A Trip to See Our BFF's!

Oh, how Mommy LOVES our family trips down to Spring to see Evan, Cole (what you've recently started calling Aunt Nicole), Audrey and Harper! I get so excited to spend time with my favorite girls! This was an especially fun trip for Annabelle, because she loved holding baby Harper! Audrey is still her BFF, but I think AB is experiencing some baby fever right now, and she got her fix through Harper!

The girls started out their time together taking a bath! This is one of AB's favorite things, and to get to have a playmate, well that made it even more fun!

Flashback - here is Nicole and I in the tub when we were younger! We were a bit older, but still...I love that we have this picture together. The comparison is really neat!

My favorite pictures are of  AB holding Harper. She was very still and patient and you could tell she took this "job" very seriously. I think she's ready for a sibling!

Flashback - here is me holding Nicole when she was about Harper's age. I was four instead of 1 1/2. What sweet memories!

We had a blast in Houston, but cut our trip short just a little early. This way Nicole, Audrey and Harper could come back to Dallas with us. It was a blast for Audrey and Annabelle. They got to ride with each other in the back seat the whole way! It's a little blurry, but this is one of my favorite all-time pictures of the girls! I love that they are holding hands in the backseat! They really love each other!

We had a blast! I can't wait to do it again!

In Daddy's Shoes

Literally. She's standing in her Daddy's shoes!

I love that you can see Austin's foot to the right of her and he has no shoes on! AB has started taking an interest in my shoes, and this particular evening found Daddy's shoes intriguing! She wanted them on, and when Austin literally had to put her in the shoes...she thought it was great! It was a funny moment and had to capture it!

18 Month Well Visit

Another successful well visit was had at your 18 month check-up! Dr. Straughn and I covered several areas such as

• When/how to get rid of the pacie
• Picky eating
• Behavior (sharing, fits, hitting, etc...)

All of which Dr. Straughn said these things were very normal and age appropriate. This was good to hear! You weighed in at 22 pounds and are still a little below normal in size, but that's ok. You're just pretty and petite. I guess the days of having your picture taken with Dr. Straughn are on a bit of a hiatus. So, we had a picture with our favorite MA at the office.

Cousin Chana, of course!!

18 Months Old

Annabelle,

Happy 18 months old to my big girl! I can't believe it's time for another tri-monthly post! It seems like just yesterday you were fifteen months old! I'm sure these posts are starting to sound a little redundant in that I keep saying how "time flies" and "it seems like yesterday..." blah, blah, blah...BUT IT'S TRUE!!

I love this months' post because this was our first (tri) monthly picture ever taken with you in your pajamas! Yes, this was a laid back picture session! 

Do you see just how happy and precious you are?? I will treasure these pictures! I feel like this is the first month where you really embraced taking your picture with your pink teddy bear. It's crazy how you are holding that bear in your lap, when it used to be bigger than you! You are so sweet and so much fun! I love your sweet personality that has developed.

 You are very happy! That is one thing that people say about you, and they notice right off the bat, "She's such a happy girl!" I would have to agree! You laugh a lot and love to make people laugh!

Something else you've really embraced over the last few months is your "cheese face". You have it down, girlfriend! When mommy tells you to say, "Cheese!" you do it so well! You smile so big that your eyes close! What a wonderful trait to have... an eye-closing smile! I love it! Something else I love is your teeth! It seems like it took them forever to grow in and to see them, but they did and I love them. I used to say I would miss that wonderful gummy smile you had. Well, I do, but I sure am loving your teethy smile now!

You talk a lot. Most of the time, it's gibberish, or Annabelle speak, as I like to call it. Even though Mommy and Daddy may not know what you are saying, you do. I think my favorite is the "conversations" you have. You speak with such expression through your eyes, eyebrows and hand gestures. You just talk and talk and go on about whatever is on your mind at the time. We can understand a few words here and there, but I seriously could listen to this gibber jabber all day long!

You are very affectionate and love to give hugs and kisses. Especially to your cousins! You light up every time you see Joey, Noah or Stetson. You are surrounded by boys in this family, but you don't seem to mind very much!

I have to apologize for this non picture-heavy post for these last few months. I lost my camera battery charger back in December. So the pictures I have are from my phone and a digital camera I borrowed from Papa. It's very unlike me, but I didn't necessarily document every single occasion over the last few months, AB. I'm sorry for that, but I promise it won't happen again. I don't want to miss a thing!

I love you sweet girl, and am so grateful for these precious times! Thank you for being so incredibly wonderful! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you and love you so much!!

Love,

Mommy

Happy Valentine's Day 2011

This year for Valentine's, I wanted to really get into making cards/gifts, etc. I had a crafting itch, and so I went for it. AB and I (mostly me, obviously) made cards for all of her friends instead of buying them. I couldn't wait to get started.

Then, we made heart shaped brownies, and personalized them by adding Annabelle faces on sticks in the middle of the brownies. They turned out cute, but made me laugh looking at all the smiling AB faces.

We packaged them up and delivered them to our local friends. Our other friends who lived farther (Audrey, Harper, Cole, Aunt Jill and Uncle Jonas) we mailed their cards. On Valentine's Day after school, AB and I made our rounds and delivered them.

We made a special stop at Birmingham to give Aunt Julie her Valentines. AB was very proud.

What Happens When Aunt Jill Comes Over...

AB gets to play "dress up" with Aunt Jill's lip gloss. Oh, the fun of surrogate Aunts. How we love her! In all honesty, we were bored because the boys were watching the Superbowl. It's much more fun to do girly things. Love you, Aunt Jill!

The Snowy Day(s) 2011 Edition

Well, it happened again. Last school year we missed a day or two of school for inclement weather, and the same thing with this year. It was a lot of fun...the first day. Then, after 24 straight hours of not being able to leave the house. You start to get a bit stir crazy.

Example.

How about when Austin pulled me and AB around the house in the wagon due to sheer boredom. Yes. Really. We did this. AB thought it was a blast! Austin - not so much. He was the one doing the pulling.

We did make a couple of trips outside to play in the snow. However, you have to be bundled up pretty tight to brave that freezing weather. AB can attest to this.

We did do some fun things to keep ourselves occupied. I actually created another blog! A learning blog. I went two days without teaching (in February). This was an unexpected break from teaching, and my mind was still in teaching mode. So, AB and I did some fun activities, and I blogged about it.

After a day, we finally got out of our pj's (this helped the stir craziness). We did some lying around and watching t.v. A lot of t.v. However, AB made the most of it by loving on Scout, and turning her into her activity table all at the same time. She made a good desk for letter learning.

It was fun being home, but the "trapped" feeling, I can do without.