Sunday, December 14, 2008

Family Pictures

This is a glimpse into our family Christmas photo shoot at the beach. Per my request, we wore matching clothes and I think you will agree it was well worth the "cheese" that matchy matchy can sometimes bring! Our good friend Abby took these and I think she did an amazing job. Enjoy!

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Friday, December 5, 2008

Home Again, Home Again

We are home and unpacked from our journey to Texas for Thanksgiving. It usually takes me a week to actually get the suitcases empty and returned to the garage, but this time we set a record with 3 days! Now it is on to Christmas!

Many of you know my journey with lost keys and cell phones. Well I almost had another incident yesterday morning. Anna Kate loves playing with my keys almost as much she loves dropping things overboard while riding in the basket of the shopping cart. Sadly, yesterday she did both on our quick trip to Staples. Normally, I hear them fall on the ground, but I must have been too involved with picking out the right folders for Jonathan. Well post-check out, I am burrowing through my diaper bag and could not find those necessary keys. I retraced my steps and found them laying on the floor of the folder aisle. Thank the Lord for taking care of me and my essential items!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Winter Gear

As the temperatures drop, Anna Kate is getting out her winter outerwear. Thanks, Lauren and Bart along with GrandJan and Grandpa!

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Thanksgiving Fun!

A few days before Thanksgiving, Jonathan, Anna Kate, and I braved the airport crowds and flew to Austin to visit my family. After a smooth ride with only one short minor meltdown, we arrived back in the Lone Star State! We were greeted by my mom, sister, and brother in law. Anna Kate was enjoying a snack as we greeted our family.

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Shortly after we arrived at my parents' house, we were joined by my dad and other sister. It was a full house from the start! My mom then presented Anna Kate with her Christmas present...a little early. It was a jungle animal activity center with noises, lights, and balls rolling everywhere. What a dream come true for our little one year old! This toy is a must have for anyone her age. Anna Kate loved it from the beginning! Thanks, Grandpa and GranJan!

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After much food and fun on Thanksgiving Day, we took our own Turkey Trot around the block with stroller in tow. Then early Friday morning, my mom and sister hit the stores to gather some Christmas gifts deeply discounted (the only way, in our opinion). Note: Lauren and I had already hit the CVS sale early Thursday morning and wowed the sales clerk with how much money we saved...sister, sister!

By Saturday, the guys took off and the girls went to the lake to celebrate Catherine's soon to be marriedness. While we were gone, my parents watched Anna Kate. They had a blast and Anna Kate loved being with her grandparents for a special night away.

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What a fun Thanksgiving trip! A couple notes...you may be wondering how we get Anna Kate to smile so well in all of these pictures. The truth is as soon as she sees the red light of a camera, she goes into posing mode. Her smile gets bigger and bigger with each flash. She loves that camera! Also, yes, Bart she has not stopped talking about you ever since you left. The baby shark song left lasting memories. We have a feeling Bart will be her next word!

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

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I love taking time on special days like this to count my blessings. God has truly given us more than we could ask for or imagine, so it is only natural to bring praise back to him. He truly is the giver of every good and perfect gift. Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Latest on Anna Kate

Anna Kate is such a cute one year old! She is getting better on her feet and can now move from one piece of furniture to another. In the car, she loves to sing along to her DVDs. Her singing may not sound like anything much to most people, but it sounds beautiful to me. Anna is down to one nap as of this week, but it is more of a transition for me as I change our daily schedule. We are trying to get out and about more in the mornings, which is new for this stay at home mom. One of her favorite toys is a ball, but she cries and cries when it rolls away under the cabinet. I comfort her and reassure her that it is not gone forever! I am teaching her some baby signs and she can do "more" and "all done". She sometimes mixes these up, so it is hard to decipher exactly what she is saying. But it is so cute to see her smile and do her sign. Anna was going through a non-veggie eating phase, but I figured out that all she needed was some cinnamon in her carrot puree. Now she is back on veggies! She loves outings so most days you will find us at Target or the grocery store with Anna smiling at people from her little seat in the cart. Her favorite snacks are Gerber wagon wheels and Trader joe's cereal bars. Naturally, both of these are the messiest possible so we keep wipes on hand at all times. Anna has not met a fruit she does not like. And usually anything that we are eating, she wants a taste of. My current favorite thing is looking through the Christmas aisles with her at stores. She stares at all the lighted and moving objects and cracks up at the dancing singing stuffed animals. I love watching her respond to fun things that tickle her funny bone! She can say Daddy and Hi, and I think I can recognize an Uh-oh and dog, but Jonathan disputes the validity of these actually being words. Sounds like them to me! Anna loves to wave hi and goodbye to anyone or anything, sometimes she just waves to the house. She loves books mostly the ones where she can touch and feel the different textures. Though our pop up books are already not really popping up much more. We will be traveling with her next week for Thanksgiving so you can pray with us for a happy traveler!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

