Sesame Street Live

Anya absolutely LOVED it. She sat in complete awe for most of the show. It was a great success. I was a little nervous but in the end bringing her turned out perfect!

Here is a little video clip of the show..

3 blondes on a Friday afternoon

Move over mommy I want to update the blog..

just an ordinary day

Today was an ordinary, wonderful day. We woke up to snow but not too much that we were stuck inside. We headed to music class. It was a great surprise that our neighbor Dawn and her daughter Haley had the day off of school and were there as well.
Anya LOVES music class. She loves the songs, dancing, instruments, puppets, parachute, and the bubbles. She will dance her way through that hour.

Today there was a small group so the parachute was extra fun. The kids sat on it together while we moved it around in a circle singing. After we were finished Anya asked for more. :)

Once we got home there was lunch and a nap. After nap Anya asked me to blow bubbles while we were in my bedroom. I sat down with her and I blew the bubbles as she ran around popping them with her nose.

We headed downstairs for a snack and I put on a special treat, the DVD Beauty and the Beast, that I had rented from the library. Anya sat through less than half, but she loved the first parts.

Today was an ordinary day, but sometimes ordinary days end up being the memorable ones.

Yogurt factory field trip

Today we headed to Stonyfield yogurt factory to meet up with our mom group for a tour and samples. We started our morning off by playing with all of the fun toys that they have set up. The tour includes a movie and samples. It doesn't allow you into the area where the yogurt is made. Anya didn't want to sit still during the movie but she really enjoyed the samples after. It was great to see our friends this morning.



They sell yogurt in tubes called, squeezers. I gave one to Anya and she fell in love. Soon she was turning it upside down and trying to get it out of the other end. It was going everywhere. I bought a box of them, to torture myself with the mess at home lol.

a snow fun week

By 'snow fun', I kind of mean 'no fun'. Not that we don't like snow. We ski and Dwight ice fishes. We now sled since we have a child. It's just that being a stay at home mom during snow storms can make your skin itch. I get cabin fever. Being home alone for a whole day with Anya can be fun but not more than once a week. We got hit with two large storms this week making us stuck inside twice.. add on the MLK holiday in which we decided to stay inside as a fam and that is more than half the week inside together. Thank goodness for Wednesday and Thursday morning play dates.
This afternoon I was dying to get out. I wanted to do something in which Anya could get some energy out. I pulled out all of the snow clothes and made a pile. I took a deep breath before I squirmed Anya into the snow pants, coat, mittens, hat, and finally the boots. Hooray, we were ready. Next, my turn. I get all of my winter gear on, sweating by then, and we head out. Only my car with her sled is down the road, I had moved it for the plows. I march her back inside to move the car back, quickly before she gets upset wondering where I am. We get out and she loves the sled which is a hand me down from my cousin Shawn and his wife Kimmy. I walk her back and forth and she says, weeee. It felt great to feel the cold fresh air. It brought back memories for me of playing in the snow as a child.
This is the part where I get a little too adventurous. I bring her out back. I didn't realize we had been hit so bad. The snow was up to my thighs which means it's pretty much up to Anya's waist at parts. She ends up crawling in it and we are both struggling. She gets some snow crystals on her nose and I move over to help her, noticing one mitten is in the snow. I try and persuade her to go back to the front of the house but she is not having that idea. There is crying and she even tries to hit me with her snowy mitten. Exasperated we make it to the front. She is crying because she doesn't want to go back inside. I cave and we decide to go for a walk down the road. We get halfway around the circle together when I notice she is missing that stinkin mitten again! I tell her to turn around because we have to go back to find it and there are tears again. I feel like crying myself. We walk all the way back to find the little pink mitten sitting in the slush. I crouch down to put it on and what do you know, the other mitten is now gone!! This is the part where I almost did cry. I tell Anya to say, where are you mitten? She is walking back down the road saying it which is actually really cute. We find the mitten and I attempt at putting them on. They are wet now and she screams. Her hands are turning bright red and she screams at this too. I pick her up and carry her screaming the rest of the way. My heart hurts at the thought of her being so cold.
There are 59 days left until spring, in case you were wondering.

20 months

Today Anya is 20 months. I can't believe that we will have a two year old in a few short months. Anya is one of the funniest girls I know. She is always dancing, smiling, and being silly. She continues to love easy games of hide and seek and chase.

