Happy Birthday Anna!

Miss Anna turned 4 today.  What a little personality she is! She loves pink.  She loves dressing herself and as, documented on this blog, continues to have her own sense of style.  She is bubbly, loving, happy, strong willed, bright and quick witted! She has a strong sense of self and does things when and how she wants too, throwing Mom and Dad an occasional curve ball here and there.  Like asking this morning when her friends were coming today for her birthday party ... the party I didn't know she wanted and didn't plan - thankfully she was fine with celebrating with all of us! 

Emily made her cake - from a little lady bug cake cookbook.  When I asked Anna what kind of birthday cake she wanted, she went straight to that cookbook and waffled between 3 different cake designs.  I was pushing for the cake shaped as a purse - cause this girl loves purses and filling them with treasures.  But this is the cake she told Emily she wanted and Emily reproduced it to a T.  Anna of course LOVEed it! 

After Anna and Alex's swimming lessons, we went to the grocery store and got all we needed for her favorite dinner - homemade mac and cheese, hot dogs, broccoli, watermelon and chocolate milk!  

After the grocery store we stopped by the flower shop.  Diane got me a bouquet of the month subscription with the local florist and last month I told Anna I'd bring her in on her birthday to get the July bouquet.  At her request he put together a pink bouquet and was quite sweet to throw in an extra rose for her birthday.  She was thrilled!  

Once we got all our goods, we met Diane at the house with her traditional donut and balloon delivery - Strawberry Shortcake!   

While I got dinner made and wrapped up gifts, GR and the kids went swimming - one of Anna's favorite activities!  Diane joined us for the evening and we even Skyped with Grandma Mutti and Grandpa Art for the opening of presents.  

We did a little shopping for her at Gap - getting her the dress she's wearing and a couple other things.  A couple of new puzzles, little princess dolls and new playdough (because she insists on mixing colors and leaving it out).  Grandma got her some new books, including one on building fairy houses - something I hope we can do when it isn't 105 outside and Ree Drummond's children's book, Charlie the Ranch Dog.  Grandma and Grandpa sent her the kitty purse next to GR.  

Mom's Day @ Preschool

I got to spend an hour with Anna at preschool today for Mom's Day and their Art Show.  It was so much fun.  Anna showed me the dress up corner. We planted a sunflower which I hope will eventually transplant well in the garden.  And then we went and looked at the kids art work in the gallery.  They studied three artists, Matisse, Monet, and VanGogh, making three projects in similar styles or using principles of art that correlate to the artist in their preschool art project.  This is one of my favorite art units at preschool!  I am totally in love with her VanGogh sunflowers.  It's gonna get framed and hung in the house somewhere.

We started off playing dress up - I adore this picture of her all done up - complete with the "I'm ready for the pavarazzi" shades.  Our together project was to plant a sunflower seed in a cup.  Mrs. K said last fall a mom brought in the head of the sunflower she and her child had planted at Mom's Day.  She said it was huge!  I will count myself lucky if this little seed spouts and survives a month. 

Then we had to hurry off to the gym (art gallery) to see all the children's artwork.

Overheard in the kitchen

Anna: Why?

GR: Because I’m the Dad.

Anna: Why are you the Dad?

GR: Because God made me the dad.

Anna: But Why?

GR: You’ll have to ask Him.

Anna: But God’s in Heaven.

…

Anna: God’s in my heart!

Alex: So ask God in your heart.

Anna: I can’t see my heart.

Tomato Tomato

Anna's preschool class did the Bible Story today.  They talked about all the amazing creatures God created.  A third of the class had flying creatures, a third of the class had water creatures, and a third of the class had land animals.  Anna's had land animals.  They were each given an chance to say what two animals they had in the hands.  Anna had a "reindeer" (aka moose) and "little lamb."

This picture is of her and her friend K, discussing after this portion of the group "presentation."  Shortly after she had to go to the bathroom and while we washed hands I asked her what she and K were talking about.  

"K says it is a sheep, but it isn't a sheep.  It's a little lamb." 

