Anna's Album

Our family is expanding...

2009-05-01T08:50:00.000-07:00

It is with much joy that we declare that we have "outgrown" this blog, and its time to move on to another blog now that our family is expanding. We want to keep up with both Anna and Kate's adventures at our new site for both girls. Please come visit us there! (And, please forgive the general lag in updates these days...we're still adjusting to our new "schedule" as parents of two...)

http://annaandkate.blogspot.com/

Little painter

2009-05-01T08:47:00.000-07:00

In anticipation of Kate's arrival, Anna and I went to the local pottery place and did a little painting. Anna painted a monkey for herself, and a little piggy for Kate...such a good big sister! We were also able to get Anna's "three year" handprint plate made...amazing how big her little hand is getting! I'm afraid we're going to have to upgrade from the salad plate to the dinner plate for next year's handprint!

Happy Birthday Daddy...

2009-04-27T15:24:00.001-07:00

...from your girls! We love you very much!!

(P.S. Please ignore the terrible picture of me...I had been planting flowers in our flowerbeds all afternoon...it was just the only pic I had of all three of us...)

Spring fling

2009-04-27T10:58:00.001-07:00

Daddy and Anna had fun decorating brownie bites at the Spring Fling at Challenger Park...

In the bluebonnets

2009-04-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

For whatever reason, Anna has been somewhat obsessed this year with me taking her picture in the bluebonnets. There is a field of bluebonnets outside of her school, and every day that I pick her up she insists on me taking her picture there. Most days its with a pretend camera, but on this day I actually had my real camera with me so got an actual shot. I was hoping to get a picture with she and Kate in the bluebonnets this year, but I'm afraid we may have missed our window...oh well...its been a kind of crazy last few weeks so I guess we have a good excuse :-).

Egg hunter

2009-04-27T10:51:00.000-07:00

Hunting eggs was definitely a popular Easter activity with Anna this year. While she's not quite to the age yet that we're getting creative with hiding them, so thought running around and picking eggs up out the grass was a blast! The top picture was taken at her MOMS Club egg hunt, and the lower picture is her hunting with her school friends. We definitely got some mileage out of her Easter basket this year...

Happy Easter!

2009-04-22T19:31:00.001-07:00

Ok, so we're a week and a half late...we were a little occupied on Easter this year...:-).

Anna was completely in LOVE with the Easter bunny this year, so was none too upset to have multiple opportunities to have her picture taken with her favorite rabbit.

The top picture was taken at the mall (I succumbed to the temptation and paid the outrageous price that they charge to have your picture taken at the mall...Anna just loved him too much for me to say no!), and the bottom is from the Easter party at Anna's school.

We hope everyone had as outstanding an Easter as we did!

Big sister!

2009-04-20T08:26:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Anna became a big sister on Friday, April 10th! She welcomed her new little sister, Kate Amelia, to the family at 3:16pm. Anna has been doing an amazing job as a big sister--bringing Kate toys and giving her lots of hugs, snuggles, and kisses. She's even "helping" with diaper changes!

We've been a little behind in blog postings, but I'm going to try to get caught up in the next few days. After I catch up, we're planning to switch to a new blog for both of the girls...more on that soon...

Big sis in training

2009-04-05T18:38:00.000-07:00

We took Anna to a "Super Siblings" class this Saturday to help her get ready for Kate's nearing arrival, and she had a great time! They learned all about what babies eat, what they can play with, how to hold a baby and support their head, etc., etc. I think Clint and I appreciated the refresher as well...ha! Here, Anna is learning how to swaddle a baby. If Kate is anything like Anna was as a baby, this will be an invaluable skill...that Anna LOVED to be swaddled! I think I finally stopped swaddling her when she was about 10 months old because I realized that it had reached the point of ridiculousness...

Build-a-bear

2009-03-26T12:33:00.000-07:00

Especially since I know our carefree "mommy-daughter" days are likely coming to an end for a while pretty soon, I've been wanting to do some special activities with Anna in these last few weeks before Kate arrives. (Does that sound like I think our life is going to end when Kate gets here?? I don't mean it that way at all...I just know that things will definitely get more complicated for a while...:-) ). Yesterday we went to Build-a-Bear so that Anna could make a bear for her to give Kate when she's born. We of course also made something for Anna--she picked out a beautiful white seal as her "friend". Above you can see her putting the stuff in Kate's bear (dubbed by Anna as "Care Bear"), and then giving him a hug.

After Anna finished stuffing the animals, she went and gave them a bath. She thought that was the greatest! We followed up our animal-building morning with a lunchtime trip to Chick-fil-a and the Great American Cookie Company (a special treat!), and a visit to the Easter bunny. We had a great day...

Country cousins

2009-03-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

Anna and I went on a little adventure last week during Spring Break, and went to Caldwell (Grammie's hometown--to the land that she was raised on) to meet up with my family. Anna had a blast in the country with her cousins!

She and Natalie seem to have struck up a special bond during these last few visits (her birthday and the trip to the country). I think they're finally old enough to really "play together", instead of just play beside each other.

Ok, I'll admit...my sister and I are raising a bunch of city girls! Their idea of "roughing it"--eating Cheetos out of the back of Grammie and Bucko's car.

Anna did have her first experience with crossing a barbed wire fence. Mommy was WAY too big to get over or under the fence, so Aunt Kel helped her across and did the rest of the hike with her. Thanks Aunt Kel and Bucko for taking her the rest of the way (and thanks Grammie for staying back with me!)...

Taking a dip

2009-03-21T11:47:00.001-07:00

While the weather is certainly warming up here in Houston, we're still not quite to "pool season" yet. But, the heated hot tub seemed to satiate the need to swim for Anna and her cousins last weekend. Forgive the photo quality--everyone was having way too much fun to stop and look at the camera...

Thanks again to Grammie and Bucko, and Kel, Syd, and Nat, for coming to visit us last weekend...we had a great time!

Jump around

2009-03-15T04:43:00.000-07:00

Ok, we have one last birthday wish and posting for Anna...yesterday was Anna's 3rd birthday party at a local "bounce place" called Jump N Jungle. We had a blast! We had originally planned her party for her favorite park, but the weather in Houston yesterday was terrible (rain + 40 degrees...that's FREEZING), so made a last minute reschedule to a drier, warmer option.

This place ended up being a great alternative! They took care of all of the real-time logistics like setting up the room, getting pizza and drinks for the kids, serving cake, etc...a big relief given that I'm about 13 months pregnant.

And, the kids seemed to have a blast! The pictures aren't the best...turns out taking pictures of a crew of 3 year olds jumping and bouncing around in close range requires significantly greater photojournalistic skills than I possess. Oh well...these may be blurry, but they capture some of the joy!

