Marianne turns TWO!

The MariBug turned two yesterday!! As this is only the second time she has had a birthday, the kids spent most of the day trying to teach Marianne the wonderful and marvelous beauty of birthday magic: candles, cake, and presents. She woke up oblivious but caught on quickly to being sung to and blowing out candles. We put candles on her sprinkled pancakes and she blew them out over and over as we sang the happy birthday song to her repeatedly.
After the kids went to school she got a super bubbly bubble bath...

 Then she played outside while I tried to teach her to answer the question "How old are you?" with two fingers...

"Marianne, how old are you?"
"TWO!"

 Because it was her birthday, all of the kids were super nice to her. Bekah helped her get her diaper changed and then took her outside to play. I love the cheek hanging out. (Thank you Bekah!) And the boots. And the hat. Marianne loves her boots and her hat!

 Later we had pizza for dinner and then funfetti cupcakes for dessert. This time she blew out the candles as we lit them and sang along, "Appy Bir Day Day!!"

She got the biggest cupcake, of course...

 And loved every little bit of the frosting, but didn't really care to eat the actual cake...

She got a mini lalaloopsy playhouse for her big birthday toy and it was a hit!

I love being a mom to this opinionated little girl. Case in point:
A few days ago we were looking at fabric at Hobby Lobby. I struck up a conversation with an older woman over cute holiday fabric, and Marianne had to give her two cents worth as well. The woman was especially nice to Marianne, and Marianne decided that only She (the grandma), could help her with her buckle and only She could push her in the cart. If I tried to help her she swatted me away and pointed to the grandma. The woman was tickled and asked if she was almost three. I told her she was almost two, going on five, and the woman agreed!
Marianne is so fun, and most often quite exhausting. She is always saying, "I do it!" and doesn't want help getting in the van or getting in her car seat or putting on her pants or climbing in the tub. She loves being up at night longer than the other kids and finds it the ideal time to repeatedly pull mom or dad off of their tired bums to find her some food. She loves having her shoes put on, but kicks them off the second she gets in her car seat. (This can be annoying when we're running alot of errands). She loves music and loves to dance, and has recently started monitoring how loud I play my music in the van. She'll say "Loud!" or "Down!" until I turn it down to the proper level. She loves to draw, and as my walls will agree, has just recently started branching out to other mediums besides paper. She loves to say hi to random people and can carry on an entire conversation like this:
"Hi! What's your name?"
"Buggy!"
"Buggy? Okay. How are you Buggy?"
"Good!"
"Good! Well, have a good day!"
"Bye!"
I love that she calls herself "Buggy". For a few weeks if I asked her to say Marianne, she would only say, "Buggy!" but now she has started repeating her actual name and it is equally cute.
Rus wants to add: Marianne loves the iPad. She knows how to use it better than dad. She knows how to poop on the toilet. She loves her brothers and loves to tackle and play with them. She has a big girl bed - the bottom bunk - and sleeps really well in it.
Marianne, we are all wrapped around your little fingers! We love you!