What Anna is Thankful For...

Tomatoes and radishes... Weird, but there are worse things to be thankful for, no? She made sure to tell us she was thankful for these things numerous times throughout the weekend. She certainly is developing quite the personality.

And really, I promise I will write about my other monkeys too... I suppose Anna's just been on a roll lately.

Letter to My Youngest Daughter...

My Dearest Anna,

Why must you write on things that are not made for that purpose? Also, it would be REALLY helpful if you would not go all Drama Queen on me when I ground you from your art supplies for a week. You're a smart, mature girl. Please refrain from doing this in the future. I know you're my little budding artist. I absolutely love that about you. I'm hoping this will only make you suffer just enough to never do that again. I got you your own little binder with paper and a zipper bag full of crayons and colored pencils. I put a whiteboard on the wall, in case you had an urge to write on the wall. Tell me girlie, how do I get you to stop without stifling your love for art?

Signed,
Your Exasperated Mommy

Anna's First Kiss...

There is this boy in church who Anna adores! Actually, we like the whole family. I was in a Bible study with the mom, the dad was once Anna's Sunday School teacher, they have two teenage girls, and a set of 4 year old triplets (identical boys and a girl). Allison is good friends with one of the older girls, and my two little ones play with the triplets.

One of the triplets has become the apple of Anna's eye. His name is Zachary. She is constantly talking about her "boyfriend". Oh, and even though he and his brother are identical, Anna has NO problem picking her boyfriend out. She even told me that she will one day marry him. I asked her, "What if you find someone out there that you like better one day?" She looked at me... She was dumbfounded... Then she replied, "Mom, there is no boy better than Zachary!"

Today, we have our normal church routine, and we sit next to the future inlaws. Anna insists upon sitting next to Zachary, and I spot her *gasp* with her hand around his shoulders. Oh my! What a forward little girl. Then... THEN... We see her kiss him. So, at 4.5, Anna has officially had her first kiss with a boy (who isn't related to her - LOL!)... Oh, just wait until her daddy finds out.

The Halloweenies - Yeah... I'm Late.

I apologize now. I have a lot of pictures of these gorgeous kids in their costumes. I got lucky, and had other people get some great shots, especially since I kept forgetting my camera.

Here they are at our church's annual Trunk or Treat. They get to do the Trick or Treat thing and we don't have to freak out about them getting candy from random strangers. And they get to hang with all of their friends. One of our members is a photographer. He got a couple really great shots of the little ones.

Here is Princess Anna, after she flagged him down. Really. She sees cameras, and she thinks they all need to be pointed at her taking pictures. While I can't blame her... I mean, look at that face... I am really trying to get her to stop. It might be just a *smidge* embarrassing.

And here is Iron Man Ezra. We watched the movie, and he's been fascinated ever since.


Here are the two pictures I took. Yeah. I forgot my camera, so you'll have to forgive the quality. Still not bad for a phone.

I had planned to take the little ones to a local photographer who was doing portraits at a local coffee shop. First come, first serve. I spent for-freakin'-ever on Anna's hair. I spiral curled it. Used half a can of hairspray getting it set just right. Then we got in the car to make the 30 minute drive, which ended up being an hour drive because of traffic. When I pulled up to the coffee shop, this is what had happened to those gorgeous spiral curls. *sigh* Thank goodness for the extra bobby pins I had. All ended up working out.

Here are the Halloweenies right before they had their portraits done...

And here are the portraits. Aren't they gorgeous? I hope the photographer (Jennifer Mazy) doesn't mind, but I screen captured the images from the slideshow. She did a great job on their shots and on everyone else's (See the full album). And my two little ones don't even look like they fight 92.4% of the time. I look at these shots when I'm frustrated, and it prevents me from selling them on the black market. Oh, I kid. Maybe. Sorta.