We attempted to take a "group photo" of all of Anna's friends, but had some lack of cooperation from the party attendees. Oh well...this was as close to a quorum as we could get...

An evening in the rainforest

2009-03-13T05:19:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, after our full day of birthday celebrations, we decided to conclude the day with a trip to the Rainforest Cafe in Galveston to celebrate Anna's birthday. We had attempted to go the night before on her actual birthday, but she had a bit of a tummyache so we decided to wait for her to feel better.

She had such a blast! She loved all of the animals, and is still talking about the "dancing gorilla", the "butterfly...she's so cute!", and the mama and baby elephants. While the Rainforest Cafe admittedly has a bit of a "theme park" quality to it, it was just perfect for a birthday celebration. Its amazing how much more fun places like this are when you see them through the eyes of a child!

They even brought Anna a birthday sundae and sang her a Happy Birthday song. They had talked about asking her to get on the table and act like a gorilla (great...that'll be a fun habit to break at home...), but I think they saw her slight timidness and decided a song and candle were probably celebration enough! Happy Birthday, our little monkey!

Birthday-palooza

2009-03-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

Anna had a fun-filled Saturday yesterday making her rounds on the birthday party circuit. She started the morning with an indoor pool party for her friend Ava. Mommy opted to not exhibit her now whale-sized tummy by getting in the pool, but stayed on the sidelines for photo ops of Anna and Daddy. Anna loved spending some time swimming and then having a yummy lunch with the birthday girl, Ava!

After the pool party, we headed to a "jumping" party for her friend Kara. Anna has definitely turned over a new leaf when it comes to these bounce houses! We went to a party at this same place a few months ago and Anna spent most of the time being held by Mommy and watching the other ones jump. Well...she decided her days of being a wallflower were over, and we basically had to pry her from the jump area when it was time to go have pizza, cake, and ice cream with her friends. She's growing up!

We then finished off the day with a family birthday celebration for Anna at the Rainforest Cafe...pics from that coming soon...

Happy Birthday, sweet Anna!

2009-03-06T18:37:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to our little doodlebug!! Anna had a fun day today, starting with a birthday serenade and presents at home this morning, a trip to the donut shop on the way to school, and then a fun school day with her friends. We had thought about keeping her home today, but Fridays are the most fun school day filled with Tumblebus, show & tell, and her school birthday party. So, she was pretty insistent on going today!

Above, she parties at school with friends, a birthday hat, cupcakes, and ice cream--what could be better? Below, she shows her favorite birthday present (a magic wand with Sleeping Beauty--her favorite princess--on it) to her favorite Christmas present (Monkey). If only I had known that the $4 plastic wand was going to be the hit of the birthday...could've saved us a lot of money!

We love you Anna Banana! We can't believe its been three years since you first blessed our lives...

First braids

2009-03-02T18:14:00.000-08:00

Last Friday was "Go Texan Day", so I decided to take this as a good opportunity to attempt to braid Anna's hair. Between her hair's general shortness and thinness, and Anna's wiggliness while I fix her hair, I've never tried braids before. But, she was excited about looking like a "cowgirl", so was pretty patient with the braiding adventure! You'll have to forgive the crookedness...we'll work on straightening them in future iterations...

When the cat's away...

2009-02-21T17:07:00.000-08:00

...the mice will play! Daddy had to go to Denver for work for a few days this week, so Anna and I were on our own. We took full advantage of the opportunity to break all of the rules--of nutrition (one day did actually consist of donuts for breakfast and McDonald's for lunch--what?!?), personal hygiene (who needs a bath?), and bedtime routines (we had a "slumber party" in Anna's bed one night). While we missed Daddy immensely, we did have a good time!

Cat in the Hat

2009-02-16T17:25:00.001-08:00

The Cat in the Hat paid a visit to Pottery Barn Kids today, so we decided to venture up into the city to see him. Anna loved him! While she looks mildly scared in this photo, she actually thought he was a hoot!

She also enjoyed a little reading (and snuggle) time with her friend, Zachary, who went with us (with his mom, my friend Rynee).

It seemed like a little harmless toddler snuggle time until the shot above. I'm not sure how I feel about Anna sharing a small chair with a boy who's drumming his fingers, licking his lips, and looking mischevious...hands off my daughter!!

Soon after this photo, Anna proclaimed that Zachary was her Valentine. I guess she was wooed by his fancy toddler moves...sorry Owen...

Lots of love

2009-02-14T17:34:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Anna shared the love with one of her most favorite people, her teacher Ms. Monica, at yesterday's Valentine's party at school. Anna was awfully excited that she and Ms. Monica had on matching shirts...she pretty much thinks Monica hung the moon! (To put it in perspective, her prayers before dinner recently have been "Thank you for this food....and for Ms. Monica"...at least we know she's happy at school!)

She also shared some love with her Valentine, Owen. They both proclaimed each other to be one another's Valentine. Given that we know that Owen comes from "good stock", we can't say we're complaining. :-) Anna is a fickle one these days though...she did come home from school a few weeks ago and proclaim, "Mommy, Owen's a boy. And he loves me very much. But, I don't love him back." Oh well...I guess he's found a way to charm her since...

Little sister ain't so little...

2009-02-09T19:22:00.001-08:00

We had our "fetal growth" ultrasound of Anna's new little sister today, and she looks great! They said everything looks healthy (and she's still a girl, so no repainting the nursery for us...ha!) From the ultrasound, she actually looks a lot like Anna did at this stage...maybe they'll favor each other!

They did say that she's measuring larger than they expected at this stage (by a few weeks), so they're thinking she'll come earlier than originally expected. My original due date was April 21st (has moved a few days earlier over the course of the pregnancy), but now they're saying she's measuring as though her due date would be April 4th. Whoa. While I'm generally not wild about inductions, my doctor said today that if she's not here by April 10th then he'll want to induce me to up the odds that I could have her naturally without a C-section. Lower chance of C-section? Sign me up for that induction! Hopefully she'll make her debut before April 10th, but if not, that's probably the day!

I of course am a bit apprehensive about "why is she so big??", but the ultrasound tech and doctor were both very comforting that its very normal and nothing to worry about it. They apparently did not get the memo that it is my job to worry. Constantly.

I'm sure Anna will be excited about her new sister arriving a bit early (that is, til she gets her and Anna realizes that this new baby thing is maybe not quite as exciting as she's gotten into her head that its going to be!) Anna's been really cute recently...wanting to buy gifts for the baby, and talking about when her sister gets "bigger and bigger...and she can take a bath with me...and when she's even bigger she can sleep in my big girl bed with me..." and on and on. She's going to be an amazing big sister...

