A big THANK YOU to Grammie and Grandpa

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!!

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...)

Waterbug

We just thought Anna enjoyed the pool last summer...she is LOVING it this year! She attempts to "swim" (really just humoring us and letting us motor her around on her tummy), and drinks as much pool water as her little tummy will possibly hold. Yum. She's even put her head under a few times (not entirely sure if it was intentional, but she seemed to think it was fun!). 500m butterfly...Olympics 2024...gold medal...I could see it.

Hats off to you...

Anna showed off her "new" hat this weekend while Nana was here to visit. We didn't want to rain on her parade and tell her that this was actually her sun hat from last year. We'll let her bask in the joy that is a 15-minute short term memory.

Not only does this hat protect her from the sun and look pretty darn cute, but it also provides an excellent accessory for her new favorite song--head, shoulders, knees and toes (and, eyes and ears and mouth and nose...head, shoulders, knees, and toes....seriously, we can spend hours singing this every day).

At the zoo with Nana

Nana came and visited this past weekend...Anna was so thrilled to see her! We went to zoo on Sunday to check out Anna's newest favorite things--animals! Last time we were there she didn't quite get the concept of the zoo, but things had definitely changed this time. She loved seeing the animals, and showing off her new animal noises to Nana.

Our Little Book Wormie

One of Anna's favorite activities is "reading" (read: rapidly flipping through) books. Many times a day she'll sit down and one-by-one take every book out of her book basket and read each one. In case you're looking for a recommendation, she strongly endorses "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle. It's a light read and would probably be good by the pool this summer.

Pretty in pink

I just thought this was a pretty picture of our little angel...

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!!

Happy Father's Day Daddy!! We hope you have as much fun today as we did making your gift...

Daredevil in the making...

We've been venturing down to the Kemah Boardwalk more often these days, where Anna loves to ride the carousel. She also gets just about as much joy out of watching the "big kids" ride the bigger rides. They have a ride that flips upside down called "Pharoah's Fury"...Anna just loves to watch it and thinks its hilarious when the kids on it scream as it goes upside down. She points and screams along with them. Not sure the 12 inches that the horse on the carousel moves up and down actually warrants screaming, but we're happy to let her live vicariously through the "big kids" at this point...

Cute on wheels

Clear the road--Anna's got her first set of wheels!

She had so much fun "driving" at the Children's Museum a few weeks ago. So many buttons to push and dials to turn! She's actually gotten quite into driving in general these days...the jungle gym at the playground has a few steering wheels on it, and she spends a majority of the time that we're at the playground as the "captain" of the jungle gym...

Not bad hair, just a good nap...

It takes some seriously intense napping to result in hair like this...

Bubbles!

Anna's new favorite word--and activity--is most certainly "BUBBLES!". We ventured to the Children's Museum on Friday, and she was quite pleased to discover that, not only could she create bubbles in this wonderful tube-like apparatus, but she could also select their color with the buttons on the floor! Needless to say, she loved the Children's Museum...

Thanks for the sandox, Daddy!

Anna had such fun this weekend playing in the sandbox that Daddy built her! This was a bit of a belated birthday gift...we had actually gotten it in March, but decided to wait until the springtime yardwork was done to get it set up. Anna is definitely intrigued by it. She's still not exactly jumping in head-first, but she's warming up to it more and more every day and enjoying trying out her new "sand tools". She's not interested in getting all dirty in the sandbox yet--she tends to enjoy watching me cover myself in sand more than she enjoys getting it all over herself. Hmmm...maybe she's the brighter of the two of us?

Happiness

Grandpa AND cheese??!? Does life get any better?