The Many Faces of Anna Blair Summers

First off, how great is this picture of Anna and Stephen?!
So on Mother's Day we went and had lunch with my parents at their house. Dad grilled steaks and Stephen made the sides. We had a nice time but later in the afternoon Stephen had to go to work and Anna and I stayed behind to hang out with my mom and dad for a little longer. While we were there Anna was wanting something or other, can't remember what, and she was making her normal, "I want this but can't get to it" frustrated face. Mom said, " Anna, you are going to give yourself wrinkles." Then said to me, "she makes the funniest expressions." This got me thinking and I started to look back at the photos we have of some of these expressions. So I present, the various expressions of Miss Anna Blair. Get ready, some are pretty hysterical.I love my daddy.

This is the face she makes when we pray. She doesn't like closing her eyes. So she kind of squints them. She also uses this when we ask to look at her eyes or clean her eyes.
Very happy to get something she wants.

She does this shifty thing with her eyes when she is doing something she isn't supposed to, like putting 8 orange slices in her mouth at once.

A very a dramatic bye bye.

I have NO clue. But it sure looks funny.

This is her normal face when she isn't happy or sad, just hanging out. Such a sweet girl.

How's that for expressive? That is what happens when we don't get what we want.

Sweet smile you get when playing games like hide and seek.

Forced smile. She almost grits her teeth she bites down so hard. Cheese ball.

So this is the scary Anna smile. I almost hear a maniacal laugh .

Oohh! Excitement and shock. This is one of my favorites.

This is the frustrated look I was talking about earlier that is going to give her wrinkles. : )

By far my favorite expressive pic to date. She doesn't even look like the same kid. Her teeth CRACK me up in this pic. She, Dave Letterman and Madonna have the same look going. She does NOT like to have her picture taken sometimes. She puts her hand up and says no and makes this face.
Well, I hope all is well with yours and that you have a great weekend!

A powerful experience...

Today Stephen had to work a double, and his mother was very generous and came to watch Anna so that my mom and I could go out to eat and catch a traveling exhibition that is currently in town. She saw an article or advertisement in the paper about the show, and asked if I would want to go. I was all for it. We went to eat at Hester's, a little sandwich shop on the backside of a cute antique shop near six points. It was nice, I got a southwestern Cesar salad, that was YUMDIDY with guacamole and sun-dried tomatoes. I ran into an old friend, Jill Baugher, and her mother, out for a daughters and mothers family day filled with good food, pedicures and manicures. We had a very nice lunch, and just enjoyed the time for a while.

Then we went to the photo gallery on People's street to see the exhibition. It is a smaller gallery, but very nice. The show they are currently hosting for the next two months is called "Eyes from the Ashes" a collection of photographs from Ann Weiss. Ann Weiss is not the photographer of the collection, however, the author of a book in which she shares these photographs that she mistakenly found while taking a tour at the Auschwitz-Birkeneau concentration camps in 1986. The photographs were not supposed to be seen. These 2400 photos were images brought to the camps by the prisoners in hopes of holding onto an image of a loved one or a time when things were better. Personal items such as photographs were confiscated by the Nazi soldiers at every camp and shipped to a crematorium at another location to be destroyed. Apparently it was important to Hitler to not only destroy the people themselves, but their spirit and memories along with every bit of evidence that claimed they ever existed. Somehow, the photos confiscated at Auschwitz-Birkeneau were saved and lie in a room for 40 years until Ann Weiss found them with the help of a museum worker and his golden key.
My mother and I had the pleasure of speaking with Ann Weiss this afternoon and heard stories that would bring tears to your eyes. At one point, I did get emotional. Her sacrifice to travel and share these photographs, 2400 that remain out of millions that once existed, to cities across the US, Europe and even to Israel has healed many wounds, and had many people reunited with pictures of loved ones that they thought they would never see again. It truly is an amazing and powerful experience. She has a website and I encourage you to check it out. She also has a book that has most of the images in it with stories of these people and who they were before the evil that came and took it all away. I sat and read about it this evening and am all the more moved.

Ann is a wonderful lady with a huge heart for her people. We ended up spending a good two hours with her and I truly enjoyed every minute of it. It is an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. The show was completely free to the public and she is supported solely by donations. If you are in the place to donate, I feel compelled to ask you to think about doing just that. It is history. I read today at the show that Hitler knew that to destroy a people group it was important to take out two groups first, the old and the young. The old to kill the wisdom, the past. The young to destroy any hope of a future. In reading that I wanted desperately to help this woman give the joy of memories to anyone who was still living. To help one person see a loved one that they thought would only be seen in their dreams. One man wrote after finding a photo of his first wife and child who had perished at Auschwitz, " I could show my family, THAT is who I was, THAT is where I came from! It was my revenge on Hitler!" I hope you all have a wonderful week and hope you find time to visit this website and see the beautiful pictures of a beautiful people who were snuffed out by such a terrible force.

Oh yes, our daughter is a genius, or an artist, or ....is having visions

Don't get all bent out of shape with the visions thing, it was a joke. Once you see the picture Anna drew lately you will see my point. She drew this at school and with no help mind you. What do you see? I know...I know, it is all just a bunch of lines here and there. But if you look for content, you will see the right side of her brain must have been working over time. We saw an angel wearing a scarf serving up some sort of dish that is flying off the plate. Or it could be a release of a dove with a halo or something...the jury is still out. Either way, we thought it was cool. At least I did...my kid is going to grow up to draw pretty pictures. : ) Or maybe she won't....and that is ok with me. I periodically see those parents on "The Soup" where they show clips from Show Biz Moms and Dads..and it puts me in check...those people are NUTS! : )

Anyway, so we went down to my parents house for Parker's birthday. Parker is my brother Jered's son. He is SO precious and hysterically opposite of Anna in every way. I absolutely love it. He weighs about 5 pounds but he is all boy, super into trucks and wheels, very independent and itty bitty in the cutest way. He hates to be away from mom, but the minute you catch his attention with something, he is all yours...which makes it all the sweeter. I like to win over attention sometimes, the challenge is nice. I think that is why I like cats. Anyway, we really enjoyed getting to see him and be there to experience his first birthday. He wanted very little to do with the cake, other than to destroy it...like I said, ALL boy. Here are some pics from the weekend.Sweet little hand full of destruction.
I love this face...he is so happy to get cleaned up...Anna would be screaming right now. Such a sweet happy boy.Can't you just hear it in the background....Bond, James Bond. Look at his eyebrow and little puckered lips...HYSTERICAL!

Anna having a good time racing down the hill courtesy of T-Ma.Uncle Judd raced her down the hill next and I just love this pic. She could model wagons. Uncle Jered is teaching her some tips on batting. This was Parker's birthday present, she couldn't wait to get her hands on it! : )


OK, these next few pictures make me happy that cameras exist. Mom and Anna on Friday evening, after playing hard outside and Anna and Dad the following day, feeding the koi fish of a neighbor down the street. They make me want to cry, because I know she will cherish these photos for the rest of her life. I know I will.
And last but not least, Anna's cheesy school pictures. She is barely smiling and isn't giving off that cute girl feel we know she is capable of. So, Stacy, this is what I was expecting, your boys pics from school are WAY cuter. I blame the photographer...not my sweet girl. Have a great week! : )