Christmas Time

Friday, December 21, 2007

a moment of thankfulness...

i am going to take this moment in time to say that my kids are playing so nicely together and have been for the last hour and a half. i am so thankful!!

Lord, i praise you for this very moment that henry and daphne are treating each other kindly. thank you for the chance to be at home and to be blessed with their sweetness. i pray that this glorifies You and you alone. amen.

Friday, December 14, 2007

i can't believe it...

if you haven't read my previous post then start there...

so the whole time i was writing i had the mixer going. when ross came in he said that the icing looked solid now. so i went over and sure enough the icing was the way it should be. i moved forward adding my vanilla extract and the homemade caramel and can i say that the icing turned out quite nicely. i don't think it will win my heart over simply because it caused me such stress but by golly the icing is going to work.

i just can't believe it. martha pulled it off!!

oh, martha...

tonight, yes late tonight, i am sitting in my kitchen about ready to throw my six year old copy of martha stewart baby magazine across the room. i have made many a martha recipes and though they have been challenging they have never flopped. well tonight was the night....

on the eve of henry's 6th birthday party the butter cream icing has failed and ross is buying butter cream icing at walmart as i write. i will of course have to doctor it up a bit with the homemade caramel that i made to flavor this icing but i guess it can all go in the mixer... or at least i hope it can.

in an attempt to not overdue a birthday party i decided to make his cake. how tough would it be to make this really cute lion cake to go with his circus themed party? i used boxed cake mix and decided to give martha's ole caramel butter cream icing a go. all i have to say is that i think somewhere during the whisking eggs whites and sugar over the simmering hot water things went a rye. my kitchen aid mixer sounds like it is going to keel over and die at any moment. the motor goes at normal speed and then you hear it shift down on its own as if to catch a breath.

tomorrow henry will not care one bit about this icing. i know that and i am thankful for that. i just thought i could handle the challenge... when will i learn not to take on a challenge the night before?

i will let you all know how my doctored duncan hines turns out.

Friday, December 7, 2007

thanks be to You...

Thanks be to you, our Lord Jesus Christ,

for all the benefits which you have given us,

for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us.

Most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother,

may we know you more clearly, love you more dearly,

and follow you more nearly, day by day.

Amen

Prayer of Saint Richard of Chichester, 13th century

Thursday, December 6, 2007

it's been way too long...

i must start by apologizing for my hiatus over the last few weeks. no i was not so devastated by the passing of our dog...i have just been going a mile a minute.

in early november henry and the other kindergartners all performed in their first talent show. they were adorable! one of the mom's put together a little routine for them and costumes so that they could dance and look like penguins. it was very cute and henry well, just like his daddy, he looks studly in a tie (even if the tie was too big)!
lots has happened since nov. 11th so i will do my very best to catch you all up to speed.

first of all I turned 30 on the 12th. i really felt like this would have to be the moment when i finally felt like a grown up but indeed i still feel like a kid pretending to be a grown up.
okay so back to being 30...ross had been really doing a ton of work to celebrate my birthday in a special way. i told him i didn't want to know anything (which he was glad to know being that i tend to ruin surprises). on friday of my birthday week he said that we should meet for lunch at this great restaurant that is way down on the south end of town in a not so great area of town. this would mean a 45 minute to a 1 hr. drive just for lunch. i made other suggestions throughout the week to no avail so i thought, "he just wants to be sweet and so i should let him".

well the kids and i loaded up and head down to micha's. i was suppose to call him when i reached a certain point but being the confident driver that i am i found my own way. i was getting all the kids out and went to shut the sliding door on the van, not noticing that anna had grabbed onto the door frame, and i proceeded to shut my precious girl's fingers in the door. i was horrified and realized that i had already locked the doors so i had to fumble around with my keys to get it open again. praise God that He makes their tiny bones so moldable. she was fine within moments.

we made our way into the restaurant and finally found him sitting at a table with none other than my SISTER. she was my big surprise!! she came into town for the party ross was putting together. i was stunned! i had not seen her in about 51 weeks and so it was quite the gift to have her sitting at the table with me.

ross then sent us off that evening to enjoy pedicures, dinner and shopping. we had a great time...well except for the horrific sales woman at j. jill who had to have been secretly filming a "how not to treat your customers" video.

saturday was great because we spent the majority of the day just hanging out as family. ross had a few things he needed my sister's help with and after that we made a quick trip over to find shoes and some last minutes before the party.

