Anna's 3rd Birthday

I really cannot believe that my baby is already 3! She is the funniest, cutest little (and I mean that literally) thing! She was the first to tell everyone that she is an April Fool's baby! We had her party on the Saturday before Easter at the Fun Factory (like a Pump It Up). I really didn't want to do it there (yes, my fear of germs was tested), but she loves bouncy houses so much that I just bit the bullet. Her Aunt Molli was the first one to take her down a bouncy slide at the ripe old age of 1 and she's loved them ever since! She (and her little friends) had so much fun and with it being mostly little ones they didn't have to worry about the "big" kids being too rough or hurting them. I think they went down the big slide 1 thousand times!



A few things about Anna at the age of 3:



-thinks she is as big as Mary Mac

-tries just about anything MeMac (what she calls Mary Mac) does

-loves to be girly, but also likes to dress like her sister (who is anything but girly)

-weighs only about 23 lbs on a good day

-height 3"

-is very mischievous but knows how to "play" everyone

-loves candy (suckers mostly) but is not a big fan of "real" food unless it's Daddy or Pop's steak (expensive taste already)

-is taking ballet (her first recital is coming up - pictures to come) and swimming lessons (not crazy about the water yet)

-loves PEOPLE! She would rather hang out with the adults than play

-has the sweetest little voice, but her "baby talk" is starting to fade and I am very sad - she is quick to correct me now if I try and get her to say some of her sayings in her baby talk

-oh and how could I leave this off? She talks non-stop! Literally! She was so late in saying her first words, but she is making up for it now! Sometimes we have to ask her for just 3 minutes of silence just to clear your head!

-loves her Sophie girl - getting that puppy has made a world of difference in our child that was terrified of anything of the non-human kind!

-she and Mary Mac have nicknamed each other and have continued to call each other by their nicknames for months now - I think it may stick! Anna is Strawberry Shortcake and MM is Lemon Meringue and they will tell anyone that if you just ask them what their name is!

-finally and most importantly, she had her cardiology checkup last month and she is doing amazingly FANTASTIC! He officially diagnosed her defect as mild and does not want to see her back for 2 years!!! Woohoo!

All her friends

Blowing out the candles

The cake - it was not only so cute, but very YUMMY!

Mary Mac sliding

The Birthday Girl

The Birthday Girl

After many, many celebrations and many, many rounds of "Happy Birthday!" sung, we have finally recovered from Anna's birthday WEEK! I think I say this every year, but thank goodness birthdays only come once a year - I don't think I could handle many more! Here are some pictures from the week! The big Elmo cake is the one Sam's sister made and it was AWESOME!!! Not only did it look perfect (toook her like 2 hours to decorate), but it tasted better than any birthday cake I could have bought! Thanks Pancake! It was a hit! The bottom 2 pictures were from her party at school with her class. Oh, those cupcakes were a huge mess, but the kids loved them! Also, Pancake and Big Will gave us a "wonderful" birthday present (can you hear the sarcasm?). They thought that the girls needed a pet (as if I don't have enough to do and take care of already), so they bring in a big clear bucket with 2 baby Alabama Map turtles. Oh my, they have no idea what awaits them when they have kids - pay back is "H-E-double hockey sticks"! Might I add that they gave us one male and one female - I can see it now, turtles taking over our house! Anna has named hers Tuck (from the Wonder Pets) and MMC hasn't been able to decide on a name for hers yet, although I'm not sure which one is which or if they even know. I think these turtles might find a great home at Nanny and Pop's pond at the lake house, that is if I can sneak them out of the house without the girls noticing! Oh, and before anyone replies with warnings about turtles and bacteria/germs/etc., WE KNOW! We won't let the girls touch them without a good handscrubbing!

Horse Shows and Parties

And the excitement continues with the birthday celebrations! We are having Anna's official party Saturday night at our house. It is just family though. Shouls I feel guilty that I'm not having a big party like we did for MMC's 2nd birthday? I just really did not feel like planning anything big and she doesn't know the difference - YET! MMC keeps asking when Anna's "BIG" party is going to be. I just don't have the heart to tell her that it's just a family cook-out. We were going to have it at Sam's parents lake house and enjoy the boat, the weather, the company. Unfortunately, Sam's grandmother was in the hospital all this week and is now in a rehab facility until she can get back on her feet to go home so we decided we would take a little stress off of his mom's plate and not make her feel like she HAD to host the party. It will be great anyway and Aunt Kate (or "Pancake" as the girls call her) is making Anna's cake. She has been taking cake decorating classes and we are all anxious to taste her creations! Judging by the taste of one of her first cakes, this one will be fabulous - she's a little more practice since then!

On another note. . . MMC has her first horse show this weekend. I just pray that she doesn't flip out with all of the people watching her and that she actually gets Jimmy to trot over all the poles like he's supposed to do! We will be taking an "extra" ribbon in our pockets, just in case (if you get my drift). This is a big 2 day show with people coming from all over to compete and MMC is getting so excited she can hardly sleep at night thinking about it! Today, I will be busy running all over town collecting the "stuff" and getting it all ready to compete:
1) show jacket
2) white show blouse
3) ribbons for her hair
4) Show Sheen - to make Jimmy look "pretty" (he is a boy, you know)
5) clean her boots (it has been really muddy here lately)
6) jodphur pants (i.e. riding pants)
7) boot straps
8) clean her saddle and put her nameplate on it
9) clean her saddle pad
10) polish her pin for her shirt
11) punch holes in her belt so it fits
12) wash Jimmy, comb his mane
13) make sure her new show helmet fits
14) write check after check after check!

Whew! Well, as you can see, I've got a lot to do before 8 in the morning AND none of this includes anything that I need to do to get ready for Anna's party. That's a whole separate list in itself! HELP!!!! I don't know how you all do this with more than 2 kids! I hope I remember everything and get it all done! Stay tuned . . . I'll post pictures/videos or whatever I can get from the show! Wish us luck! I have a feeling this is only the beginning!

Happy 2nd Birthday Sweet Anna!

Today is Anna's 2nd Birthday! She has been so excited all week about her birthday and that we would be singing "Happy Birthday" to her today! She is such a special little person and we enjoy every second of her! I cannot imagine life without her. The first picture is of MMC giving A a birthday hug; the second is of the birthday girl "cheesing" with Ming Ming; and the last is of a flower arrangement I made yesterday for Anna's birthday/Easter. It is jelly beans in the bottom and Peeps and then more jelly beans with the flowers in a water-filled plastic cup. It's so cute and easy to make! I am trying to get back into arranging flowers for our house each week - I love doing it and the fresh flowers just make everything better!

Anna's 1st Birthday!

Okay, so just a teaser - we celebrated Anna's birthday last weekend! In short (I will talk in detail later), we all had a great time, the weather was good, and we had green icing from head-to-toe! I will post pictures later as well!

At the moment, we are at the beach enjoying a long weekend after a crazy 2 weeks with Easter and birthday! It was cool and cloudy yesterday so we did a little shopping and Build A Bear. Today was warmer but still cloudy, but we were able to go out to the beach this morning. The girls are currently knocked out from all the swimming. Uh oh, they both just woke up - gotta go. I guess I'll finish later!