Picking Pumpkins with Preschoolers

We got to go to a new to us pumpkin patch this year.  Anna got a preview of it Saturday with Grandma and Grandpa, as it was one of the farms they stopped at on the farm tour.  

One of the little extras this farm has is a butterfly house filled with all the flowers butterflies love.  They mostly had monarch and swallowtail butterflies.  We got a great hands-on lesson about the butterflies, what plants to look for to find eggs and teeny tiny baby caterpillars, where to find big fat caterpillars ready to go into their J formation and form a chrysalis and which caterpillar would turn into which butterfly.  It was really cool for the kids to see butterflies in every stage of life. I posted a couple of my butterfly pictures here.

Here is Anna with her friend J.  They are playing with a Woolly-bear caterpillar.  Did you know they turn into moths?  

Anna really really wanted to ride on the tricycles, she tried every bike they had, looking for one she could easily ride, and never did find one she could master.  All the kids really miss having a paved driveway and street to ride their bikes on.  I keep hoping they will get over it and just ride them anyway, but it hasn't happened yet.  

The "pool" of corn kernels was where she spent most of her time, as did many of the other kids.  They had so much fun covering limbs, digging down deep and "landing" in the kernels.   

It took a little bit but she finally settled on a beautiful squatty pumpkin she is quite proud of.  We're getting quite a nice assortment of pumpkins at the house.  Alex's Kindergarten class went yesterday and he brought home a nice oval shaped pumpkin.  I'm waiting to get some big carving pumpkins so they don't rot waiting to be carved.   But we're looking forward to having friends over for an afternoon of carving. 

We were to BOOS (Bring our own snack) and took a trail mix of popcorn, pretzels, cheez-its, raisins, M&Ms and candy corns.  Very tasty and easy to put together for classroom parties. 

Happy Birthday Anna!

Picture taken outside Jenny's Canyon, Snow Canyon, St. George, Utah, Thursday morning. 

We celebrated with my family this morning, before everyone had to head home after our week long vacation together with a yummy birthday brunch.  

Bob came for dinner (macaroni and cheese with hot dogs) and pink cupcakes with pink ice cream.  I asked everyone to share what they love about Anna.  

Alex -- She does a good job singing and was fun to go to singing [class] with. 

Sam -- Cute and hugable, she shares hugs with everyone

Emily -- She has a great smile that cheers me up when I'm sad. 

Rebecca -- She does things her own way and she's okay doing them her own way. 

Bob -- Her enthusiasm and her likeness of the color pink. 

Papa -- Her ability to make me laugh. 

Mom -- Her distinctive sense of style. 

Happy birthday sweet girl!!  You are such an important part of our family! 

A New Season

Anna is potty trained and it's a beautiful thing!  Last month I returned the unopened boxes of diapers and I have the opened packages ready to hand off to a friend.  Such a weird feeling to pass up diaper coupons!

We started our Spring soccer season today.  During our last game of the day, Anna needed to go potty.  Bob took her to the port-a-potty.  Bob opened the door for her, she took one look at the inside, turned to Bob and said, "I hold it." And she did.  

That's my girl.

Day 9

Technically, it probably shouldn't be considered Day 9 ... we've been anything but consistent.  But she spent time in underpants each day this week and today, today she spent the majority of the day in underpants ("underwears" if you're asking Miss. Anna) and didn't have a single accident!! Woo Hoo! She even told me a time or two that she needed to go.  I'm not ready to leave the house in underwear yet ... I've been burned before.  But I'm hopefully optimistic. 

BTW - did you know you can download Dr. Seuss books for your Android?  I didn't either.  A few weeks ago "1 fish, 2 fish, Red fish, Blue fish", "magically" appeared on my phone, quickly followed by "The Grinch" for about $4 a piece, thanks to ads that play on games my sweet four-year-old likes to play.  1 fish, 2 fish, Red fish, Blue fish, makes for great potty training reading.  We have both the hard back and the digital version in our bathroom right now.

Day 1

Day 1 = 5 accidents, a dry nap, and one successful pee. 

GR, after learning I had put Anna in underwear again, after the 5th accident.  "You know what the definition of insanity is don't you ... doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results."

Thanks Einstein.

