Saturday, December 11, 2010

Anslie's 3rd Birthday

Since Anslie's birthday is on Halloween, it's always a fun challenge to try to combine her birthday party theme with her Halloween costume. This year, we decided to go with a Peter Pan theme: Anslie was Tinkerbell, Zachary was Peter Pan, Kevin was Captain Hook, and I dressed up as Wendy. Anslie was THE perfect little Tink! We had a great time at her party and were so happy that many of our friends and family took us up on our invitation to dress up as pirates, lost boys, or indians!

The kids had fun hunting for treasure, coloring pirate ship and skull and cross bones cutouts, and decorating Indian headdresses. I attempted to make a cake and decorate it with fondant...you be the judge of how it turned out. All I can say is that it was made with love! Everyone had a great time and Anslie loved all of the love, attention, and gifts she was showered with! We are so grateful for the love and support our friends and family provide!

Not Such a Baby Anymore

It was really hard for me to take these photos...not just because Anslie hates having her picture taken, but because my little baby is no longer a baby! She is 3! I can't believe how quickly time has passed (I know, I know. Every parent says it. It's still unbelievable when it happens!)

My little girl is filled with vim and vinegar! I have no doubt in my mind that she knows who she is and what she wants! Anslie loves being with her friends (already!) and really enjoys the co-op preschool that she attends once a week. She did not, however, enjoy her dance class, so she is no longer enrolled. I'm a little sad about that, but it just gives us the opportunity to try something else. And we can always try dance again when she's a little older.

Anslie is a die-hard candy fan. She likes treats of other sorts as well, but candy is by far her favorite. And interestingly enough, the candy she most often picked out of her loot from trick-or-treating was peppermint patties. What an odd choice for a three year old. But don't worry - Kevin covered all the fruity stuff while I devoured the rest of the chocolaty treats. :)

A big development for her was transitioning to a "big girl" bed. The day after her birthday we brought home a full-sized mattress for her to sleep on. She was SO excited! We kept it on the floor while we waited for the headboard and footboard to arrive a week later and that gave her a chance to get used to sleeping on it before it was suspended in air. She has done really well, never once falling out of bed! We decorated her bedroom (pictures to follow in another post) and it's perfect for our little princess!

Chatty Kathy would be a great alias for Anslie! She has a wonderful vocabulary for a child her age and I often can't believe some of the things that come out of her mouth. She's hilarious! Mix that with her intelligence, stubborn streak (which she gets from Kevin) and her independence (which she gets from me) and you have got one tiny firecracker! But she is a joy and keeps us hopping at all times. Life would definitely be dull without this little girl in it!

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Carving Pumpkins

Just a few pics of our family fun carving pumpkins. Anslie was able to participate this year, coloring on the little gourde she picked out at the pumpkin patch, so that was really fun for her. This definitely wasn't our best year for creative jack-o-lanterns, but with how busy our life has bee, (obviously, since it's taken me two months to find the time to blog about it!!!) it was a small miracle that we had anything carved! The tears only came when it was time for us to clean up and, of course, Anslie wasn't ready. Sigh. Oh well. We can't expect it to be all fun and games with a toddler in the house, right?!
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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Zachary

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I wanted to do this photo with Zachary because I shot the same photo of Anslie at the same age, on the same backdrop before I really got into photography. Firstly, how cute are my kids?! Secondly, they totally look alike at this age. And thirdly, I have come so far in just 2 1/2 years. I love watching my family grow in every way!

Anslie at 5 months
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Zachary at 5 months
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Anslie

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Thursday, November 11, 2010

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Cute Conversation

Anslie: "This is him's seat." (referring to the Bumbo)
Kevin: "Who is 'him'?"
Anslie: "Zachary."
Kevin: "And what do we call Zachary for short?"
Anslie: "Short little man."

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Pumpkin Patch That Wasn't

We took the kids to the pumpkin patch last night to pick out pumpkins to carve for the upcoming Halloween holiday. We went to the first patch we remembered, the one by our mall...and they didn't sell ANY pumpkins. Or, if they did, they didn't have many. This pumpkin patch seemed to have more of a focus on carnival games and rides than anything else. I'm sure Anslie would have had fun, but our goal was to come home with pumpkins.

We went down the street to another pumpkin patch. This location did have pumpkins, but still not the mounds of pumpkins that patches had when I was a kid. Pumpkin patches are so strange these days! Don't get me wrong; I appreciate the emphasis on making the pumpking-picking experience fun for all ages, but the whole point is to find a PUMPKIN. TO CARVE. FOR HALLOWEEN. Patch #2 had lots of rides, bounce houses, carnival games, treats, mazes, and a petting zoo. Strewn around all of these things were pumpkins for sale. Where were the rows and rows of pumpkins to search through, the perfect one just waiting to be discovered?

