Pet store!

On Friday we went into Columbia to do a little shopping (I needed a Target fix, what can I say!) and right next to Target there was a PetSmart. Knowing how much Anna Kate loves dogs, Luke suggested we go visit them. Unfortunately, there were no dogs for sale (there were a few in line at the clinic), but we did get to see LOTS of fish! Anna Kate thought all the fish were dogs, too, though, so it was ok! Here's a video of her excitement over the "dogs!"

Baby's first ponytail!

I was just noticing the other day how long Anna Kate's hair is getting! She still doesn't have a ton, but what she does have is sure growing! I thought I would try putting it up in a little ponytail and here are a couple of pictures...Daddy thought she looked like Pebbles from the Flinstones! And yes...those are leggings with a mini skirt on my child... =)

Craft time!

Anna Kate has an insatiable love for paper. Tearing paper, crumpling paper, eating paper, you name it. So I decided that we would channel that love for paper into a little craft project (instead of ripping up the mail which she was doing before we started said project). So, we ripped up pieces of green, pink and blue paper and glued them to a big piece of yellow paper! (Very creative, I know...). She actually had a lot of fun doing it though!

"I think I'll put this little pink one here, Mommy."

"On second thought, I think I'll eat it."

"Ok, ok, I'll just put it up here in the corner!"

Beautiful!

1 year photo shoot practice!

So the other day I decided to try a couple of different outfits on Anna Kate and take some pictures before we get some 1 year photos done...you know, to practice! I hate that some of them are a little blurry, but oh well! I already shared the first one on facebook, but here are some of my other favorites:






After these, we decided to take some outside pictures, so we had to modify the outfit...hence the long-sleeved shirt and tights.

Doing "roll 'em up" from Pat-a-Cake...

She heard a dog right before I took this shot...this is her saying, "Do, Do!"

This one was right after she stumbled and caught herself with her hands...they were dirty and she didn't like it!

Not sure what she was saying here!

This is her answer to the question, "Who made Anna Kate?" She points at the sky when we say, "God made Anna Kate!" Daddy's already working on teaching this little girl her catechism!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures...sometimes I think I have too much fun with my little girly girl!

Rainy days...

are perfect for tea parties!

AK and I did get out to run a few errands this morning, but other than that we're staying around home today because it's supposed to be drizzling most of the day. After lunch we decided to have a tea party with Anna Kate's new tea set (thanks Uncle Stephen, Aunt Rachael, and Leah!). She loves to play with the cakes and cups and teapot and will actually sit there with me for a good 5 minutes at a time (quite a long time for an 11-month-old's attention span!). Here are a few snapshots of our tea party.

The "spread"


"Hmm...I think I'll have the cherry pie and a cup of tea"


Taking a sip...(note: this is a prime example of why AK needs a sippy cup...she always drinks out of the wrong side of the cup!)

These next few pictures are my attempt to get a self-portrait of both of us...easier said than done!

But then I remembered that my camera has a timer! Perfect! (except for AK not exactly smiling...)

Feel free to join us anytime for a tea party! We have at least one every day!

A Winter Wonderland!

I think I saw more snow last week than I have ever seen! We had a fantastic ski trip with our youth from church up in the mountains of North Carolina and it snowed 18 inches while we were there! Anna Kate didn't know what to make of all that white stuff out the window!



Here she is all bundled up to head outside!


Playing in the snow with Daddy...that really is him under those ski goggles =)


She even got to do some sledding!


The snow finally stopped for about 24 hours, but then started right up again for our drive home on Monday! We made it home safely though and were greeted by another 6 inches of snow here! It didn't get much above freezing all week, so the snow stuck around quite a while (and we actually still have quite a bit in our yard). We did a little more sledding here, but mostly we've just been staying warm and dry inside this week! We have loved the snow, but Anna Kate will definitely be happy for it to warm up a little bit so we can get back to the park!

Projects, projects, projects

With all this winter weather we've been having, we've been pretty housebound over the past few days. Well, we've also done some playing in the snow (that will be my next blog post - Luke has all the pictures on the memory card at work), but other than that, we've been keeping busy inside reading stories, having tea parties, playing in the last few boxes that I just unpacked, etc. But while Anna Kate naps, I have been busy with some fun new projects!

First, I've been working on making Anna Kate an outfit for her first birthday. I'm not going to post any pictures yet of my finished product (because you'll see it on her in a few weeks), but let's just say it involves some elastic and lots of pink tulle...get excited!

Another project I'm working on is learning how to use my new sewing machine that I got for Christmas. So far I've made Anna Kate two bean bag toys! Don't laugh, everyone has to start somewhere. And she loves them, by the way!