ross left for allison's house (our phenomenal friend who opened her gorgeous home to us so that we could celebrate) and keesha and i followed a little later. when we arrived i realized that my precious husband had thought of everything. he catered italian food, he had a cake that coordinated with the invitations that he had sent out, there were party favors for the guests and then there is my favorite part... he had custom wine bottle labels made and put them on the wine. the labels had my age and the year i was born and where i was born. they were really neat!

that evening was very special. i truly enjoyed being surrounded by a handful of some special people in my life. my husband worked hard and blessed me greatly!

after my sister left it was time for thanksgiving. we had planned to spend it with ross' family but right before hand a sweet friend and her kiddoes needed a place to go for thanksgiving. my husband may not have tons of money to hand out but his heart is so generous. within moments of hearing what our friend's need was he said to "invite them to come to our house and have thanksgiving". i had not even thought of that yet but he had. this was about 2 days before thanksgiving so we went to the store and got all that we needed to make a traditional meal. without much time to plan my table decorations we were able to turn our little kitchen into a warm place to enjoy fellowship. all wednesday i cooked, loving every minute of it (wearing my fancy new red apron i received for my birthday- it only took asking for it for 3 years). thursday came as did our friends and we were able to enjoy serving our friends.

well there you have it...an update from the newman front. i will be back to my regularly scheduled blogs as of today. have a blessed week!!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

a good dog...

ross and i bought two little daschunds before we got married almost 10 years ago. first came jake our black miniature and then came max. you can see in the picture that max is an unusual color. he was called something along the lines of a double dapple piebald miniature dacshund. let me just make a note here that there was nothing miniature about max. max's eyes were the coolest...in order to get this color dog i think there was a lot of inbreeding done because one eye was blue and one was brown. the eyelashes above the blue eye were all white and the eyelashes above the brown eye were brown.

yesterday max seemed lazier than normal. by the end of the day we couldn't get him to go outside. he had vomited early in the day and at dinner time i mentioned to ross that something looked strange about max's face. by 10pm last night we determined he was probably on his last day or so because he wouldn't even eat the treat we brought to him. he wouldn't drink any water either. we were about to leave him be on his pillow and go to bed so i sat on the floor next to him just to love on him a bit. when he tried to lift is head we noticed that there was some blood coming out of his mouth.

at that point we called our friend to come sit with the kids while we took him to the 24hr. vet. hospital. i wrapped him in a towel and we loaded into the car. i am so thankful i got to hold him for such a long time. he always loved being in our laps with a blanket.

after the dr. took a look at him she felt that he probably had kidney disease, liver disease, cancer or a combination of two or more of these. we made the sad decision to have max put to sleep. i love my dogs but i am also very aware that they are dogs. i never thought i would be so sad about his death. the tech shaved his little leg and got his catheter in and then i held him while the dr. administered the anesthesia. about half way through the medicine he looked up at me as if to say, "goodbye". i am thankful i could be with him in those last moments.

this morning we told henry and daphne. i was really dreading telling henry being that he didn't handle the death of his goldfish very well. today, he was so sad. he was sitting in ross' lap and he just looked at us and said, "but max was my friend." he has seemed to take it in a little better as the day goes on and daphne gets it as much as a 3 yr. old can.
jake wonders around looking for max...he hasn't whined about it yet. once when max spent a few days at the vet jake cried all the time.

thanks for letting me say goodbye to our good dog...

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

well the doctor did not have many results back like he had hoped but feels fairly confident that it was probably not valley fever being that the antibiotics seem to be helping whatever infection was/is/has been in ross' lungs.

one of ross' x-rays did show a 1.4cm by 1.4cm nodule which could be scar tissue from any previous infection. the doctor gave ross orders to have another x-ray done in about 4 weeks to hopefully see that the nodule has either shrunk or gone away altogether. if it is the same size or bigger then he will probably have to do a ct scan to check it out. all in all the doctor is not concerned and feels confident that the nodule will be gone.

there you have it...another crazy ailment in the newman household!

the sick ward...

okay so florence nightengale was an amazing woman. she cared for the sick in an amazing way. this week she would have been a fantastic help around here.
anna has a very yucky nose and has had this since probably last friday. she seems miserable and yet happy at the same time. i know that after several days of kleenex usage my nose becomes a raw mess. anna's nose is at that point. i think she would prefer it if i didn't come close to her face with anything!
daphne has a cough that sounds like a smoker of 40 years.
i think henry has sympathy ailments.

