Anni turns two!

We all got pretty excited about Anni's birthday!

I felt like it was the right thing to do to invite Joleen to her party so I made her an invitation:

I was pretty pleased with how it turned out; here's a closer look:

And I made her a cake:

I worked on this during any spare time I had while she was napping or otherwise distracted (which isn't very often - she is usually right by my side)

Seeing this face she made the first time she saw it made it even more worth it!  I'm so glad I caught this on camera!:

She was thrilled.  And she was completely spoiled by family and friends!

Joleen showed up half an hour early, which freaked me out a little bit because Shawn was gone and I wasn't sure how things were going to go...

Anni came to the door with me, saw her and started backing up.  She also wouldn't hug her goodbye when she requested it;  I think she was afraid that she would take her home. BUT Joleen seemed fine with the fact that Anni calls me "mama", which I was worried about, and over-all it was a sweet visit.  Joleen loves her so much and it was fun to be able to tell someone all of the cute things that Anni says and does and have her enjoy hearing about it as much as we do!

I took some pictures of them together before Joleen went home:

If we end up getting to have Anni as part of our family forever (which we all hope that we do) then I want her to know that she was really loved and that her mom had such a hard life and has had so many bad things happen to her that she just couldn't take care of her.