Random Thoughts

1. I love dryer sheets.....They are the ultimate multi purpose household item. Not only are they handy in the laundry, they will keep bees away. Some mailmen keep them in their pocket. They will also get your tub three shades lighter! Soap scum no more! (Thats my favorite use of them) When I was Pregnant with Annaka I would simply throw in an unused dryer sheet, add a little bit of water and use my swollen foot to clean the tub. (Maybe I should not admit that out loud...)

2. Vera Bradley is wonderful. Not only did she create these amazing purses and accessories, she also designed a box that is almost as much of a treasure! They are snazzy looking, hold cakes well, or hats if you are into that I guess. (Dont know many people who still look for hat boxes but if they are out there this would be for them!)

3. I actually miss high heels.... We have packed and moved and are in the process of moving and I miss my high heels. A hot pink pair and a black pair to be specific. I am sure I wont miss them when walking on the uneven roads where we are headed. I love watching Annaka clomp around in them too!

4. I love tender moments where I can see my daughters gentle heart. I have always prayed over her at bedtime and now she is a big girl and does it some herself. Tonight after I prayed she immediately said "Annaka had fun watering flowers" so I told her that we can thank God for making the flowers. She prayed "Thank you God for flowers". Then when I told her we can thank God for everything He made she replied "God made people". I said yes so we prayed "Than you God for Papa and Mama" then she took off on her own thanking God for everyone staying in the house tonight:)! I melted.

5. I love sunflowers. Annaka bought me a sunflower from Produce Junction the other day. It is looking at me right now. How cheery!

6. I love Produce Junction. Wish there was one in ever area we lived. Ahhhh.

7. Phone ringers have gotten louder. This causes some confusion and some joy. Confusion as when we are in public I have no idea if it is mine, someone I am with, or someone in another isle's phone singing away. Joy as I watch Annaka dance to whatever ring it is:)

8. I have had colored fingers a lot lately. When making a cake I accidentally began to spill the green food coloring. I wanted to 'catch it' before it hit the counter then it got all over my thumb and finger...under the nail...everywhere and stained it green. It remained that way for a few days. Then just as it cleared up my fingers were stained purple from eating bing cherries! I guess it is all for good reason. I just hope Annaka does not try to 'look like mommy' and use markers to maker her own colored.

9. Nutella....need i say more:) Yummy hazelnutty chocolatety goodness....here is evidence that it is good.... (kinda hard to see in the photos but she has it on her eyebrows, chin, ear, cheek, lip, everywhere!)

10. I LOVE BEING A MOM:) I am having so much fun watching Annaka grow up and having the privilege of being her mom!

Transition and PiggyTails

Transition......

There are a handful of people (outside of family) that we meet through life that we wish we could just preserve and have around forever. People that we respect greatly, look up to, and sometimes just don't know how to tell them or express how much they mean to you.

A family left today. Yes that sounds vague, and if anyone knows about all the transition that is in our life right now that may not even seem unusual. We are currently in PA working through a few details for our business and were blessed to be able to be here to say goodbye to some amazing people. They lived in Brazil for many years, ran the office here in PA for 17 years and now are moving to Oregon! They really have been a backbone of this organization and have mentored/impacted many many people along the way. They have done an amazing job, and continue to serve in many ways. Thank you Larry and Vicki for your hard work through the years. Thank you for living your lives as an example to us who are at the beginning of our adult life. (Can I still say that even though I will be turning 30 in less than a year?) You are not only an encouragement to us, but an example we look up to.

...

...

...

How could I post without a picture.....

Here are two pictures of Annaka's Prli.tee.s as she pronounces them. (Like Pretties but with an added L in the middle there) She wants to wear them all the time! So fun now that she FINALLY has enough hair to put up!

P.P.S. As I was typing this I eye-witnessed Annaka sleepwalking! I had to stop myself as I began to laugh out loud! She kind of rolled to the top corner of the twin mattress, stood up to her feet, and walked in circles around the room. I walked over, picked her up and she plopped her head down on my shoulder. As soon as I put her back down in her bed she rolled over and was asleep.

:) Should have thought quick and taken a photo!

2nd Birthday

Oh boy! I think the second birthday is harder on moms than the first! When they turn one we are still experiencing a 'first'...but this time she knew exactly what to do! Been there, done that, lets eat cake. (*by the way, Vera Bradley boxes work great as cake boxes)



What fun! Annaka turned two and mom got two tries at making (and not dropping) her cake! :) Her first birthday party was with some friends from church at South Lake Park. She loves "Bob and Larry" so we had a Bob and Larry cake, cookies and color sheets. When we got to the park, the cake box fell on the top so the cake scrunched toward the top...swishing upward. Sadly, we did not get any good pictures before the 'incident'.


