And here we are...

Another Christmas come and gone in all it's busy, blinking glory.
Curt and I are chilled out to the max during Anna's nap on December 26th.

The house is reasonably put-together.
It's snowing outside.
There is warm, steamy stuff in each of our mugs.
We high-fived each other because the trash men finally came to pick up our trash.

Curt is doing Sodoku puzzles in his noise canceling head-phones (as if there is any noise during Anna's nap. That's sort of, the point.)

I am alternately reading on the couch and getting up, wandering around, doing other things cause I can't sit still for that long even now... at 30.

Life goes on.

Here is Anna last night at dinner:

Praying before she ate:
(Making the sign of the cross)
"God.
Shesus.
Howy Shiwit" (Sounded just like the other word)

Poor baby kept looking from face to face, so proud of herself for praying, and not understanding why we were choking on our giggles.
Anna, you are too cute!

Because she's a better blogger than me...

Here is a link to KG's blog about our weekend with her.

She rocks.

No, Anna two!

Is what the girl says every time you call her any nickname now.

If I say, "Are you my snuggly britches?" she retorts, "No, Anna teeeeeewwwww" as she holds up all her fingers. (There seems to be some confusion about ages and nicknames all the sudden.)

Current count per her two year doctor's visit:
Height: 34 3/4 inches
Weight: 26.14 pounds
Love: 100%

Cute story - the other day Curt was out late for meetings in St. Louis so I was cooking while Anna played. Her little voice caught my attention as I was busy near the stove. I looked behind me and she was sitting, legs splayed in front, on the kitchen floor and had her baby sitting similarly beside her. She was leaning over and towards her baby saying, "Whachoo tinking bout, baby? over and over. It was adorable. After I scooped my melted heart back off the stove I got back to cooking and Anna left to play elsewhere.
After a few moments of silence I peeked in the living room to check on her. She was sitting on the organ bench and her baby was in the "time out" chair. Anna said, "baby in time out." She had set the timer and everything. I could hear it ticking away. (You go girl. Be the boss when you can!)
That girl was ALL ABOUT the pretend play that evening.
So sweet.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CURT

Happy 30th birthday to my hubby dubs.
You've had a wonderful 30 years and I've gotten to be a part of 12 of them.
Oh how lucky I am.

You are still the sweetest of my earthly delights!
Love,
Me

One more cute thing...

Since last weekend, Anna has been pretending to fall down. She'll say, "Oh no! Anna fall down, momma!" and lay there until I scoop her up and save her. Who knows what's that about and why but who cares! I think it's adorable.

Anna, I'll save you every time!

HAPPY SECOND BIRTHDAY, ANNA!

Happy 2nd Birthday, my darling Anna! We had a wonderful weekend visit with Auntie Em, Uncle Aaron, Molly and Ben! It did this mommy's heart good to spend the whole weekend with them. The kids spent the whole weekend together and besides the occasional toddler brawl, really played well together and enjoyed each others' company. Plus, the weather cooperated and we got to take them to the nature center and play outdoors. Plus, Uncle Aaron got to put his sensitive taste buds to use and sample the wares at Prison Brews and visit with Stacy T., "Miss Stacy", while Saint Mimi babysat all three kiddos. (Thankfully, they were all asleep).

Anna's birthday was Cinderella themed and she had a blast. In attendance were:
Princess Molly
Prince Ben
Princess Sophie
Prince Harper
plus many other royal attendees as you will see in the following clip.

Here is a video of her receiving the best present ever!: (Notice the look of complete overwhelm on that girl's face!)



Here is some good footage of the royal highness eating her gorgeous and delicious cupcakes!:


Click on this link to find good pics of her birthday plus some cute ones from Granny's house last weekend:

Anna's Second Birthday

I had to super size the following picture. Anna had a cough the night Em and Aaron were coming in town but we had planned to make Ben and Anna roomies. We decided to put Anna in our room instead due to her cough. We got all the kiddos settled and visited downstairs. I went upstairs to go to bed and opened the door (thankfully slowly and quietly) and it bumped into something...
Anna Banana had rolled out of the bed and fell asleep on the floor. She didn't even open her eyes when the door bumped her. Poor pumpkin. I put her back in bed and 20 minutes later heard: shuffle, shuffle, shuffle...plop. She was back on the floor. So we gave up the little toddler bed experiment and put her back in her room, where she slept fine... off the floor.
I couldn't pass up the picture opportunity:


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANNA!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!