Happy Birthday Anna!

I can't believe it - Anna is ONE YEAR OLD!

It is crazy how fast time flies ... it feels like just yesterday that she was a teeny little baby, and I swear, just overnight she is a toddler!

Some of our favorite things about Anna:

-She is a snuggle bug! She loves to give kisses and lay her head on your shoulder

-She absolutely adores Owen and her dad. She will giggle and smile non-stop when they are around.

-She sleeps through the night! It took about 2 weeks of letting her cry herself to sleep (stubborn little thing) but she now sleeps every night all night!

She got a kick out of having her own cake.

It took her a minute or two, but she got the hang of it.

Owen was SO super excited for Anna's birthday... it was a long long day for him to wait until the party started! He (of course) opened all the presents, blew out the candle, and made sure he had plenty of cake!

Owen feeding Anna's new doll...

Anna feeding her doll... I had no idea that she had put this concept together herself. No one even showed her, she just picked the bottle up and went straight for the doll.

I love her little tongue sticking out in this picture. She was so cute walking her baby around!

One happy girl!

Here's a video of her reaction when we set her up by the cake. It was classic!

Anna by the numbers:

18.5 is how many pounds she is at one year (15 percentile for her age)

28.5 is how long she is (25 percentile for her age)

Random Facts:

Anna started walking fully by herself one week before her 1st birthday

Anna doesn't take a binky anymore!

(we had to cut Owen's binkys up at age 2!)

Anna loves big people food - anything and everything.

Anna has all 8 front teeth in, and is working on her molars.

Anna had tubes in her always-infected ears at 10 months old.

Anna loves being outside, I repeat, LOVES.

Anna loves our horses and our dogs.

Anna loves to get in the bath and the swimming pool.

Anna loves to slide on our slippery slide.

Anna can say 'da-da' for dad, 'daw' for dog, she nods her head 'yes' and 'no,' 'mawm' for mom

We love you Anna Banana!

Owen got "Locked Up"

at the neighbors house today. We pulled up to the house and Owen jumped out to go play with his friends. I watched him cross the street, knock at the door, and go in. Totally a normal occurance. (when we first moved into the neighborhood, I would call the mom to make sure it was ok, or walk him to the house and ask permission - but now I am a bit more laid back).

Anyway, an hour passes and I think, hmmmm... I should probably go get Owen and have him come home. So I walk across the street and as I get closer to the door, I hear (screaming) "Mom! Help me! I'm locked up! Open the door!" I can then see Owen through the front window blinds crying his little heart out.

I try the door and it is locked. I am giving him instructions through the window (get a chair, try the deadbolt at the top of the door, go to the back door, etc.) All he wants is for me to open the door! It was so sad!

I call my dad first (T is elk hunting for the night). He is on his way to help get in the house. I was about to call another neighbor to get a cell phone number of the locked neighbor's house... when the garage door opens and I see the (hooray!) white van pulling in to save the day.

So Owen must have knocked and no one answered, so he helped himself in. I am not sure how their locking system works, but I know it is extensive! Child proofed to the max! So he must have tried to get out and accidentally locked himself in. Poor kid - one whole hour. He told me that he didn't cry the whole time, so that's good! I just hope he learned his lesson.

Did I mention that the Fire Department came? Yeah, my dad was about 20 minutes away from my house, so having a little connection, he called the captain on duty and had them come to help me! I found this out right after Owen was "rescued" and it was too late. The red engine was just pulling up. Kind of embarrassing. But on the other hand, nice to know I have family and friends to count on when I need them!

So thank you to my dad, "C" shift, and Owen's brave little heart!

Cousins

Some of my favorite memories growing up involved my cousins. We were always doing something together - building huts, making soup out of weeds from the garden, spying on an old lady named Helen, the list could go on and on!

So of course, we are now all living different lives and hardly ever see each other...BUT we did have our cousin Abby fly in and so we had a little "get together" to hang out! Macie, Owen and Chloe hit it off and were in la-la land the entire time.

Aiden and Anna kept everyone entertained showing us their latest "tricks!"

Aunt Becky and Anna

Abby, Rae, and Aliza (I used to babysit Abby and Aliza!! It makes me feel so old to know that Aliza is in college!)

Aliza and Anna

The 3 Stooges