In the Good ol' South

Anna and I took a quick trip to Georgia to visit my family. We had a GREAT time!! I just love my family so much. They were so good to me. I want to be like that to our kids.

I think that Anna's favorite part of the trip was seeing our dog, Ethel. She squealed with delight every time the dog came close. She started to get up her nerve to pet the dog too and when she did, she would stamp her feet as fast as she could and scream with joy. It was just darling to watch. This is her proud shot of petting the doggie.

It's been a long tradition in my family to go out to eat with the whole family on Friday night. So, I got to pick the restaurant this week. We went to Logan's Roadhouse and it was delicious. Anna really warmed up to my granddaddy. She loved playing peek-a-boo with him; I guess he would call it "p-pie."

She loved dancing to the music.

Anna got really good at recognizing who everyone was. I would ask her, "Where's Grandpa?", and she would point to my dad. She loved pointing and waving to Granny too!

This is a picture of Anna feeding herself. I CANNOT FEED HER ANYMORE!! She will only eat if she can put it in her mouth herself. There are just no two ways about it. She has to have the utensil in hand or it's no food in the belly.

After Logan's, we went down to the marina to see the ducks. This picture is only posted to represent the fond memory of my mom FALLING IN THE LAKE!!! She took this picture, then walked down the ramp, lost her footing and fell straight into the cold lake. She was fully clothed with camera in hand. I have not laughed that hard in years. My abs were sore. I'm glad she's OK but it sure was funny. What a great way to end a great vacation!

Miss Independent

Have you ever heard the Kelly Clarkson song, "Miss Independent"? Well, did you know that they wrote that song specifically for Anna. It describes her so well. She ALWAYS prefers to do things on her own. I was trying to feed her applesauce today and she just wouldn't have it. So I let her hold the spoon, and she ate the whole thing, (well all that was not spilt on her shirt). She actually did pretty well too. She's starting to learn to drink from a cup too. It always ends in a mess but she LOVES doing it.

You just don't get happier than that.

We started planting a garden. We're planting strawberries, peas, cucumbers, squash and bell peppers. We're pretty excited about it. There is a great little spot right outside our back door. It makes it really feel like home when you can plant your own garden right outside your door. We're pretty excited about it. Anna got the giggles at dinner the other night. We just had to snap a few.

This is Anna blowing us kisses.

Anna played outside while we worked in the garden. She liked playing with the water from the hose pipe as it went all over the ground. I think she was so happy to just be outside in beautiful weather.

This picture just screams, "Dutch," which translates into "Ducks." Anna calls everything a duck and gets especially excited when she sees anything flying in the sky.

Anna loved the water on the ground.

Anna came up to the glass and smashed her face against it. I thought I would never stop laughing. It was so funny. She likes doing this when I'm in the shower too. It's just so stinkin' cute.

I think she thought it was funny too! It was a great night.

Zoo, Take Two

It was BEAUTIFUL in St. Louis today. The high today was 72 degrees with a wonderful breeze, so we decided to take advantage of it. We went to the zoo and it was wonderful!! The zoo is SO much more fun now that Anna is a little older. She loved seeing everything. She waved at all the animals. Our favorite part was just watching her look so happy to be there. It was a wonderful day!

Anna loved the giraffes!!

"Bye-bye!" See you later!

Simple Happiness

Here are a few pictures just for you to enjoy. Notice the picture that Anna is looking at in this first image. It is a picture of someone getting baptized. Every time Anna sees it, she gives the guy a big high five. We think it's hilarious.

Lately, whenever we ask Anna a questions she shrugs her shoulders and puts up "I don't know" hands. She ALWAYS does it, even when we know that she knows the answer.

We bought Anna a huge box of new books. Well, of course she is only interested in the box. She played with it all night. Her daddy even pushed her around while she sat inside and giggled. A night like this is always a great one.

Anna is learning how to draw. She grabs the color crayons and heads straight for the WALL!!! How did she learn that?? Tonight she took the pen to daddy's legs, her own legs, the pillow case, the box, and eventually some paper.