Her favorite things are stickers, the cat, mommy and daddy, dancing, dvds, play dates, music class, being covered up with a blanket, cheese, milk, her favorite blankie, balls, tunnels, ring around the rosie, being tickled, going outside, jumping on anything (couch, bed, people, cat lol), pushing her baby stroller, stacking blocks, mac & cheese, chicken nuggets, drinking from our cups of water, ice cream, singing to music in the car while watching herself in the mirror, opening and closing anything with a lid, putting things in and out of containers, bubble baths and throwing toys in the tub and putting them away after, talking on a play phone, and wearing my slippers and necklaces.

She eats the most at lunch and usually has a small breakfast and dinner. She naps for about 2 hours in the afternoon each day. She sleeps 11 hours at night on average.

She wears size 12-18 months for pants and 18-24 for tops. I will be able to re-use a lot of her summer clothing this year since it was a bit big on her last year.

We are entering a stage of doing the same game over and over. Example: She asks me to open a container.. takes out the items.. puts them back in.. shuts it.. and asks me to open again. This goes on a million times. Let me tell you, this gets old very quick. Parenting does require so much patience.

She has been more clingy to me lately. I usually have to be the one to put her in her crib at night. She will call, mommy mommy!!, if she doesn't see me at times. This is normal but new for her.

There are so many words that she now says that I wont even try to compile a list. Her newest words have been heart, stuck, sit, strawberry. She pretends to count things and usually ends up repeating the number two while pointing to objects.

She is such a happy girl. She rarely has her cranky moments. When they do occur, they are just moments that can be fixed with tickles or a song.

We are truly blessed. She is the light of my life.

ring around the rosie

At our play date today Anya and her two friends, Kayla and Meredith, played ring around the rosie. I was smiling so much my mouth hurt. It was so fun to see them beginning to really play together. The 3 moms sang the song and stopped once and a while to hear the girls singing, rosie rosie rosie.

beach tent ball pit

I think I may be out of snowy day activities by February at the rate we have been getting snow this month. I am crossing my fingers for an early spring. :)

these boots are made for walkin'

Anya has new rain boots for the spring and she LOVES them. She asks me to put them on her all of the time now :)
Over the weekend she took a winter walk with grampy and me. It was beautiful.. cold but beautiful. She didn't want to hold our hand. She is such a big girl.

We also went on a train at the mall with my sister. Anya loved it so much that she would start thinking about it after and cry while saying, choo choo!! She was upset that she couldn't ride it all night.

finger painting

We are getting hit with 12-16" of snow today so I bravely took out the finger paints for the first time. Anya did great :) Does she have her auntie's talent in art? ;)

Anya's masterpiece..

fun at the indoor playground

We met up with our friends Erin, Billy and Julianna at an indoor playground today for some fun. The best part was this big slide. I took Anya down a few times and she loved it. It kind of made me dizzy since it swayed a little bit while you climbed up, but it was worth it.

I'm thinking gymnastic classes are in the future for her.. Anya with her buddy Billy who she calls "B"..

I love this action shot of Anya in the bounce house. She can do more every time I bring her somewhere new. She is growing up right before my eyes. :)

Life is a great time :)

Happy 1/11/11

we are family

the last holiday hurrah

We celebrated the holidays one last time this weekend with my moms side of the family. It was a great time. It was nice to see all 10 of my Nana's great grandchildren in the same room...

Anya got a new baby doll with accessories that included this carrier. How cute is this?!

It was Evan's first Christmas this year. He is so stinkin' cute!!!!

Every year we have a yankee swap. It is a fun tradition. There is an ongoing joke about obnoxious ginormous slippers in the swap. This year Anya tried them on for size.

It was so nice to see family and end the holiday season together. I am ready for things to be back to normal.. no more overeating.. done with the busy holiday calendar.. etc. etc..

I am even (dare I say it) thinking about spring already.. :) Not before we get in some time on the slopes though! ;)

mama's slippers

Anya loves walking in my shoes. At the very end she unexpectedly jumps in my lap :)

forward facing

Anya is now forward facing in her carseat. It's so much fun to turn around and see her face looking at me. We now sing together to her favorite music. We did before, but now I can see her so much better. :)

Where are you? Socks.

The other day I heard Anya waking from her nap. I crept upstairs to find her fluffy smiling bedhead peeking up at me. I looked down to see bare feet.
I asked, Where are your socks, Anya?
She responded by looking around her crib and saying, Where are you? Socks. Where are you?
I laughed and looked around with her.
We finally found them in a corner.
She cracks me up.
These are the stories I hope I never forget.

cleaning

speaking of cleaning...

My New Years resolutions are as follows..

Organize my car

Floss more

Reach goal weight

It's a new year and it is off to a nice start.

Sliding

How did she get old enough to go down the slide alone? :)
She loves it.

A year of Anya

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH
APRIL
MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER