Schoolgirl

Today was Anna's first day in her new room at school...the "Toddler" room! We both had a few tears at the beginning, but all in all she did really well...

Her new room is so fun...they get to sit at a table in their own little chairs and have their names at their place at the table, and they sleep on little cots instead of cribs. They also have way cooler toys in this room--no more baby stuff. She has "school supplies" now, and even has to have a "painting shirt" for their art projects! We really think she's going to love this room...it seems like they do so many fun things throughout the year. And, lucky for us, they work on potty training in this room, so maybe our Pampers days are limited.

We can't believe how tiny the babies in Anna's old room look now. To think that that was her a year ago! Its amazing how the time flies. And, it was so scary to talk to friends who's little ones started kindergarten today who said it seemed like just yesterday that their kids were promoted to the "Toddler" room. Eek--kindergarten! Why can't we just put her in a box so she'll never grow up??

Little sprout and her water spout

In fear of the unpredictable path of Hurricane Dean, we decided to cancel our "family vacation" to San Antonio last weekend. In an effort to at least partly make up for it, Clint took the day off of work on Tuesday and we had a "family fun day" which included a wonderful trip to the zoo. The Houston Zoo has a great children's zoo, that includes a little water play area. Anna was none too upset to get to cool off in the water spouts...

The Thinker

The artist contemplates her work...

Anna has recently experienced the joy of combining two of her favorite activities--coloring and taking a bath. We've tried bath markers, bath finger paint, bath dye, but nothing beats good, old-fashioned bath crayons. We may have a future Monet on our hands...

Heart + soul

So many boys, so little time! In addition to flirting with the birthday boy, Anna also spent time playing a little Heart & Soul with her "other boyfriend", Matthew, at Owen's birthday party. She's so fickle...

Eat your heart out, Paris

Paris Hilton just wishes she looked this adorable with a puppy in her purse...

Anna is going through quite a "girly" phase right now. She loves purses, sunglasses, bows in her hair, and looking "pretty". Let me tell you--I'm not complaining! As the natural maternal response to this new interest, I have of course basically set up a bow factory in our dining room. Now let's just hope this isn't one of those 1- or 2-week phases...I'm not sure Lily is going to be too thrilled about being adorned in tiny bows if Anna loses interest in them.

Making beautiful music together

Anna's good friend (and future prom date), Owen, turned one this Sunday, so she decided to play him a little birthday tune...

MORE junk food...puulleease??!?

My lifelong friend, Emily, and some other girlfriends from college were in town a few weeks ago, so we met them at Chick-fil-A for lunch. Not only did I have a great time hanging out with old friends, but Anna got her first fast food! I've been a bit of a hippy with her eating over the last year+, but am starting to try to relax a little. Needless to say, she was happy for the "break" from her flaxseed and whole grains! She LOVED the chicken nuggets...I'm afraid I may have created a monster.

More fun pics from the playdate coming soon...

(Sorry for the delay between posts recently...work has been insane the past few weeks and I haven't gotten much free time for blogging...)