Annabelle is FIVE!

Birthday celebration at Preschool

Preschool Photo

Barbie Ballerina Cake

Build-A-Bear Fun

Picnic Basket Favors for our Little Friends

The Crew!

....and it happened...I blinked my eyes for one second and suddenly my little baby girl is five years old. I've been both sad and happy this past week celebrating her birthday, so happy that she is such a wonderful, sweet, kind, smart little girl but so sad that she is not a baby any more. I can't believe five years have already gone by. And five means next school year my baby will go to "real" school.

We celebrated Annabelle's birthday with a Build-A-Bear party. She loves, loves, loves Build-A-Bear so this was something we had been planning for a while. We decided on a Build-A-Bear picnic theme and invited some of Annabelle's closest friends to come make a bear. It was a great party, the kids had a fun time making a bear (there was no clean up for me, yaaaaay!) and we walked to the food court in the mall for cupcakes afterwards. We celebrated Annabelle's birthday at home with a Barbie ballerina cake from DQ (ice cream cake is our favorite!) and gifts.

So excited to see what year five has in store for us. I am so proud of my sweet little girl.

Here's my facebook post from her birthday:  5 years ago today the most wonderful little girl entered my world and added a sparkle to my life. No one will ever know the strength of my love for her, after all, she is the only one who knows what my heart sounds like from the inside. Happy birthday Annabelle!

Halloween Festivities

With Mrs. McCook, Library Storyteller

Treats for Preschool

Pencils for teachers, dance instructors and librarians

Annabelle's pre-ballet class

Annabelle's preschool class

Bubbles at the fall festival at the CDC

Trick or Treat parade on campus

It's not even Halloween yet and I feel like I've had my fair share of Halloween festivities! So far, we've celebrated Halloween: at a carnival at our friend's church, at the library with trick or treating and a Halloween story and craft, at dance class where Annabelle wore her costume and danced in costume, at the preschool where we had fun at the trick or treat parade and finally a fall festival at the preschool! Whew! That's a lot of Halloween and Halloween day is still a couple days away. We're just planning on the usual trick or treating in our neighborhood since Halloween is on a school night this year. I talked Justin into dressing as the big bad wolf to go along with Annabelle's little red riding hood costume.

I've also been baking a little more since the weather has been cooler. I pulled the crockpot out and tried a couple crockpot recipes that were not great. I tried a recipe for chocolate chip pumpkin brownies that were not good at all either. I think I'll stick to the tried and true recipes from the past!

Fall Fun with Friends

Annabelle & Sophie on the ferris wheel

Bouncing fun

Bouncing with buddies

More bouncing

Thirsty

Pumpkin patch selection

Fishing for candy

It's been a super busy weekend. Last night we went to an orchestra concert with some friends, today we stopped by a local church pumpkin patch with some friends and enjoyed the Fall Festival they were having and tomorrow I am helping to host a baby shower for a friend. Today Annabelle had a blast riding the rides and playing in the bounce houses at the Fall Festival. I think she could've bounced forever if we let her. After the festival fun we went over to our friend's house for ice cream and more fun for the kiddos. It really doesn't feel much like Fall down here, the air conditioner is still running non-stop and the afternoon sun is scorching. I can't wait for winter and the cooler weather that is sure to arrive!

One Tooth Less!

Well, the tooth finally fell out tonight. Unfortunately we weren't able to catch the little guy. It fell out while Annabelle was brushing her teeth and went straight down the drain. Justin took the trap off but no tooth. So the Tooth Fairy gets an IOU this time.

Chicken Wire

Every time I say the words "chicken wire" Annabelle laughs hysterically (like I've told some kind of hilarious joke). I only found this out because the local animal control officer was in front of our house last week trying to pick up our neighbor's dogs (that seem to get out quite often and chase bicyclers) that had escaped from their yard (side note: I really don't like dogs but I do love animals & I just didn't want to chance that they might be put to death at the pound if the neighbor didn't go get them), I was able to talk the officer out of taking them to the pound by telling him that I would mention to our neighbor that he should use some chicken wire...haaahaahaahaa!

First Loose Tooth!

Annabelle has a loose tooth. We decided to make a tooth fairy pillow just so we could be prepared when the tooth does fall out. I can't believe she's already loosing her baby teeth, seems like just yesterday she was getting her first teeth!

Dancing at Palmfest

Annabelle danced at Palmfest yesterday. She did a wonderful job of dancing and singing along, we were so proud of her! She has a lot of improvement in her dance classes now that parents aren't allowed to sit in any more :)

Psalm 31:3
Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.

Aunt Lisa Visits

Aunt Lisa came to South Texas to visit us! Annabelle was so excited to see Aunt Lisa, the last time we saw her in person was at Christmas at Sitti & Papa's house. We had a wonderful week with her, it started out a little rocky with her flight getting cancelled but we were able to recover from that and have a really great time. We spent the weekend at The Pearl resort on South Padre island. The beach access was nice, Annabelle did some boogie boarding in the ocean and had a blast at the giant pool at the resort while Lisa, Justin & I enjoyed the great views and the swim up bar :)! The picture above is the view from our hotel room. Now if we could only get the rest of the family to come to the Island instead of Kansas for Christmas.
We shopped at the outlet malls in Mercedes & downtown McAllen, we ate some wonderful donuts at Shipley's and we got to see Lion King 3D - a big hit with Annabelle. It was so nice to have family around.
We were sad to see Lisa go, Annabelle asked her if she could come live with us forever.

Coconut Milk

This week at story time Mrs. McCook read "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom". After reading the story to the kids she came around the room and let each child hold a real coconut. When she got to Annabelle, she held the coconut to Annabelle's ear and said "Do you hear the milk?", then she let Annabelle hold the coconut. As she walked away Annabelle looked at me and said "I didn't know MILK came from coconuts?".