Yep, there you can see the two cake parts seporated and all the icing is pretty crinkled. Oh well, at least she still knew who they were. :) We made way toooo many cookies and ended up eating them the entire week after!


I think this is the only year we will get away with this, but we told everyone not to bring her any presents. We are moving and dont have room for new toys right now. That tactic may not work so well with a seven year old, but for her second birthday she knows no difference. She had her friends and cake there. The two most important! :)

One of her best friends, Jeremiah, brought her some flowers. It was so sweet! He gave them to her and then they kept hugging. We had our photographer and friend Jonathan take some photos of them together. They may come in handy in a slide show in about 25 years. :)


Oh, and because of the short attention span of the nearly/newley two year olds we also had bubbles. No, they were not green or red bubbles or with Bob or Larry shaped wands...Im not that good at birthday parties yet...but they held the attention of the little ones for a little while.


And then came "my minnie cake!!!!" as Annaka often squeels. Anything that slightly reminds her of Minnie or cake or birthday and she is asking for it:)



I love this photo....as Annaka was blowing out the candles, here is sweet Mel in the background 'helping':)! I know we all tend to open our mouths when trying to spoon feed babies, and smile for people when we see them getting their photos taken.

Note the birthday blower in her hand above, then see below. She had fun blowing the noisemakers even though they did not make any noise.

Family gave her gifts to take with us. Things we asked for as we knew she would grow with them as we travel. One was this little 'laptop' so she can be like mommy and papa.

So intense!

We had fun, she turned two, mission accomplished:)

Hmmm

Hmmm, I think Annaka is a little too interested in the sheep and goats! We had a blast at the zoo with our friends The Chasteens. All the photos we got were of Annaka and these animals though:(

Then she was done with the smelly sheep and goats!

Tutu with Attitude

Ballerina in training....

Check out this attitude....

This one is not quite attitude, but I love the tippy toes:)

Hope your having a good day:)

Mama's Little Helper

Annaka loves to help with EVERYTHING!

Last week we made cookies.......
and today I found Annaka with all the glass bangles she could find on her arms!


Fun days!

Missing Papa, the zoo, and a talkative (almost) two year old...

Papa is away. Annaka is just now getting to the age where she really notices and it affects her (behavior) that one of us is away. We thought he might like some pictures to see while he is away this week:) We love you Papa!

Day at the Zoo! Meemaw came to visit the week after Easter and we had so much fun! One day we got to play at the Zoo!

She was not afraid of any animal!

MeeMaw is so much fun!

Watchin' with Papa.

Cheese....

Creative Personality may be a great way to explain our little spitfire. She has an opinion on everything and loves girly things! Especially my shoes! This is how she walked around around all evening. In two left shoes...and a night gown dress.

...and if you take off those two left shoes, this is what you will find....

...painted toes that match mommy's

And, talkative may be an understatement. Annaka is getting creative in how she uses her language to get to her chosen point. The other day when attempting to take a nap, (for over an hour and a half) she decided to use every excuse she could think of to not fall asleep.
-"Mommy, potty"
-"Bug!...Mommy, Bug!"
- "Owie, Annaka needs banbaid (bandaid)"
-"Gink, Please" (Drink please)
-"Grandma, what doing?"
-"Mommy, where are you?"
-"Mommy, up please"
-"Brenda, where are you?"
-"Hold you mommy"
-"Helwwo? Mommy...hewwoooo?"
-"Bath....an bath mommy" (Something she has not wanted anything to do with for the past two weeks)

Just to name eleven. One would think that after the first um, three, she may give up and finally drift off to sleep. Nope. I finally got her out of bed because it got too close to dinner and then she would not be able to sleep at night. As long as she has some 'quiet time' I am ok....but does it count as 'quiet time' if she is talking the whole time?








btw....I have gotten so excited about this super couponing thing....I got all of these items (worth $121.10) for only $3.78!!!!

I have no idea why my webcam mirrors every photo it takes....

Today is brought to you by the letter 'B'

***I began this post weeks ago....there is no use in finishing it because she is a lot different now...so I am posting this and will work on a new post this week that is more up to date...

