Highlights of the Season!

We have spent the past week celebrating here in Greensboro. Here are just a few snapshots of our second Christmas with Anna Cate. Several of the highlights as seen above....
-Anna receiving her very own mailbox with actual mail addressed to her. She checks it several times a day.
-Playing the piano with grandmommy.
-Watching "Gen-Gen" (grandaddy) play baseball on the Wii. Hours were spent making each family member (even Anna) on the Wii.
-Quality time with "Bess," "Car," and "Ty" (Mary Beth, Carlos and Todd). Anna is missing her entourage that would push her in her new car only after asking once, initiating playing "Anna" and "Sit-Sit" (rules of these games will have to be explained in a later post) and taking her to see "P" (my parents cat) whenever asked.
-Warm weather that was perfect for walks, shades and even a trip to the park on Christmas Day.
-Loving on new baby dolls-giving them "mil-mil" (milk), putting them to bed in their very own crib and pushing them in their own "shroller" (stroller).
-Opening plenty of presents, even saving some for Anna's birthday.
-Eating too much food, especially yummy desserts.
-Staying up too late playing Apples to Apples

-But the best part was watching Anna's huge smile each time we held hands at a meal to pray and as we sang happy birthday to Jesus. Anna often asked "Gen-Gen" to pray "gin" (again), which he happily did.

Christmas...

...the innocence of a child.

...the wonder of it all.

...the thrill of a Savior, born in Bethlehem.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a season filled with His presence.

The celebrating begins...

This past weekend we began our Christmas celebration as we headed to Virginia. We spent time in Lynchburg and Fredericksburg with family. It was a fun-filled few days as we filled our bellies, opened presents, and watched as family loved on Anna. The picture in the middle is of Anna and her only living great grandparent (Kevin's maternal grandmother). It was a blessing to be with her as well as everyone else.

Snow Globe

Anna is fascinated with our snow globes throughout the house. She gets as close as she can and just stares at them as the snow falls. She can hardly believe too that they play music. She will ask over and over again, "shake."

Unbelievable!

Here is Anna all ready for bed but moments before this picture was taken we had an unbelievable experience at Jason's Deli. One of those moments that leaves you speechless and one of those moments that you are so thankful someone else was there to witness what really took place. As I left the restaurant all I could say was, "wow." Let me set the stage, in case you have never been to Jason's Deli. It is a snug fit, the tables are very close together and customers are constantly getting up and down as there is a salad bar, "free" ice cream, muffins, etc. Needless to say it is one of those restaurants where you become friends with the people sitting next to you as you are practically sitting at their table and could easily join in on their conversation. It is a terrible restaurant for me to go to if my husband wants my attention as I can easily be distracted by others in hearing shot. We had several admirers of Anna and several people had stopped to speak to us. We had finished our meal and even had our "free" ice cream. We were packing up leftovers and wiping sticky hands when one of these admirers stooped down to greet Anna. In his hand was an uneaten ice cream cone. He was an older gentleman, very friendly, however, he only spoke to Anna and did not acknowledge Kevin nor me. The conversation went somewhat like this (it is all a bit fuzzy because I was so taken back by what transpired)....

Stranger: "Hey...I bet you would like some of this (putting the cone in front of Anna)."

Me: "Yes, she has already had some and enjoyed it."

Stranger: (Still only looking at Anna) "I haven't even had a lick (shoving the cone in Anna's face and encouraging her to take a bite), you can have some."

Yes, he then placed the cone in Anna's mouth and of course she took a bite.

Stranger: "You love it, here have more."

Again, Anna taking a second bite.

Me: "Thank you but she has had plenty."

Wow, and I thought strangers coming up and holding your babies small hand was a bit much but sharing your ice cream cone with a complete stranger. Again, wow!

Taking it all in...

Anna is really taking in all of Christmas this year...well at least the sights and sounds. She is mesmerized by the lights that are inside and out. Here she is helping Grandaddy or "Gan, Gan" as she says, hang an ornament.

The ornaments that hang from the tree are many objects she recognizes...from balls, to a duck or as she says, "quack-quack" to lights to a picture of she and her friend Maddie as a ladybug and chicken (pictured below).

Old Toy...

Yes, Anna still gets in her exersaucer. On mornings when I am running behind and have not had a shower before she wakes or Kevin leaves for work this is where Anna will hang out while I get ready. My top priority it accomplishes...it confines her and secondly it still entertains her. The first picture is of her in October 2007 (5 months old) and the second picture was taken today (19 months old). Kevin, sorry this huge contraption will be in our room a little longer. :)

New toy...