First field trip

2009-02-01T05:03:00.000-08:00

Anna went on her first school field trip this past Thursday, and had an absolute blast! They've been studying penguins in school all month, so went to the Aquarium at Moody Gardens to check out some macaroni and king penguins (among others!) for themselves. While the kids loved all the things they saw at Moody, they were just ecstatic about the penguins, and were giddy when the penguins swam up to them. Above, Anna's getting some face time with a macaroni penguin with her friends Ava and Kara.

Almost as tall as a King penguin (but he's still got about 10 lbs on her...)!

Here's the whole gang, as close as they were going to get to a group photo.

The kids not only thought the Aquarium was exciting, but thought the adventure of getting to ride a school bus on the field trip was almost as cool! Mommy had to miss this field trip, unfortunately, because of an unavoidable conflict at work, but Daddy had a wonderful time accompanying Anna on this trip. Hopefully we can both make it to the next one!

A BIG thank you to Anna's teachers and director for putting this together! Its pretty unusual for them to let classes with kids as young as Anna go on field trips, but they went out of their way to arrange for special logistics and approval so the kids could see the penguins they'd been studying. It was a wonderful time!

Life just needs a little balance...

2009-01-25T04:56:00.000-08:00

As I think I've probably noted in previous postings, we have had so much fun over the past few months doing Little Gym. While it was theoretically supposed to be a "mommy and me" activity, my sickness with this pregnancy often resulted in Anna and I skipping our normal weekday time for Little Gym and Clint and her doing it together on Saturdays. So, fun for the whole family! Anyway...Little Gym has come to an end. While we had entertained the idea of signing her up for another semester, her interest in it seemed to have waned during the last few weeks, and she had become extremely adamant that she wanted to do "Tumble Bus" at school instead. So, remembering who's the boss, we of course complied...

She started Tumble Bus (which is basically a smaller version of Little Gym on wheels that comes to her school....but "cooler" in her eyes because she gets to do it with all of her school friends, and does it "by herself" without mommy/daddy) last week, and is completely obsessed. Her wanting to do this by herself is actually a little blessing for mommy too...trying to do Little Gym being 8+ months pregnant, and then with a newborn, was going to be a unique challenge this spring! Let's hope the interest in Tumble Bus sticks around...

Anyway...a few shots of her last day at Little Gym...

Big girl bed!

2009-01-20T14:09:00.001-08:00

We are excited to report that Anna has officially transitioned to her "big girl bed"! We were attempting to let her stay in her crib until she demanded to move out or started climbing out on her own, but realized with her size that she might be in 4th grade before that happened. So, we decided it was time to go ahead and make the move. She decided she wanted to move into a different bedroom of our house and leave her old room "for the baby" (which logistically was a huge blessing for us...thanks Anna!). So, Daddy spent some time over the Christmas holidays getting her new room painted and furniture arranged, and Mommy followed up with some decorating, and we decided last weekend it was time!

She's done really well with the move. We've certainly had a few nights of waking up in the middle of the night, and even a few nights of moving back to the crib for a few hours, but she's solidly in her new bed now, and loving it! She told me the other day "I'm done with the crib for good now. I want to be in my big girl bed ALL the time." Done.

The photo above was from the first day she napped in her new bed. I went in to sneak a picture when she was first starting to wake up, and she caught me! I asked her to "pretend" to be asleep for the picture, so she closed her eyes but still waved. Oh well...close enough.

The first night she slept all the way through the night without waking, we celebrated with a trip to the donut shop the next morning! Rewards for Anna and Mommy...

It's That Time of the Year

2009-01-10T19:19:00.000-08:00

Alright, Clint here. That unflattering picture of me from New Years has been at the top of the blog for too long, so I believe I'll bump it down a notch.

As you can imagine, there are many viruses going around Room 4 of the Childcare Center this time of year. Just before Christmas, Anna got hit by one and wasn't feeling good for a few days. Here's a pic of our little patient. Blue's Clues + lemonade + cereal + Teddy + blankies seemed to be the be the best way to treat this particular virus.

Good-bye 2008, hello 2009!

2009-01-02T09:02:00.000-08:00

We rang in a very Happy New Year with a trip to the Houston Children's Museum. They have an annual "countdown to noon" for the kiddos, complete with New Years crafts, float-making, and a big brass band parade. They even have a ball that drops at noon! We did it last year as well, and had a blast! We think this may be an annual tradition. Here, Anna is waving a the "Wild Thing" (from "Where the Wild Things Are")...sorry for the sleepy eyes...this is photographic evidence of our dire need for a new camera...

We also enjoyed face painting--Anna reciprocated the favor of Mommy painting a heart and flower on her cheeks, and gave Mommy a makeover as well...

...and a little grocery shopping at the "Farmer's Market". Anna was thrilled to have her own grocery list and basket, and get to check herself out...

White Christmas

2008-12-31T19:29:00.001-08:00

Ok, so it wasn't exactly a white Christmas, but we did get snow in Houston in December! Seriously. For those of you non-Houstonians/non-Texans, this is truly unheard of. I can count on one hand the # of times its snowed in Houston in my whole life, and it never snows and sticks.

Anna was considerably less impressed than we were...she seemed to just think the snow was "cold". (It was, admittedly, right before bedtime that it snowed, so she was a sleepy goose.) I'm not sure she really comprehends the true rarity of this event. Silly toddlers.

Below is a shot of the steamy hot tub in the snow. Clint took advantage of this rare opportunity to go sit in the hot tub and have a beer while it snowed. May be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in Houston...

Ok, a few more Christmas pics...I can't resist...

Anna was excited to leave some cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. She did want to be sure and taste-test the carrots before subjecting Rudolph to them...

A few shots of our Christmas cutie...

Ok, I think that's it for 2008! I would promise to do better in 2009, but let's be honest...about 1/3 of the way through the year we're going to have a newborn and these posts are probably going to get even more sparse. Oh well...I'm adding it to my NY Resolutions list anyway...

We hope your 2008 was as enjoyable as ours, and wish an even happier 2009 to everyone!

November adventures

2008-12-31T19:23:00.001-08:00

November brought some simple pleasures, like stomping in rain puddles, as well as some greater adventures like traveling to Dallas to see her cousins Sydney and Natalie (for Nat's 3rd birthday). This was a first long road trip in a while, but Anna was a champ for it! She had her first experience with the DVD headphones (which she refers to as "head-ears"), and is now somewhat obsessed with them. Can't say we're complaining since this means she can listen to a DVD via headsets and we can put the radio in the front seat on "our music". Isn't technology grand?

