Happy 4th Birthday, Annabelle!

Following my new fascination with Facebook, I thought I'd share 25 Random Things about Annabelle:

1. She loves princesses.
2. She takes being 4 years old seriously.
3. She is very oral – meaning she likes to lick things or put them in her mouth. The loooong list of things include licking the window and the chairs at the airport, licking her Leapster, chewing on t.p., etc.
4. It’s no wonder she seems to always have a cold…
5. She is independent, but loves to be with.
6. She will play with anything.
7. She will make friends with anyone, and will usually find someone to play with no matter where we are and no matter what the age is of that other person.
8. She can entertain herself, by herself, for hours.
9. She loves to sing.
10. She loves to dance.
11. She talks about playing baseball and other ball sports, but I’m not really sure she will. I will keep exposing her and giving her chances, though.
12. She doesn’t have much interest in riding her bike. I think the idea of riding it down our street (a slight incline) scares her.
13. She can write her full first name. It all came together a couple of weeks ago when I showed her what it looked like on the chalkboard outside. Since then, she’s had no problem, except those tricky N’s (they are often backwards!).
14. She is very interested in spelling words.
15. She can tell us what letter words begin with.
16. She likes to count, and can count to 100 with help across the 10’s (20, 30, 40, etc.).
17. She can count to 100 by 10’s.
18. She has clearly sponged up all of the stuff we work on with Wyatt.
19. She loves to be read to.
20. She loves her brother and sister. I hear her repeating Wyatt more and more often these days.
21. She has the tangliest hair I have ever seen. After it’s been fully brushed out, it will tangle with one swish of her head.
22. She is polite and kind.
23. She screeches and whines before using words…we’re working on it…
24. She loves to be cuddled. In Annabelle terms, that means lying close to her, not really needing to be touching.
25. She knows how to push Wyatt’s buttons. She wouldn’t be a sibling if she didn’t, right?!

A Party fit for a Princess

Annabelle finally had her first real birthday party. The last three have been family dinners, which seem like a party when you have so many family members! This year, Annabelle has really begun to establish a friend network - at school, at the pool and at Wyatt's school. She actually makes friends with kids wherever she goes. We were at a pizza place last night and she had some little friend calling after her, "Annabelle! Come here, do this!" She can play with anything, and she will play with anyone. Pretty good qualities!


It was a really nice group of girls that came over. And, Cinderella came today! Annabelle was exstatic from the moment she woke up this morning. Cinderella told her story of becoming a princess, played a game of Pass the Glass Slipper, twisted balloons and did some fingernail painting/face painting/tattooing. All of the kids really enjoyed their time, I think!

I will let the pictures and movies say the rest...


One of the cutest things that happened today was when Cinderella asked the kids if they ever have dreams. They said yes! Then she asked Annabelle what she dreams about and Annabelle answered very emphatically, "You!" Priceless...

Basketball Season

The season ended last weekend. Wyatt loved it, of course! Here are a few pics from his last game:

Gettin' Ready to Roll!

6 Years and 13 Weeks!

I remember 6 years ago, today. And I remember 13 weeks ago, today. Both very monumental in my life. Six years ago today, I was supposed to go to lunch with some girlfriends. I woke up not feeling well, and decided not to go. One friend came over after lunch to hang out. By about 3:00, she suggested it was time to call Matthew to come home, so we could go to the hospital! I called, he came home, my water broke and a few hours later we welcomed Wyatt into the world! So here he is, SIX years old!!!

Wyatt continues to grow at a break-neck speed. He's usually the tallest boy in any activity he does. He LOVES going and doing anything! Water polo, basketball, soccer, baseball, playing with friends, etc. He's mentioned that he'd love to have a playdate that started before school and continues after school. Where do I fit in to that equation??? I guess he's out-growing his mama, to a certain degree. He is really starting to read, and numbers are pretty easy for him. He is very intuitive, especially when it comes to people's feelings.The craziest thing about Wyatt is that he is a very positive boy, but often says the opposite of what he really thinks. It's frustrating, actually. We call him contrary.

We had his birthday party at a place called Super Frank's this year. It's a good thing because it was pouring on Sunday. This is the first year that it's been really rainy for his birthday. All of the kids had a blast. They played dodge-ball, went on a zip line and rode around on plasma cars. They had pizza, yelled the Happy Birthday song (poor Daphne must have shuddered at least 10 times during this), ate yummy cake and then ventured off in to the arcade. It was a great group of kids and adults, and we all had fun!

Wyatt threw me for a loop earlier last week when I asked him what kind of ice cream he wanted in his Baskin Robbins ice cream cake. He said that they don't have Clone Wars cakes, so he didn't want one from there (oh, the tragedy - for me, of course!). So I set out to research different decorations for a Clone Wars cake. I found one a woman had made (with Wyatt looking over my shoulder) and once he saw it, that was it! I set my skills in motion and turned out a decent rendition of Captain Rex, the clone from Clone Wars. It's not perfect, by any means, but not bad, either. When Annabelle saw it and said she wanted a Cinderella one, I said great! Baskin Robbins does a wonderful one!!!

DODGE BALL!!!!!!

Cousin Jennifer Competitive Parents???


Uncle Matthew got JJ! John waiting for a "medic"

Annabelle ready to shoot! The girls taking cover!

Gabe gathering ammo.


The last game was the kids against the parents. Here, you see the parents strategizing, and the kids choosing the medic (the person that frees the "downed" people).

The Zip Line!



The Plasma Cars

The cake! Happy Birthday, Wyatt!!!



Thirteen weeks ago today we welcomed Daphne! It wasn't quite as dramatic, but momentous nonetheless!!! She is such a great baby! She is cooing and smiling and I just got a giggle the other day! She really only cries when she's hurting, like from gas, or when she's really tired - which is most of the time b/c as soon as she gets to sleep, I usually have to get her out of the crib and in to the carseat because we have to go somewhere. She sleeps really well at night. She had the stomach flu (that our whole house had prior - she was the last soldier to fall), and was a total trooper. You wouldn't have known she didn't feel well by her demeanor!

So next is Annabelle's birthday...stay tuned!