I det a butterfly tate!

After I came home from the hospital today, we managed to whip out a birthday party for Elodie, complete with flaming antennae.

Elodie had been very good at telling people, "I one." And when they'd comment on how well she can talk, I'd throw in that she was almost two, at which point she'd say, "I det a princess tate!" But when I was looking at princess-cake-making tips on the internet, we saw a butterfly cake and she changed her mantra. Lucky for me because this one was much simpler to throw together. Today we practiced "How old are you?" a lot, and I tried to drill the new answer into her head, but she kept skipping right over two and claiming, "I free!"

Xander was very, uh, helpful when it came to opening presents. As she was enjoying the one they'd just opened, he was digging into the next. He was courteous enough to show her what she got before moving on to the next one.

While we're on the subject of Elodie, just look at how much she's benefitted from going to other mom's houses everyday. My friend Kara, who is an experienced mother of a daughter, managed to get Elodie not only to cooperate with having her hair done, but also to somehow leave it in longer than 5 minutes--it stayed in the WHOLE DAY! Kara taught me her tricks so hopefully my daughter can now look a bit more respectable and girly, despite the fact that she barely has enough hair to get in her eyes. Yep, these are the first real pigtails of her life. Thanks, Kara! And thanks to all of my great friends from Church who have taken such good care of my kids everyday! It feels like Zion to be surrounded by such unselfish, pure-hearted people! You are all an answer to prayer!