Family Time

Over the past months, Anneke and Lautje have been enjoying a fair bit of family time. Their approaches to what constitutes quality time with their relatives, however, were quite different. Anneke was rather picky about who she chose to socialize with – there was the Opa, always a great favorite: She even graciously granted him permission to keep her safe in her more adventurous endeavors:

Also, there was considerable time spent with the Oma:
And then, endlessly fascinating, Baby Matilda:

Lautje, on the other hand, was less discriminatory in his social choices. While he clearly enjoyed spending time with his core family...

... he did not at all mind branching out, if it meant that he could cajole his cousin Josephine into pushing him on the swing:

In an unlikely turn of events, Lautje overall seemed to rather embrace the motto “the more, the merrier” - and this was especially true once soap bubbles were put into play...

Birthday Girl

Incredibly, Anneke made it to her second birthday without exploding from sheer stubbornness. This feat called for some serious celebrating, so Anneke began her day with a miniature marshmellow-chocolate-chip-cookie birthday cake...
...before proceeding to bigger and better cakes, the candles of which Lautje selfslessly offered to help blow out:

Her presents (a matter of some concern in a household already overflowing with toys) seem to have been to her liking, too. The revealing of the magnetic blackboard required some help from the Oma - Anneke seemed convinced that having a huge mysteriusly wrapped thing show up in her living room was present enough and there was surely no need to take that beautiful paper off...

Once revealed, however, it was a huge success and gave Lautje the chance to show off how he can write an "A" for Anneke.

The Nanny and Papa's presents were also well received, though Anneke decided the Thomas the Train pillowcase was better used as decoration...

George and Lisa got to try out Anneke's new baby kinderwagen.

However, the day wasn't all smiles and giggles. So as not to spoil the Mommy and Daddy, Anneke naturally decided to throw a fit about something of relatively minor importance. On the plus side, she chose not to scream or cry, but rather (for some unknown reason) to pretend that she was an ostrich...

In the end, though, Anneke's birthday weekend was a great success. And although she might be stubborn and strong-willed, she can still turn on the charm when she needs to, and melt the Mommy and Daddy's hearts.