Play Date Fun!

Before you get inundated with Christmas posts, here is a "normal life" post! Anna and I are part of a local Mom group in Mooresville. We have been participating for about a year, but living out in Statesville limited our participation somewhat. Now that we are close by, we have been attending most of the play dates, but especially the ones at local gyms. There are two gyms in town that have play equipment for small children, and they are the best place to unload some energy (for Anna, not me... ha!). This particular location is called Little Flippers, and here are some photos from our last couple visits... These pictures are on my phone, because I'm not gonna be that mom dragging a DSLR to a play date ;)

She'll be a gymnast in no time...

Selfies in the pit...

"Playing" with her friend Cole. The cones weren't really part of the set up, but they were  big hit.

Obviously the game is to stack and unstack the cones...

Anna and friend Avery (we have to make that point every time, friend not cousin Avery) in coordinating Christmas outfits. Avery is exactly one month older than Anna.

First time I got them still and almost looking at me!

A short funny video of Anna bouncing. There is a long trampoline that runs the length of the room and ends in a soft pad. The kids love it!

Oh Christmas Tree! And Other Pre-Christmas Things

Since being in Mooresville, we have been taking advantage of being much closer to things- shopping, events, food... you name it! The other weekend we hopped over to Birkdale in Huntersville for some Christmas shopping and a dinner out. Anyone who lives close to the area knows, and has probably taken a photo with, the big tree in the center of the outdoor shopping center. Anna was quite amazed, as she loves our tree at home and it is obviously not nearly as large!

Pure excitement!

"Wow! That is a big tree!" (She also loved the star!)

Anna and Daddy with the tree!

We have also been having fun around the house. Anna is a big "helper" these days, and this particular day she was helping me prep for a taco dinner. Fortunately, we were only feeding ourselves (and Daddy) because she added some extra seasoning to our corn salsa and guacamole...

This girl loves to help in the kitchen...

Using her expert skills to put the avocados in the bowl.

Mash 'em up!

Each day after lunch, assuming it is nice enough to go, we walk to the mailbox. Our house is on a private drive, so the mailbox is a short walk up the street that is a perfect distraction and reason to get outside each afternoon. Being that it is Christmas card season, it makes it even more fun! This particular day, Anna received her own mail from her Great Grandma Marshall, and she was very excited that it was for her, although her excitement probably could also be due in part from the stickers on the back of the envelope... Either way, she was being super adorable.

We had to sit down to inspect the mail for her...

Her best cheese face! It should be noted she requested this "bow" in her hair. Before we got dressed, so Mommy got to coordinate her outfit with her bow... ;)

I told her to give me her best "I love mail" face... Nailed it.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas!

I should probably save these photos for something... but that's not going to happen. Look at this Christmas cutie! I picked her out a quite vibrant "Christmas" outfit to go to a play date in, and I just had to take some photos of her- especially since she was in quite the agreeable mood!

Grocery Store Cutie!

Again, this is from a few weeks ago...

Anna and I ran into Lowe's foods one day to pick up a few items for dinner over the long Thanksgiving weekend. Seeing as it was after dinner and the store was empty, I let Anna take one of the kid carts around the store. It was better than Disney! (Okay, maybe not that good, but still, she was thrilled). She happily pushed the cart while I learned that the stick on the side of the cart is for Mommy to help steer. The best part was her "choosing" items to buy and helping me to get the items we actually needed. Overall, she did well listening and we only came out with bananas and cheerios that weren't on the list. I fear we will never be able to go to Lowe's foods again without pushing the little cart now... Good thing it isn't our primary store!

Cruisin' the aisles... Happy as can be!

"Hold on, Mom! Let me check my shopping list!"

When I tried to stop her to take her picture she really wanted to keep going... so this is what ended up happening- tug of war with the cart!

Peek-a-boo!

Gender Reveal!

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Robert and Laura had a party to see whether they would be having a little boy or girl. Most of you who follow our blog also follow theirs, so you saw this post where they share the video and some photos. Make sure you also check out this post with adorable photos of Avery and Anna, because the two of them had a blast together at the party and the morning after! They are going to be trouble when they get older!!

Here are some of my favorite photos from the party..

Gigi getting her "baby" fix... Austin is three months younger than Anna.