ross is our very sick one though. we should get some test results back in about an hour. he has not been feeling well for more than a week. when i say not feeling well i mean...severe headache, difficulty breathing, fever, chills and exhaustion. monday he went to the dr. and the dr. was concerned it could be west nile virus or valley fever. the doc sent him to the hospital for xrays of his lungs shortly after giving him a breathing treatment.

valley fever is a fungal infection you can get out in this part of the u.s. if you are around construction or areas where dirt gets stirred up a lot. there is a lot of construction happening on the property where ross works. you breathe it in and voila you have valley fever. evidently most people who get it never notice but some (ross) get it and it can knock the wind out of you for a while. the doctor cultured his blood and will give ross the results soon. ross has been taking a major antibiotic and has been doing breathing treatments as ordered (and with some forcing by his wonderful wife who loves him dearly).

God, i know that You are in the business of healing. i am asking that you would restore all the members of my family to full health. thank you in advance for the restoration You will provide.
i love you, Lord.

Friday, November 2, 2007

trick or treat...

halloween was lots of fun with the kids again this year. they loved getting all dressed up and the excitement of knocking on doors in hopes of candy.

many months ago when i asked henry what he wanted to be for halloween he quickly expressed his great desire to be Aslan from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. i was caught off guard because i assumed he would want to be Peter. i guess if we look at c.s. lewis' underlying story then Aslan would be the one we should all want to be.

a lion...a magnificent lion...there is no costume that is great enough to be Aslan on the market. i realized i was going to have to make this costume. well it was tough but nearly as tough as it would have been had ross' mom not been there to coach me through every step. i am so grateful. it took us an entire sunday afternoon. in fact, linda left around 8:30pm and i carried on for another hour or so sewing the mane on. what an undertaking but what a result!!another great thing about this costume is that it served dual purposes. wednesday was reformation day at school and each kindergartner dressed as a character from the bible. they then walked door to door at the school pretending to nail martin luther's ninety five theses to them and singing, onward christian soldiers. henry went as the Lion of the tribe of judah, other characters chosen were daniel, luke the physician, leah and eve ("when she wore clothes").

after picking henry up from school we headed to grandma carol's house so that she could see the kids in costume. they were all pretty cute! catherine met us there with zach. a couple from our church had dressed their little guy up like a lobster last year and so i suggested catherine borrow it. well she did and zach looked adorable. of course daphne was cinderella and little anna went as an adorable duck.

we all went home and tried to rest...to no avail...and then several friends came over for the evening festivities. after eating pizza all the kiddos got dressed and ready to go. jennifer put daphne and ellie's hair up in a bun which was quite the undertaking with daph's baby fine short hair but she got it and it looked fantastic. drew was a football player, jake a firefighter, the girls cinderella, henry Aslan, zach a lobster and anna a duck.






i wonder what they each will be next year???

Monday, October 29, 2007

pumpkin patch...


this past saturday we took the kids to a pumpkin patch. this is something we have done each year we have been here and the kids really enjoy it. the weather was alright except that it was rather warm. something seems wrong about walking around in shorts at the end of october. here are some of the pictures from our day...


baby kyle update...

as of this afternoon baby kyle sherrill is doing very well for the severity of the situation. his ventilatior is down to 24% oxygen and 35 breaths per minute. this is fantastic and God deserves all the glory and honor! many other blessings are told on the family's website which i have linked under my blogs section.

please do not stop praying for this little warrior and his family!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

please pray...

as i am sure some of you might do, i found myself traversing through friend's blogs and the links to other blogs they read. this can be a fun way around blogville. today i was checking on our friend kevin's blog and a link he has to a friend of his. ross knew this couple in college and i met them once or twice.

all that to say that on monday, kelly (the wife) gave birth to their third son, kyle. kyle came unexpectedly at 23weeks. he is very sick and struggling. the husband's blog specifically asked that we pray for supernatural miracles from the Lord in Kyle's life. John and Kelly are christians and follow hard after Him in their personal lives and ministry. John said that he has faith but is struggling with the why? oh how i understand.

