Today I took the kids with the zoo so we could have a playdate with two girls that I went to elementary school with! We hadn't seen each other since we were maybe 12? 13? But now we're all married and we all have kids about the same age. Gotta love the internet and it's power to reconnect people! It was a great day with warmer than average weather and since 4 of the 6 kids were little girls, you can imagine how happy Anna was all day. As soon as she opened her eyes this morning she asked if it was time to go to the zoo and meet her new friends.

Here are a couple of videos from Anna's birthday party for Jesus at school. They decorated cookies, did a craft, and then sang a few songs. There were actually 5 songs but I messed up the video on two and, after about a million attempts, I've given up on posting the third one. But these give you a pretty good idea of the whole show ;) Anna is in the first row in the cream colored dress.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas tomorrow. I'm off to help Nathan assemble things!

Snoozing with cousin Sam

Tonight Anna was in the bathtub singing the ABCs. She kept getting to a certain part and then she would switch right into the "Now I know my ABCs" part without finishing all the letters. When I tried to prompt her she got mad and said she could do it herself. But when I asked to hear it, this is what I got:

"A B C D E F G, Please tell me your favorite cheese!"

She loves to be silly right now. It's completely normal these days for me to be driving along and hear Anna yell out something like, "Shoes can't talk!" and then laugh all the way home about how silly that is. Funny girl :)

I love this girl so much! She amuses me constantly with the things she says and the funny little 3 year old thoughts that she shares. Today before nap we read The Pokey Little Puppy. I read, she listened, and she was off to nap. Hours later we ran to pick up some photos and Anna noticed that the local fire station didn't yet have their Christmas lights on for the night. Using what she heard in her nap time story she said, "Oh mom, I am greatly displeased that they don't have their lights on yet!".

Tonight before bed we were reading her Picture Bible. We came to one of the last stories in the book that said everyone who believes in Jesus will get to live with him forever. Anna made a sad face and said, "But I am too little". I launched into this whole explanation about how Jesus sees everyone no matter how small they are and of course he sees her and he loves her and on and on and on when she interrupted me and said, "No mom! I mean I am too small to see his face! You will have to carry me so I can be higher and see his face!". I just kissed her head and promised her that I would. You never know what may happen tomorrow, but I love how she just sees her whole life as it is right this minute. In her mind she will always be small and need me to lift her :)

Hmm, should I get this hat, or those frightening yellow corduroys?



Maybe some big sunglasses would be better?



My cousin Ellie gave me this fabulous Sleeping Beauty dress and crown



Here's a better view of the lovely open toed shoes with socks :)



I said in my other post that Anna had a mile long Christmas list, but really any time you ask her she says the same few things every time: "A fancy blue Cinderella dress with a heart jewel and dot jewels on the bottom, a red crown, and dot shoes". Not sure what dot shoes are, but that's what she wants. She's going to lose her mind when she opens her gift from my mom. It's a whole collection of princess dresses!

Last night our parenting group got into a discussion about the whole princess obsession and little girls. Those of us with daughters came to the conclusion that it must be in the genes. These girls think they're princesses whether their parents encourage it or not!

Today Noah finally got his first hair cut. He still doesn't have a ton of hair, but it was hanging over his ears and turning into a baby mullet in the back so we went for a little trim. As suspected, it took all of four seconds. He was completely calm for the beginning, but he did cry and try to get away when she broke out the electric trimmer. I felt bad for the poor lady because she was having trouble even seeing what she needed to cut because Noah's hair is so blond!

Last weekend we went to see our very favorite friends! It was a sort of spur of the moment thing, but we're so glad we went. It was great to see them, to see their new home, and to see our babies all playing together again.

I've gotten some questions lately about why I haven't been blogging very much. Here's your answer:



This little monkey Never. Stops. Moving. His curiosity is adorable, but it's also exhausting! Yesterday I had to change his clothes 3 times because of his "exploring". And that picture above? That would be applesauce in his hair. ;)

Here's Anna singing an original song. It's to the tune of Jingle Bells (I think) but the words are definitely her own. Here's what I could make out:

For the Lord
Thank you God for everything
Hmmm hmmm hmmm
To the Lord for me
Bladhehakdhakhdkajhd
Thank you God for everything
Oh Sarah (?) for the Lord
God for everything
We now have everything
For the Lord so sweet
Happy birthday dear God!

And here she is reading a small holiday card. Kind of reminds me of this poor girl. But I like how Anna includes her food in the greeting ;)

If anyone is interested I have about 10 more videos of her singing ;)

I am such a mean mama, but I couldn't resist taking pictures of Noah's funny hair when he pulled his hat off and fell asleep in the car.



Oh poor baby!