Playing with Nana

2008-12-31T19:18:00.001-08:00

We were thrilled to have Nana come visit us in late October/early November. We had good weather, so were able to spend a lot of time at the park. Anna loved playing with Nana (as always!). Thank you Nana for coming to visit us! (And, a general shoutout thank you to Nana for so often coming to visit us even though we don't make it up to see her as often as we'd like...traveling with a toddler and a sick, pregnant lady is not super-fun!)

Fall highlights

2008-12-31T19:09:00.001-08:00

We were lucky enough to get to celebrate the nuptuals of our good friends, Adam and Sabrina, in August. They actually had gotten married a few months earlier in India (so we weren't able to attend), but we got to host a shower for Sabrina in August. While Anna only attended the end of the shower, she did help with the prep. My little chef in training...

Anna started Little Gym in September, which has turned out to be a huge hit! She absolutely loves it. Her last session is in two weeks, and I know that she'll miss it when its over. But, she's decided she wants to do Tumblebus (which is basically a scaled-down Little Gym on wheels) at school with her friends instead, so who am I to argue with that? We also may start swim lessons in a few weeks...need to get those started before I'm trying to balance them with a newborn!

Big News

2008-12-31T19:06:00.000-08:00

August brought big news for our family! We took this picture long before we shared the news with Anna...her not being able to spell/read yet sure does come in h-a-n-d-y sometimes...

Turtles

2008-12-31T19:03:00.000-08:00

We went to visit some sea turtles at a Galveston Sea Turtle Facility. While mommy spent most of the time worried about Anna losing a finger (they do bite!), Anna absolutely loved it and still talks about it a lot (particularly when reading "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What do you see?").

Getting ready to move...

2008-12-31T19:01:00.001-08:00

April brought lots of packing for us this year. Anna helped Daddy take some things off the walls in preparation for our big move...

March madness

2008-12-31T18:59:00.001-08:00

Getting into the spirit of March Madness...

Ride 'em cowgirl

2008-12-31T18:53:00.000-08:00

The rodeo was quite a hit with Anna this year. Between trips with friends and others with family, we ended up going quite a few times this March. She loved riding the ponies, and even took a turn in the clown barrel.

Her mommy's girl, she loved the sausage-on-a-stick. Seriously, is there a better rodeo/festival/carnival food??

I think the animals were her favorite part...we may have a future FFA member on our hands!

Birthday girl

2008-12-31T18:48:00.000-08:00

Anna had a "pinwheel party at the park" for her 2nd birthday. She really "got" the idea of a birthday party this year, and loved it! She's already talking about her 3rd birthday party now...no pressure.

After blowing out candles with Daddy, she learned about wind energy from Bucko...

Some highlights from February...

2008-12-31T18:44:00.001-08:00

You can't tell me you wouldn't want this little one to be your Valentine?

Anna thoroughly enjoyed watching our new house being built (or at the very least she humored me and my obsession with going to the house at least daily to check on things). Here's a pic of her at the house during the framing stage. Seriously, though, I do think that watching the whole thing get built and being there every day helped out tremendously when it came time to move in...it was, thankfully, an extremely easy transition for her (and us!) from the old house to the new one...

Looking back on a great 2008...

2008-12-31T15:47:00.000-08:00

While 2008 has had its challenges for our country--with the economy, war, election, etc.--it has been a great and exciting year for our family! And, a busy one, as evidenced by our lack of blog posting this year. In an attempt to still document some of Anna's fun moments and absolve myself of a little slacker-mom guilt from not posting more, I've decided to create some "catch up" postings of some pictures I intended to post earlier in the year and never quite got to.

A look back on some of the highlights of 2008...
...in January, we finalized all of our selections and plans for the house...
...in February, we broke ground on the new house...
...in March, we put our old house on the market, and sold it...
...in April, we closed on our old house...
...in May, we closed on the new house, and moved...
...in June, we started construction on our pool...
...in July, we got pregnant...
...in August, we began the challenge of what turned out to be a l-o-n-g road of morning sickness...
...in September, we survived Ike!...
...in October, we (finally!) finished the pool, and had our yard landscaped...
...in November, we found out our new bundle of joy was a little girl...
...in December, we survived Clint's trip to Russia, and enjoyed all of the holiday festivities...

...it has been quite a year!

Here's a pic of some of the hard work from 2008--Clint watering the gunite in our pool so it wouldn't cure too fast--more pics of all of the fun from 2008 to come soon!

Christmas in Tomball

2008-12-31T05:15:00.000-08:00

Anna had a great time celebrating Christmas in Tomball with Grammie, Bucko, Aunt Kelly, Uncle Roger, and her cousins Sydney and Natalie. While she was a little "under the weather" for most of the trip, she was a trooper and made the most of it.

Both she and her tired parents greatly appreciated the baths from Grammie, and she had a great time playing with her cousins. I think the shot below was the only time they were all three calm enough to capture in the same frame of a picture...

Christmas with the (future) in-laws

2008-12-30T08:25:00.000-08:00

Unbeknownst to her, we have already betrothed Anna to her little friend, Owen Maples. His parents, Whitney and Matt, are some of our closest friends, and quite frankly, he's just too cute and sweet for her not to marry! We think its really nice that they're already getting to spend Christmas gathering with their in-laws. We just hope that their future Christmases together will be slightly less centered around fishing trips and ambulances as this one was...

Party in the park

2008-12-28T04:57:00.001-08:00

Santa being the generous guy that he is, he was gracious enough to come visit Anna and all of her friends at our MOMS Club party in the park the week before Christmas. He made quite an entrance on his firetruck, and then delivered presents to each of the kiddos...he was definitely a hit! Anna was a little reserved around him at first, but then quickly warmed up and gave Santa a big hug. She knows who delivers her toys...

Santa is sharing some hilarious toddler secret with Anna and her friend, Trent...

He sees you when you're sleeping...

2008-12-27T20:16:00.001-08:00

At Anna's Christmas Party at school, they did a little "program" that might have been the cutest thing I've ever seen...Anna and all of her friends had little "choreography" to go with all of the Christmas songs that they sung...

They also had a gift exchange, and the gift that Anna received--a fishing game--was the hit of the party! Mom spent some serious time as the lifeguard while gaggles of toddlers fished their hearts out.

The party wouldn't have been complete if Anna didn't get her picture taken with the inflatable Pooh. She was a big fan, to say the least! Thank you, Ms. Monica and Mrs. Evelyn, for putting together such a fun party for everyone!

Hope everyone's Christmas was as merry as ours!

