December Rewind #2: Christmas at Home

Although it is well into January, I am going to continue the Christmas posts. We had such a fun and very filled Christmas. We are so blessed with wonderful family. We celebrated Christmas here with our little immediate family on Christmas Eve. These two cuties were excited for Santa to come. Anna Lee and I made Christmas cookies the night before and left them for Santa. J.D. watched from the sidelines.

Anna Lee loves for us to wear aprons when she helps me in the kitchen. For some reason, while we were making cookies, she decided she didn't want to wear a shirt. Apron only.

The loot

J.D. opened a few presents and then slept for the rest of the morning.

Anna Lee got a Cinderella book that came with a veil and gloves. This is regularly worn at our house now.

Anna Lee's big present was a Disney princess Power Wheel. She wasn't quite sure about it at first, but then realized she could actually drive it and she was a FAN! The only problem: she's not a very good driver. We should have also given her a helmet. She drove the car straight into our garage, the house, and the fence. Jim was chasing after her the whole time. I could barely take pictures, I was laughing so hard.

Look at that smile!

This is a much more accurate picture of the event. She thought it was great!

She also got a pink scooter. Still working on figuring that one out.

As we were getting packed up to leave for San Antonio, a huge winter storm blew in and it started snowing. Anna Lee had a blast playing outside.

This was what our street looked like as we got ready to leave for San Antonio. It was so pretty and fun to have snow on Christmas Eve.

Gotta Love the Love

December Rewind #1: A Princess Birthday

Anna Lee's birthday is December 21st. It is always crazy trying to fit a fun birthday celebration into the midst of the holiday craziness. This year was no exception. We had a really fun birthday for Anna Lee on the Saturday before Christmas. To no one's surprise, she wanted a princess party. Since she has so many boy friends, we decided to make it a costume party with princess accents. Anna Lee was of course dressed as Cinderella...dress, crown, shoes, necklaces, etc. She is SOOO girly!

We had all sorts of activities at the party...a princess bounce house, pin the princess on the castle, basketball, cars to ride in, bean bag tosses, lots of food, and even a costume parade.

I was crazy this year and decided I wanted to make the cake. I found a bakery that would make what I wanted...for $200! Crazy! (After I made it, I think I understood why it was so expensive!) My mom and I worked for hours to get the cake just right. I thought I was going to lose my mind. But my mom kept me sane and helped me, even after I made several recipe errors. The finished productThe night of Anna Lee's birthday, we took her to the Magic Time Machine for dinner. One of their waiters was Ariel that night. It was sorely disappointing...the food, the costumes, the acting, you name it. Not going to be a birthday tradition. But Anna Lee did have a blast getting her picture painted. They had a cartoonist there would would paint your picture and Anna Lee was so excited to do this. She waited in line for a while and then sat very still for him to paint a picture of her. He made her look like Tinkerbell, and she thought it was the greatest thing ever.

These pictures are in the wrong order...
The afternoon of Anna Lee's birthday, my mom and sisters and I took Anna Lee to get one of her favorite foods...potato soup at La Madelines. She eats an enormous amount! And she isn't a big eater.


While we were there, per Anna Lee's request, we all had a tea party. We had brought our own tea set for the occasion. There was another large table of women in the room and we got all of them to sing Happy Birthday with us. Anna Lee seemed to love it. She got her own fruit tart with three candles in it.

Some facts about our new 3 year old:

• As I have said before, and it warrants being repeated, Anna Lee is GIRLY. She loves all things pink and princess. There is not a Disney princess that she does not know everything about and love dearly. Her favorite is Sleeping Beauty. She is mesmerized by crowns, jewels, purses, high heels, and most recently lipstick. She has not seen every Disney princess movie yet, because we think some of them are still too scary for her, but she knows every story and character by heart. She can spot a Disney princess item from a million miles away. I think she honestly wishes she was a Disney princess. We are taking her to Disney World soon. I am worried she might actually have a heart attack.
• She is extremely talkative. Anna Lee says more words during a day than most people say during a week. She has long, grown-up conversations and says very funny things. She talks much more adult than she actually is.
• Anna Lee LOVES movies. She has since she was born. J.D. can take them or leave them, but Anna Lee is extremely drawn to them. Jim says she would make a great movie critic someday. She would watch movies all day if I let her. She remembers very specific details about them and is very opinionated about why she does and doesn't like certain shows. She will watch her favorites over and over.
• Anna Lee has a very sweet and busy spirit. She is a ball of energy, but is also very sweet and tender hearted. She is extremely kind and sweet and is one of the happiest kids I have ever met.
• Anna Lee does not like to sleep. She needs it more than anyone I have ever seen, but she hates to have to waste any time in the day or night getting it.
• Anna Lee is a very picky eater and does not like cheese. She loves fruits and vegetables and at times has been known to pick eating tomatoes over eating ice cream.
• Anna Lee (sadly) cannot carry a tune. I used to think it was just because she was young, but as she has gotten older, I have come to grips with the fact that she just can't sing a tune. She loves music, dancing, and singing...but it honestly isn't her strong suit. But oh how I love to listen to that sweet voice sing...in or out of tune.
• Anna Lee loves her brother. And she loves our family. She has shown nothing but pure joy and love for J.D. since the day he was born. She talks about how happy she is that we have him and how he is so cute. She tells everyone she sees that he is her little brother. I told her a few nights ago that maybe someday (no day soon!) we would have another little baby in our family. She got the biggest smile on her face and said "Yay!"
• Did I say She LOVES Disney princesses???

