Merry Christmas!

Most of you have probably received our Christmas card by now and have already seen this photo, but we got so many text messages about how funny it was that we thought we should post it on the blog too. We were lucky enough to have our camera on us when we happened upon Santa at a local nursery. Anna seemed excited about it while we were waiting in line, but as soon as we handed her off, she started crying the saddest cry. So cute. We left her on his lap just long enough to snap one photo and then comforted her with coookies! Prior to this Santa incident, I had tried in vain to get the perfect picture of Anna in her Christmas dress. I uploaded some of my best attempts below. I also uploaded some photos of our little family Christmas celebration from this morning... pancakes and presents!

SNOW!

The snow is coming down fast and furious right now! We buddled Anna up in her snowsuit for the first time. She walked around with her tongue hanging out trying to catch snowflakes while Josh picked a snowball fight with our neighbors.

College Bound

I'm assuming everyone knows what I'm talking about when I refer to the College Bound commercial where the kid is running around with a box on his head? Yeah, well, Anna pulled a College Bound move this morning. I found her walking around with training pants on her head, pulled down so far that her eyes were smushed and she could barely see. This may cause many of you to seriously question the veracity of my earlier "Anna, Girl Genius" post.

In other news, I'm battling through day 16 of lingering sickness and I've had just about enough. In my distress, I gave in a got us McDonald's for lunch today -- milkshake and all. Anna pretty much thought she died and went to heaven. What's super weird though, is that after polishing off her nuggets, fries & shake, she specificly requested peas and proceeded to eat seven huge spoonfuls. I wish I had more hankerings for peas. (Please disregard my nasaly, scratchy man voice in the background!)

Gymboree!

Last night Anna went to her first birthday party at Gymboree. I was really looking forward to it for her, thinking she would have a great time playing with all the other kids (not to mention burning energy!). Strangely enough, she wanted NOTHING to do with the other kids and spent most of her time alone in the corner sitting in an inner tube while all the other kids played. She also had little to no interest in the pizza and cake. How strange! And sad. I think she was just a little overwhelmed. I took her home afterward and we curled up in front of Mary Poppins. I think that made her feel a lot better. Maybe there is a little bit of me in this kid afterall! (This morning, by the way, she's walking around the house saying "Happy Burday").

Anna, Girl Genius

While we were impressed when she started counting to ten and when she passed the 100-word mark, it was the clear, unsolicited pronunciation of her "cousin" Eowyn's name that convinced us once and for all that Anna may in fact be a true genius. (Might I also add that shortly after this video was shot, she said "Nigh, nigh Eowyn" when we put the photo on her shelf at bedtime.)

Complete Abandon

I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like there are an awful lot of things to worry about these days, so I thought I'd share this photo of Anna which I think perfectly illustrates what having a childlike faith is all about... total abandon... complete trust that you'll be taken care of.

Halloween, Of Course

There's not much better than a chubby little kid running around in a stupid looking costume yelling, "Can-ee, Can-eee" (i.e. candy). I was actually kind of surprised at how well Anna seemed to grasp the whole trick-or-treat concept. I could just hear her inner-monologue: Hm, so what you're telling me is I just walk up to a door, look cute, and they give me candy? Why didn't someone tell me about this sooner?

Our first stop was at our neighbor Linda's house. Anna got her first lollipop (i.e. "pop") and managed to get it all over her costume. I love this picture. Again, inner-monologue: This pop thing is amazing. Why has mom been messing around with peas and carrots and chicken all this time?

After one stop in our neighborhood, we met up with friends of ours who have a tradition of going to someone's house for cupcakes & cookies pre-trick-or-treating so we got to tag along. Anna downed an entire cupcake and a huge chocolate chip cookie.

I think she was kind of ticked off when the sugar fest ended. Meanwhile, we were left wondering if she'd ever fall asleep...

We trick-or-treated for over an hour and only got to about eight houses. Trying to get four girls under the age of four to cooperate was challenging. Anna occassionally got fed up and wandered off on her own to find more can-eee.

Here's Anna doing a thorough inspection of "the other Anna's" costume.

THE GOODS. (All of which mom & dad ate on the way home.)

Post trick-or-treat pass out (still clinging to her light up bracelet)