Elmo Party!

I’m finally finished organized pictures to post for Anna’s birthday.  Poor baby has a birthday during the busiest time of the year!  Despite the chaos, we managed to have a really fun birthday party for a really fun little girl! :)

This year, we hosted Anna’s party at The Woodlands Children’s Museum.  Back in October when I started planning this party, Anna was all about Elmo, so it seemed like a fitting theme…

Party table:

Daddy made this awesome sign for the party! Go Daddy!

And Mommy made this much smaller, less impressive "sign":

And these were yummy! I may or may not have had more than one. 

The kids played and had a great time running around the museum.  Anna decided to go “fishing”, so she was pretty much soaking wet the entire time. 

She went in and out of the gate approximately 1,000 times…

… until she found a grocery basket to push around.  We had to pry that basket out of her hands when it was time to go to the party room!  Thankfully, she can easily be persuaded with food… ;)

As soon as we lit the birthday candle and started singing happy birthday, our little birthday girl turned into a statue.  She made no eye contact with anyone, and the girl literally did not move a muscle.  It was the funniest thing I have ever seen!  I am SO mad I don’t have that little face on video – I’m not sure that this will do it justice…

She stared at the candle for the longest time until she FINALLY blew it out.  Whew!

Now… onto the good stuff. 

Like orange icing… that stained everything it touched.  Thank you very little, HEB.  (They were good though!)

And of course we had to make time for a family photo op:

Aunt Lindsay & Spaceman, YaYa & Boompa, and the Pratis joined us for the “after” party.  Since they drove all that way, it seemed only fair that we feed them dinner and get a little more playing time in…  which pretty much consisted of Anna opening up her presents as slowly as possible.

Luckily, you had some VERY eager four year olds ready to help as she started to run out of steam:

This one was a big hit:

But I think the best present for this little girl was UNDIVIDED attention from her YaYa!

Happy Birthday Little Miss!  I can’t believe you are TWO.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

We almost forgot the chair!!

Just before bedtime, we had one last photo shoot in your bear chair.  We've slacked off the past few months, so I was adamant that we capture your chair picture ON your actual birthday... even if you were in your jammies!

Here you are working hard on your "two":

You got it!!

I cannot believe this was you just one short year ago...

Sniff, sniff.

TWO!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my sweet baby girl today!!  

We started the day with daddy's famous birthday pancakes, followed by a visit to Santa Claus. You were so not a fan:

We had a long pep talk and watched lots of kids sit in Santa's lap, but when the time came, you wanted no part of it! After you recovered from Santa, we headed to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch and then to the Disney store with daddy. You emerged with a smile on your face and a brand new Minnie Mouse doll! She's quickly becoming your new favorite! Poor Dora and Elmo...

You are so much fun right now - you bring so much joy, even to the little things. I love just watching you walk - you have always had a little extra bounce in your step since you took your first one. You love music - "Frosty Snowman", "the jingle one" ("All I Want for Christmas is You"), "Baby", "Low, Low, Low", and you enjoy making the rest of us dance ("Go Da-eee! Go Mommy! Go Ah-vry") right along with you!

You constantly amaze me with all you say and do - you know your ABC's and you are recognizing all of your letters. You are talking in full sentences, counting to 13 and you know all of your colors too! You love reading books, coloring with your sister, and demanding to pretend paint everyone's hand "Come ON Mommy, paint your hand!!!". 

What a blessing you are to all of us.  Happy Birthday Anna Banana - We love you!

(Party pics coming soon!)

Turkey Tango

This is the first year that Avery is taking tap, and she loves it! It’s no surprise that I love to watch her dance, and it is absolutely impossible for me to NOT tear up when I’m watching her. It brings back so many memories for me and it makes me realize how far my shy little girl has come! 

Just before Thanksgiving each year, we all gather to watch her class perform. Ryan and I were both able to go this year, and even though Avery specifically asked me NOT to bring Anna (“because her is going to trip me while I’m dancing”) – I brought her anyway.  Thankfully, Anna behaved.  Well, for the most part...

Here she is - ready to tap!

Now onto ballet for the “Turkey Tango”… 

Haha – check out that face.  We heard lots of “stop LOOOOOOKING at me!”, but we didn’t listen. :)

Check out that arabesque...

