The happy homemaker

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

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!

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

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

Visit from Nana

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...

We're probably watching either Seasame Street or football.

Gene pool

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!!

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

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

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!

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

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

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...)