2008-12-26T14:15:00.001-08:00

We had a VERY merry Christmas at the Baggerman house this year! Anna's one wish from Santa was a particular monkey from FAO Schwartz, and being the good guy that Santa is, he delivered! It was hands-down her favorite gift from Santa, but she has also been having a blast taking pics with her new camera, feeding her new baby in her new highchair, and playing with all of the other toys that Santa and family and friends bestowed upon her!

And, what better way to celebrate Christmas in Texas than with a dip in the pool? We had an unseasonably warm Christmas this year (77 degrees!), so decided to take a dip in the spa. I think this girl is ready for summertime...

Happy Halloween from our little ladybug!

2008-10-31T12:24:00.000-07:00

Our little ladybug wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Halloween!! In the picture above, Anna is exercising her wings at a Halloween party at the park last weekend. Below, she's getting ready for some trick-or-treating at school with some of her friends (pictured: Sara, Morgan, and Ava).

She's had a blast with Halloween this year...in addition to the two festivities pictured here, we also went trick-or-treating at a local assisted living facility, and are headed to a block party + subdivision trick-or-treating tonight. She is really getting the concept of trick-or-treating this year, and thinks its great! Every day she asks me "are we going trick-or-treating today?". With the various activities we've had, most days this week the answer has been "yes". Next week may be a bit harder to explain that we shouldn't go beg for food from our neighbors...

Another Bun in the Oven

2008-10-21T11:07:00.000-07:00

Announcing Anna's new sister! She's due on April 20th of next year, and everyone is healthy and happy (besides, of course, the large amounts of naseau that Mommy is experiencing)!

All Dressed Up

2008-10-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of Anna dressed up to go to a party. Sorry for the randomness of these pics...our camera isn't fast enough to catch our little moving target!

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-21T10:51:00.000-07:00

It's October, so that means it's pumpkin patch time. We checked out a fall festival this weekend and had a good time picking out pumpkins, face painting, and jumping on the moon walks (the latter two by Anna only...Mommy and Daddy refrained).

Ouch!!

2008-10-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't heard, we had a trip to Texas Children's emergency room recently. Anna was playing on the couch in the living room, and did a header off the back and landed on her forehead and nose (about a 3 foot drop). Luckily, she was completely fine minus a huge lump on her forehead (this picture does not do it justice), a black eye, and a scratched nose and upper lip. I think the biggest toll it took was removing 5 years from Mommy and Daddy's lifespans. Ugh!

The stress of Hurricane Ike

2008-09-19T18:16:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Ike was a little more stressful for some of us than others. We evacuated to my parents' house in Tomball, and on Friday before the storm Bucko took Anna on a four wheeler ride to check out the neighborhood and be sure everything was ready. The excitement of being at Grammie and Bucko's had resulted in no nap for Anna that day...until the four wheeler ride. Now this is trust...

All in all, our whole family fared ok with Ike. My parents definitely got hit harder than we did. They're about 60 miles north of us, which we thought would make them "safer", but they also have tall thin pine trees all throughout their area that basically turned into toothpicks in the storm. They lost 6 trees total--1 through the house and 1 through the garage/covered patio. The good news though is the no one was hurt! Our friends Adam and Sabrina were sleeping in the bedroom that the tree went through, but they thankfully walked away unscathed! Our house in League City is also fine. We lost about half of our fence and a small section of shingles on the roof, and of course the pool is a mess, but no big deal! We were all amazingly blessed, especially compared to many of our neighbors to the south. Please continue to pray for all of the victims of Ike! It will certainly be a long recovery for the Galveston/Houston/TX Gulf Coast area...

May I have this dance?

2008-08-17T06:37:00.001-07:00

We were at my cousin Lynn's wedding last weekend in College Station, and did Anna ever have fun dancing the night away! It was her first wedding, and we weren't totally sure if she would think it was fun or overwhelming. She made it pretty clear from the moment she walked in and saw this dance floor and band that this was her comfort zone! Dancing with Bucko made the night even more perfect!

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

Clint's family made the trek from up north to visit us this 4th of July....we had an absolutely wonderful time with them! There will be MANY pictures to come from this trip in future blog-postings (Uncle Shawn is quite the photographer...). In the meantime, we wanted to post this pic of the whole clan. Thanks Nana, Auntie Lees, Uncle Shawn, and Finn for coming to visit us!

Beach babe

2008-06-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

Seriously, does it get any cuter than this?

Anna and I spent the day last Friday with some friends at "Palm Beach", a man-made (read: clean) beach that's part of the Moody Gardens resort. She had so much fun playing in the water and making her first sandcastle. Definitely a place we'll be frequenting all summer...

Pioneer girl

2008-06-29T12:30:00.001-07:00

Anna was quite tickled with the souvenir I brought back from my recent work trip to Virginia. We went to Colonial Williamsburg one evening for some shopping and dinner, and I couldn't resist this little hat. Anna enjoyed wearing the hat while flipping through a photo album of pictures of her at school, and watching a little TV. Maybe she's not quite ready for the true Colonial life...

Picking blackberries

2008-06-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we decided to venture to the north side of Houston to some farms that have "pick-your-own" blackberries and blueberries. Anna had a blast! She didn't quite get the concept of "putting the berries in the bucket"...the vast majority of ones she picked were instantly consumed. A little dirt never hurt anyone, right? I think she's a country girl at heart...

Even though us moms thought that the experience of berry-picking would be most interesting thing on the farm, the little ones had other ideas. After the novelty of the berries wore off, they had endless fun playing with pieces of rope hanging from some rafters. Hmmm...remind me why we spend such fortunes on expensive toys??

Goldilocks

2008-06-18T11:37:00.001-07:00

These pictures are a bit outdated, but I couldn't resist posting them. I finally broke down and got Anna's hair cut in April. She had been sporting the toddler mullet for quite some time while we tried to let her hair grow out, and it finally got long enough to at least trim a bit off the back.

While a bit tentative about the whole process at the beginning, the race car + Elmo video certainly had strong powers of persuasion in making the haircut seem like a good idea. She was having a lot of fun by the end, and actually still talks about getting her hair cut (and pretends to cut her hair with playdoh scissors...eek! note to Mommy to keep the real scissors well-hidden!).

New digs

2008-06-17T18:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, we'll admit it. Our rate of updating the blog recently has been nothing short of abysmal. We are bad parents.

But, we do have somewhat of an excuse...our new pad! We've spent the last two months moving out of our old house (much love to Island Breeze...you treated us well!), and getting settled into our new house. While the boxes seem to be never-ending, we're finally getting to the point that it feels like "home". And we love it! Anna especially loves it...she loves having stairs, and loves having her own playroom (instead of the entryway/playroom/living room/dining room hybrid she previously played in).

These pics are from our "first dinner" in the new house. It was the night after we closed....before the movers came to transport our stuff. Granted it was just pizza eaten off the floor, but it was wonderful!

