Laundry day

Anna helps with the laundry in as many ways as possible. Today she scaled the basket to check out what was on the other side.

Gramma and Grampa's Visit

Gramma and Grampa came to visit us right after Christmas. We had a great time!

For me?

Christmas Day was an early(ish) morning filled with presents and fun.

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve and time for church.

Anna's Kitties

Anna loves her kitties. We used to worry how Jack, our grumpy cat, would do around a baby. It turns out, he's really good! If Anna gets too close, Jack might hiss, but then he runs away. He doesn't mess around. It's clear he doesn't like her (just add Anna's name to the list), so he removes himself from the situation. What a good, grumpy cat.

Ollie is a different story. Ollie is stubborn. He doesn't like to lose. If he's comfortable lounging somewhere, he won't budge for anyone or anything (except food). So when Anna's around, he'll stay put and taunt her however he can. Usually with his tail.

Anna tries to make friends with him, and she's actually pretty gentle. But he just doesn't want to play fair.













In the end, her stuffed kitty is the only cat that's always there for her.

Daddy's Dessert

Arron likes to slap some pudding in a graham cracker crust - viola! It's a pie! His favorite is using chocolate pudding. Anna thinks it's pretty yummy too.

Bath Time

At first I was going to post this picture because Anna's hair looks so funny thanks to the soap suds.

But after looking at it again, I decided it was a better example of just how much of her baby food contains carrots. Holy cow, this kiddo is orange!!

Turkey Time!

Thanksgiving took us to Missouri. It was fun to see family, some of which had never met Anna. Anna spent no time at all making herself at home and becoming the center of attention (even if she wasn't trying).













Since we were in the town that I grew up in, Anna finally got to meet my good friend Gina, whom I've known since kindergarten, and her two girls. Gina and I had a great time catching up, and the girls had a fun time playing together.

Swinging away

We walked down to the fairgrounds today and spent a little bit of time on the swings. It was so much fun - we can't wait to go again.

...smell my feet...

For Anna's first year Trick-or-Treating, she was a scarecrow. We went to two houses and then hung out with Daddy to help hand out candy.

Connie came to visit!

And we had a great time!

Just like Daddy

If you know Arron, you know how much he loves maps. Seriously, one trip to Iowa we stopped at nearly every rest area to get maps. He claimed he was going to give them to his students.

Like father, like daughter...

Happy Birthday Anna!

For Anna's first birthday, we went to the aquarium! We started the day opening a couple presents from friends, then it was off to our grand adventure.





The aquarium was really neat, and the fish were so cool to look at. Anna loved it.









After lunch we saw the dolphin show!





The we saw the dolphins below water and the beluga whale and her calf. The light was really low and we couldn't use a flash (the fish didn't have sunglasses); we could have used Christina's tripod.









Once we got home, it was time for cake and presents!







After playing with some new toys, it was time for bed. Whew! What a big day!