What a sweet joy Anna Lee is to us!

Bring on the dairy!

My life significantly changed this week. We realized J.D. was allergic to dairy on June 17th. Since that day, I haven't had a single bite of food or drink with milk, butter, cheese, etc. in it. I have missed it! We were finally able to switch J.D. to formula this last week (it has been a long road getting him to take it---it is a yucky hypo-allergenic kind). I had my first Starbucks chai latte (my absolute favorite) while we were at Jim's parents' house in Waco. It was heavenly. This new change has opened up a whole new world of eating for me. Bring on the pizza, cheese enchiladas, queso, sandwiches and salads with cheese, cereal with milk, ANY casserole, mashed potatoes, ranch dressing, cookies, cakes, milkshakes, the list can go on for quite a while- basically anything that tastes good. I am a little worried about gaining a million pounds! I went to the grocery store yesterday and it was so strange to be able to get anything I wanted. I am thankful that we were able to find such an easy fix for J.D. back in June. But I am also really glad to get to eat cheese again! :0)

I have a million pictures and stories to post from Anna Lee's third birthday and Christmas. I will get those posted soon!

Merry Christmas!

She Just Makes Me Smile

November Rewind

November came and went, and I can't believe December is already here! Here is a quick review of some November highlights.

Anna Lee's school put on a Thanksgiving program before the holiday break. It was my first time to get to see Anna Lee in a program, and I have to say, after being on the other side, I loved it! I was definitely one of those parents who was waving at their child. How can you not??? Anna Lee searched and searched for us, and once she found where we were sitting, she sang away(you can see her find us in the first picture). My sister, my mom, and Jim's parents also came to the program. It was so sweet of them to come. It made me laugh at what a fuss we all made over 3 songs that took no more than two minutes combined to sing. But when it's your "baby," that's what you do!

Anna Lee was dressed as a cute little pilgrim. They had sent home a sheet with the songs the kids were supposed to sing. The packet they sent home had four papers stapled together with the song lyrics on the front and back of the sheets. Anna Lee and I worked and worked on memorizing all of those songs....all 12 of them. It wasn't until the day before the program that I realized I had been teaching her all of the songs for the 2's...the 3's...the 4's...the 5's...and pre-K. Anna Lee was PREPARED for the show! Poor thing was probably wondering why in the world she wasn't singing all 10 other songs up on the stage!

The day after Thanksgiving, Jim's whole family went to a neat Homestead craft fair/farm. (I don't remember the name of it.) It was a huge working farm run by a group that lives a very simple life, similar to Amish groups. There were tons of really neat things to do. The kids got to pet live animals, make crafts, listen to music groups, see demonstrations, ride a hayride, etc.

J.D. having fun with Pops

Making a soap ball

Pulling taffy

Rolling oats

The whole gang getting ready for the hayride

As soon as Thanksgiving was over, we moved into "Musical Mode." The past two years, my sister Kasey and I have directed the kids' musical at our church. It is one of my favorite things to do. I love getting to teach about music and God's love with my sister, working with an awesome team of friends (including my sweet husband), and getting to know and love a great group of elementary kids. This year's musical was this past Saturday night. I feel like I am finally able to take a breath now that it is over. This year's musical was called "Angels Aware," and the kids were all dressed like beautiful angels, telling about Jesus going to earth. I was so proud of all of the kids, and what an incredible job they did. It has been such a blessing to watch a group like these little 1st through 5th graders put a show like that together. And it has taught me a great deal this year about our need for Jesus, and the true reason we celebrate.