We promise to get better about blog updates...look for lots of new "catch up" photos in the next few weeks...

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T13:16:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to wish Mommy a very happy mother's day! We celebrated by having a picnic and spending the morning at the zoo. We had a great time, and Anna wished Mommy a "happy mommy's day, Mommy!" over and over. She was also very exciting to give Mommy the card we made for her...both yesterday (because she couldn't wait), and first thing this morning (in case she forgot about yesterday)!

And what the heck, since we haven't posted many picture lately, here are a bunch:

With Daddy...

Hanging out at the picnic...

Picture of the three of us...note the bird stealing our bagel the minute we turned our backs! I don't have anything to prove this, but I think the bird was in cahoots with the lady who offered to take our picture.

Ridin' the panda bear...

Friends, naturally

2008-05-05T04:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, our blog posting rate has gotten ridiculous recently. We do apologize. Between selling our current house and getting ready to move to our new abode, things have just been crazy around the Baggerman household! But, we are committed to do better...

This is from a Spring Break trip to the Butterfly Center at the Museum of Natural Science. Anna had a little "date" there with Nicholas, who is the son of my best friend from growing up, Emily. Emily and I grew up together and she is virtually like a sister to me, and we're blessed enough to have little ones almost the exact same age! But, with our busy lives and us living in two different cities, we don't get to see each other nearly enough. We were lucky enough to get to spend a day with Emily and Nicholas over Spring Break though. We had so much fun! Nicholas and Anna were fast friends...

Little farmer

2008-04-17T18:45:00.001-07:00

Ok, seriously, we really are going to be better about updating the blog...
Last weekend, we ventured to this really neat farmer's market in Alvin that has "pick your own strawberries". Anna thought the whole concept of picking her own berries and then getting to eat them right then and there was just the coolest. As you can see, she didn't hesitate to indulge herself...

Catching Up...

2008-04-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the exceedingly long duration between posts. We've been extremely busy getting the house ready to go on the market- pretty much every free moment for the last couple months has been taken up with cleaning, fixing, organizing, filling a large storage unit as full as it will go, etc. The good news is that we agreed to an offer within 5 days of putting our house on the market, so it looks like our work payed off!

Enough excuses, back to what you are here to see. Below you can see Anna running up our cell phone bill (talking to Daddy, so it was worth it). You can see she's a child of the 2000's...skipping the handset altogether and going straight for the Bluetooth wireless headset! Anyway, expect a jumbo-sized picture post to catch up on the last few weeks coming shortly.

Too cool for cake

2008-03-11T17:08:00.001-07:00

When you're two, you have to play it cool with the cupcakes...

A very HAPPY birthday!

2008-03-06T19:25:00.000-08:00

Here's wishing our sweet Anna Banana the happiest birthday ever!!

We had such a fun day...we went down to the Houston Museum of Natural Science to the Butterfly Exhibit with Anna's playgroup. She thought the butterflies (and rocks, and waterfall, etc.) were just fantastic. And, she certainly didn't let the skirt and tights stand in the way of some serious toddler exploration.

Anna wanted to send a special thank-you to her cousin, Finn, for his birthday message. She loved watching it ("again! again!"). Thanks Finnie! We can't wait to see you again soon!

(Note the black butterfly on the leaf that Anna's looking at. These creatures are pretty domesticated, to say the least!)

Mommy chic

2008-03-02T18:10:00.000-08:00

According to Anna, being a mom doesn't mean you should have to give up your sense of style. Here, she dutifully takes a blankie to her "baby", all while sporting her fancy new high heeled shoes (thanks for the Valentine's Day gift, Daddy!)

Welcome to the world, Jocelyn and Julia!

2008-02-24T05:04:00.001-08:00

We just couldn't be happier to welcome Anna's two newest little playmates to the world--Jocelyn and Julia! They are just the most beautiful little bundles of joy...we're so excited that they're here! A huge congrats to Tim and Melanie! Check out their blog at http://juliaandjocelyn.blogspot.com.

As some of you loyal blog-visitors may remember from when Anna was almost this tiny, Melanie was often referred to as "Nanny Mel", and accompanied us on many trips to the mall, to get gelato, etc. She was always such a calming spirit to Anna, and a sanity saver for me! Now I just hope I can be half as helpful to them...

Daddy's sweetheart

2008-02-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

Just when you thought Daddy couldn't get any more wrapped around Anna's finger...she bakes for him! Anna decided to make Daddy a Valentine's gift of his favorite treat--cranberry white chocolate oatmeal bars (with a bit of help from Mommy).

As any good chef does, she of course had to sample the freshness of her ingredients before allowing them to be used in her dish...

Sharing the love with her friends...

2008-02-17T18:55:00.001-08:00

Even though Valentine's Day was one of my days to get to be at home with Anna, we still decided to go up to school for her Valentine's party. She was SO excited to see her friends, and get to hang out with her friends and mommy at the same time! She has really fallen in love with school recently, and it was so fun to get to see her in that environment.

Above, one of her favorite pals, Miki, gives Anna a little love pat on the head..

Umm...a boy giving my baby a valentine?? I don't think so! Little Max is her favorite little guy buddy at school, and he was so excited to see her that he brought her his teddy bear. Good thing Daddy wasn't there to witness this toddler courting...

Anna was so excited to share a little Valentine's love with one of her favorite teachers, Ms. Wanda.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T17:19:00.001-08:00

We hope your Valentine's Day was filled with chocolate and puppies (or whatever makes you equally as happy!)...

Checking out the new pad

2008-02-10T18:26:00.000-08:00

We just had the slab poured at our soon-to-be new house on Friday. Our little "inspector" gave it her seal of approval.

Biker chick

2008-01-26T13:21:00.000-08:00

Over the Christmas holidays, we finally got our bikes fixed (note: do not store pool chemicals in the garage with your bikes...tends to result in bikes with no spokes...) and got Anna's bike cart set up. We had so much fun taking bike rides as a family! We still have some mechanics to work out with Anna's helmet (its tending to result in a bit of baby whiplash right now...), but are glad to have a new family activity that we all enjoy!

How pretty!

2008-01-21T05:11:00.000-08:00

While Anna loves to have bows in her hair, she hasn't been the biggest fan of any other hair "fixings" that I've tried...particularly pigtails. Well, I've been on a passive crusade over the past month to slow re-introduce the idea of pigtails and encourage her that they're a good thing. During lunch the other day, she just looked up at me and said "Piggies? Piggies?". When I confirmed that she did in fact want me to put pigtails in her hair, I quickly rushed to fix her hair before she changed her mind. To encourage her acceptance of the idea of pigtails, I handed her a mirror so she could see her piggies. She immediately looked at herself, let out a little toddler gasp, and proclaimed "How pretty!!". Sold.

