Fall Fun!

We have truly enjoyed this Fall from pumpkin patches to fall festivals with good friends to Anna dressed as a cowgirl. Anna enjoyed her second ride of the season at the fall festival. I surely kept my mouth shut and hands down this time. We have had some fun-filled weekends with some being very warm to others being quite chilly. We are gearing up for Thanksgiving in our household!

State Fair!

Several weeks back, Kevin was planning on being out of town on a camping trip. However, on Friday he was not feeling well from his shot the night before and decided to forgo the camping trip. This left us with a wide-open weekend, which is rare. We decided to be spontaneous, which if you know us is also rare as we are both planners. Saturday we headed to Raleigh for a night away. It was a fun adventure for all of us, especially Anna. It was her first time in a hotel where she had any recollection of the event. The questions began flying as we tried to explain where we would stay and what we would do. Our main purpose in going to Raleigh was to go to the State Fair or as Anna first called it, "Earth Fare" as that is the only "fare" she has ever come in contact with. Hotel highlights for Anna: being in a big girl bed right beside mommy and daddy's bed, eating breakfast in the hotel with everything you can imagine, riding the "alligator" (elevator) up and down and up and down, and of course going swimming Saturday night in the indoor pool with daddy. Sadly, I didn't take my camera out much, but I did snap this picture of Anna at the fair on Sunday. We walked and walked and walked Sunday. Our kids did much better than anticipated, especially Aiden. We placed him in the stroller when we arrived at the fair and did not take him out until we were back at the car, ready to head home. We were afraid if we took him out, our now on the move boy, would not want to be strapped back in. Both our children loved the sites of the fair-the people, the animals, and the exhibitions. Anna was able to pick one ride to go on as there was so much else to do that was completely free. She chose the cars, which is pictured above. She had never been on a ride before and I of course thought she might be a little nervous. Thus, as any good mother would do, I waved and said her name as she passed by us each time. Later that evening we were at home talking about our favorite parts of the fair. Anna's response when asked about riding on the car was...."Next time I don't want mommy to wave and say, 'hey.' None of the other mommies were saying hey and waving." What?! I have already embarrassed my child. I am sure it will not be the last time and she is only three. And here I thought she was nervous, but instead she was scoping out the other parents and seeing that no one else was waving and yelling their child's name.

Pumpkins!

This year we decided not to carve our pumpkins but let Anna paint them. She had a blast. We started out small and worked our way up! In the first picture you will notice Aiden in the background "playing" with his sippie. This is a whole other story for another day but this boy has been stubborn about drinking milk from a sippie or even a bottle. He amazes me with how long he will go without drinking or only drinking a sip here and there. He is persistent.

Back to the pumpkins....Anna was very serious during each paint session. She worked hard on each one.

Here she is with one of the bigger pumpkins.

By the time she was done, the pumpkin was covered in all the colors of the rainbow!

**update**

How could I have forgotten one of the conversations that took place while Anna was painting her pumpkin?!

Anna: "Can I show daddy my pumpkin?"

Me: "Of course"

Anna: "He will say, 'Girlfriend, wow!'"

Anna is VERY into knowing exactly what someone will say in a particular situation. Often she will ask us about a situation and then will follow-up with "what will he/she say." She wants a play-by-play. This time she told me what daddy would say and although I am not sure he said, "girlfriend"; I am pretty sure he said, "wow."

Walking!

About a month ago, Aiden started walking. It took Aiden a little longer to walk on his own than Anna. He had been walking with push toys for months but would not try it solo. However, once he decided he had enough confidence to do it on his own there was no looking back. He was more steady on his feet than Anna was at first. He rarely falls and now sprints most places. Thus, the reason for the lack of walking pictures. The first two pictures were captured that first weekend in October when he took some first steps. We were at a fall festival. If you look closely you will see he is not wearing any shoes. This is because our little man has a very wide foot and we could not find any shoes to fit his foot. Finally, grandmommy took him to the store where we bought our shoes growing up (same furniture is still in the store, 30 years later). Even there, only ONE double wide shoe was actually wide enough for his foot. I am still not convinced it is wide enough. Allowing the shoe salesman to put the shoes on Aiden was no small task. He is a STRONG child. If he doesn't want to do something, he will fight you on it. And he did not want those shoes on. I wasn't sure he would ever wear shoes. Now he wants his shoes on all the time. Glad we made it past that battle.

Backyard arrival...

Back in August, just in time for Aiden's birthday, we received a generous gift from our neighbors and previous owner's of our home. The people we bought our home from, six years ago, moved just two doors down and thus are our neighbors. One August afternoon, the swing set that used to be in our backyard before we owned the house was moved back into its original location for our little ones to enjoy! Anna especially has spent many hours out back since its arrival. She has even mastered swinging by herself. She knows how to pump those legs!