Glit and Glammor

We went to playgroup this morning for the first time in ages and had such a wonderful time.  I am so glad we went!  Jeanie had so many fun things planned for the kids to do all centered around a theme of snow.  We cut snowflakes and covered them in glitter, cut out snowman paper dolls, turned ourselves into snowmen using a huge roll of black butcher paper and white chalk, read snowman stories while eating snacks, had a relay race to build snowmen (children race to pick up & put on, a hat, scarf, sunglasses and gloves, at the end of the line, they strike a pose and then race to return everything to their chair and tap the next person in line - great classroom party game), and then made ziplock bag ice cream!  

Anna had great fun adding glitter to the snowflakes we cut out.  While my attention was on cutting a snowflake and not watching her every move, she got a small tube of glitter and opened it.  The lid was a bit snug, as glitter lids should be, and so when she managed to pop it off ... well, take a look for yourself.  

Tiny Tim

Anna is taking a Music Together class with grandma on Tuesday mornings.  Anna loves this class!  Her favorite song by far is a song about a little frog named Tiny Tim.  This morning I took a little video of them singing this song, seconds before Grandma came to pick up Anna.  

Since it's hard to understand what they are saying, here are the lyrics.  

"I have a little frog who's name is Tiny Tim. 
I put him in the bathtub to see if he could swim. 
He drank up all the water.  He ate up all the soap. 
Then he burped last night 'cause a bubble in his throat." 
*burp* "Excuse me!" 
*burp* "Excuse me!"

Even the best get caught in the end

GR was home from work today, thanks to a dentist appointment and Dad's Day at preschool.  He put Anna down for a nap in our room and I went to sew.  Shortly before putting my project away so I could wake up Anna and go and get the big kids from school, she walks into the craft room looking like this.  Both forearms are painted with mascara, she has a bit on her face along with what I believe is moisturizer, but I'm not totally sure.  She doesn't have any, other than that bit of smudge up by the collar, on her dress, and very little is on the comforter.  All in all I'm very impressed with how cleanly she made her mess, choosing to "paint" very washable surfaces, a courtesy her siblings have rarely shown, so we're seeing genetic progression (can you see that within the same generation, humm?).

Giggles ...

All the grandparents are in desperate need new "school" pictures of the kids.  This year I will likely take the kids pictures we have printed and hang in the house.  I'm tired of spending $35/kid to get pictures of them when they are hardly ever captured at their very best.  

I took pictures of Alex and Anna this morning ... in the middle of our little photo shoot, they started kissing each other on the cheek, giggling all the while.  Ahh so cute!!  It took us quite a while to get back into doing the individual shots I wanted, but I got them and am about to send them off to be printed while I run some much needed errands - pray for me, will you?

 

I hope to be back soon to post about our summer, and yes I will be post dating things so I can maintain my flawless image with future generations - ha!

The Girls

Picture of my girls snapped last night before bed. So cute!!  Emily right now is all about hair ... has been for most of this school year.  It's always fun to see how she's braided or done up her hair for the day. 

I made the dress Anna is wearing Monday afternoon melding two different tutorials out there, this tutorial for the pattern, and this for the embellishments. I'll write more about the dress on my TS blog in the coming weeks.

Back to the Earth

The snows nearly gone and things are starting to warm up again. We've got garden plans on the brain and are slowly working our way to making those dreams a reality.

Twins & Moving Week

Tuesday morning was my day to teach preschool. As luck would have it, I had zero voice. Whispering was a bit of a stretch. Mom was here and had a voice and that was a good thing. This same thing happened to me in December the last time it was my turn to teach ... typically this only happens once a year. Sunday night a little tickle in my throat started and by Monday morning my voice was completely gone.