I wish I was a yobaby...

One of my favorite things right now is yo baby yogurt. These little packages of organic, whole milk yogurt with fruit goodness are one food that Anna Kate cannot get enough of. Of course, I love them because they are a healthy, portable snack I can throw in my bag as we run out the door. I wish I had invented yo baby yogurt. At $5 per six pack at the regular grocery store, don't you know that some baby at yo baby is rolling in the dough (and it's not play dough if you get my drift). And now with o'soy added to the lineup they are ready for every child and every organicy mom that rolls their way. I read a blog the other day that showed how you can make yogurt in the crock pot. This two day process involves a lot of prep and a lot of waiting, but the cost savings were unbelievable. However, this idea as with most of this kind in my house, hit the back burner as I ran out to the store for another six pack of the good stuff. Yo baby takes no prep and as soon as you are done, the carton hits the trash (or recycle bin if you are so inclined). Talk about greatness in a carton! If you have a child under 2, pick some up today. You will thank me!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Bee Boppin' Band

Anna is our newest musician around the house with her bee boppin' band set. She can find anything to beat with her drumsticks.

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Friday, October 31, 2008

Birthday Gifts Galore!

For her birthday, Anna received so many wonderful gifts. Though we cannot post them all here, I wanted to share some highlights.



Aunt Robin sent a card where you can record a message with your own voice, then play it back. Anna Kate loves listening to this card over and over. It feels like Robin is here most of the day :)



Robin also sent a precious backpack. My baby is all ready for school. How cute!





Anna's great grandmother Freddie gave her a new sweater and hat. Bring on the cold weather!



Nana and Ab got her some very cute outfits and a precious pink chair (to be pictured soon).



GranJan and Grandpa gave her a whole set of musical instruments and a walk along toy that converts to a ride along toy. She is a regular music player.



Thank you so much for all your sweet gifts! More to be posted later...

Awesome Hair Day

The other morning Anna woke up with this too good to be true faux-hawk hairdo. I had to take a picture as she was eating breakfast. Then even after some serious smoothing with water, that little piece refused to go down. She is still sporting some awesome hair at Costco later that day. By the way, has anyone seen this pretend horse? It looks very real and acts like a real horse (except for the galloping part). Anna loved it...a natural equestrian at heart!

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Picking a Pumpkin

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Happy First Birthday, Anna Kate!

On Sunday, Anna Kate turned one year old! Both of her grandparents and a great grandmother came in town to celebrate with us. We had a cupcake party on Sunday afternoon where some of her friends and ours played a cake walk game, had a cupcake decorating contest, opened a cupcake pinata, ate cake, and opened presents. We had a great time! Anna loved her cake, though at first, she did not exactly know what to do and kept looking at me for guidance :) We are so thrilled to be parents of a one year old!

Here are some pictures of her big day! We will also try to post some more soon of our lives lately.

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Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Pumpkins at Home

Anna Kate got a little pumpkin to bring home from our pumpkin patch adventure. Here are some pictures of her playing with it at our house. I love the ones where she starts reaching for the camera!

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Apple Farm

A few weeks ago we visited an apple farm in Julian, a city east of San Diego and up a mountain. It was chilly but we pushed through the cold to gather some apples from the trees. We had a great time picking fruit with our friend Abby. Anna Kate loved licking the apples to get the juice out. Once she had one, she was hooked, which is why you see with an apple in every single picture. They let you eat while you pick, so by the time we finished picking, we were done with apples for a while. I still have half a basket sitting in my kitchen awaiting consumption. What a fun fall activity!

