A Spring Day, or is it summer??

Maria got to try out her puddle jumper floatie.  She likes it, but really likes playing in the sand.

Anna had fun putting sand on a friend's blanket...sorry Marcy! 

 Maria was trying on Amy's shoe.

 Our playgroup met at the beach for the morning.  It sure was sunny and bright!  Spring, right, more like summer!

Emily came up with the boys to spend part of the day with us, since they had to leave early from Anna's party.  They got here just as the beach was getting it's sand delivery unfortunately!  So we headed back to the house for a dip in the pool.

Zach was happy...especially to be out of the car and his carseat!

Maria and Joshua were great playmates.

May I serve you?

all gone! (is it that bad Joshua?)

Zach looking in on the house fun.

This big boy turns one on Monday...Happy Birthday Zachariah!

It's fun having cousins so close in age to our girls...they had so much fun together.

peek!

Do they really have to leave?

We have plenty to praise God for; family that make an effort to see us and spend time together making wonderful memories.

12 Months

I had some fun taking Anna's 12 month photos.

Here are some favorites, and the collage has the rest, which are pretty adorable too.  (You can click on pictures in the collage to make them appear larger.)
Enjoy!

A free picture collage by Smilebox

a sweet day

How quickly the past 12 months has flown by!  We had an amazing time celebrating Anna's first birthday.  Thanks to all the family who made it a special day.  Due to many, many pictures, I made a slide show to share our day with you. 
Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Make a slideshow

A year of firsts

At one month I learned to smile.
At two months I slept through the night(8 hours).
At three months I know my mom and dad.
At four months I learned to laugh.
At five months I am trying to sit up and I sleep 12 hours.
At six months I started eating some real food and figured out rolling.
At seven months I had gotten two teeth, loved playing peek-a-boo, and said my first word, dada.
At eight months I surprised everyone by trying to whistle and sitting up, and I like to feed myself.
At nine months I am all about clapping my hands and waving bye-bye.
At ten months I am scooting backwards well, like to give kisses, and tell people "hi".
At eleven months I finally started crawling, like to dance to music, and sign "milk" and "yes".
At twelve months I can pant like a dog and I am getting used to standing and falling.

We have plenty to praise God for; a year full of firsts to celebrate.

will there be a cow?

Thankfully, yes, there was a cow...and goats, chickens, turkeys, ducks, guinea fowl, ponies, rabbits.  Our playgroup met up at Prairie Winds Farm near Lakeville, IN.  Farmer Charlotte led an excellent fun-filled day for us, from holding/petting/feeding the various animals to riding the pony and milking the goat, taking a nature hike by the pond, where they made mud pies, through the woods, while checking out the stick houses and along the prairie, watching for the birds in their boxes, and we finished up by having a picnic before our drive home.  I think it is safe to say that the kids had a great time. 

Maria ready to feed the goat her turnip.  Later she got to try her hand at milking a goat...she wasn't too excited about that chore.

He is not too interested in her turnip.

He did like the oats however, but licked Maria in the process of eating and she wasn't too sure she liked that.

Here, try some grass.

She tried out...every....single....brush in the bucket.

seriously!  Both on the cow and the pony.  So I guess a good farm chore for her would be to brush the animals.  This is the cow that she was anticipating being there.

Anna decided to check out the chicken...good thing I was holding it and not her, since she doesn't quite understand the meaning of gentle yet.  She was SO good all day though, but with only an hour nap on the way home she was more than ready to head to bed tonight.

Off we go on a pony ride.

On the nature hike.
We have plenty to praise God for; amazing creatures to learn about and explore.

a wagon built for two

Daddy was giving wagons rides to two cute little girls.

trapped!

I promise, they put themselves there!  But sometimes I wish I had a padded cell to put either them or myself into!

Happy Mother's Day

We have plenty to praise God for; mothers and those that take care of us like mothers.

Getting our spirit on...

We got a nice surprise in the mail yesterday.  I had sent in the girl's picture to be featured in my college alumni magazine as "Future Ravens", my college mascot.  As a thank you for sending in the picture the girls received their own Anderson stuff to wear.  Looks like it is time for mommy to get herself something new as the Raven has gotten a makeover since my last purchase.

We have plenty to praise God for; Anderson University, where my relationship with Christ came alive!

being a ham

 

After dinner tonight Anna was being such a ham, throwing her bib up on top of her head and looking to us and laughing at herself. She was quite a hoot!

Knitting needle bag

No, I do not knit and no I don't need another hobby to learn.  I had wanted to make a gift for a good friend who is moving soon.  She is a knitter and I had heard her say that she would like a knitting needle bag.  I happened to find a pattern for one in a book at the library...SCORE!  She had asked another friend to make a couple of knitting project bags, so she had extra fabric from that, which I used to make this project.  It was super easy to make and I am happy with the way it turned out. Once you store the needles in it, you fold it in half and roll it up, then tie the ribbon.

more birthday fun

We had family over on Saturday to celebrate birthdays.

Maria's requested flower cake...and I guess also MY cake.  Can't wait till she is old enough to make mine for me.

cheesing with the cake

Make a wish...

ha, now do I get some cake??

Present time

Don't look so excited about it Maria.

Seriously, you look like you got a pair of socks.

This doll cradle was made by my dad for me when I was a little girl, it was repaired, cleaned up and grandma made Maria a doll quilt. 

Me checking out my sewing book present.

Maria seems pleased with her bike.

I found this swing-set on Craigslist, but it was over by my parents.  So my parents picked it up and stored it till spring.  They spent part of the morning piecing it back together.  Thanks grandpas!

Hmmm...is Maria or Daddy the foreman on this project??  Daddy actually had just gotten home from a funeral service. 

Maria thinks is pretty cool already!

Happy about the swing-set.

Pretending to sleep for my picture.

Let's try out this bike.

Here I go.

4 generations.

Modeling the birthday dress...which had to be layered with some extra layers...last year we were too hot outside on her birthday...you can never predict in Indiana.

Mom with her sweet girls!
We have plenty to praise God for; the joy of celebrating birthdays.