Anslie spent most of the night in the petting zoo, which is where all of our pictures come from. When we finally got around to trying to find pumpkins to take home, we realized how wrong we were for going to a pumpkin patch for it! Does this sound like an oxymoron to anyone else?! The cheapest carving pumpkin they sold was $7.00. At is was small. Like, so small you would be hard-pressed trying to carve it at all. Lame. So we let Anslie pick out a little gourd for 99 cents and got frozen yogurt instead.

Now we are off to Target or Walmart to find a much more reasonably priced pumpkin to carve!
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Yes, what looks like is about to happen in this next picture almost did!
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Monday, October 18, 2010

Z at 4 months

It's incredible how much faster time moves when you have another child! In some ways I feel like I have been able to enjoy having a baby more this time around just because there isn't as much to learn. I have done this all before with my first so I'm not in shock. My body and mind have healed more quickly and my patience has grown.

At the same time, there is twice as much work to do and half as much time to do it in. It's sad that some of the things I got to do with my first baby, my second baby is robbed of. Like timely updates on what my new little one is up to.

With Anslie, I had an essay written every month about every single detail of her growth and development... with pictures to go along with it. Not so much with Zachary. That doesn't mean I don't love him as much. Quite the contrary. It just takes a little more effort to share the joy of mothering him with the rest of the world.

I can't promise that I will be as faithful as I was with Anslie about getting monthly updates of Zac on the blog. But I will promise that I will try my hardest to make sure that everyone who cares about him has as much access to him as I can give.
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Zachary is a joy! A true cherub in every sense. He is sweet, happy, easy to please, and a pleasure to be around. Of course he has his moments, but those are easy to get past. He still eats well and on most nights only wakes once or twice to nurse.

I feel like my little man is turning into just that...a little man already. At 4 months of age, Zac has already cut his first tooth and is working on a second! Incredible and very sad for me. I love toothless baby grins! :( He is also rolling over, mostly from back to tummy, but he goes the other way sometimes too. Zachary likes to be upright as much as he can so he can explore the world around him. And if propped up in the right way, he can even sit up by himself, balancing his upper body on his hands. He has great neck control and his coordination for grabbing things and bringing them to his mouth is really improving.

Zac is a BIG boy, measuring in the 95th percentile in all of his measurements. (He has a checkup on Friday so I will know those numbers then.) And as such, I feel like it won't be long before he will want to start eating solids. That's another sad thing for me. I want my baby to stay small for as long as he can and it's become bittersweet for me to watch him grow and move on to the next phase in his development. Everything was so new a exciting with Anslie that sometimes it seemed like it took forever for something to happen. With Zac, I just can't get a handle on time. And it seems like he is developing so much more quickly!

This little one is also a giggler. He is happy pretty much all the time (unless he is hungry, tired, or sick) and is always ready with a smile or laugh. I love it! The best feeling in the world is his sweet little hands on my face while he gives me sloppy baby kisses on the cheek and coos and giggles in my ear. That memory will melt my heart forever.

Words just can't express how much I love my son. He is my joy. He is my baby. I am proud to be his mommy.

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An Apple a Day

One of the fond memories I have from my youth is running off to Tehachapi with my dad to pick apples and watch the trains that seemed like they stretched to eternity chug by from a mountain-top vantage point. I'm sure I gave my dad plenty of attitude as most preteens and teenagers do about doing dorky things like that, but I can honestly say that I really did enjoy it. Even if I wouldn't admit it as a kid.

When my dad told me it was apple-picking season again and my sister invited us out to my home town to watch the pro street gocart racing event, I was excited to be able to spend quality time with family and to share one of the things I loved to do as a kid with my own children.

These are a few snapshots from our adventure. I want to share the fun that we had, as well as some of the funny things that were accidentally caught on camera. Look in the background of some of the images and you will see what I am talking about.
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Excited much?
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Got our bucket and we're ready to go!

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Here's a nice boob shot of Rachelle...
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Anslie loved carrying this stick around more than anything else.
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Anslie likes to hold sticks, Zac likes to eat them.
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Love the large woman with the tie-dye shirt in this one!
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The spoils from which I have made:
A dutch apple pie
apple sauce
apple butter
apple bread
apple crepes
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After apple picking it was back to Lancaster for us. Nice capture of my dad on this one.
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Boney Hawk the skateboarding bulldog
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And just me messing around
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Fun trip. Funnier pictures! :) Happy Monday!