My little preschool group is a lot of fun. Today we talked about 'Where we Live' which worked out perfectly because Kansas Day was just a couple of days ago. We did some crafts, read a story or two and talked and played with the doll house. When Alex's good friend showed up for preschool wearing a new shirt and brown pants, Alex exclaimed, "I have that shirt!" and ran up stairs. 2 minutes later he came down stairs wearing his matching shirt and a pair of brown pants so he and his friend could match! They thought that was just the greatest thing and "posed" for pictures at the end of class:


Update on Mom and the Moving process continues ... Monday Mom felt so much better. Not up for running a marathon, but well enough to take care of Alex and Anna so I could move boxes for Bob and Diane. Bob, Brent and I took 9 truck/van loads of boxes on Monday. Tuesday, they moved more boxes, but I was only able to help in the afternoon after preschool and before the big kids got out of school. Tuesday night GR and I, with the help of good friends who heeded our desperate call for able bodied men, came and helped us move all of Bob and Diane's furniture out of "the farm house" and into the "townhouse." We started at 6pm and finished at 11pm, taking two loads. Today my whole body aches. My visiting teacher talked me into letting people bring us dinner tonight. To lesson the burden on any one sister, three sisters are bringing a different element tonight. I'm grateful she finally convinced me to accept that offer of help - everything is packed. Tomorrow, as soon as the kids are done with school, they are heading to St. Louis with my Mom in our van to spend the weekend with my Dad while we move all the furniture and set up their bedrooms.
[Anna now knows exactly what to do with a box at every stage - assembly, packing, and lifting. Her Grandpa would be so proud!]

In other news, I have a new calling. I'm sad to be saying good-bye to my primary councilor responsibilities which I've only had since April, and will sorely miss working so closely with the children and their dedicated teachers. But as it is with all new callings, I'm excited and looking forward to being back in Relief Society working so closely with our new president as her first councilor. Although it hasn't been very long since I was released from serving in my stake Relief Society calling, there is still lots to learn and do, and we're looking forward to the challenge and to working with the great sisters in our ward.

Watch out for the quiet ones

We are smack dab in the middle of packing boxes in a big way. Every couple of nights GR and I will load up the mini-van and take boxes over to the new house (if you're just catching up with us ... we're buying Bob and Diane's country house! They are moving into town - a huge, beautiful, brand new condo!). The mini van, with the back bench folded down can hold 13 plastic storage tubs - who needs a truck when you have a mini van? Bob's given us a corner of the basement and it is quickly filling up. Thanks to the help of good friends and my Mom, we're on track for moving the first weekend in February. One second I'm super calm and feel really good about what we've accomplished, the next minute I'm sure we'll never make it and I'm totally overwhelmed with what is left to do. And there is still so much!

The kids are handling the house slowly being packed up over the course of five weeks fairly well. More often then not, I'm having to say, I'm sorry we've packed that already when they ask for something. All but a few of their books were packed weeks ago, as were most of the board games. All the craft supplies are packed up too, save but a box of crayons, a pair of scissors and some glue sticks.

The biggest challenge for me has been having the food storage packed and all but one cookbook. I'm discovering some great new recipes in a seldom used cookbook from 1998! And I'm rather impressed by what I'm able to make using only what's in the refrigerator, little pantry and freezers -- good gravy we have a lot of random things in there. Thankfully it means I don't have to shop much and hopefully we will have less to move as we whittle our way through it.

Anna continues to be extremely adventuresome, what a little personality!! She is definitely one who you have to worry about if she's super quiet. When she's super quiet one of three things is happening ... she's sleeping (rare), she's playing independently, she's discovered something to disassemble and dump out. Lately she's been doing the later more so than the others, probably because she knows I'm tired and have my head in boxes all over the place.

Here's a glimpse of what she's been doing ... I'm sure I'll have more to share in the weeks to come!

14 January 2010

Waving at the camera to wish her cousin a happy birthday. Note all the toothpicks on the floor behind her.

15 January 2010 - Lots of slivered almonds from the freezer.

18 January 2010 - hundreds of little red tube beads ... Ms. Sherlock, discovered them well hidden under the couch.

20 January 2010 - off to the Grocery store with Mom for a gallon of milk - all decked out with her scarf and three necklaces that had to be worn together. Yep, I'm worried ...

