18 (Actually 19 Month) Photo Shoot

Last weekend I took Annalise for her 18 month pictures.  Once again, the Picture People did a great job!  I love that place!  They always deal with Anna's shyness really well and allow her to warm up to being there before they try to get pictures of her.  Here are some of the photos from that session.  They are really small because I can't figure out how to "borrow" them in the larger size.

Kid's Day

Last Saturday there was a fund raiser at the Town Park to raise money to build a toddler playground.  It was advertised as having activities for children ages five and younger so I took Anna down for a few hours.  For a donation of five dollars the kids could participate in all they had set up there or you could buy tickets for 25 cents a piece and each station was worth a ticket.  At 18 months many of the crafts and things were still a bit to old for her to do but she LOVED three of the stations that they had.  The faceless kid in the pink hat is Anna in all the pictures.  She was much too enthralled to look for the camara!

This was one of the stations that she really liked.  They had a roped off area with a bunch of Hippity Hop Balls.  I couldn't get a picture of her on one because I had to help her do it and I had her by myself.  She really enjoyed them though!  This little girl in the picture was really cute too.  She kept coming over and handing Anna the balls.

This seemed to be her most favorite station.  They had baby swimming pool and a water table filled with feed corn.  Anna loved scooping it into buckets and dumping them out.  I really think she played here for a good 1/2 hour and would have stayed longer if I didn't coax her away.

She tried to dive in!

They also had pony rides but Annalise was content on just watching the other kids ride.  She kept going over and looking and I kept asking her if she wanted to ride.  Each time she gave a drawn out  "Nooooooooooo".

At another station they had a baby pool filled with damp sand.  It was perfect because you didn't have to worry about the sand blowing in anyone's eyes!

We had a great time and Anna was exhausted from playing and the heat when we left. 

Baby Cart

Annalise loves to push around her "baby cart".  She usually piles her stuffed animals and babies in it and scoots it around the house.  At times she tips it over and her babies fall out. It is amusing to watch her pick up her babies by the leg or arm, slam them back in the cart with a firm "Baby, get in!" and take off. 

Taking her babies for a stroll

Checking on them

Continuing her walk

If you look in the top left corner of her stoller, those two circles are the bottoms of the feet of one of her babies!  Let's hope her nuturing skills improve over the years =)!

I Caught Her In The Act!

This morning I caught Anna singing the ABC's correctly by herslef from A all the way to S!  For most of the songs that I sing with her, she will either interject words here and there or she will let me do the whole song and just jump in with some hand motions (if there are any) and dancing here and there.  About this past week though, she has starting mouthing the words to songs with me (including the ABC's), but she wouldn't say them out loud.  Well, this morning she was back in her room playing and I was in the hallway.  One of her toys plays the tune to the ABC's but does not sing the words.  Well to may amazement, there stood Anna belting out the song on her own!  She only stopped at S because she noticed I was standing there and she stopped, looked at me with a huge smile and took off.  What a stinker!  I guess if I want to hear her sing I have to sneak up on her for now!

It Must Have Been A Rough Morning.....

...Anna decided that she needed to have two binkies in her mouth to get ready for nap time!

A Mullet-Tail

Yes, my daughter's hair is growing in like a mullet.  It just keeps getting longer in the back, but not so much on the top and sides.  The other night when I had my hair in a pony tail, Anna got one of my hair ties and asked me to put it in her hair.  She left it in until it eventually fell out on its own because her hair is so thin and fine.  Oh, I can't wait for the days that she has long hair to do.  For now, the mullet-tail will have to do (but only at home and only when she asks for one)!

"Where the money?"

