"In lieu of the holidays" trip

Since most of you haven't seen pictures of us since July, here are a few from our September trip to St. Louis and Dallas.  Because we won't be going to either of these cities for the holidays, we decided to take a trip during one of Ron's easier times to "make up" for being gone later.  

 Cousin Ainsley, Aunt Erin, She-She, me, Cousin Cami and Annie the Cowgirl

Paw-Paw and Marmee (my parents) with Annie at my grandparents' lake house

All of the great-grandchildren with my grandparents.  Annie is in the very middle on the bench with only her sad face showing.  My grandfather is saying, "Uh-Oh!" and my grandmother is saying, "Hang on, Pap!"

Annie and Cousin Ryan showing off their skills to one another.

Cousin Jaden showing Annie how to drive the car.  Jaden adores "Baby Annie" and it is the sweetest thing to watch him take care of her and try to make her happy.

 And this was actually taken a couple of weeks before at our house when Ron's parents came in town for Annie's Dedication.  But since it was so cute, I had to include it :)

 

One of these days I'll get around to posting in the right month... but not today.

Fall-ing thoughts...

Although I can never decide which season is my favorite - Fall or Winter - there is something about the Fall that gets me so excited that I am viscerally filled with joy... smelling the crisp air is like menthol moving throughout my entire body.  And besides the normal favorite things (crunching leaves, first evening fires, apple picking, etc), some of the best things EVER have happened/happen in the Fall...

1. I began to fall (no pun intended) in love with my husband.  I can't remember an exact moment or anything, just a gradual falling... and yet I knew that it was happening as we sat around a fire at a friend's house in November thinking, "Lord, if he's not the one, then I need to get out NOW because we both know I'm losing my heart fast!"  Thankfully, he was :)

2. My sweet Annie Kate was born.  She fills my days with laughter, singing, silliness and wonder.  Motherhood is by far the most awesome, amazing, coolest, most difficult, stretching, makes-me-realize-how-dependent-on-God-I-am thing I've ever had the privilege to do.

3. Apple cider donuts, pumpkin-spice lattes, pumpkin bread.  Need I say more?

4. Changing leaves - not just the colors alone, but a daily reminder that the process of death can be beautiful when LIFE is the end result.

5. First day of school... well, at least when I was in school we didn't start until September and that's still how I like to think of it.  I actually envy teachers and mothers with school-age children because they get to pick out all their new supplies like artsy notebooks and the perfect ink pens.  But nothing would excite me more than receiving my book list in English class!  I could do without Hawthorne and Faulkner, but bring on Atwood, Shakespeare and Salinger! 

6. And let's be honest, you get to wear the BEST clothes - sweaters, boots, coats, scarves - oh how I love layering!

P.S. One of these days I will get around to posting about some actual events from the past months... so sorry, but as I sat down to type, I couldn't find the camera cord to download the pictures.  Yes, I know, typical me.  Happy (late) Fall :)

Summer Days

According to the weatherman, this June has been the "gloomiest" month since 1904 with only 4 sunny days!  But that hasn't stopped us from having a great time at home and out with friends.  And when the sun has peeked out, I remember why I love Boston summers and am so thankful to be living in such a beautiful place.  Here are some pictures from the past month and a half with some explanations...

This is one of my favorite outfits worn on one of the sunny days!  On the hanger, it looks sort of like a ruffled and decorated egg, so when I showed it to Ron, his response was, "Hmm, that's interesting." Not exactly what I was looking for.  But doesn't she look cute anyway?

This is Annie and her friend Skye (my friend Laura's baby), who's only 5 weeks older than she is.  They LOVE to play together - stealing each other's toys, babbling and screaching back and forth having their own conversations, and pulling each other's hair.  What fun!

Going to an 80's birthday party for a friend...too bad Ron and I got in an argument and we didn't end up going - ha ha!  I think she would have won the Best Costume award for sure!

Following are several eating pictures... I laugh at her almost every day while she's in her high chair and couldn't resist posting them.  She makes the funniest faces and just smiles and laughs the whole time. 

She loves prunes!

She hates green beans, but you'd never know by the sweet grin on her face.

She's very into eating things on her own.  No, I did not give my child a mud pie, but more of the teething biscuit might have ended up on her face, hands, bib and tray than in her mouth!  We're still working on it :)

This is what happens when Daddy dresses her... but they both have such a great time, who cares if it takes them 30 minutes? 

A couple of weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon, we headed to a specialty nursery with our friends Dave, Laura and their baby Skye.  Since Dave and Ron both work with plants, this was a treat for them!  We weren't planning on buying anything, but when we found a hosta plant variety called the "Brother Ronald" we couldn't resist!  

Here's Annie and me with our friends Laura and Skye, also taken at the nursery.

And here's Dave, Skye, Annie and Ron.  After the nursery, we went and ate ice cream at this farm - it was delicious!  

Ron can always make Annie laugh like crazy!  Here he's tickling her back with his beard.

 Annie scooted herself over to this plastic thing and she was so proud of herself!  She's not quite crawling, but gets around by pulling forward and scooting all over the place.  Any day now and she'll be completely mobile - yikes!

Annie Banannie

Annie is now 8 1/2 months old!  And since most of you don't get to see her often (or even at all), I'd like to tell you my top 10 favorite things about her in no particular order:

1. how she LOVES to be outside whether that's going on a walk, hanging out with her dad by the grill, sitting on the steps with me or watching the dogs run around at the park

2. how she laughs all the time - when she's tickled, when I dance for her, when she sees the dogs playing together and running around the house, when she sees Ron come in after work

3. how she has this little patch of hair on the back of her head that grows faster than any other part; seriously, the girl would have a mullet if I didn't cut it often (3 times now which is a lot considering most people don't cut their kids hair until after the first year!)

4. how she laughed and laughed when she saw me at the airport after leaving her with my parents for 4 days - so hard to leave her for that long, but I was thrilled that she not only remembered me, but giggled so much that I am sure she missed me!

5. how she said "Dadadadada" the other day when she saw Ron out the window (all the books say that she can't associate words yet, but who cares?)

6. how she looks when she has fallen asleep in my arms or on my shoulder, sometimes I don't ever want to put her down in her crib

7. how excited she is to see me or Ron when she wakes up from a nap - she flaps her arms and legs and giggles (this is one of Ron's favorite things to do!)

8. how she babbles and talks to herself in her crib when she wakes up in the morning; I love to just listen to her noises!

9. how she responds to music - it calms her and puts her to sleep; she smiles when she sees people worshipping God at church or in our small group (you should see the way she watches her dad!); she squeals with delight when we sing show tunes or Disney and dance around the living room (The Sound of Music and the Lion King seem to be her favs right now!)

10.  how she gets this mischievous look in her eyes that convinces me she will live up to her namesake and get into all sorts of scrapes and adventures