Jessie 2011

Since summer 2011, Annalise had an obsession with the Toy Story movies and most specifically with Jessie the cowgirl.  For Halloween 2011, she chose to be Jessie and was quite proud of her costume especially the custom made "Jessie-Boots".

 Boots made just for her!

 She had a bazillion clothes stuffed underneath.  I will have to remember that for next year and make sure a get a slightly bigger costume for at night.  I was only thinking about her wearing it to preschool that day and not about it being colder at night.

Pumpkin Carving 2011

The title says it all.......

 Anna was again not a fan of the stringy stuff inside the pumpkin.  She would only get it out with a spoon.

 I uploaded these pictures out of order and I don't know how to rearrange them so the picture above should have been in the beginning but here she is getting out her spoon to use to clean out the pumpkin.

This was the design she said she wanted.  Simple enough.

Annalise's First Trick or Treat!

I was undecided about whether or not I was going to take Anna trick-or-treating.  I mean she isn't interested in candy and she is so shy that I never thought that she would ever actually want to walk up to a house that she didn't know, much less say trick-or-treat or even look at the person when he/she answered.  But, I did get her a costume and I didn't want to feel like I wasted my money so we decided to give it a try.  We only went to a few houses in our development and she sure did surprise me!  I had told her throughout the week that if she wanted people to give her things to put in her beloved pumpkin that she would have to talk to them, etc., etc.  Well, she remembered and walked right up to the first house with me and loudly said to the woman "Trick or Treat!".  I was shocked.  I guess she really wanted something to put in her pumpkin!.  Anna thanked the woman and as we were walking away she said excitedly, "Wow!  I like that lady!".  She was so thrilled to get those pretzels.  So we went to a few more houses and then went home which Annalise didn't mind doing at all.  I just told her trick-or-treat was over and she was like, "OK, we go home now".  Love that girl!  When we got home I though for certain that she was going to want to try the candy, but all she cared about was the bag of pretzels.  So we found other uses for the candy.  We sorted it by color, type and size, we stacked it up, we counted it and talked about the letters on the wrappers and that was it!  I am really glad that we took her out because she was so excited the whole time and just wanted to run, run, run.  I am lucky that I got any pictures once I put that costume on her!

 Little ladybug

 "Here's my pumpkin and I'm ready to go!"

 And this was the view I of her the rest of the night.  She literally ran the whole time once that costume was on!

 She had absolutely no time for a picture with me.  Especially when we got to the first house!

 Anna wanted to walk right up and ring the door bell.

This was the very first house we stopped at.

 Trick-or-Treat!

 She then had slightly more patience for a picture after we got one house under our belts!

 Next house with Daddy!

 Love that costume!

Checking out her loot!

Catawissa Halloween Parade

This past Saturday, my mom and I took Anna to the parade in Catawissa.  I had not been there in more than 10 years but from what I could remember I knew it was going to be crowded....and it sure was!  It really is a nice parade though.  Annalise loved the parade and was very focused on picking up the candy and putting it in her pumpkin.  And again, I was prepared for her to finally ask for a piece of it and I was going to let her have one.....but........she never asked!  She got another little bag of animal crackers just like the other parade and that was all she cared about eating!  Too funny!  I really think it is because she is not really interested in trying new foods unless I coax her or tell her it is really good.  Since I have done neither with the candy I think that she just doesn't want to venture on what it might taste like.  Like I have said before, I will continue to take it while I can!  These are the only three pictures that I took because it was dark and there were a lot of spooky masks around (which ranks right up there with my feelings about birds) so I was focused on other things than picture taking. 

 Anna and I waiting for the parade to start

 I have no idea what is going on here.

Annalise's First Jack-O-Lantern

Last week we carved a pumpkin with Anna for the first time.  We have always gotten pumpkins, but we just haven't taken the time to actually carve them in years!   Anna was interested in the carving but had to be coaxed to even touch the inside of the pumpkin.  I think she touched it twice and then just kept saying that it was too yucky.  She was also a little unsure of Stan's saw too, but nevertheless she liked watching us and helping with other parts of the process!

 Anna's pumpkin

 Anna said she needed to hug her pumpkin before we started.  She also gave it a few kisses too =).

 Watching Daddy with the saw.  She stayed that close until he turned it on.

 Then she ran over to me until he turned it off again.  Honestly, the little saw was so quiet that it sounded like a battery operated toothbrush but my oh my does this child ever have a mild personality!!!

 Not sure about touching the "guts".  Anna did give it one poke.

 I then convinced her to put her hand inside the pumpkin.  That only lasted about 2 seconds and then she decided that it was "too yucky".

 So, she watched me start to clean it out.  As you can tell by my face, I am not a real fan of touching the inside either.

 "Did you get it clean in there, Mommy?"

(Ok seriously, why do I have my arms like a praying mantis in this picture ?!?!)

 Daddy to the rescue to finish scraping it out!  When Annalise saw he had spoon to scrape with she needed one too.  When she had the spoon she didn't have to touch it so she was all about helping then!

 After a while though she was more interested in dancing around.....

 .....and climbing on her Daddy's back

 We took it outside and lit it.  She smiled at it and liked it, but would not get any closer to it than what you see in this picture unless I was holding her (it was also her bedtime by then so that might have had something to do with it too)!

 Back inside to clean up and get ready for bed.  Carving pumpkins must be hard work because she brought her blankets out to the kitchen to watch us clean up!

11 Months Old

I don't know where the time has gone, but our little Annalise is now 11 months old! I cannot believe that it is time to start planning her 1st birthday party! The main events of this past month were:
*Getting much better at standing and balancing on her own
*Cutting her top two front teeth (for a total of 4 teeth),
* Moving up to a front facing car seat
* Saying "Uh-Oh",
* Turning lights on and off at the switch
* Pointing to EVERYTHING
*Knowing the words light, Daddy, Mommy, nose, eye, cross, ball, fan, cracker, toys -- she oesn't say any of them yet, but if you ask her where those items are she will get them or point to them. She apparently thinks that only Mommy has eyes and a nose though because she will not point to them on anyone else.
*Trying to climb up things
* Becoming much more opinionated about things. When she doesn't want to do something she starts shaking her head back and forth and waving her hands and making a "Meh-Meh" sounds which I am sure will all too soon turn into "No".
*FINALLY holding a sippy cup (correctly without flinging it everywhere and trying to take it apart) and drinking from it on her own. We have been working on it since August and she was really showing no interest in holding it on her own, she expected everyone to hold her for her. I don't know by what miracle but on Friday she just decided to do it herself. When I saw her do it on Friday night, I swear I heard a faint Hallelujah chorus in the background......=)

Here are some pictures of what Anna has been up to lately.

Checking out her new Spongebob books
Thanks Aunt Emily!

Sitting in the entertainment center drawer which she is not allowed to do...left the room for a second and this is what I found. She was quite proud of herself.

Posing next to her favorite appliance, the dishwasher. She will come crawling from anywhere in the house when she hears one of us open it and gets very upset when we shut it.

Playing a tune on her piano

Playing basketball with cousins Samantha and Hannah

Pointing at her wonderful Halloween lights which are eyeballs. She really loves those things.