Anna's first day of "school"

Well I don't know that school is the exact word I would choose, but it is easier to say than Mother's Morning Out. Anyway, today we went to meet her teachers and play for an hour. Next week she will go for three hours all by herself!Here she is with her special bag.
Jeff and I went to parent night last week and have been talking all about school and meeting her teachers since then. Last night when we were giving her a bath we said, "Tomorrow you go to school!" and she said, "Bus!" (and did the sign for bus, thank you Signing Time videos). Uh oh, is this going to be a problem?

This bag is heavy!
While we were there today she played with her friend "The Other Anna" and really liked the plastic mailbox. She spent time talking with each of the teachers and gave them both a hug when we left. When the teacher said it was snack time, Anna was the first one at the table and also the last one when it was over. She ate her snack and Andrew's.

Can you get over her "pony" as she calls it?
Thank you to Christine for teaching me how to do it.
So after school during lunch I was telling Anna that next week she will go back to school and play with her teachers and her friends and Mommy is going to leave. Her response: "No bus."

Here she is waving good-bye to me. Oh, Baby, don't grow up yet!!!

Long distance friends

My how time flies...
Anna first met Evan during a trip up to Michigan in June of '07. Look how excited she was to be sitting next to him. He, on the other hand, looked less than impressed.
Some things never change.
Again, Anna is looking all starry eyed at this cutie pie and he is about ready to bolt.

Anna decided to make a move.

There, that's better.

Monkey see, monkey do.
I squatted down to get a better shot of these two and they both thought that looked like a comfortable position. I was cracking up!

Then Anna decided to take things to the next level with a big hug.
Evan very politely tolerated her advances.

After getting blown off by Evan, Anna decided to try and befriend big sister Ellie. Ellie was so sweet to her! Doesn't Anna just look like she's thinking, "Wow, this girl is cool!"
Of course, no pictures of the moms who have been friends for 20 YEARS as of this month. It all started riding the bench together in Freshmen Lady Bears Basketball. Oh, we worked at Burger King together, too. Love you, Amy!

20 months old

We could not possibly love this girl more!
Can you just give me a second to tell you all the amazing things she can do? She is singing the ABCs like nobody's business. It is so funny how she just busts in out at any moment. Kind of like she has in stuck in her head. She has the tune down and consistently skips "S" and "X" and says "double" for "W." She can count to ten. One of her favorite expressions is "WHAAAAAAT?!" said in a high pitched voice. Not sure where she got that. She can run very fast and pumps her little arms by her side when she does. She starts Mother's Morning Out next week and will go every Friday morning (yeah!). We also start music class again next week. She loves hotdogs and cereal. She LOVES watching Elmo.
And last but not least, she went peepee on the potty yesterday!!! What a big girl!

It was summer time in Northern Michigan...

Last week we took a really quick trip to Michigan and an even quicker trip Up North to spend a little time with the Colenso clan. Here is Anna checking out Grand Traverse Bay for the first time.

Looks like she liked it!

Cousin Joe was awesome and put in some serious time teaching Anna how to throw rocks.

Anna was so excited to meet Baby Jack. Here is the obligatory give-the-baby-a-kiss picture.

The Colenso men

The cousins and their babies

Aunt Penny, Mike, Carly and Baby Jack

I was so happy to be able to bring Anna Up North. It is such a special place for me. Even though Mike, Carly and I are all in different states now, I hope we can continue to make memories up there with our families. Last weekend was a great start!

Girl Party!

We had a great visit with Mimi and Aunt Jessy last weekend.
Jeff was on a golf trip in Myrtle Beach so we had the place to ourselves!

Sprinkler Time at The Carter's!

I think the pictures say it all. These two had a blast playing in the water!