fun on the fourth

We had a full and fantastic 4th of July. We started with a pancake breakfast and flag ceremony at the church where Anna got to enjoy syrupy hands, friendly dogs, and pushing her stroller.

When we got home, Anna took a nap and I made this patriotic fruit pizza...

...which we then took to see Lindsey! We've been friends since we were five and hardly ever get to see each other. We heard the wonderful news that she's expecting (HOORAY!!!) and just enjoyed each other's company and conversation for a few fun hours. Her wonderful Aunt and Uncle were so kind to let Anna run amok in their beautiful house. How we love people who understand that babies are messy.


Then we went home for Anna to take another quick nap before we headed to George's first birthday party! We had the perfect dinner: burgers and picnic-y sides. I remember being so satisfied at its deliciousness. The kiddos played, fascinated by the stairs and a singing, dancing, story-telling Elmo. And George loved his birthday cake, digging right in when we all thought it was safely out of reach.


Afterwards, we went straight to Miller Outdoor Theater to see the Houston Symphony play their free 4th of July pops concert. It was PACKED. There were way more people there than I'd ever seen. But Katrina and Gordon had saved us some room on their blanket and we had a marvelous time listening to the beautiful music.


It was steamy hot, so we stripped Anna down at intermission which was already WAY past her bedtime. Finally, we got to the best part: the 1812 Overature with real cannons.



Anna wasn't at all frightened by the booms; she just danced to the music. And then, she marvelled through the entire fireworks show. She was soooo tired by the time it started (around 10:30) that she kept turning around and holding my arm to make sure I was there, but otherwise, she was mezmorized by the fireworks and kept making the sign for light. It was probably one of the most adorable things I have ever seen in my entire life. On the way home, Sam said he once read an article where the author said that fireworks were overrated and a waste of time and money. He then said, "That man has never watched his child see fireworks for the very first time."

de veras?!

Yo apprendo espanol de un programa de software fantastico por Mango Languages.*

That's right. I'm learning Spanish. Our library has a contract with Mango Languages** to get free 100-lesson language courses. There are lessons in Greek, German, Italian, Portugese, Mandarin, Spanish, and lots more and a few ESL programs. They're all for learning to converse rather than learning a lot of vocabulary and grammar. So far, I can give greetings formally and informally, order you a glass of water or a cup of wine, and tell you about Mango Languages. Seriously. Lesson 4, "A friendly conversation continued" taught me that exact sentence above. I'm sure that is going to come in handy.

Snarkiness aside, I'm really enjoying it and seem to be picking it up quickly. The grammar is a lot like French (and the grammar is about all I remember of my French) and so many people I know speak Spanish that a lot of the vocabulary is pretty familiar. I ask Sam when I have questions about anything and he's helping me learn more of the rules than Mango Languages wants to teach me.

It also feels nice to be working towards my long-long-long-term goal of really learning Spanish-- without having to be gone from the house two or three evenings a week to attend a class. (Maybe classes will come later).

So the next time we see each other, I'll just say, "Que gusto verte! Que te gusteria beber?"

*I don't know how to put accents on my letters. I'd be happy to learn that new skill as well.

** This is one of the reasons they give for learning a new language: "...There's plenty of fish in the sea, but plenty more when you can speak another language." Sounds like pretty sage dating advice to me.

walking

She's doing it! Here's proof:



And the shirt she's wearing is another one of my baby clothes that my mom kept for me. Thanks Mom!

our little cutie

I'm not even going to try to catch up with all the things we've done in the past two months. I've got the pictures on my computer and they're going to have to be enough of a record.

I do want to share some cute cute cute pictures of Anna. She just gets to be more fun by the day. She is signing a few things now--more, all done, light, bath, sleepy--and says a few words either on her own --Daddy, wow, Hi, baby (sometimes)--or when prompted--happy, sleepy, all done (ah da), Mama, Daddy, yeah, mmmm (at meal times). She loves to look at books and jabbers her way through "reading" them to herself. She especially likes us to read her favorite books to her like a book about Daddys, her signing books, and lift-the-flap books. She has taken a few steps on her own and loves to push her stroller and walker. She is an explorer and is happiest when she can crawl everywhere and touch everything. People at church are used to seeing a baby dragged by one foot back to the pew when she makes a fast break for the stairs up to the pulpit. So, without further ado, here are the pictures.

walking to the pool with Daddy



Daddy loves to make Anna laugh at dinner time. Usually, it makes us laugh, too.

Standing all by herself in the cowgirl boots Grandma Stay sent, and clapping at her achievement.

Snuggling with Daddy


This little green dress was given to my Mom by her good friend and surrogate mom Pat Rogers when my older sister Karen was born. My mom said she thinks Pat's daughter Leslie wore it which would make this pretty vintage number from the 50's. I love the shape of the dress, how full and short it is. It's the perfect shape to let babies move and crawl, which Anna liked, but mostly I just loved how cute Anna looks in the dress.

Anna meeting her Uncle Jacob for the first time. He just got home from serving a mission in Tallahassee, FL.


A few scenes from the game of Battle Baseball that the Cosby bros played. Joe-- the one pushing Sam around in these pictures-- won.

Anna getting in on the action.

Bath time with cousins Lincoln and Elijah...

...it was Anna's first bubble bath!

Baby Anna loved her fun Aunt Anna. It might be because of their special name bond, but I mostly think it's because Anna is just an amazing mom who knows how to help kids have a great time, all the time.


Anna helping me in the kitchen



Anna's first pigtails

I came into Anna's room after she'd been playing in there quietly for quite a while and her bum was all wet. Then I looked down and saw that she'd taken out every single wipe from the box and thrown them around the room. Then, she sat on them while pulling out all her diapers and blankets from the shelves, and all her dirty laundry from her hamper. She had a wonderful time.

Going on a run with Daddy. Her little Nikes are ones that I wore as a baby. My mom calls them my first pair of running shoes. It must have been destiny.

This is Anna's favorite bath toy. She's tired here so here laughing turns into crying.

These next pictures are from an outfit I couldn't resist putting on Anna. She had on the onesie and leggings and I felt like she needed a skirt over it. All the ones that matched were in the laundry except for her tutu! After that, the headband, bracelet, and cowboy boots just fell into place. My heart just melted every time I looked at her adorableness that day.
I love my beautiful little Anna!