Stellar first position:

Avery and her buddy, Eliza.  So fun that they are in the same dance class this year!

Proof that Anna was there, and for the record, she did not trip Avery.  Or anyone else.

After dance, we headed to Market Street for the Annual Tree Lighting.  It was a chilly night – perfect for sipping hot cocoa!

We had a picnic dinner, danced along with the band and decorated luminaries. This pic was taken just before the tree lights came on and the snow started falling!  Such a great night with such great friends…

(Isabelle, Kate, Avery & Eliza) 

Children's Festival

Ryan’s company sponsors the Children’s Festival each year in The Woodlands, and this was the first year that we were able to go.  It was a great event!  We saw Thomas the Train as well as lots of dancing, singing, face painting, hat making… you name it, they had it!

Avery sporting the hat that she made:

Anna enjoyed watching the dancers, but both girls enjoyed being ON the stage more than in the audience:

After jumping in various bounce houses, Avery decided that she wanted to do the giant, inflatable, human hamster ball that floats on water thingy.  She hates loud noises, so I did not expect this to go well:

Almost there (notice hands firmly over ears)…

And she’s off!

You could not wipe the smile off of her face!  Guess she’s growing up… sniff.

We were quickly approaching nap time, and Anna was starting to hit her wall when Daddy the Hero showed up with some popcorn! Thankfully that bought us a little time so that Avery could see the gymnasts perform...

Very fun day!

Still talking turkey...

This year was the first year we headed to the coast for Thanksgiving, and Jannie & Pops rented an awesome house right on the water!  We arrived late Tuesday night, and the girls were so excited that they hardly slept that night! 

Wednesday we headed into Corpus to hit the aquarium, and the girls loved it.  It was such a great aquarium, complete with a dolphin show outside! 

Anna repeated “Come on dolphin, jump HIGH!” 842 times – she apparently had high expectations! 

Not a great picture, but the girls had to see the dolphins under water too!  Notice Anna with her baby that comes almost everywhere with us – she’s recently named her “Isabella” – after her best little buddy from school:

The birds were actually a big hit – we spent lots of time looking at the the owl. He was holding a mouse, which Anna was convinced it was a kitty cat. Thankfully she was not disturbed that it was his dinner!

The bald eagle and the parrot were also a big hit along with the alligator and Dori (Nemo must have been sleeping).

Thanksgiving Day was spent enjoying lots of family that Anna, Avery and I haven’t really been around too much and that Ryan hasn’t seen in a long time!  My girls were especially enamored with Uncle Matt (Ryan’s brother):

 ...and the “other Uncle Matt” (Ryan’s brother, Jeff):

I got suckered into the “cousins” picture since Anna would not go without me:

Avery, Meme & Ali (who was a big hit with my girls, and with me!):

This one spent lots of time eating…

And making messes:

At night we would enjoy the sunset (and fight the stickers in the grass), roast s'mores and play games.  This particular night, we just focused on forgetting the outcome of the Aggie game.

Friday we headed out on Blaine's boat, and the girls were eager to go for a ride.  It was Anna’s first!!

We figured we might as well enjoy the photo-op, while Jeff & Blaine were working hard to get the boat in the water:

The boat was small, but super fast!  Sad that Blaine got cut out of the pic!

Off we went!  The girls enjoyed the ride and pointing out all of the birds. Avery just wanted to go fast!  Anytime Blaine would slow down, Avery would ask if we just ran out of gas.

We had a terrifying ride back.  Wind + small boat = Near death experience.

Avery was really excited to learn how to fish, and Jannie had a Dora fishing pole ready to go!  Here she is checking out the bait – I can’t believe she touched it!  That quality is definitely not in the gene pool...

And there she goes!

And this one was just sweet…

Pops helped Avery collect and clean some sea shells. Pops – she hasn’t forgotten about that necklace you promised her! ;)

Uncle Matt caught some bait, so Avery wanted to check it out…

And she touched it too. She couldn’t believe that it was “real”! 

Anna decided that she needed to fish too, but ultimately she enjoyed watching Jannie fish with her pole more. 

This one of Meme and Anna is one of my favorites!  And let me tell you something about Meme... she does not mess around when it’s time to play games! I wasn't brave enough to play against her this year! 

Thank you Jannie & Pops for such a memorable Thanksgiving.  We have lots to be thankful for!!