B..... ah ah ah

Yea, Annaka will never understand the opening of this post. I have not found Seaseme Street on anywhere for her to watch. Instead her favorites are "Bob" (veggie tales), Backyardagains, "Mimmie" (Minnie...Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) and "Mam-o" (Nemo....or Elmo depending on the context). Infact we have even had naptimes that she has woken up for and instead of calling for Mommy she has called for Nemo. Imagine the conflict of ...should I go in and get her...or is she playing and should I let her be?... Its so much fun to see her imagination come alive!


When we returned from our six week support trip Thanksgiving week, we knew Annaka was getting tall and we should be thinking about a toddler bed. She was throwing fits one day that no discipline we gave tamed. We decided she needed to calm down so we put her in her crib to calm down some. Not long after we left the room did we hear a huge THUMP! She then walked out of her room rubbing her red forehead. She had climbed out of her bed! Needless to say, that was her last time in her crib. She loves sleeping in a big girl bed and most nights will stay inside. Clint and I dont wake up to much, and the only time she wanders out of her bed is early in the mornings when we clearly did not hear her! We are working on that! :) As she was having to learn to stay in the bed until we told her she could get out. I had punished her a few times and finally sat on the bed beside her to 'discuss' this issue. When I sternly said "look at mommy" she quickly moved her face to literally an inch from my nose. Then I began telling her that she needed to stay in bed..bla..bla..bla...and when I was finished she, still an inch from my face, said "MEOW" in a sweet little girl voice. You try not laughing at that one!


Back to the B.....Annaka tends to throw the letter 'B' in front of many words. Milk is not Bouk, Apple is Bapple, etc. Even sometimes to our surprise, words sound much 'different'. Imagine sitting at friends house having dinner when Annaka begins asking for another chip...yet she reverses the syllables and throws in a B sound in the beginning. Use your imagination. We are working on getting that one changed. Now I never say the word Chip but say Ch Ch Ch Chip...to which she repeats ch ch ch b..... oh no! It does not help that everyone (including Clint and myself) cannot help but laugh!

Potty training. Those two words should be enough to make any mom shutter. I feel like I am saying Mufassa Mufassa Mufassa and we all should be shuttering as the hyenas did in Lion King. Or how about the old Paula Abdul song that sings two steps forward, two steps back. I guess we are doing a little better than that. Maybe three steps forward, one step back. We tend to have three or four great days with no accidents and then the dredded 'step back' day where we have two accidents before 9am. Its only week two. She is getting the hang of this. Just as I am getting frustrated thinking "maybe I started this a little too early" we are in target and she grabbs her pull up and yells "POOP". Of course we were in the back corner of the store and had to book it to the front, leave the cart (full) in front of the bathroom and assess the damage. To my surprise, there was NO damage! She had a dry pull up and went in the potty! I think anyone in the front half of the store could then hear me shouting "Yea! Big Girl!" as I danced around the bathroom stall. Yes, mothers have no shame:) We are getting there. We will not have to take diapers when we leave in a few months!


The past week and a half have brought a new level to our conversations. She picks up everything and now will relay anything....when she wants to. Today she asked me where her blankie was and I began to lead her on a hunt around the apartment calling "blankie....blankie..." She then busts out with "blankie...where are you?" Then when put down for her nap she decided she did not want to take one and shouted "Mommy, all done"! Two weeks ago we still would have heard only the single word 'Blankie' or a repeating of several words. Now she makes it all up herself! Her sentences do not all revolve around food or getting something as what has been the norm ("mommy, more please") but tell us about something or express herself in a new way. Now I am starting to feel old! I no longer have a baby!

I have never had a picky eater, a fussy eater, any issues with eating at all. She just wanted to eat and wanted to eat NOW. I had always fed her in order to avoid a mess. I realized I needed to let her feed herself more often, despite the mess, so that she will learn not to be so messy. It has been a stretch for me, but she is getting better. As long as I keep a close eye and find that line of 'done eating' and 'lets play'. When I leave her too long in her high chair with her food it ends up on her head....or her entire fist in her yogurt then wiping it on her face and hair. Here is a photo of spaghetti night.....

...this was after she picked up a meatball and said "ball"! I jumped and caught her before she 'threw the ball'. I guess weather she threw it or not, it is better than when asking her if she wanted a hot dog, her response was "Puppy?"

I had better close before this is entire toooo o long!


Ok, I said the end but lied. One more story. Not that I am expecting anyone to still be reading this since I am so poor in updating, but more for me to have record of to remember later.....

Annaka knows her letters and her colors. i LOVE how she sais Pink and practically spits in your eye as she makes the P sound! We are working hard on numbers now.

Oh, one more.....We had sooo much fun at Kaleidoscope:) Here are some photos from that day....



I love this photo from Christmas time...