Weekend Wrap Up

We did it!! We had a game on a Saturday!! We have had three games rained out already so this was a pretty big deal! The promise of ice cream kept her on the field. I found out quickly that we aren't the only ones who have to bribe our children to play at nap/lunch time lol



Mama brag moment~ She is fast and good! Seriously, when she is actually playing she has skills and can outrun all of them (she is the youngest and a girl so pretty impressive) She did score the first goal of the game too : ) *enlarge to see more clearly


You must high five daddy after scoring!



Daddy heard the ice cream truck and we rushed to throw clothes on Annslee b/c you know she didn't have any on! The first thing grabbed was a sleeveless dress and so we went with it. She was shivering but I don't know if it was from cold or excitement! (this was about an hour before dinner but hey, who cares?)



She "sang" at church today and this is the only picture I got. About 2 seconds into the song she went and sat in Ms. Pat's lap : )



We also had time to draw and write on the sidewalk. It is kind of hard to see but in the first one I wrote Annslee then she wrote Mia (in blue)



Here she wrote Annslee : )

Tornado Alley

Yeah, we live in it ~ last year more people died from tornados in our state than in the rest of the US combined. Although I love Spring, I do dread it too because I know it means spending time in our hall closet. Last night was one of those nights when we were on high alert and now again today! Today was especially hard because Annslee was at school and so I felt like I didn't have any control over the situation. Luckily, we were never under a warning but just a watch. A local school system did go on lockdown but thankfully nothing happened.

Now as far as Annslee is concerned she loved discovering the "shelter" I had made last night. She had me move her crib mattress a little and she happily played in her cave : )







Annslee is doing Parent's Night Out at her gymnastics place tonight so while jumps, runs, tumbles, watches a movie and eats popcorn, Daddy and I will have a real DATE!! One of the best parts is the $$ we are paying for her PNO goes to one of her teachers for her mission trip to Africa in May.

Seriously, is she really our daughter?

There are days when I sit back and cannot believe SHE is OUR daughter. I mean, how in the heck did we get so lucky? I know every parent thinks their child is so amazing (well, at least every parent should think that) but Annslee truly is such a gift : ) Being around her is like standing in the sunshine after weeks of rain!

I was playing with the ISO on my camera as we were leaving for her Jump, Jazz and Roll class and I asked her to pose for me and this is what I got : )

Speaking of class ~ poor Miss Meigan was tackled by four really cute girls

After class we had to literally dash to soccer practice. I didn't even take off her Princess gymnastics outfit but threw on her shorts, socks, shin guards and cleats....well, it matched anyway since it too is pink and black : )

As you may remember she does NOT like the shark drill where someone tries to "steal" your ball...well, he did get it for a minute but she is a fast runner and she got it back. I think her face tells the story LOL

She and Hunter Nicole always have time for a "girl moment" during practice

Go Annslee Go!!

Miss A had her first Theatre experience today and she loved it! As you know she read this book (or part of it) to her class this week and she reads it to us every night so I was thrilled that it was in town! Unfortunately I waited until so late to get tickets that I literally got the last two available and so poor Daddy stayed home. He is taking her to see Horton so he will get his time too : )


I wasn't really surprised but she stayed in my lap to see better the entire time and was mesmerized. It reminded me of our Di$ney experience and it was great watching her. Her favorite dog was Hattie (yep, just like Josie) and she cackled when Hattie would continue to ask "do you like my hat?" She came down the aisle beside us once and Annslee really loved that!

After the show the 'dogs' came out for autographs and pictures! We had her book with her (thanks for the heads up Mary) and she loved finding the perfect spot for them to sign. The cast has been ill and Green Dog was still not up to do signings.

First we met Shaggy who was the Music Dog....she was a little unsure of him but he was so sweet : )

Next it was MC Dog who gives the famous line "I do not like that hat" and here he is making Annslee laugh b/c he said "Oh my, this is MY favorite book too!!"

Blue Dog's son (pup) sat right behind us!

Yellow Dog was really funny and Annslee kept chatting with him until I had to move her along

Here she is with Hattie!! She loved her hat : )

I don't know what she did or said but he thought she was pretty funny

A better view of Hattie's hat

I couldn't get a great pic but here is her book with the autographs. Red Dog is the one who wrote "Go Annslee Go" ; )

Her least favorite part of the show was the cars because it was loud. We have noticed that she is super sensitive to loud noises and had her hands over her ears. She also was concerned during the car part about the bird and kept asking about him. They came in with one of those ducks you push but she just said "not duck, green bird!!" She has a serious attention to detail and I think she may be a director some day : )

My poor baby has some bad allergies going on and so in the pics you may notice her red cheeks and watery eyes. None of that kept her from having a good time though.

