I stole this idea from Rossette but I was just looking through my pictures on the computer and happened to open up this folder of the pictures I took for last year's Christmas card. What a difference a year makes. Our little girl is growing up so fast and she is SO much fun. We have loved watching her grow, her personality developing, the talking and talking and talking!! Anna Grace is a delight and as you can see, she still loves her bubby.

Anna's Snowman one day later...

As promised, here is a picture of Anna's snowman just one day later. How sad is this!! I don't know if you can see in the picture but the carrot nose and raisins for the mouth are on the ground as well as his hat.

Making a Snowman

We wanted to get outside before all the snow melted due to warmer temperatures and rain on the way (YUK). Anna and daddy had so much fun. Daddy also taught Anna how to make and throw snowballs. I got some good video and will post that tomorrow. These pictures were taken yesterday (Saturday) and when we woke up today, the snowman's head had fallen off, along with one one of his arms. Very sad day for the snowman. I'll post a picture of the headless snowman tomorrow.

The Henry Ford Museum

We took Anna Grace to The Henry Ford last weekend and she had a great time. They have big trains that she could sit on and they had a couple different displays with model trains going around different tracks and one of the trains she was able to turn off and on. As you can see from the pictures, she enjoyed herself. Towards the end of our day, and after our lunch, they had a big table where kids could make Christmas crafts. This is Anna's Princess Christmas Crown.

Anna's Choo Choo Train

As I've mentioned before, Anna LOVES her train that daddy made for her and she LOVES to decorate it. Tonight was painting night.

Pictures That Didn't Make The Christmas Card

The picture in the middle Anna Grace is holding her beloved "bubby". The last picture is quite solemn and I believe she is probably saying to herself "if my mommy asks me to smile one more time..."

I thought I would share some of the pictures that didn't make the Christmas card this year. It was a lot of work to get a couple good pictures of Anna Grace. Needless to say, I was sweating and frustrated but these next few pictures are pretty cute. She can be a little ham when she wants to.

Merry Christmas!! Note to Annalee: Anna is holding the cute little toy you sent her. She loves it!!

Anna's Express

This is what happens when you can't play outside because it is too cold. Daddy gets creative and makes a train out of Mommy's Southern Living boxes from the party she had. It has wheels, windows, doors, and duct tape!! This is her new favorite toy.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a great Thanksgiving with my family. Ate too much as usual but the food was delicious (thanks Mom) but we all pitched in a little. I spent the morning baking and Steve had a great time playing with Anna. This is how I found her while watching Barney. Quite the fashion statement.

Thought I would share a picture of all of us, not the greatest picture and it is probably because we ate too much!!

On Friday, we traveled to Houghton Lake, Michigan to stay with Steve's parents and we arrived in time for lunch. Anna insisted on holding Papa's hand and he had to eat left-handed. I don't think he minded one bit!! How cute is that.

Saturday morning and nothing is better than a Mickey waffle made with love by Nana (or Neenee as Anna calls her).

Just chilling with my Papa and Pooh Bear and watching Lawrence Welk. Does life get any better???

Yes life does get better when you can watch Barney with Papa in your jammies. Anyway, we had a great time with our families and again counted our blessings. We have so much to be thankful for!! Now it is time to get ready for Christmas. Can't wait to see how Anna does with the tree this year!!

Anna's First "Official" Haircut

We took Anna for her first "official" haircut the day before Thanksgiving. As you can see, she didn't want to sit in the chair by herself. She was a little nervous about the whole thing, but after a bit she calmed down and sat still and did great.

She is still not too sure but...

Ta da!! Anna's hair looks adorable, thanks to Stacy.

November Days...

Well tomorrow is Thanksgiving and a day of baking in the morning and eating in the afternoon. We will spend the afternoon and evening at my sister's enjoying family and God's blessings! We sure have a LOT to be thankful for. We will head to Houghton Lake, MI on Friday-Saturday to spend time with Steve's parents and Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Bill. Hopefully we will see some deer at Aunt Cheryl's house. Anna always enjoys that!

Anna had so much fun throwing the leaves up in the air. She also was making leaf angels so I imagine she'll have fun making snow angels in the winter.

Anna and I had some fun in the leaves in our front yard last week. We marched around and kicked the leaves. We had a good time. We have even more leaves now but I believe the trees are almost done dropping so time to rake!!

As long as no one can see me I guess that means I don't have to go to bed!! She also has her crocs on. Please don't mind mom's behind in the photo. Daddy forgot to crop that out!! Anna is such a ham and of course will do anything to get out of going to bed!!

Falling leaves!!

Daddy and Anna had fun in the backyard last week making a big
leaf pile. This is them laying down in the leaves. Anna
didn't want to get up. She had a great time. Our yard is
covered again and our trees still have tons of leaves on them.
I think we will have a lot of leaf piles for Anna to jump in.
It is cold here today and very windy and wet. YUK!

Halloween Fun!!!

This is what happens after a juice box, some candy and a few
bites of grandma's cake!! Hangin upside down with my Papa.



This is Anna's silly picture. I had given our neighbors
a treat bag with these silly glasses in them. So here is
Anna in her glasses with a piece of candy in her mouth.
Her proud Papa is enjoying her silliness too!!

This was after trick or treating. We finally got Anna to sit down for

one minute!! Daddy made her a Mickey Mouse pumpkin. The other

pumpkin is a bat.

Whew whoo, more candy!! Little does she know that mommy and daddy

have been eating her candy. It was the thrill of the hunt for Anna. She ran from

house to house. Her old mother could barely keep up. We had so much fun!!

This is Anna saying "thank you" with her sign language.

Anna Grace, my little ballerina.

My Little Pumpkin

I see when I posted that the last picture of Anna is fuzzy. I think I stretched it out when I was trying to move it over. Anyway, here it is again.

Busy Fall

We have been busy lately with fun activities and life in general. I did want to post some updated pictures of Anna Grace though.

We went to the farm a couple of weeks ago with our MOPS group from church. It wasn't the nicest of days so we had a low turnout but we had fun anyway. Anna got to feed the goats and we went on a hayride and of course ate donuts and drank cider. They had a really cute train the kids played on (built out of wood) and it was a nice time.

The other two pictures were just too cute. Anna being silly wearing her hat with her pajamas and a picture I took today. She is finally able to wear this sweater and hat. How cute is my little pumkin!! We are gearing up for Halloween tomorrow. Our neighbors always host dinner and the kids get their costumes on and then head out. Anna is going to be a ballerina and those pictures will be posted later this week. Have a safe and Happy Halloween.

Personalized Children's Book

I ordered this book for Anna from www.potterybarnkids.com and I mentioned it the other day but couldn't remember the exact title. It is called My Very Own Fairy Tale. It is a very colorful, sweet book that was made for Anna Grace. It shows on the front page "This book was made especially for Anna Walters who arrived on August 13, 2005." Inside it spells out her first and last name along with a wonderful story. I ordered it for her 1 year Gotcha Day gift. She is not into it yet (she likes the pictures) but doesn't understand the book and that it was made for her. Some day!!

Fun after naptime...

I guess socks were made for hands, not feet. This is how I found Anna after her nap the other day. I had checked on her about 15 minutes before this picture was taken and I found her in a ball, legs tucked under her chest and her socks on her hands. I should have grabbed the camera then but I didn't want to wake her up!! So this picture she is posing but you get the idea. Once I took this picture, we had to take more. Anna is learning to smile better for the camera and always says "cheese." The remaining pictures she was being a ham for but loving it. Enjoy the photos.