There were two things last night that Anna said that kept me laughing this morning so I thought I would share them.
*We were back in her room playing and she decided that she wanted to go through her clothes and try them on (big surprise).  The trying on process also usually involves her holding up each item for me and we talk about each piece of clothing (the color, what matches with it, how you put it on, what it is, etc.)  Well, she handed me a pair of capri pants that have buttons on the back pockets and she asked me to open the buttons.  I did and she took the pants, pulled open the pocket and peered inside.  She then looked over at me with a puzzled look on her face and said "Where the money?".  I have no idea where she got this from!  I always joke to Stan that we are going to have out hands full when she is a teenager because of how much she already loves clothes and jewelry but now this money question adds a whole new consideration to that thought!
*This next one didn't really make me laugh as much as the first thing but I was just amazed that at 18 months she knew what to do what do in this situation.  She was back in her room still going through her clothes and I came out to the living room to tell Stan something.  Anna came to the door of her room and was yelling urgently, "Mommy, Boo-Boo (this is a nickname for our cat) fell!" over and over again.  I went back to her room thinking that he probably just jumped down from something high and she thought he fell.  When I got to her room I didn't see the cat anywhere.  Anna ran over to her dresser that had a drawer open and started pointing and saying "Boo-Boo".  I went over and sure enough, there was the cat stuck behind the drawer trying to get out.  The drawers don't come out of the dresser so getting him out was not an easy task and I became frustrated.  I think Anna picked up on my frustration with the cat because she went over and in a demanding tone was ordering him out from behind the drawer!  She kept saying "Boo-Boo, out!" "Come on Boo-Boo!". 
*Another thing that she has started saying recently that cracks me up is "Hey, what goin' on?".  She asks this to just about anything, living or not, which is pretty funny!

Knoebels

Yesterday we went to Knoebel's for the school employee picninc.  Annalise had a great time taking everything in and even rode rides by herself for the first time!  I was really questioning whether or not she would sit still on a ride for the entire ride or if she would try to climb out but she did well.  She rode on the fire trucks, the boats, the cars and the train.  She said that she wanted to go on the helicopters but once I put her in and pushed the lap bar over she panicked and wanted out.  That was the only ride with a lap bar and not a strap so it must have been something about the bar that freaked her out.  Anyway, I can't wait to take her back this summer!

On the fire trucks.  She liked ringing the bell!

She spent much of the fire truck ride looking at the other kids on the ride so it was hard to get  a picture of her face.

Aidan and Anna going for a spin on the cars.

Following the cars, they enjoyed a nice boat ride.

They both kept turning around and looking back at the water but neither one ever stuck their hands in.

Annalise likes the Smith's double stroller.  She liked to stand on Aidan's spot on the back.

Anna and Lily in the double stroller.

Aidan nicely shared the back standing part with Anna.  Poor Brad ended up pushing it with both of them on it!

Free Swingset!

Wait, free?  Yes, free.  A few weeks ago Stan came home from work and told me that on the way home he noticed a house that had a free sign hanging on the swingset in the yard but he couldn't tell if the sign was for the set or if there was something below the sign on the ground that he didn't see.  So, we went down to the house and stopped and asked and it was confirmed.  The swingset was free for the taking but we had to move it.  I couldn't believe they were getting rid of it becuase it is in really good shape!  Stan even said that he felt weird just taking it and he NEVER says stuff like that.  Anyway, moving it would have been a real chore if we would have had to take it all apart, but since we were able to use the box truck from Renco, they were able to move it in two big pieces.  So we moved it, found the perfect spot for it under some shade trees in the yard and set it up.  Annalise LOVES it!

Trying to climb up on her own

(Nobody worry.  It was a night that Stan was home and he is actually right there, just not in the pictures.)

Sitting in her "Clubhouse" as her daddy calls it.

Having fun!

On the slide.

Lovin' it!

Cart

We still tend to spend about an hour or two outside each day which I love after being cooped up inside the school building all day! One thing that Anna likes to do outside is push around this cart. Usually when we get home from a walk and go into the garage she starts exclaiming, "Cart! Cart!". Yes, this little cart has many miles on it!

Sometimes she pushes it one handed...

...and sometimes two handed

Checking to make sure her flowers are stil in the little compartment in the front.

By the way, that dog is still hanging around the house....again I ask, did anyone lose a dog?

Memorial Day

This is Annalise on Memorial Day this year and a comparison picture from last year. She is sitting in the same spot on our bed with the same flag. This year she was not into having her picture taken at the time and was very much not interested in the flag I gave her to hold. I wanted to get a comparison shot of her though so here they are. It is amazing how much difference a year makes at this age!

MEMORIAL DAY 2010

"Do I really have to sit here?"

I then pointed out her Puppy thinking she would be more apt to sit there but all it did was distract her completely from looking at me.

So I took it away and she flopped down on the bed.  Photo session over.

MEMORIAL DAY 2009