The day our lives changed...

Anna was born. Since then, things have never been the same and I know that Stephen and I would rather die than go back. She has a great trust for those who love her. She will try it just because Mom or Dad said it was OK...she really is obedient. She is very tender and sweet and loves to give kisses and hugs. She likes one on one time. I say it more and more, her personality is just like her dad's. She loves to read before nap and bedtime, like 30 minutes of it is fine with her. Her favorite book right now is "The Eye Book" by Dr. Seuss...and that isn't forced Dr. Karen Summers (optometrist aunt)..she just really likes it better than the nose book and the foot book. She is starting to sing songs little by little and it makes Stephen and I want to cry when she notices she is off pitch and can correct it. She makes us laugh moment by moment with every little noise and the words she tries to say, like guacamole was kuh molee today. AWESOME. She brightens our day and we could not imagine life without her. I thank God daily for the UNBELIEVABLE gift He has given me in her and am humbled that she is second only to my salvation which I take for granted more than I should. I hope and pray that when we decide to have another child, that they are just as precious as Anna, and also as well behaved! : ) She has spoiled us rotten as a first child!

We celebrated her birthday in Corpus at my Mom and Dad's house last weekend. Here are some pics of the occasion. Those in attendance were Jered, Holly and Parker Johnston (my brother and family), Great Granny (my grandmother), Granny, Grandpa and cousin Kaylee
(Stephen's parents and our niece) Tommie and Mike Welch (my aunt and new uncle..congratulations are in order :) ) . Libby Grantham (fabulous friend) and her girls Sadie, Tessa and new baby boy Jack. We did things I knew Anna would love. She started the day with a horse ride with J-Paw. (no pictures of this event)
Then the guests arrived and we did some swimming in our rocking 20 dollar pool from Walmart. Can I say, that for 20 bucks, this thing is AWESOME! They had a good time while it lasted. It was getting close to lunch, so we broke down the pool and went inside to do lunch and presents.


When it came time for cake, Anna was not too sure about her cupcake, even though her counterparts had a GREAT TIME. She opted out after about five attempts to eat the cupcake and went for jello instead.
Notice the new hairdo. We cut off the mullet curls.
Not very sure of this fire thing. Let us, just for grins, see how she compares with her cousin Parker when it comes to fire. Flash back to his birthday.....YES! That IS my nephew at ONE YEAR old, trying to grab fire. He loves it. Not so much like Anna on this one....but very much like his Father, who last week, during 90 degree weather mentioned starting a fire in the fireplace...he said he was joking, but I have my doubts. : )

So here is the progression of tasting the cupcake. (which I promise was good..see other children lapping it up for proof...)
First taste.
Obvious disgust.
Notice Stephen talking her into eating the cupcake on the right and Kaylee watching in amazement as another child turns down chocolate.
We even tried using a fork, which she loves, to no avail.
Why is that fire thing in my Jello?

She does NOT play around when it comes to her Jello. She is serious.

Present time was a little crazy. Lots of kids around. They had a good time though. She got some awesome stuff.
That is a lot of kids wanting very badly to tear at some paper and Anna just stood there and looked and wanted ME to open her presents. I could tell it was making the other kids (especially the older ones) itch.
Talking about her bell on her new tricycle from Granny and Grandpa.

Trying out the bell for the first time, she was very excited and surprised.
She loves her friend Tessa. That is Great Granny there in the recliner.

After everyone said bye, we put her down for a nap and she crashed hard. It went over fairly well. After it was all over and I started looking through pictures I realized that there were NO pictures of anyone else except those who were in direct sight of Anna. Some pictures did not turn out that great of other people, because they were not prepared to be photographed. Oh well, maybe I will be more mindful of it next year. We went to Waco two days later and spent the week with Jered, Holly and Parker and had a blast. I will post pictures from that soon.
Have a great week!