Lord, You are near to the brokenhearted. i know that You are omnipotent. i know that You can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. today Lord would You bring hope to the sherrill family? Your word says that You knit kyle together in kelly's womb and that all his days are ordained- Lord I pray that the sherrills will draw near to You and You to them today and in the days ahead. I am asking that you miraculously heal this little boy so that You will be glorified in it all. I know you will heal kyle even if it is not how we might desire but oh Lord I pray that You give them the grace to trust you in the "why"s of each moment.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

cinderella sunday...










another exciting adventure this weekend was when daphne and i got to go on a mommy daughter date to the disney princesses on ice. we enjoyed this fun filled evening with none other than ellie and her mom, jennifer.

for halloween daphne is going to be cinderella and so for this special event she was able to wear her cinderella dress, tiara, earrings and sparkly shoes. i think she felt like the real deal. i was even able to get her hair into a little bun...well it only lasted till we got to the show.

during the show daphne sat in my lap mesmerized. every time a skater would lift her leg daphne would smile, look up at me and say, "mommy she did an aravesque". her fascination with doing an arabesque in ballet transcended its way even to the ice skating show. i think that in the time that it took the show to go from start to finish i heard her tell me about 500 "aravesques".

an exciting weekend...



our weekend was filled with great fun! friday night henry's first ever school friend sleep over happened here in our living room.

henry's buddy sage came over around 4pm and the adventure began. the boys did such a great job of letting daphne play with them and never making her feel like a third wheel.

after an hour and a half it was time for some pizza. i had the kids all sit outside not only for the avoidance of a big mess in the kitchen but also because these two boys can be very loud when they are together. i figured they could eat and be loud on the patio in the hopes that the late hours of the night might be quieter.

next came some hang out time in the back yard. ross mowed the grass and the rest of us played on the swings. the weather was perfect!

once we all had come inside and cleaned up a bit it was time for making ice cream sundaes! we let the kids make their own with toppings, whipped cream, sprinkles, the works! it was so fun letting them create their own masterpieces.

i think what made me laugh most about the ice cream sundaes is that neither of the boys ate much of them. they seemed to enjoy making them far more than eating them.
















of course they had to brush their teeth after their special treats. and then with pjs on and sleeping bags unrolled we watched Homeward Bound. what's a movie without some popcorn. sage is a little more active than henry and so he had to get up and burn off some energy. by 9pm the movie was done and we got the boys settled into their bags and prayed with them. ross and i went to bed and could hear the little voices that were in on our living room floor. at 10:30am we were ready to go to sleep and yet those boys were chatting away. i went in and told them that if they could not go to sleep we would have to put henry in his bed and sage on the couch. we didn't hear another word till 6:30 the next morning.

with that early wake up call ross heated up the griddle and made pancakes for everyone.

the boys had a great time together as did we. it was fun to watch them enjoy one another and to play hard and to grow their little friendship.

what a great first sleep over!

Friday, October 19, 2007

a right of passage...


see ross' blog for the whole story!


Sunday, October 14, 2007

party time...

though daph turned 3 two weeks ago we waited to have her party so that we could share the fun celebration with her best friend, ellie.

there is such ease in hosting a kid's party AT a location instead of in my home. i have always had the kid's parties here at home but with the success of doing henry's in a park last year my friend, jen, and i decided to do the girls party at gymboree. i tell you, they handle everything- the worker was even willing to cut and serve cake. wow! at the end we just gathered up the gifts and anything we brought with us and she cleaned up. i loved that!

the girls and all their little friends really seemed to enjoy themselves. there were plenty of activities both guided and not for them to do and what kid doesn't love a giant parachute?

poor little ellie was still recovering from a cold and cough so after she had run around about 45 minutes she was done! even when it came time to blow out the candles, ellie just wanted to be in her daddy's lap. leave it to the best friend to blow out your candles for you!








after we got home daphne was able to open her gifts and she has been in la la land ever since. she was given so many sweet gifts and i think she has played with them all non stop for the last 24 hours. one of our friends gave her this adorable cheerleader outfit which has been on her body every possible moment we are willing to allow. she was also given a tiara and clip on earrings which are new favorites. we have had many a tea party throughout the day, we have played magnetic dress up dolls often, she has painted our bathtub, read a sweet book from her 1/2 aussie friend, put the loving family mommy and daddy on their new potty several times, has enjoyed putting her new barrettes in her hair and is now sleeping with a new zebra named henry.
what a fantastic time it was to celebrate our precious girl and her best friend!!

Sunday, October 7, 2007

so far behind...

i just thought i would share that i am uploading 613 pictures that need to be scrapbooked. yes- i am that far behind! i must say that, though daunting, i am excited to scrapbook all these pictures. there are many times/events/great pictures that i am looking forward to putting in our albums!

i hope this absurd number of pictures that i need to manipulate into cuteness is of great encouragement to those of you who are only a few months behind!

have a great week!

