Decorating

We now have all of our indoor and outdoor Christmas decorating finished except for our tree which we will get next weekend!  Annalise was so much fun to decorate with this year!

Bloomsburg Parade of Lights

On Black Friday, after an Stan got off work and after an awesome day shopping, we took Annalise to the Parade of Lights.  This was the first year the town held this parade.  People were to make and enter floats in the parade and the winner received $1000!  At the end of the parade, they had a horse drawn buggy with Santa Clause in it.  Anna loves Santa.  Actually love in an understatement.  She has no idea about the presents part of it because we haven't really mentioned that part to her but she does has a real fascination with him, it is so cute!  She cried at the end of the parade because she said that she "needed" to talk to Santa now.  It was not a fussing cry but a really sad cry like she was so disappointed, which made me really sad.  We are going to have to take her to see him soon although I still question if she is actually going to sit in his lap or not!

 Waiting for the big guy!

 A lit up golf cart

 This one was neat because it had a live band on it

 Another neat one....a boat

And the big man himself, even if you can't see him because my camera is so awesome!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we had Thanksgiving at our house.  We had 15 people total and a ton of great food!  I made the turkey, gravy and stuffing and a few other small side dishes and a dessert. Everyone else brought side dishes and desserts.  I really didn't have time to take too many pictures but I did get some of Anna playing with her cousins.

 Playing cars

 Enjoying some dessert

 The tent still providing some fun!

Stan's sister Lisa crawling through the tube!

1st Snowfall of 2010

Were we ever surprised to wake up to snowfall on  Thanksgiving day!  Annalise was fascinated by it but then said that "Mommy needed to clean it up because it was messy on the ground".  Oh my little chip off the old block!

Anna's 2nd Birthday Party

On November 20th, we had Annalise's 2nd Birthday Party at the Lighthouse social hall of our church.  In addition to the enjoyment of celebrating Anna's birth, it was also great to see some friends and family that we have not seen in awhile!  This year it was also great fun including her on some of the decisions for the partya and shopping!  Anna specifically requested peanut butter ice cream for the party (how she even knew about peanut butter I have no idea), so on that day that is what she got.  She seemed to like it but interestingly she has not even mentioned it since and she was mentioning it daily before then. In any event, Annalise really enjoyed playing with all the other kids, and of course the cake and presents!

 A view of the adult guests --- all the kids were over playing in the other part of the room at this point!

 Scoping out the cake

 Getting a closer look!

 Enjoying the cake and the peanut butter ice cream

 Mr. "Tato" Head from Rammer, Shira and baby James

 An adorable outfit from Jason, Kristin, Caden and Abby 

(Anna loves clothes as much as she loves toys if not more so!)

 The awesome tent from Emmy and Mike!

 Hanging out with baby James after the party

Annalise just loves him and talks about seeing him all the time!

It's Not Just For Kids!

Noah has also taken a liking to Annalise's Anywhere Chair!

Anywhere Chair

For Anna's birthday, Stan and I got her an "Anywhere Chair" from Pottery Barn Kids.  Friends of ours have one for their son and over the summer when we were at their house, Annalise loved sitting in his chair.  I decided then that we were going to get her one for either her birthday or Christmas.  Fast forward to this week when Annalise received her own chair.  It was honestly one of the best purchases I think I have ever made.  The quality of it is well worth the price.  The foam insert is really firm and the best part is that the slip cover comes off and can be washed.  Okay, so maybe that's not the best part --- the best part is that Annalise loves that chair!  It is just perfect for her to sit in and look at her books!

 Not really what I was after as far as posing goes, but at least you can see her name on the back!

 Apparently the chair is also useful to practice stretching, LOL!

 Another gift that Anna received was this little tea set from Gram and MG.  She really likes it and has spent quite awhile already serving Stan and I "tea and toast".

 The Anywhere Chair box was also amusing =).

I had to try out the chair for a minute.  I really wanted to just see how firm the foam insert was.  It passed my squish test and was surprisingly firm!

A Tent and A Tunnel....

...provide hours of amusement!  One of the awesome gifts that Annalise got for her birthday this year was a tent with a tunnel attached.  On Monday, Stan said she spent a good part of the day playing in it and that evening all three of us got some amusement out of it.  Annalise thought it was great fun to have us in the tent with her.  Crawling through the tube is a little tricky for me, but I can do it.  Stan on the other hand got stuck part way through and had to stand up with the tunnel still wrapped around is body to push it off!  It was way funny but of course I was laughing to hard and didn't have the camera within reach at that point!  There is no doubt the tent is a hit with all three of us (even though it does take up most of the open space in the living room -- Em! LOL!).

 LOVE this picture other than the red eyes!  Grrr! I am sure that I mentioned before that my camera and I do not get along very well!  If you use the red eye reduction it seriously takes the camera forever to take the picture and by that time the moment is long gone!  I really need a better one!

Stating the Obvious

There were two times this past week that Annalise was able to point out the obvious answer to a question when as adults, we totally expected something else.  It was funny though because each time she answered she said it with tone of "Well duh, what are you thinking?"

The first time was when we were talking about her birthday party and she was asked what she wanted for her birthday.  Anna completely stopped playing and turned around and said in the funniest tone "Uhhh, presents."  Of course! 

The second time was when Anna and I were doing some shopping last Friday night.  We were in Target and I realized I forgot my list.  Our conversation went something like this:
Me: "Oh no! I forgot my list!" 
Anna:  "Oh no!"
Me:  "I hope I didn't forget anything."  "Do you think I forgot something?"
Anna: "Yes"
Me: "Really?  What do you think I forgot?"
Anna:  Looking at me again with the same "Duh-what-is-wrong-with-you-mommy" look in her eyes paused and replied "the list!!!"
I laughed and kind of sighed when I was done laughing.  Anna then said with pity in her voice "That's OK, mommy's tired"  which made me laugh even more. 
I swear the conversations I have with this 2 year old are so funny!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Annalise!!!!

Today is my sweet baby girl's 2nd birthday and I just cannot believe how quickly the past two years have gone.  It is just amazing how she has transformed from that cuddly little baby to the silly (but still cuddly) toddler that we have running around the house!  The past two years have been the best years of my entire life and I am so thankful each and every moment of everyday that I am lucky enough to be Annalise's momma!

 November 22, 2010

 November 22,  2009

November 24, 2008