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Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we got to visit a small pumpkin patch out in the country. Here are some adorable pictures of Anna wandering around the pumpkins. Sorry there are so many, I couldn't decide which to post so I included all of them!

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Milk Mustache

So you must be wondering why Anna is sporting this too good to be true milk mustache...



Well the answer is that Anna Kate is a big girl now! Once she stopped nursing, she did not look back and made sure we knew that she was grown up. This girl won't take a bottle or a sippy cup of milk, so her milk comes to her in a bowl. Yes, you read right. The only way she will drink it is through a shallow bowl from IKEA. So after each feeding, she shows us her smile through the milky white on her upper lip. Hard to resist this little cutie!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Kleenex Exploration

When Anna had a cold a few weeks ago, we kept a kleenex box handy to wipe her nose when those big sneezes came. Apparently, she found the box too and had a ball taking all the kleenexes from the box. Though I knew we would have to clean up the mess, I had to capture a few photos first.

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Thursday, October 2, 2008

Changing of the Seasons



Time to put away the Padres gear...



And get ready to cheer on the Chargers!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Playtime!

We love playtime! Whether on the floor of Daddy's office or outside under a tree, you can find us playing all day. Anna Kate loves toys that play music especially a rolling snail that sings the ABCs and a new music table that has all sorts of instruments and speaks English and Spanish. Arriba!

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Monday, September 15, 2008

Day at SeaWorld

Last weekend we took our first trip to Sea World to celebrate a friend's birthday. Anna loved the sea lion show and we could not miss Shamu! [gallery]

Memories



This is a picture of Anna Kate when she was about a week old. As we approach her first birthday, I feel like we have literally time transported from then until now. Though she has developed so much since then, I really think it was just yesterday when she was just laying there. Now she is moving and grooving all over the place. Where did my little baby go? I am sure all moms go through this feeling, but I am definitely feeling it strongly. I was looking back through all sorts of baby pictures and seeing how much she has grown. What a sweet blessing she is to our family! I don't think our family would be complete without her. Thank you Lord for our little Anna Kate!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

A Growl from a Big Girl

Yesterday Anna Kate found a new sound...a growl. It literally sounds like she is trying to make a lion sound. One of her friends from church was making a lion sound on Sunday and I think she must have picked up. She will be jabbering away and then out comes the growl. Jonathan and I think it is hilarious! Her favorite sounds right now are dada, tata, and b-b-b. She is quite the talker.

Anna Kate is growing up so fast! She has graduated from Praise Baby DVDs this week. Our new premieres are Hillsongs Kids and Miss Pattycakes. She loves watching the kids on them dance to the music. The other day she was sitting in her high chair contentedly eating her lunch and I couldn't help but think it was a moment ago that she was a little newborn. It seems she is developing so much more awareness of the world around her as she touches Jonathan's facial hair or pulls on my wet hair after a shower. What a fun stage!

Update on Keys

We found Jonathan's keys! A friend discovered them under the seat of her car. We had already checked her car several times, but today they decided to appear. Thank you God!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Lost and Found



About a month ago, I left my keys on top of the car and forgot about them. Later, we discovered they must have fallen off somewhere, but we had no idea where. Thus they were lost. Luckily, Jonathan had a spare key to my car, so we just kept on rolling. But last week when Jonathan's keys went missing, we were in for trouble as we had no key to Jonathan's car. We tore up the house and called every place we knew trying to recover his keys. A week later, still no keys! So yesterday I took off on a hunt to retrace every step on the day he thought he had them last. On the way, a friend reminded me that my keys had some little cards on them to various stores around town. She thought maybe they had gotten turned in there. I went to CVS...no luck. Then I went to Ralph's grocery store and as the checker pulled out a basket full of keys, mine were sitting on top! Yippee! No more lost keys! God is so good and we are so thankful that He is so faithful to take care of us. In all of this, we felt like God was going to give us back everything the enemy has stolen and it is happening! We are still on the hunt for Jonathan's keys but my key ring held his spare car key, so we are ok for now. Thank you Lord!