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

happy 3rd birthday, daphne...


our girl turned 3 yesterday! she woke up in her usual sweet way so we were able to hug and kiss on her before the day got moving. as soon as we had kissed on her she said,"can i open my cinderella present now?"

side note: when we purchased her present last week i went ahead and wrapped it in some cinderella wrapping paper because she absolutely loves cinderella. we put the package at the top of our closet and then the next morning she was sitting on the floor of our bathroom and asked, "is that cinderella? can i open it?" needless to say she has been wanting to open the package all week long.

we brought out her presents and with the help of her older brother they opened those couple of gifts pretty quickly. we set up her dollhouse and she has enjoyed every minute since. she always tells her brother, "i'll be the pink ones and you be the blue ones."

after we dropped henry and the goodman boys off at school we headed over to pick up daphne's best friend ellie for a play date. they had a good time playing and laughing all morning. for a special lunch ross came home with daphne's long awaited cinderella cake. let me say that i think it is adorable that she loves cinderella so much but i wasn't prepared to force the whole princess party theme on our friends who we are co-hosting the girl's birthday party with. daphne has said for weeks she was going to have a cinderella cake so yesterday was the day and ross was the hero who brought it through the door. there were two little girls that were just ecstatic to see cinderella in all her baking glory!
daphne was blessed with many phone calls and lots of singing throughout the day to help her celebrate this very special day!

it was 3 years ago that daphne entered our world screaming her head off and i just thought, "keep screaming precious little girl!" she has been a sweet source of laughter and joy each day. even as i put her to bed tonight i thought about what a pleasure she is in my life. more often than not she puts a smile on my face. i love her girliness, her silly smiles with a wink, her fascination with cinderella and her new found love for ballet.

Lord, you have so richly blessed our family with a little girl who is so full of life and excitement. Thank you for Daphne and for the chance to be her mommy!

flagstaff and the grand canyon...



we had such a nice get-away this past weekend. ross' parents were up in flagstaff for a couple of weeks so we decided to head up that way and enjoy some fall weather. within a five hour drive the temperature dropped 30 degrees!! it was such a treat to feel that cool crisp air on our faces. the kids love to go to a "two beds" (aka a hotel)! we could probably go to the resort down the road and stay there and the kids would be in heaven. i hope they always remember having fun at the "two beds" on family trips. those are the things that memories are made of!!

while we were up there we decided to drive over to the grand canyon. my aunt had said to me before we left that we should try to see as much as we possibly could while we were out here because we never know when God might have us relocate. well after living in arizona for over 2 years we felt it was high time to see that huge hole in the ground. to be real honest i had very little interest in seeing the grand canyon...i didn't do so well in geology in college either. well let me tell you, the grand canyon in phenomenal. no picture will ever do it justice. it is so deep that my eyes had trouble gaining any depth perception. i couldn't grasp how tiny the people were hiking downward.

while we were up on the rim looking over henry said to me, "mom, God is good all the time." as i smiled and was about to respond a lady a few feet away leaned forward and said to him, "all the time God is good." henry, grinning from ear to ear, looked up at me and said, "mom, she knows." a sweet moment of encouragement from the Lord for my little man!!

i think i have shared before that henry loves the mountains and really shines when he is up on them. he is afraid of very little. his papa on the other is terrified of heights. i was rather impressed that papa even went out on the lookout. henry was with grandma and papa checking things out and henry stuck his head through the fencing. he had done it with me when we were out checking things out so i didn't freak out when i saw him do it with grandma and papa standing with him. as you can see from the picture his grandma and papa weren't as confident with his safety. i must say i was thankful for their watchful eye but it still made me laugh to see papa standing so far from henry trying to pull him back!

our day was filled with new adventures and lots of great family time. i am also thankful we went over to see the big hole in the ground. there is no mistaking the awesomeness of our God when you look out over that portion of His creation!

Monday, September 24, 2007

i went to court today...

this morning after dropping henry off at school ross and the girls and i headed down to the juvenile court. around 9:30 the state of arizona accepted the petition for the adoption of baby zach. though he has been part of our family since april, it is now official!!

it was such a blessing to be able to support tod and catherine in their adventure of parenting. their adoption of zach stands as an up close and personal example of what, through Christ, God has done for us.

