where we sing songs and hear great stories. She also loves to wrestle with Tate and Derek.

She had a pink cupcake cake and lots of balloons. We took them to Chuck E. Cheese for pizza and games and we all had a great time. There are more pictures on our shutterfly website http://familymattila.shutterfly.com The password is mattila.

We are so proud of our little girl and so happy she came to live at our house! It's hard to believe that she is growing up so fast, but, as Tate says, she will always be our baby sister! Happy Birthday, Avarie Sue!!!