18 months

Yesterday, Anna turned 18 months and we've started the process of going to nursery. She did very well today, but I'm not holding my breath (and well, since I'm really typing this on the 1st of March, let's be honest, she's not gone back unless her daddy is with her, oh the long road we have a head of us). She looked super cute yesterday with her hair all done up and wearing a "fancy" dress (Rebecca's first Christmas dress - what were we doing putting a 9 month old in a size 18 month dress ... first time parents I guess). I of course didn't get pictures before it all went down hill, so today I sat Anna down after doing her hair and took a few pictures. I'm including some outtakes so you can see just how expressive this kid is. Ahhh, she doesn't have any words -- none -- but she can sure convey what she wants to with her face.

This girl of mine ... oh my!

Anna ... my dear sweet baby girl. At her 15 month appointment Tuesday, it was once again confirmed that she is totally built like the boys. Long and skinny. She seems to be wired much like them too. Remember Sam's two week stunt at this age where he managed to get more than a dozen different products on the carpeting throughout the house? $500 later Stanley Steamer got all but the nail polish out. It appears Anna is following in his footsteps, only her obsession is with food containers on flat surfaces just out of reach.

Countless cups of water on the counter seemingly pushed far enough back that she can't reach them, have flooded the kitchen floor and dinning room table.

Freshly smoked and sauced BBQ chicken on the dinning room table - took only 2 minutes from the time it was delivered to our doorstep by our chicken smoking queen of a friend, I set it on the table, walked outside to say good-bye, and splat. The foil covered aluminum pan was upside down on the carpet.

Bag of goldfish from our preschool snack. She climbed up on the dinning room table, sat down and ate her fill of fish, then dumped the remaining fish on the table, and proceeded to walk around the table, making a lovely gold table covering.

7 October:


An after school snack of popcorn on the dinning room table. Mountain climber Anna reaches her destination in record time, enjoying piece after piece of popcorn until she discovered that dumping it out onto the carpeting would be a much more enjoyable accomplishment.

15 October:


Pudding cups set on the counter for the kids to have as a mid afternoon snack. GR and I working and talking at the same island counter where the pudding cups wait for a Wii game to finish. Anna and her stealth like maneuvers, sees chocolate, finds a step stool and moves it into position, climbs and reaches. Many hand dips later, GR and I who are RIGHT NEXT TO HER chopping apples for applesauce, look over and see ...




In the words of Sam's current teacher at school; Sam has been having some Friday afternoon memory and hearing issues that have resulted in a couple of yellow cards and even one orange card (you want to always be green) getting pulled. ...

"He's just so darn cute, you just can't get mad at him when he does something wrong."

Yep, she's definitely following in brothers footsteps.

Happy Birthday Anna!

Friday, Anna turned ONE ... my baby is one year old, man this year has flown by!

• She has only two teeth - they are on the bottom.
• Walking is now her main mode of transportation and she's pretty steady on her feet.
• She's a very determined little kid, who is not easily distracted or persuaded.
• She loves playing in the water - although baths are an entirely different thing.
• She is quite social and loves to be in the middle of everything.
• When she wants something, she screams/yells "Eeeehhhhhhhhah" - at ear splitting decibels, it's always shocking, it always make everyone jump, and it's especially disruptive in the middle of church.
• She is a very independent soul who loves to explore the world around her.
  
• Anna is a very happy, joyful child. She doesn't get upset easily. When she cries it's because she really needs something.
  
• Anna is tough and can easily hold her own against her rough and tumble older brother who tackles her to the ground, all be it gently, on a daily bases. She takes it all in stride, without getting up set and occasionally returning the loving gesture.
  

To celebrate, Grandma brought over the traditional donuts and balloons. Anna ate nearly all of her glazed donut on her own.



We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - her favorite - for lunch and were going to spend the afternoon swimming, but mother nature felt rain was more important so we stayed inside while Anna slept the afternoon away.

After naps, we took a box of ice cream, sprinkles and cones to Grandma's for ice cream cones. Everyone enjoyed those very much!





Anna had her 1 year appointment first thing this morning. She's doing fantastically. Defiantly has the height of the girls, but her weight seems more inline with the boys.

Weight - 21lbs 14.5 oz. (60%)
Height - 30.75 inches (94%)
Head Circumference - 19 5/8" (>97%)