We Made It.

I just couldn't bear to miss my Dad's retirement party (you know how I love a good get-together), so I took a leap of faith and made the eight hour drive to Salt Lake City with the kids in tow. Anna and Isaac did surprisingly well, thankfully, and both to and from Utah was manageable. I don't know why I was so intimated by the drive since I've flown a couple times solo across country with the kids. Bring on the summer road trips! I'm ready!


Anna playing with the best travel toy ever. Kept her entertained on and off the whole trip.

"Mom, shouldn't you be watching the road instead of taking pictures?"

The driver side stash.

Birthday Celebration

Anna has been happily anticipating her birthday for weeks. So it was no surprise when she came into my bedroom just after 6 am ready to get the party started. To try and avoid waking the rest of the house, we snuck out for an early morning birthday errand.

We headed out to the only place I could think of that would be open at that hour, King Soopers. Luckily their flower/balloon counter opens at 7 am. We ordered balloons and then went off to pick out donuts for everyone. We also stopped at the in-house coffee shop and got hot chocolate.

Anna was adorable and took great care in picking out donuts she thought each person would like. While we drank hot cocoa she kept saying, "Oh, it's so great to be four years old." Love her.

Aren't her pajamas a crack up? Backward pants and huge t-shirt tucked in=priceless.

As soon as we got home the Balloon Party commenced with opening presents. (It was especially fun to have Grandma Marlene here for the big day. It made it so special for Anna. More on that later.) We have been telling Anna that for birthdays you only get a couple of small presents so that she wouldn't have grand expectations and be let down. So she was especially thrilled that with Grandma Black and Grandma Marlene's presents, in addition to ours, she had eight gifts to open. She counted them over and over and announced, "I am so lucky to have eight presents!"

She received from Grandma Black a digital camera key chain and a Tiana Barbie Doll. From Grandma Marlene a Calico Critter Bunny family and kitchen set.
From us she got a Calico Critter Kitty family and baby twins, a new dress (see b-day pics below) and the movie, Princess and the Frog.

Enjoying her pink star donut with sprinkles. (She picked out a matching yellow one for Isaac.)

We let Anna choose any restaurant she wanted for lunch. She really wanted to go to White Fence Farm but it was closed for lunch. Bummer. Second choice was Texas Roadhouse. I was a little surprised and asked why. She told me she likes to pretend she's an elephant and eat the peanuts there. Ha! Proof that if the kids are happy at dinner we pretty much ignore what they are doing. We've been there as a family a few times before and never noticed Anna doing this.

Grandma Marlene wanted to take Anna out to a movie in the afternoon and Anna happily agreed that would be a fantastic idea. I took the Buds back for a nap and Grandma, Jeff, and Anna made their way to see "How To Train Your Dragon." When they returned, Anna announced to me that it was good, but really short. Actually, she just fell asleep about 10 minutes in. Oops.

We finished the day with cake and candles and singing. It was really a lovely day.

My Anna Girl

What a joy to have this girl in my life. She keeps me on my toes. Here is a little about Anna as a big four year old.

• Loves to sing around the house. She sings all day long. In the car, at dinner, while she's playing, it never ends. Except in primary. She refuses.

• A bit of a perfectionist. Anna doesn't like to do things unless she knows that she can do it near perfectly. (Hence the no singing in Primary. She doesn't know all the words to the songs...)

• Loves Isaac fiercely from a distance. She still doesn't like Isaac getting up in her face or into her stuff. But she misses him terribly when he's not around and loves to show him things she knows he will love. "Look Iys, its a ______!" (insert tiger, truck, ball, etc.)

• Is into all things Madeline. Anna loves the books, the show, the French accent.

• Speaking of accents...Anna is always picking up and trying out accents while she plays. First, it was a British accent gleaned from the cartoon Kipper. Next, French from Madeline. Now she's picking up a New Orleans accent from Princess and the Frog.

• Loves her animals. Anna's bed is a constant pile of stuffed friends. There are a few that make the rounds and then end up back in the animal bin, but for the most part she sticks to five or six friends. (Kit Kat, Teddy, Lion, Little Kitty, Raccoon and Tiger.)

• Everything is named Anna. Besides the aforementioned animals every thing else is named Anna. All her dolls, the rest of her stuffed animals, toys from McDonald's all don the name. When naming time comes around she seems to think really hard, "Hmmm. I thiiiiiink he should be naaaaaamed.....hmmmmm. Oh! How about Anna?" Big surprise every time.

• Spends at least an hour a day washing dishes. She will pull up a chair to the sink, gather a bunch of bowls and spend the longest time washing dishes and usually making a pretty big mess. Good thing water is so easy to wipe up.

• Despises cleaning up toys. It's a fight every time.

• Is the master negotiator. Everything is a negotiation. Minutes stayed up. Number of bites taken at dinner. Amount of toys to be picked up. Menu items for lunch. It goes on and on.

• Tells dad about her day every evening. As soon as Jeff gets home from work, Anna will follow him around and tell him all the things she did that day.

I'm so blessed to have such a healthy, vivacious, funny, loving daughter. Happy Birthday dear Anna!

Birthday Shoot

I am pretty happy with the pictures I took during our annual birthday photo shoot. There may have been a little bribing involved for smiles. The first four or five are my favorite.

Check out those sticks for arms!

Classic Anna face. It had to be included.

She constantly pulls her hair out of her face like this.

Birthday Weekend Leftovers

Dressing up like a princess at the Disney Store.

Visiting the Denver Temple grounds.

Just as we were leaving, Anna asked if she could go put her hand in the fountain water one more time. We said sure and the next thing we knew she had fallen all the way into the fountain. Drenched from head to toe! She was shocked and cold and didn't really have the presence of mind to cry about it. We stripped her, dried her off in Jeff's jacket and dressed her in mine for the 45 minute drive home. By the time we were back in the road, we were all laughing about it--including Anna. Which is a little bit of a miracle if you know our girl. She's usually quick to be embarrassed and angry at herself if she does something wrong. Jeff had the presence of mind to pull out his phone to document the moment.

Bonnie Brae's. We love this place, but lesson learned. No chocolate for the kids. It was a pain to get it out of their clothes.

Easter

Easter was pretty low-key at our house. We spent the morning listening to Conference with Grandma Marlene and eating pancakes. In between session the Easter Bunny made an appearance and hunting began. Isaac was not very interested in the eggs. But he enjoyed the general excitement.

Hopped up on sugar. (No pun intended.)

This has nothing to do with Easter, but I love it anyway. Washing dishes happens nearly everyday. I'm trying to savor it while it lasts. They are sure to realize it's a chore soon enough.

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday, Anna. Your birthday is today, HEY!

(Stay tuned for details.)