New Office and Guest Room

Since our roommate Joel moved out last week, we have a new office for Jonathan and guest room for our many visitors. We painted a wall and moved right on in. Jonathan loves having a space to spread out and work, and we love having a room to entertain guests well. Jonathan's parents came in for the Labor Day weekend and became our first guests in the new room.



Pictured below is Jonathan working with Yvonne, our amazing worship pastor.

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Journey to Crawling

Crawling...what a journey! We are not quite there yet, but Anna sure is getting close. She used to hate tummy time but now will stay on that tummy for a little while just to check things out. But once she gets tired, she rolls right over with no regards to Mommy and Daddy trying to help her get those legs under her. Anna Kate can scoot backwards while on her tummy, but we have not seen any forward movement yet. I am thankful for just a little bit more time where I can leave the room for a sec and know she will stay put!

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Lounging Around

Anna just lounging around in her pjs before bedtime.

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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Target Treasure

On a trip to Target today, we discovered a little treasure for Anna Kate. We took it off the shelf and let her try it on for size. She loved this comfy chair...a perfect fit for our little girl! I bet she will add this to her birthday wish list.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Attack of the Cheerios!

When Anna Kate started eating Cheerios, I thought...Fun! Now she has a little snack she can eat herself and it is good for her. Little did I know that these wholesome o's would begin to take over our home. After serving Anna Kate a yummy breakfast of Cheerios and some banana, I sweep under her highchair and dump the ones left on her tray. Returning to the living room, I notice several that migrated onto the carpet and grab those too. Hours later, I find more in the seat of her high chair which are now soggy from the remnants of baby food that dropped down there too. Then while doing laundry these o's appeared on the floor of the laundry room. I turn around and there are more on the kitchen floor. While picking those up, I notice some on the counter. Frustrated, I do a clean sweep of the kitchen and dining room areas. Whew! Got all those o's....right? No, even as I am writing this post, I just eyed one lone lost Cheerio under the coffee table. If I did not know better, I would think these guys are multiplying. How can one serving of cereal wind up all over the house? Back to work...me against the o's!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Finger Food Fun

This week Anna Kate has ventured into the land of finger foods. With Cheerios, banana chunks, and lumpy sweet potatoes, she knows how to make quite a mess. What fun!

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In and Out

Yes, we love those burgers. But this post is about some fun visitors we have had the past several weeks. First, Brian and Aimee Davenport came to catch some San Diego sunshine.



We showed them some of the city and they had fun playing with Anna Kate.



She loves her new cow hat!

Soon after the Davenports' departure, Jonathan's sister Robin (better known as Aunt ChiChi) came to see her favorite niece. 



We went to the beach, the zoo, and spent some quality time at home while Anna Kate napped. What fun to have some adventures with Aunt ChiChi! She even taught Anna Kate a new song...we like to dance dance dance!

Now we have our friend from Waco, Donelle Sauer, staying with us. She is here with some other friends from our church in Waco who are doing a mission trip here. Donelle has been such a joy as she jumps in to help with Anna Kate and around the house!

After this week, we will return to a slower pace for a little while until Anna's first birthday!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Day at the Beach

Since we live so close to the beach, we have visited often with Anna Kate. Surprisingly, this was the first time that Anna Kate actually enjoyed the water and sand. We put her down on the beach so the waves would wash her just a bit as she sat on the shore. She would giggle every time the cold waters touched her legs. Then we took her into the ocean where every wave brought a smile and squeal. Once on the beach, she dug into the sand. We could not keep her from scooping little granules into her mouth. Anna Kate loved her time at the beach!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

A Hard Day's Work

Now what should I blog about today?



My beach trip...my day at the zoo...



Mo-om, no more pictures! You are interrupting my train of thought.



Ok now back to work...



I wonder how you spell hippopotamus?



Snack break!



My Favorite Things

These are some of my favorite things...

Reading my book that lights up and plays music



Looking out the window



Playing with my Dad...he gives great tickles!



Soft, cuddly blankets



Chewing on my elephant's nose



Eating in my high chair...bring on those sweet potato puffs!