First dollhouse

2008-01-18T11:45:00.000-08:00

Grammie and Grandpa gave Anna her first dollhouse this year for Christmas. Oh my, does this girl love it! She loves putting all of the family members to bed in their different rooms, and is particularly enthralled with having them all potty and wash their hands (we're in the beginning stages of potty training...). Here, Grammie helps her set up the different rooms...

And, Grandpa (aka "Bucko") watches on as Anna discovers all of the joys of her new doll abode...

Santa...a pretty cool guy

2008-01-06T09:13:00.000-08:00

We're starting to wrap up (no pun intended) the Christmas picture posting, but wanted to post a few more of Anna enjoying the spoils of Santa's generousity...

Forget the fancy toys...she made a beeline for the coloring book...

"My very own lap desk with my name on it? Color me happy..."

Doesn't every toddler need a wooden salad dressing and olive oil? I mean, how else can she prepare her fine pretend Italian fare?

Being a good mommy, Anna fed her baby with her new bottle before putting her to bed in her new bassinet...

Do you see what I see?

2008-01-05T04:51:00.000-08:00

Anna thought the kaleidescope that Santa left in her stocking was pretty neat...

Home sweet cottage

2008-01-03T10:08:00.001-08:00

Anna is thoroughly enjoying one of the gifts that Santa left her...a new play cottage! She thinks playing peek-a-boo through the windows and doors is just hilarious, and likes having her own little "retreat" to visit.

Anna also thinks her new "roofmate" is just wonderful. Lily spends LOTS of time relaxing on what she is convinced is her new cottage.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T10:11:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! We rang in the New Year a bit early yesterday at the Children's Museum with a "countdown to noon". Anna loved the little parade and marching band, and we enjoyed getting to go to bed early last night without the guilt of not having celebrated the New Year. Are we lame, or what? But then again, we do have a 7am wakeup call every morning, regardless of the "fun" we had the night before!

Big girl swing

2008-01-01T09:52:00.000-08:00

Anna has a new-found streak of independence, often expressed via the well-used term "Anna's turn!" As much as I think we're both sad to see our "baby" grow up, it is fun to watch her exert her independence and become more brave in her adventures.

While she still loves swinging on the baby swings at the park, she also regularly insists on swinging on the big-girl swings. Here we are spending a little family time at the park...

Little drummer girl

2007-12-30T05:48:00.001-08:00

Anna was so excited about her new Alphabet Drum that she couldn't even wait to get it unwrapped before she started drumming on it. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for it!!

She's decided now that she likes the tune of it so much that she'd like to hear it anytime she's playing in the playroom...which often results in her running off and playing with a different toy but telling me to keep drumming ("again! again!"). Remind me again who's in charge here??

Aarrgh!!

2007-12-29T12:25:00.000-08:00

This whole toy assembly this isn't nearly as easy as it looks. You think you're done, then you go try it out, and it doesn't work! Luckily, being an engineer, it only took me a few hours to troubleshoot the structural problem with the rocking moose:

Aarrgh...so close!!

Luckily, I found the cause of the problem and we were right back on track!Success! I'm smarter than a rocking moose!

Then, after all that, when Anna first saw the moose, she proceeded to set her milk onto it and go play with another toy. All that work for a new end table for her!

She did finally decide to explore the multitude of functions provided by the moose. You mean I'm allowed to rock on my end table? This is awesome...

"Nanny" time

2007-12-29T05:08:00.000-08:00

We were lucky enough to have Nana come visit us for Christmas this year! She escaped the snowy north and came to Texas for some milder weather that included some park time with Anna.

Anna affectionately refers to Nana as "Nanny", and kept asking for Nanny for days after she left. Nanny definitely ensured that Anna had a very MERRY Christmas this year...

Here, Nanny and Anna check out the "pointy trees" in our new subdivision...

Welcome Molly!

2007-12-21T18:47:00.001-08:00

We're thrilled to welcome Molly Ann Broome to the world! She arrived on Wednesday evening as an extra special Christmas present for our dear friends Mandy and Joey. We got to visit the Broomes at home tonight, and big sister Emily and big brother Matthew were absolutely thrilled with their new little sister...

Anna was slightly less thrilled with the visual of Mommy and Daddy holding another baby. But, she did quickly warm up to her new little friend, and by the end of evening was smiling and pointing every time she saw "Mo-yee!"

The Toddler Christmas Party Circuit

2007-12-20T07:15:00.000-08:00

Who knew toddlers could party so much? Anna has been making the Christmas party circuit this year full force. Cookies? Juice? Santa, AND presents?? Seriously, does it get any better?

Anna was enthralled with the light-up train in downtown League City at our MOMS Club Holiday Party. Do we have a future engineer on our hands?

Good thing our Houston flagpoles don't often have ice on them...

Mmmm...Cookies...

2007-12-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

Here's a pic of Anna when she woke up from a nap just in time to help Mommy make some peanut butter squares. Luckily, it wasn't too late to assume her role as the official peanut butter square taste tester. The good news is that Mommy's squares checked out. And as you can see, Anna enjoyed her job!

Under the Weather

2007-12-15T12:53:00.000-08:00

Anna was a bit under the weather a week or so ago. She had a bit of a fever, and as you can see, it tired her out. The best cure seemed to be hours on end of Seasame St. (Ernie and Bert in particular).

In fact, Anna is right here as I type this. I'll pass over the keyboard, she wants to include a message:

asdfghkl;

Hmmm...not sure what that means, but it was typed with great care so it must be important. Maybe cousin Finn can translate!

Photo shoot, take 2

2007-12-06T03:55:00.001-08:00

Play at the park...another attempt to get pics for the Christmas cards. She was pretty opposed to looking at the camera for these pics, but we still had a great time at the park!

Catching up...

2007-12-05T12:20:00.000-08:00

It has been an outrageously long time since we posted to the blog...we apologize! November was a bit of a crazy month, but we're committed to do a better job of blogging in December.

Here are a few cute shots of Anna that we took in our attempt to get Christmas card photos. She was in a bit of a mischevious mood during this photo shoot, so none of these quite made it for the cards but they did capture the fun she was having...

More Halloween fun...

2007-11-10T16:35:00.001-08:00

We figured Anna was still a little too young to get the full joy of the trick-or-treating experience this year, but knew she would like to dress up and see other little ones in their costumes, so I took her to a festival at a local church.