I've also been busy in the kitchen with a few projects. I have done a lot of research over the past couple years on how to feed my family nourishing whole foods, and I think I do pretty well, but I definitely have room for improvement. So, a couple new things that I am trying this week are making my own yogurt and making my own tortillas. Some of you might wonder why I am doing these things, so here is some of my reasoning:

Yogurt - I have found it really difficult to find plain whole milk yogurt lately (it's all fat-free which is not what Anna Kate needs), and even when I do find it, it's really expensive ($4-5 for a quart) and it's full of all kinds of additives and preservatives. So, I found this great tutorial online for how you can make yogurt in a crockpot. So for the cost of a gallon of whole milk ($3), I can make a gallon of yogurt which would be nearly $20! So cool!

Tortillas - We try to eat as much whole grain food as we can because it's so much healthier than refined white flour. Whole wheat tortillas are hard to find and expensive, so here's how I am going to make my own: Whole Grain Homemade Tortillas

Well, I need to get back to work! Sorry for the picture-less post, but like I said, I'll post more pictures when I get my memory card back!

11 months old today!

Happy 11 months, Sweet Girl!

I can hardly believe this will be the last monthly post I do before your first birthday. Are you really going to turn one next month?!? I know I say this every month, but you have done so much growing up over the past few weeks. Someone at church even said you’re looking so much more like a little girl and less like a baby. Here are some of the ways you are changing:

~You have become quite the drama queen this month. When something happens that you don’t like (e.g. Mommy or Daddy leaving the room), you start to scrunch up your face and stick your little bottom lip out and look pathetic for about 5-10 seconds before the actual tears start coming. And boy do you know how to turn them on! Big tears, let me tell you what! And they can stop just as quickly as they started, too, if we walk back in the room!

~You are starting to use different objects and toys in the right way. Instead of just putting everything straight in your mouth, you have started to pretend to sip out of cups, cuddle your baby doll, put the phone up to your ear, etc.

~Speaking of your baby doll (which was a Christmas gift), it is absolutely precious to watch you love on her. You know just how to pick her up, cuddle her over your shoulder, and pat her on the back.

~Still no walking yet, but you are definitely standing unassisted for longer periods of time (and by that I mean 4-5 seconds instead of 1-2)!

~You have really started to talk up a storm lately. Here are your favorite words (in order of frequency of use): Dada, Mama, Dow (Dog – Think Georgia Bulldawgs pronunciation), Ball, and No no no no (as you shake your head). We’re working on erasing that last one from your vocabulary and replacing it with a sweet “Yes Ma’am”. No luck yet.

~You LOVE to give kisses. Big, slobbery, wet, spit-kisses! You always do it when we ask you to, but you’ve even started to do them unprompted!

~Speaking of kisses, you have just learned how to blow kisses too! It makes you quite the charmer when we’re out.

~We are working on learning the parts of your body and you have your ears down really well. When I ask you where your ears are, you know exactly what to do. You get your toes right about 50% of the time, too.

~You are starting to really get into everything! Especially cabinets. In fact, Daddy just put some childproof latches on some of the cabinets in the kitchen and it really confused you!

~You love to listen to music and clap your hands or dance. Your dance is more like just a bounce, but it’s pretty cute!

Anna Kate, we love you so much and are so excited to celebrate one whole year of life with you soon! You have changed our lives in so many ways and taught us so much over the past eleven months and we just think you're the greatest!

And here are your pictures!

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months!

(She's doing "roll 'em up" from the Pat-a-Cake game in this picture...)

(I know she's not looking at the camera in this second one, but I thought it was cute since she's laughing and showing her teeth! If you click on the picture you can see them up close!)

Playing ball!

As I mentioned in my last post, my camera was MIA for about a week and a half, so I am a little late posting this video taken a few days before Christmas. One of Anna Kate's new favorite things to do is to play ball, and Luke caught it on video the other day. Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

And what a busy new year it's been for us so far! After a great Christmas in Greenwood, we headed back home and hit the ground running getting ready to move. Yes, move...the house that we were renting sold just before Christmas so we had to find a new place to rent while we possibly look for a place to buy. All that to say, we are now living in our third house in less than a year! We had tons of help though, packing, moving, and unpacking, which made it so much easier. Luke's family came for a few days to help and we had lots of our youth and some men from church come to help on moving day. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! Here is how Anna Kate spent those couple of days:


She was such a big help!

Because of the move we were without internet for a few days, and then I was without a camera for a few days (because it was lost in a box), which should explain the lack of blogging. I will be much better about it now that we've gotten settled in!

We are so grateful for all that God has done for our family this past year and look forward to what he has in store for us in 2011. We pray for God's blessings on each of your lives in this new year!

P.S. If any of you want our new address, send me an e-mail or a facebook message and I can get it to you!