Silly string was bought for, and loved by, the "big kids"

Anna was a fan!

Before cutting the cake... Laura was a little excited!

It's a BOY! The faces here are my favorite.. a proud dad, a stunned big sister, and an excited mommy!

We then returned to Charlotte a few days later for the Christmas parade and Thanksgiving lunch at Robert and Laura's. We missed our Michigan family, but enjoyed the low-key day. This is the only photo we took, but there is a good family photo of us at the bottom of this post by Rob.

Getting a good view of the parade on Daddy's shoulders!

We've Moved!

Hi blog readers! Are you still there? It's been close to a month, which is a record for me not blogging since we began this sweet little record of our family. In that time, we have: celebrated a holiday, closed on a house, moved into said house, and have begun to feel at home. We are loving our new location and home, but it will probably be many weeks (or months?) before everything is "just so", and for now we are just enjoying finally being in Mooresville for the time being.

If you haven't seen Anna in a few weeks (or just one!) her development is going crazy! She has been talking for a few months now, but she is beginning to form short sentences and will copy most anything you say. My current favorite phrase she says is, "Minnie Mouse shirt", because A) it comes out as "Minnnnnie Mowwwwse Shirt" B) She does not own a Minnie Mouse shirt and C) she hardly knows who Minnie Mouse is- she has never seen Minnie on TV, and may have one random book, but besides that Minnie is on her disposable diapers and Gigi has a Minnie stuffed animal. She is starting to put together letters of the alphabet with items, due to her love of books and the many alphabet books we have. She very proudly tells you A is for Anna, and seems to recognize her name in written form. She has great fine motor skills, and is impressive when she kicks a ball. We won't be disappointed to have a soccer player! She is back and forth with separation anxiety now that we are back in the groove of going to the Y and our church where she has to be dropped off, but I hope with consistently going she will go back to loving it. She is still a pretty good little eater, although she is starting to express her opinions more clearly and per toddler-law we have no idea when she is going to like or not like something. Oh, and we are getting close to her male-induced anxiety leaving! I won't celebrate too soon, though...

We haven't only not been blogging... we haven't taken too many photos, either. I'll share some from my phone this week, but until then, here are some pictures of how Anna eats baked ziti from a few weeks ago. Everyone should try out the "finger trap" technique!

One finger at a time, you get both pointer fingers into the ends of the noodle...

Then you must eat it off of your fingers like so!

Greensboro Natural Science Center

Over the weekend, Mark wanted to do something really fun with his little one. She has been a little trooper through all of this change, and it was cold out, so we decided to head to the Greensboro Natural Science Center. Anna had a blast, but I think Daddy may have had more fun...

First up, checking out the penguins!

Then checking out all of the fishies!

Obviously this was Daddy's favorite part! Maybe Anna's too!

We walked back through the aquarium before we left and Anna said, "Bye-Bye Shark!"

Mommies take photos with T-Rex

Checking out a lizard...

We then headed outside to see the mini-zoo... We were cracking up at Anna's confused/angry face here. She didn't seem to care much for the animals that she didn't know what they were.

So we moved on to the petting zoo! Anna loves farm animals.

Petting a sheep! They all ran away though when three toddlers showed up.

Brushing the goats was a popular activity among the toddlers. Anna chased this guy down to groom him.

Different brush, different goat. Poor goat.

Overall, I would say Anna really enjoyed our trip to the Science Center. It was a nice place to be able to go to so many different activities- they had a children's "museum" but we didn't take any photos in there. There were a lot of exhibits that were obviously too old for her, but she still enjoyed all of the different things going on!

Haircut!

So it finally happened! Anna Kate got a haircut! No more scraggly baby mullet. We had been discussing that it was time, but to be honest had just been so busy with lots of other things that we just needed to pull the trigger. Mark wanted to be around, so Sunday night, we sat Anna down in front of Elmo and started chopping. It may not be perfect, but it is so much cleaner than it was!

Exhibit A: Right before the trim.

The whole scene! Elmo may be cheating... but I didn't have a squirrelly toddler to deal with!

Not even phased! Well... she did get a little cold and pulled her shoulders to her face, which makes it hard to cut hair!

The cut!

Adios, mullet!

"Why are y'all taking pictures of me?"

Final Product!