Even Aiden gets in on the action as he loves to slide. However, most of the time when we are out back he spends his time in the Cozy Coupe. He LOVES that car!

Elliot was here to celebrate Aiden's birthday and was able to enjoy the swing set too.

Of course getting a picture of all three of them is nearly impossible. They would much rather look at each other than the camera. But they had a blast playing. Notice how red Elliot's face is. He played hard!

Dance

All the way back in September, Anna started taking dance (otherwise known as creative movement) one morning a week. This girl LOVES her dance class. Of course on the first day when ALL the other children were hesitant to go into the classroom and were holding their mommy's hands, my little girl sprinted straight into the classroom with no hesitation and not even a glance back in my direction. It is so sad how shy she is. ;) It has been such a wonderful experience for us as Anna has had to listen to directions, work on coordination, wait for her turn as she cheers on her classmates as well as meeting new friends. She of course was very curious the first day about what others were wearing. She inquired why some of the girls were not wearing tights and of course had to show the two boys in her class her leotard and questioned why they were not wearing one. She is for sure one observant child and usually questions follow as she scopes out a situation.

Their daddy!

Yesterday was their daddy's birthday. They adore him. This picture captures one of the many reasons why they do. He gets down on their level. He is involved in every aspect of their lives. Last week, Kevin walked in the door from work and Anna's first words to him were, "Daddy, I've been missing you all day." It made his day. Maybe his week.

Who she is...

(Life has slowed down a bit and I am hoping to catch-up on the happenings in the Sasser household. I found this post that I had started months ago and never posted. Thought I would just skip it, but this is one of my favorite pictures of Anna. I decided to go ahead with the post and then start moving forward).

She is not our baby anymore but each day is becoming more and more a little girl. She is a talker, a thinker, and a doer. She is spunky yet nurturing. She can be demanding but attentive to others needs. She takes it all in and most of the time can process it all and then retell it in the right context at a later date. She makes life really fun and I am so proud to be her momma!

A few Anna moments (some much older than others, but haven't made it into a post)...

Kevin needs new glasses so back in May he took his current pair with him to a store. Anna began asking questions about his glasses...

Anna: "Daddy, why you got your glasses?"

Kevin: "Because I need new ones."

Anna: "Where'd you get them."

Kevin: "I got them a long time ago."

Anna: "When I was a baby?"

Kevin: "No, before you were born."

Anna: "When I was in Mary's belly?"

Kevin: "Mary? Like Jesus was in Mary's belly?"

Anna: "Yeah!"

Not sure if I have actually documented it or not, but our sweet girl does have two imaginary friends. At times they are more present than others. "Keen" and "Twos" are their name. Not sure where the names came from but we hear lots about these two in our house.

Since May, Anna has been using several transitional words in the right context. I love to see the mind of a little person develop. "Otherwise" and "actually" are two we hear often.

Other phrases that she uses in the right context as well...
"You kidding me, right?" and "You cracking me up." Those two phrases definitely crack us up. Anna also thinks that if you need something done right away or immediate action is required that you just insert the name, "Cate" after the person's first name. I guess this is because we often say, "Anna Cate" to get her attention.

When asked when her birthday is, Anna's response is, "My birthday in Kate May." Yes, her birthday is in May but she responds Kate May because we have a good friend whose name is Kate May.

She doesn't do it as much, but often when given something, Anna will respond with, "Thank you sirma'am." All one word!

Ever since Aiden was born Anna can point out the location of the hospital when we are in the car. A conversation about life and death almost always ensues. Here is just one of them...

Anna: "That's the hospital?"

Me: "Yes"

Anna: "Where we got Aiden and picked up Mommy? Jesus there?" (thought this because she knows Jesus "made" Aiden)

Me: "No, He is in heaven." (Yes, technically He is everywhere but she wanted to actually "see" Jesus)

Anna: "I want to see grandmommy's mommy (she knows my mom's mom is in heaven). Where is heaven? When I die again I'll see her?"

Anytime we refer to heaven she assumes before being here (on earth), she was in heaven. Thus, she has already been dead once and will be dead again. Notice too that often in conversations with Anna that another question comes even before I can answer the first one. There is little silence in our house.

And because Anna can answer many of her own questions she and Aiden actually have a good bit of conversations. Here is a recent favorite one....

Aiden had a shoe and I had just told him, "no touch" and he began to cry. Anna's response as she is gently rubbing his head, "I know it's hard. Its just part of life. Sorry. I'll give you a kiss to love on you."

This exchange captures Anna's heart so well. She does love to love on others.