Bloomsburg Fair 2012

In addition to ballet classes and the start of another school year, September also brought one of my most favorite things.....the Bloomsburg Fair!!!  After missing it last year and I was really excited to go this year and passed that excitement to Annalise.  I think we were then all of the days but two.  We would only go for a few hours each evening with a specific agenda as to what we were there for.  That system worked well because it cut down on her asking for things if it was not the specified night for it.  For example, we had a "game night", a "ride night", an "animal night", etc.  This way, she didn't ask each day we were there to play games or other things and if she did I would just remind her that it wasn't the night for it.  Since Annalise is pretty good at following "rules", this system worked really well for her.  I didn't take a bunch of pictures but got a few of her with her favorites of the week.

 The butterfly house was a hit again this year.  The butterflies were attracted to her colorful hair tie.

 She loved the horse barn the best out of all the animals!

 She was very proud of herself for going through this fun house by herself.  Each time we passed it she would exclaim "See mama?  I'm not scared!  I'm big now!".

 I, on the other hand had a heart attack as she was crossing these bridges because they were really wobbly an well, it is the fair and all.

 Anna talked about wanting one of these all week!

 Princess carriage ride.

 On the sky ride.  Anna asked to go on all week long and we finally did on the last night.  I didn't know how she would react being so high in the air but she loved it!

View from the sky ride.

Ballet

Annalise started taking Ballet in September.  She LOVES it!  She began asking to take lessons during the Spring of 2012 and I told her she could but had to wait until the fall.  She talked about it all. summer. long.  Every. single. day.  She is soooooooo proud to be in ballet!

 The next few pictures are really poor because they were taken through glass.  We are not allowed in the actual studio with her but can watch from a waiting room through glass.

Butterfly

In September, one of the secretaries at work found this chrysalis at her house.  She gave it to me and I brought it home so Annalise could watch it progress into a butterfly.  She was really excited about it when I brought it home and extremely excited when I told her a butterfly was going to come out of it.  The reason she was so excited was she thought we were going to keep it as a pet so I wasn't sure how it was going to go when it was time to let it fly away, but she was fine with it.

The butterfly came out of the chrysalis!

 If you look to the left of Anna you can see the butterfly in the grass.  One last photo before it flew away!  As you can see she was unaffected by it leaving.  She just waved it goodbye.........

 .......and moved on to play in her sandbox!

Yard Sale

In June, my friend Emily and I had a yard sale.  From then on a major staple of the summer other than swimming was playing yard sale in the living room.  Annalise would bring out a ton of items, set up the sale, ring up the items on her cash register and bag them!  Her yard sales were much nicer than our because she used a register and customers could shop with a cart =).

 Shop

Scan

 Fold

  Bag

Now that's service!

Smoothies

This summer Annalise discovered her love of yogurt smoothies.  I think she had one for either lunch or breakfast every single day!  I purchased enough fruit that I probably could've bought my own orchard but I won't complain since they are healthy.

2012 Annual T-Shirt

As in past summers, Anna made a T-shirt one day.  It is interesting to compare each one with the year prior.  Here are some photos of her handiwork.

She kept putting huge globs of puffy pant in one spot and then spreading it around, which was a little difficult.

 I came up with this idea and it worked much better!

 Each year I write "Anna" on her shirt.  This year she wanted her full name!

 Her beautiful masterpiece!

Philadelphia Zoo

We also spent some time in Philadelphia and went to the zoo.  I had not been there since I was about 9 years old and I remembered it sooooo differently than what it was.  Even though it was not at all like I remembered, it was very nice (and very hot) and we had a great time looking at the animals.

 Anna was fascinated by this fountain.  Probably because it was so hot that day!

 Some of Anna's favorite animals.......

 The gorillas were a favorite of mine too!

 This gorilla decided to come up to the glass and give the spectators a view!

 Anna talked forever about riding this horse afterward.  Prior to this, she was always afraid to do so.  Now, if there are horses or ponies where ever we go, she is always in line to ride them by herself!