Anna's First Year Series

The UPS man rocked my world today. He brought me my print order, and I will confess that I was as giddy as a kid at Christmas. There are 3 16x20 artistic prints, which means they are on 2mm styrene boards for easy hanging. :)

Every time I look at these prints, I smile. The memories they represent are precious to me. The first was the day Anna was born and we got to meet her for the very first time. The second was taken about 7 months and is a fun scale shot to show how little she still was. The last was just taken a few weeks ago on Anna's adoption day. Look how much she has changed!

I can't got back in time to those moments, but these prints help me to remember. How much are your precious memories worth? For me, they are worth every penny. I ♥ big prints.

Happy Friday!

Anna and Ovidah

It is not often anymore that I get the opportunity to watch a child that is not my own. As a teenager, I babysat all the time and for the most part really enjoyed it. Well, after a recent conversation and a little convincing, my best friend Crystal agreed to finally have her first post-Ovidah birth date with her husband minus Ovidah. Ovidah was awesome; she thinks I am hilarious for some reason. ;)

Watching Ovidah and Anna is just too cute. Anna is twice Ovidah's age, weight, and probably height. They find each other fascinating, to say the least. Tonight Greg was teaching Anna to be super gentle with Ovidah as they so sweetly touched each other in utter fascination. So adorable.

Crystal and Agus, thanks for letting us have a little time with Ovidah. I am glad that you guys enjoyed your date. :)

Anna Raving About Sissy's Meal Skills

Since in just a few more months I will have yet another "adult" child I have been trying to help prepare Ariana for living on her own. I figured one of the necessities was learning to cook. So over the last couple of weeks I have been having her learn some of the basic skills necessary for cooking—ya know, something other than in the microwave. ;) After surviving a few rounds of leather-ed chicken the experience has become quite enjoyable. Tonight she did an awesome job on every detail of our meal. As I finished up I asked Anna how she liked sissy's cooking, and she got so excited. She started jabbering away like crazy. I think Ariana could not possibly get higher reviews than she did from her little sis tonight. It was so funny. :) I have become a firm believer that the only praise sweeter then that of God is that which comes from a small child.

Good job, sissy Ariana!

Anna with Mini Pigtails

Ah, the feeling that comes with the accomplishment of having unpacked all your luggage after returning from vacation is marvelous. Even more marvelous would be all my Christmas decorations mysteriously packing themselves back up for the year, but I am not holding my breath on that happening. Oh well, I will get to that tomorrow or maybe this weekend. :)

Today was full of unpacking, running errands, returning emails, buying Greg’s birthday present, and randomly playing with Anna’s hair. Yeah, I know, sometimes inspiration—or maybe it was determination—hits, and I just have to act on it. Well, it hit today when I was getting the kids ready to leave. I decided to try something new with Anna’s hair. Isn’t it adorable?

I know you are wondering, "How in the world did she get her to sit still for that?" The answer: cheese crackers. Seriously. I put her in her high chair and had her big sister Ariana feed her some cheese crackers, and twenty minutes later, voila!

I simply love Anna’s hair. She just makes me smile. :)

Anna Wearing Big Sissy's Hoody

Anna has been really enjoying running around in the open layout of Nana and Papa's house. There is no slowing her down now that she has a somewhat firm knowledge of the walking thang. :) After getting to meet some really sweet ladies at Nana's work and redeeming some Christmas gift cards at the mall, we came back home for some much needed nap time. Of course, I could have used a nap too. Ha! :)

Well, Anna refused to nap, thanks to the little cat nap she got in the car on the way back home. So, while Anna was roaming the house, her big sister Ariana decided to put her jacket on Anna's head. Anna thought that was great and kept it on for a good long time. Finally, she sat down and decided it was time to do some serious teething. Just look at that face! I couldn't help but laugh. She is such a gift. Have I mentioned I love her? ;)