"In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves." Ephesians 1:5

during the hearing the representative of the court asked tod and catherine questions regarding the adoption. one of her questions was if they understood that by adopting him he now has all the rights and privileges of a natural born child and if they believed this to be in zach's best interest. this statement included that zach would now have all the rights of inheritance. of course they acknowledged these things and everything was approved and accepted.

i knew all along the spiritual implications of this adoption but today i thank the Lord for what he has done for me. i watched tod and catherine hold their son and with full emotion legally take him as their own. this precious child belongs to tod and catherine now and therefore he is the heir to their promise to love and care for him as their son.

as christians, we have assurance much like what the courts gave zach today. we are heirs, His heirs.

"If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Galatians 3:29

thank you, God for loving us so much that through Jesus you adopted me as your own. thank you for allowing me the privilege of being your heir. thank you for doing what is in my best interest. thank you for zach and for the reminder that he is and what you have done.


Sunday, September 23, 2007

thank you, Lord...

tonight i was going through some old pictures, well not that old- they were pics from last year. i came across a file that is full of pictures i need to scrapbook. anna's baby book hasn't even been started yet. i have set a goal to work on her book before i work on any others.

i just love all babies. specifically my babies but still all of them. there is something so magical about that teeny tiny little person. i fell in love with my nephew's feet shortly after he was born and a year ago i fell in love at first sight with anna.

i thought i would share a few pictures from her last year...

Friday, September 21, 2007

the blog police...

tonight i had to do what i have not wanted to do. i had to remove many friends from my blog list.

many of you do not update your blogs in a regular fashion so i had to remove you. if you are terribly offended then please let me know and i will put you back on -but with probationary status.

know that i truly care about your lives and look forward to your updates. i will continue to check on your blogs for myself but for now i can't recommend them.

fyi- ross would totally get booted for not updating his regularly but i'm married to him...he also says he updated his twice this week.

oh and kevin- you got removed because every time i link to your blogs you go and decide to use some other mechanism for communicating via cyber space.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

a prayer from st. francis assisi (1181-1226)...

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying to ourselves that we are born to eternal life.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

smash cake...


so my girl is 1 and she loves cake!! it was so fun to watch her dig in to her cake. we gave her a cupcake with pink icing on her actual birthday as a trial run. at first we thought she might be rather tame but then it was as if the sugar kicked in and she went full speed ahead with the shovel action.
by saturday at party time anna was raring to go!! ross smoked some briskets and we served a texas style lunch with beans and potato salad. everyone seemed to enjoy themselves even though there must have 80 decibels of sound in our little home. 12 kids ages 5 and under had a good time!

once plates were cleaned it was the big moment! i put the candle in the cake and gathered everyone around the table for some birthday singing! anna knew what that song meant...she was grunting at the cake before it was even sliced. once on her plate...well i will just say that it was hysterical! she shoved, she grunted, she devoured! you only turn 1 once so when she asked for more i gave her a little piece. that seemed to do the trick.


moving on from there it was present time... i learned a long time ago with henry's parties that i should never try to tame the wildness of children who want to help open the gift that they brought. anna had the most fun just eating the tissue paper.










what a great day of celebrating our little girl!

Lord, thank you for a wonderful year of enjoying this precious child you have gifted to us. she has been such a joyful addition to our home. you are so good to us! we praise you for her life and what you will do in her.

Friday, September 14, 2007

happy birthday, anna



today my baby girl anna turned 1. i can't get over how fast this last year has gone by with her. she is so sweet and full of smiles for just about anyone. lately i have referred to her as our little rugby player because she likes to duck her head down and plow into you- all the while giggling. tonight we will celebrate with a little cake that henry and i made today and then tomorrow some friends and family will come over and we will have lots of bbq and some more cake. pictures are sure to follow.

on another note... henry lost his very first tooth. on tuesday evening he showed me a pretty loose tooth and told me it was really cool to have a loose tooth. evidently at school he spent the majority of the time with his finger in his mouth wiggling it. when i picked him up his teacher said we might want to see if it would come out that night. thankfully during dinner he bit into his chicken and got a little nervous because his tooth was hanging on by a thread. ross grabbed hold of it and in seconds his first tooth was packaged and ready for the tooth fairy!

on the daphne front, she had her mascot parade at school yesterday. she was of course the cutest frog of all time. poor thing was exhausted though and so she didn't have much animation...that was probably a good thing that day!! she held ms. laura's hand the whole time but eagerly waved to all the other children. (she's the one in green shorts with a frog on her head.)


that's all for today but rest assured that i will have more pictures from anna's birthday this weekend.