This weekend my Aunt and Uncle came into town. And of course they brought with them a 19- month-old present for Anna. Her present was her very own purse with pockets, buttons and the purse was even filled with various items. One of which was a present from my cousin and her family. Mind you this is a family with 8 children and almost every gift they have sent has always ended up being one of our favorite items as I am sure after 8 children you know what works and what doesn't. Well, when Anna unwrapped this musical instrument we thought for sure it would be a while before she would figure out how a harmonica works. She proved us wrong! All we had to say was, "blow, like it is hot." This is a common phrase around mealtime at our house and she knew exactly what to do.

What's for Dinner?!

In the midst of being sick, exhausted, trying to clean up our germs, disappointed our trip was needing to be canceled and trying to encourage one another to not get too upset there was still a little one who wanted to play and needed to eat, although her mommy and daddy were not too interested in food. We decided to combine the two. We spent many days in our PJs, Anna included. Here Anna is helping us to cook. One of her new favorite activities. Anytime I am at the stove or mixing anything in a bowl on the counter Anna will quickly push a chair to the counter and ask, "up please!"

Here she is stirring her dinner...well, water. A saucepan, spoon and a touch of water will go a long way in entertaining a one year old.

This little helper even wipes up her own mess. We must hear the word "wipe" a hundred times a day as anytime Anna sees a spot on the table, while she is eating, she says, "wipe please" or when she colors off the paper and onto the tile (don't worry they are washable crayons) or her hands or mouth need wiping because they have food on them those words are repeated over and over until the "mee" (mess) as she says is cleaned up.

SYTYCD

November 12th I was surprising Kevin with tickets to see the 11 finalists in this seasons So You Think You Can Dance. Instead Kevin was surprised with the stomach bug that I had the previous weekend. It was supposed to be the perfect beginning to our extended weekend away for our anniversary. Together we had planned a trip to Savannah. We were to leave Thursday morning. The SURPRISE was for us to head to Charlotte on that Wednesday for the show and then spend the night outside of Charlotte as we would be 2 hours closer to our destination on Thursday. We are new fans to SYTYCD but we were quickly hooked this summer. The show nor Savannah happened but a short trip to Charlotte to celebrate our anniversary did. Although it could not compare to SYTYCD or Savannah it was a treat to get away and to make some headway on our Christmas shopping. It has become a tradition for us to do the mass of our Christmas shopping on our Anniversary getaway. We have been successful all five years. This year we probably shopped more in our 48 hours away then we have in the past. We made a stop at Concord Mills on our way into Charlotte and then Monday we spent the better part of the day at The Southern Christmas Show. Wow, if you have never been, you should. It is huge.

The best part of our trip was just being together. Talking without being interrupted, eating our meals without feeding a little one and Kevin even let me sleep in as he delivered me breakfast in bed. We were definitely spoiled at the Hilton and our lodging was completely FREE. A couple of years ago we decided to get an American Express that earns points for Hilton Hotels (Hampton Inns, Doubletrees, Embassy Suites, etc.) We use our credit card as we would a debit card and only purchase what we can pay for and pay off the balance each month. However, we have racked up a stash of points and thus our lodging for Savannah was also going to be FREE. Not to mention we almost always get upgraded to a suite, breakfast is included and this time we had access to the club level where we were greeted with appetizers that easily could have sufficed for dinner and several hours later the room was full of an assortment of desserts to choose from. Although disappointed our original plans did not happen, our time away was exactly what we needed-a productive time yet relaxing and a time for us to connect as a couple. Below is a picture of us in the purple chase lounger that greeted us as we walked into our room.

Needless to say we were both excited to see the little girl we had left behind!

Still smiling...

...despite any recent posts. We are experiencing technical difficulty in our household and we have much to catch up on but I thought a few pictures of our sweet girl would suffice the phone calls, emails and comments we have received. Hopefully soon I will get to the happenings of the past two weeks. Here are several pictures from our Thanksgiving day walk.

Part way through Anna decided it would be fun to ride her tricycle. She was even able to keep her feet on the pedals at times, although they don't quite reach. She wanted nothing to do with you standing behind her and pushing the bike but do notice she wanted to hold grandmommy's hand while steering.

Silly daddy!