They had a little "bounce house", which I was fully convinced was WAY too old for Anna, and she was fully convinced of the opposite. After a few minutes of her absolutely insisting on getting in and jumping around, I let her in, knowing that 20 seconds later she would be freaked out and screaming to get out. Well, this was another lesson for Mommy that her baby is in fact growing up (whether I like it or not!). She LOVED it!! Just smiled and giggled the entire time. I finally had to pull her out because there was a line forming of other little toddlers and preschoolers that wanted a chance to jump.

She also had a great time with her buddy, Owen, who joined us for the festival. We could never get them still enough to get in the same picture together, so decided to solve that problem with the toddler clown car pictured above. Turns out these play coupes are not designed to accommodate two toddlers in full body costumes....Anna quickly came to this realization and attempted to bail out the window. Let's hope she comes up with a bit more graceful exit on dates in her future...

Happy belated Halloween!

2007-11-06T16:59:00.000-08:00

Sorry it took a while for us to get Halloween pictures posted. Even though Daddy had to miss Halloween with his "little flower" this year because of a work trip, Anna had a great time! Here she is with her school buddy, Max. We think Max has a bit of a thing for Anna. Every morning that she's at school he greets her with a warm, "ANNA! ANNA! ANNA!" The boy's got energy. He had already ditched his costume by 8:30 am on Halloween, but still insisted on standing beside Anna while I took her picture.

Anna was absolutely thrilled with her costume (I guess she was the only one in her class to make it through the entire trick-or-treating experience wearing her costume!). When we got home from school, she insisted upon continuing at attempt to wear her costume. She loved that it had a "hat". I didn't want for her to be in it too long because it was so hot, so she instead just wrapped in around her head and attempted to continue to play in her "flower-turban".

The happy homemaker

2007-10-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

Anna has to get up pretty early these days to prepare pretend breakfast for the family. She doesn't even have time to take out her plastic rollers before she puts the bacon on to fry...

But, what better way to thank our little homemaker than with a...(insert Price is Right's Rod Roddy voice here) brand new house!!

Yep, we are now officially in the process of building a new home! We made an offer on building a new house on Saturday, and they countered today with a pretty reasonable counter offer, so we accepted! We likely won't break ground for another month or so, but we'll start almost immediately deciding on certain structural changes to the house and picking out options. We're so excited about being able to be a part of the whole process...

(As a side note: we obviously don't make Anna sleep in plastic rollers...she just found them in her playroom and thought they were fun...)

House hunter

2007-10-28T06:01:00.000-07:00

We apologize for how delinquent we've been in posting to the blog over the last few months. We've been engrossed in the challenge of shopping for a new house. But, the good news is, Anna utilized her newly acquired climbing skills and helped herself onto our dining room table, flipped through the different floor plans, and selected her new castle. Mission accomplished! How can you be upset at discovering this precious angel sitting on your dining table when she's picking out a new home for you (and so darn cute!)??

(In all seriousness...we did finally put an offer on a house yesterday evening, so wish us luck!)

Happy Birthday Buck-o!

2007-10-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Buck-o!!

Anna's attempt to say "Grandpa" results in something that sounds exactly like "Buck-o". But, she says it with such joy and exuberance that "BUCK-O!!" doesn't seem like such a bad nickname...

We hope you're having a great one, Grandpa, and sorry that we can't be there with you!

Pics from the Pumpkin Patch

2007-10-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of our pumpkin surrounded by other, less cute pumpkins.

Visit from Nana

2007-10-13T20:14:00.000-07:00

We had another visit from Nana last weekend. Anna was happy to show off her toys (including the old-school Winnie the Pooh, shown here) to Nana. Everyone had a great time!

Nothing like Saturday mornings...

2007-10-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

We're probably watching either Seasame Street or football.

Gene pool

2007-09-27T17:18:00.000-07:00

Swimming with her cousins was one of the highlights of Anna's trip to Tomball this past weekend! She had such a fun time with Natalie and Sydney, learning a lot from the "big girls" about driving jeeps, sliding down the water slide, and riding a bike. As you can assume from the picture, Anna had a little tougher time reaching the pedals than her taller cousins. Who are we kidding...Anna's going to be sitting on a phone book to see over the steering wheel in her first car...

This weekend was also a preview as to what family gatherings are going to be like in ~12 years. All weekend Sydney would jump in their yellow play jeep, command one of the little girls to ride shotgun with her, and take off through the yard on an "adventure". We're already sweating where these "adventures" are going to take them when the Jeep that Sydney's driving is no longer one from Toys R Us...

Happy Birthday Grammie!!

2007-09-23T19:26:00.000-07:00

We were in Tomball this weekend to celebrate Grammie's 60th birthday with her. Anna had a wonderful time playing in the backyard with her cousins, eating cake, and helping Grammie celebrate her first 6 decades in style!

Check out my crib

2007-09-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

Kids grow up fast these days...Anna has already been asking if she can have her own place. Knowing she was at least 2-3 more years away from living on her own, we compromised with this little house in the back year. It has all the ammenities of a real house (you're able to play hide-and-seek through the windows, it has an imaginary microwave, etc.), but at the end of the day, she can still come home and sleep in her own comfy crib. Hide and seek! Fun!

A date night...for old time's sake

2007-09-13T07:58:00.001-07:00

A few weekends ago, Clint and I had a little "getaway" to Atlanta. We decided to take our friend, Sabrina's, recommendation on a yummy Italian spot for dinner. Once we got there, we realized it was the place that Clintie took me on our first real "date" in Atlanta 9 years ago!

(If our "first date" being in Atlanta doesn't seem to make sense...Clint and I had been friends while we were at NASA as co-ops, but actually didn't decide to start "dating" until he had gone back to school in Atlanta (great timing). So, we spent our first few months long distance, making trips back and forth.)

GO Texans!

2007-09-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

How 'bout them Texans?

Anna's already learning that the joy of football is in so much more than just the game...its in the tailgate! Here she is learning the finer points of farmer's omelette casserole preparation.

Shake 'n bake

2007-09-07T19:33:00.001-07:00

Anna was so excited when she saw that Grandpa building her a kitchen that she did a little dance.

She got to help Grandpa with the first of many construction projects they'll do together over the years...

A big THANK YOU to Grammie and Grandpa

2007-09-03T13:16:00.000-07:00

Anna (and more importantly, Mommy and Daddy) wanted to send a HUGE thank you to Grammie and Grandpa for staying with Anna this weekend!

We went to one of Clint's college buddy's weddings this weekend in Atlanta (go Jackets!), and my parents came and took care of Anna while we were gone. We were so appreciative for the "getaway", and Anna had a fantastic time! She woke up this morning and walked all around the house looking for Grammie and Grandpa. I think she thought her "village" had permanently gotten bigger...

Thank you guys again for everything!!