Just the facts ma'am

I wanted to get this "on paper" so I wouldn't forget ~ She has had an explosion of vocabulary lately. I can notice that and appreciate it but sometimes she knows words that I didn't know she could say. For example, while watching Mu*lan she suddenly said "Mu*lan happy" and later "Mu*lan sad" Today we were working a puzzle and she held up a piece and announced "last piece" and then put it in. While playing with daddy she asked him to "pick Daddy" when holding up two objects. Today when we were headed to the pool I teased that I was going down the frog slide first and she yelled "Mama, too big!" Oh, and most importantly, she now uses "Why?" all the time : ) There are many more and I do need to write them all down sometime. She had a vocabulary of TEN words last October (and I was counting Hi and High as two) and now, I have no idea how many she has but I do know we are all LOVING it : )

She also took the book "Go Dog Go" to school for show and tell yesterday and read several pages to her class. I have her reading it on video and would love to show you if I could figure out how ??? I will have to find out b/c she also does the voices I use to read...too cute!

Her other BIG thing right now is gardening so here she is checking on her plants in the window. These were taken after church wearing the SUMMER cat dress she has begged to wear for weeks. I found a shirt to go under it and gave up the fight : )

Her other love is dance/gymnastics. She has such a great time in class. As always being "Pe*ter Pan" is a treat!

Oh and the new preschool?? Well, we had some rough drop offs but she is in a groove now so hopefully we are good to go there too!

The biggest fact of all of course is that we are crazy about our girl!

A surprise reunion

Last night Rebecca called and said, "hey, are you busy tonight or tomorrow?" Well, of course not...ha ha We did have a skating party last night so we took her up on her offer to 'crash' her Tonggu reunion. We do know most of the families as they either were in our big travel group (we went to Hubei and they went to Jiangxi) or they live here and we know them through that.

Here is my Hubei Honey with those Jiangxi girls (sorry, couldn't think of a cute J word)

*Annslee, Aidyn, Katie, Zola, Josie, Seely & Tessa

When they did a Tonggu pic Mary gave Annslee her camera so she could participate too : )

I had to throw this one in of Darby who is Sutton's beautiful daughter from Vietnam. (Her sister is Seely in the shades in the couch picture.) I keep promising her I will add another Vietnamese girl to this China party : )

It was time to give a good-bye hug and it was really sweet but Josie wasn't ready for an Annslee hug~

so this is what happened! Hey, you have to steady yourself when Annslee hugs you : )

After that party we went to my niece's baby shower and you know who helped open all the gifts

This makes the third "really pregnant" person we have been with in the last few days~ you know, their belly is really out there : ) Anyway, Annslee is amazed about the whole thing and can't seem to stop touching their bellies and trying to lift their shirts to "see" the baby. Of course this leads to her trying to lift MY shirt to see Malia *sigh* We definitely talk about her coming from China and Malia from Vietnam but it is a huge concept so I know we have a lot more work to do

More spring break fun

Yesterday the weather was perfect ~ partly cloudy and 74 degrees ~ so a Zoo trip was needed. We had a great time except for the 3 times I had to have a "chat" with her about stopping the whining *sigh* Come on, we were at the Zoo afterall...be happy!! She is really becoming so independent these days and although it is a great thing it is also challenging like when Mama has to go potty and she doesn't and she "thinks" she will just wait outside by the stroller and not come in with me!

The flowers were really pretty and she wanted to pick one but I had to keep pointing out the sign saying to "leave the flowers for others to enjoy" Seriously, check out that contemplative look ~ she is trying hard to decide which one is best : )

Yes, we rode the carousel more than once

The big new thing of the day was "tending" (pretending) that Zoe (her Gigi's dog) was with us at the Zoo. This picture is when it started. We were looking at the cougar and suddenly she squatted down to "pet" Zoe and it continued all day. She has always been so good at imaginative play and will stay 'in character' for a long time but she now will say or do something and say "tend" about it : )

Zoe apparently gave her a big kiss : )

We tried to feed the lorikeets but they were not in the mood to eat today. We never buy the nectar for them but someone gave us some. Honestly, we rarely go in there as it reminds me of a Hitch*cock movie :( They fly right at you and a woman next to us got pooped on yesterday. However, I have to admit she looked so sweet holding that cup up waiting for one to come over. I do think she would have flipped out if one really had ; )

Another Day in Paradise

Isn't that what a day with a 3 year old is ~ well, except for the "exerting your independence part" lol

After her shower last night this was the "look" she went for (notice the pen hanging like Daddy does his)


She is very serious about her flowers getting enough sun and water. The ones in the pot she painted last week are coming up and she is so excited!



Our art project today involved foil, glitter, paper and LOTS of glue! It is very pretty in the sunlight and is currently in our kitchen window : )

As usual she carried a stick around the entire time. Usually this is a "wand" but mostly today it was a walking stick.

It was a little chilly today but she kept saying "home no" over and over so we did a lot of inspecting of plants and flowers and generally just enjoying the morning.