Memorial Day Weekend

We had a fun filled Memorial Day Weekend. Friday night, we headed up early to Green Lake to be with Paul's parents. We joined them for dinner in Wyoming, along with their neighbors and friends Colleen & Steve. Anna gobbled up anything she could get her hands on-bread, baked veggies, steak, mashed potatoes. She left quite a mess, but kept all of us laughing with her double fisting all the food! She didn't like sleeping somewhere new, and ended up in bed between Paul & I around 6 in the morning on Saturday.

Saturday, we had breakfast and everyone except Wayne set off for a walk. When we got back, Anna enjoyed helping grandpa Wayne clean the boat. We hung out there that afternoon and headed over to Deer Lake with all the Andrews/Haertel clan. That night was quite an adventure at Deer Lake. My mom made meatloaf in the oven and the smoke set off the fire alarm. A little later, the security system went off because the smoke alarm had gone off. We disarmed it and went about our merry ways. About 45 mintues later, 2 firemen showed up in full gear at our back door and 2 were at our front door too--complete with 2 fire trucks! We were a little embarrased to say the least! That night, we enjoyed our great meatloaf. Buster particullary enjoyed crawling into the dishwasher and licking all the plates! That night, my mom tackled putting Anna to bed (back in her closet home) and she slept like a rock star! Paul & I decided to go to Turtle Lake with my cousin Katie and her boyfriend, Smokey (his nickname, not real name) that night, but weren't very lucky.

Sunday, Anna was introduced to the beautiful world of eating at deer lake. She had 2 breakfasts (one when she woke up, and one when we ate), 1 lunch, and 2 dinners (one at her normal time and one at Deer Lake time which is around 7:30-8). Paul and I took advantage of all the babysitters and went to see Pirates 3 with my sister that afternoon. When we returned, it was beautiful out so we set up Anna's pool!! All I can say is CUTE!!

Monday morning, we were all playing cards and Anna was playing by herself very quietly. All of a sudden, she's crusing around the couch with her push vehicle from Rhonda & Wayne's cabin and she's on a mission!

That afternoon was cousin Katelyn's 1 year birthday party! Anna enjoyed the festivites, and even got to jump on the trampoline again with Paul. Here's a picture of Anna & Katelyn and then Katelyn with her cake (and Brinkley helping with it, of course).

Outside Fun

We've been outside a lot lately! We took Anna on her first "bike ride" (in the attachment on Dad's bike) on the 17th. She didn't like going very fast and definately didn't like her helmet (but it's a necessity in order to ride!).

We've also been to the parks a lot. Anna has started a love for crawling up on picnic benches. Wednesday the 16th, we had an ECFE picnic at the Excelsior Commons and she kept crawling through the grass/dirt to get over to the picnic bench. She even dragged her graham cracker through the dirt and didn't mind eating it! Cousin Aly & Anna hit a park near our house on Friday the 18th and she found the picnic table again.

Today, we met our friend Dylan from ECFE at Staring Lake Park in EP. Beautiful park and has 2 infant swings. Anna liked riding the air plane.

Julie Turns the Big 3-0

I turned the big 3-0 on the 15th. I was able to go out to Kincaid's the night of my birthday with my mom, my sister Kristin, Paulie, My Aunt Pam & Uncle Dick; and my dear Aunt Janie. It was such a great night. We are thankful to our friends Charlie & Jenni who watched Anna that night. It was our first non-family babysitters and Anna loved playing with 18 month old Zach. They were still playing at 10:15 that night. Anna's favorite toy there was his basketball hoop. Here's a picture of the gang at dinner. Saturday the 19th, we had friends and family over to Major's in Bloomington. We had a fun night with games, good food and lots of laughs. Here's Paulie and I with my cake. My cousin Katie was nice enough to babysit for Anna that night and agreed to stay overnight so we could party hardy! A lot of our friends couldn't stay for the dancing, but we got in a couple jigs before leaving. Of course, we lived up to our age and were home by midnight.

13 Months Old

Anna turned 13 months old today. She is a growing and busy girl-we only got 1 shot of her on this chair before she crawled right out of it! She was close to an ear infection for her 13 month birthday, but she was able manage without antibiotics. Hopefully, we'll be able to get those ears checked without her being sick sometime soon to make sure she doesn't have too much fluid.

Graduation Day

Anna "graduated" from Eden Prairie ECFE May 14. They sang the special song as they went across the podium. We also had special snacks before finishing class. Thankfully, Anna sat next to her friend Dylan so anything she didn't want, he ate! We finish up Minnetonka ECFE on Thursday and then we have a pretty quiet summer with only one ECFE class on Tuesdays for 6 weeks. Thankfully, we have some playdates set up with our many friends we've made at ECFE.

The New World of Being a One Year Old

Anna has changed so much since her birthday! She's officially cruising on the furniture right now...very much more confident in her pulling up and walking with help skills! She's also gone to all grown up meals and eating from our plates. She also has perfected her use in the sippy cup (with whole milk only). This changed over night 2 weeks ago...we were talking in ECFE about getting advice on using the cup and that night she used it and hasn't gone back. We've decided to keep her bottle at night, just to keep something the same.

And, she's getting those first words. Thanks to grandma, she now says "All done" when she's eating. I don't think she knows what it means exactly, but we take away the food when she says it. Any other time of the day, she says "da da da da". Paul tried to get her to say "mama" for me for mother's day, but she just hasn't felt the need to call me anything other than "dada".

Anna's new favorite toy is the HP calculator. Go figure.

Mother's Day weekend was full of lots of fun memories. Friday, we spent the day at auntie Courtney's with Kristin, Grandma, and Grandma Jane (and of course Aly!). That night, we headed over to Craig & Tiffany's to celebrate mother's day with Grandma Mattson. Craig & Tiffany bought a trampoline. Anna thought it was very funny!Saturday, we hung out at home and bought bike helmets for the whole family. That night, we went to church that was officially welcoming Kristin as a member. Sunday during the day was spent at home, working on projcets. That night, we went out for sushi with Grandma; Grandma Jane; auntie Courtney, Ryan and Alyson; Nick and Kristin.