Reading with Daddy

Perusing the new American Girl catalog, one of Annabelle's favorite things!

Preschool

First Day of Preschool

Swinging in our backyard

Annabelle started her second year of preschool on Tuesday. This year was a totally different experience than last, she already knew who her teacher was going to be and she was very familiar with her school, she was so excited for school to start! She was even more excited when she found out most of her friends from last year are in her class again this year. Yay! Her only complaint is about nap time, she's not a fan of naps and hasn't taken one in over a year. I talked to the teacher about it and they agreed to let her put her cot in the library center and read books instead of napping. Great solution! I can't believe we only have one more year of preschool and then she will be off to kindergarten. Time sure does fly!

Dress Up

Loving the "Magic Mirror" on the Side

Annabelle has a new dress up closet! She was so excited when Justin decided he would build a dress up closet now that he is out of school for the summer (he taught during the first summer session this year). I think we were all getting tired of the big pile of dress up clothes in the corner of Annabelle's room and this was the perfect solution. She loves looking through her costumes and playing dress up and now it's so easy to get to everything. It even has wheels on the bottom so she can move it around the house!

Everything IS Bigger in Texas...Except Cats

A little over a month ago a stray cat wandered up to Annabelle & I while we were getting in the car. The poor thing was pitiful, just skin and bones and looked so sad. Being the cat lover that I am, I just couldn't resist, I ran inside and brought out some of Walter's cat food and a big bowl of cold water for the poor thing...and that was the exact moment that Edith became our cat.

She only weighs 5 lbs. and looks like a rat compared to the bulky 15 pounder that we're used to. And we thought everything was bigger in Texas!....everything except cats.

Lazy Days of Summer

The last few weeks have been sweltering hot down here in deep South Texas. Makes you just want to sit around and do nothing. But, we've been keeping ourselves busy. We've been keeping up with the events at the library and the summer reading program, we went to a magic show and a soccer presentation at the library. We keep the blow up pool full of water on the patio for quick afternoon swims. Other than that it's just been a lazy summer so far!

"Percy" to the Queen

Yesterday Annabelle and I were out and about running a few errands when I heard her talking to her stuffed animal in the back seat, she was giving ballet instructions to her stuffed dog and ended it with "now Percy". I said "Do you mean CURTSEY?" Annabelle said "Noooo Mom, PERCY". She then sounded it out for me "Puh, Puh, PERCY" We went back and forth for the whole entire trip, Annabelle INSISTED it is "Percy NOT Curtsey". I finally gave in and now I am convinced the proper word is "Percy" So everyone, Percy at the end of your performance please :)

Baking Cookies

Fresh Baked Chocolate Mini Chip Cookies

Even though it's 100+ degrees outside I still get the urge every once in a while to turn on the oven and bake some cookies. Yes, I could just run down to the local HEB and pick up a package at the bakery but there's just something about making your own cookies from scratch. Plus, Annabelle just LOVES cracking eggs and measuring flour. Now if I can just resist eating them all!

Sitti & Papa's Visit

Under the umbrella at the beach.

Justin, Annabelle & I at the Sea Turtle Rescue

Sitti & Annabelle at the Sea Turtle Rescue

Annabelle in front of one of the big sea turtle tanks.

Annabelle biting my nose off at the Hilton restaurant.

Sitti, Annabelle & Papa at the Hilton restaurant.

Papa sitting at the gazebo at our hotel.

Annabelle & I feeding potato chips to the seagulls. (They loved them!)

Annabelle and the seagulls.

Pelicans flying over.

Sitti, Annabelle & Papa at the beach.

Sitti, Annabelle & Papa in the pool.

Our view from our hotel room.

Sitti & Papa left today after a week long visit. We (especially Annabelle!) had a good time hanging out with them. They arrived on Monday evening and we headed to South Padre Island on Tuesday morning to spend the day at the beach. Unfortunately, the water was a bit too choppy and it was a little too scorching hot to sit on the beach long. We had reserved rooms at the La Quinta Inn on the beach so we headed to the hotel to swim in the pool and relax at the gazebo. Thank goodness the hotel had a pool and beach access, it was so nice to be able to wash off at the outside showers after walking on the sandy beach. Sitti & Annabelle collected shells on the beach and everyone swam in the pool even though the pool water was hot like a warm bath, yuck! We visited the Sea Turtle Rescue on the island and walked over to the Hilton for dinner. We had a nice time on the island.

We headed back home on Wednesday since Annabelle had ballet class and Sitti wanted to see her dance. Annabelle was so happy that Sitti got to see her dance although she (Annabelle) did look a bit tired since we had had a busy day at the beach the day before!

On Thursday morning we had an appointment with my OB/GYN for a sonogram and to talk to the doctor about having another baby. So glad that Sitti & Papa were here to watch Annabelle since the appointment took 3 hours! No problems were found on the sonogram so my hopes are still high for having another baby sometime soon (fingers crossed!).

On Friday we spent the day preparing for our garage sale (on Saturday) that I have been putting off for months. Our garage was full of "stuff" we had been moving around to different rooms in our house to get it out of the way & random items we had been stashing in the attic. We also had old living room furniture that I was never able to sell on Craigslist. We sold almost everything at the garage sale on Saturday and made quite a bit of money. It was a nice morning for a sale but by the afternoon it was sweltering hot out so we bagged up everything that was left and donated it. Thank goodness Sitti & Papa were here to help with the sale and Sitti helped Annabelle run a successful lemonade stand!

We decided to spend Sunday relaxing since Sitti and Papa were planning on getting up early the next day to head back to Kansas. We had a fun week & Annabelle was so sad to see Sitti and Papa leave.