Growing Up Annie

Over the weekend I finally convinced Annie to let me take her 4th Birthday photos. She still claims to be 3, and she would rather be the one taking the photos these days so it was quite an effort to get her to do this for me. I've taken a lot of photos of my girls over the years, but my favorites by far are the ones marking the start to a new year for them. This year has brought a lot of firsts for Annie. First time down the slopes on her own (all 10 feet, all on her own), firsts plans for her future (she's either going to marry her Dada or her friend Patrick and have a baby that she will name "Franklin Baby Sadie", she's decided that she can't marry her cousin Kyle, because last time they were together he said he was never getting married). She's learned how to write her name, count to 20 in Spanish, and is starting to learn sounds - the first step in learning to read. She can navigate to pbskids.com on her own and is getting pretty good at working a mouse. She's become a passionate baker and cookie/cake decorator, loves taking pictures with my camera, and drawing pictures of her family (strangely enough, the people in the pictures usually have about 20 fingers). She enjoys picking out her own outfits, much to the amusement of the adults in her life. She's learning how to ride a two wheeled bike, even with going over the handlebars and almost losing a few teeth along the way. She is a wonderful big sister and loves teaching Olivia about the ways of life.

The above photos chronicle her 5 birthdays from the present back to right before her very first bath, January 1, 2006. So long ago! She told me the other day that she wishes she were big like me. When I asked her if she was having fun being a little kid, she said "Yes, I guess I can wait to be big like you." I was happy that she decided not to grow up too soon, it’s already faster than I want it to be.

Here is a link to a few more shots I got of Annie to celebrate her 4th...

http://picasaweb.google.com/ReyneeandTim/AnnieIs4#

Oh the weather outside is freezing...

At least that is how Annie put it the other night. She is finally 4 by everyone's count except her own. I just kissed her goodnight and asked her if she was 4 yet. She said, "No, I'm not quite yet." Maybe tomorrow? She did celebrate her birthday 4 times, so you would think that would do it. We had a bowling birthday party for her in Lima, a bowling birthday party in Wooster, a bunch of Hispanic waiters singing "Feliz Cumpleaños a ti" to her on her actual birthday (Jan.1) and a dingdong of a waiter serving her the most disgusting cupcake last night a Buco de Beppos. So by my count that is 4 celebrations...she's 4 now. Just hope this tradition doesn't carry on past this year...

Anyways, now that Annie's birthday is over, I can finally update everyone on our Christmas Vacation! In sunny warm Ohio(not). We left Denver Dec. 19th with - no exaggeration here - 5 overstuffed suitcases, 2 carseats, and 2 carry on bags. The flight went extremely fast and in no time at all we were all jam packed into our economy car headed to my birthplace, the booming metropolis of Lima. I think Olivia kinda grew out of her shyness around Rondot's phase cause she almost warmed up to everyone before our week in Lima was over. The girls had a great time playing with their cousins. Some highlights included watching cousin Luke wrestle the crud out of 2 other 8 year olds, sharing a double bed with Annie - I never realized how much she snores, letting the girls stay up until 11pm almost every night (Tim and I changed time zones, but the girls didn't), watching Annie devour a mini Cinderella birthday cake without using a fork, or a spoon. I would have included photos, but as usual I left the camera battery charger in Ohio and the camera is dead now. On Christmas Eve we went to mass with my family. It was the children's service so during the Homily all the kids were invited up mainly to entertain the adults with silly answers to questions the priest asked them. Then they brought out the baby Jesus and put him in the manger scene. I asked Annie is she saw Jesus, and she hadn't so after mass we walked up to the manger and I showed him to her. I'm pretty sure she was expecting to see a real baby because she was not impressed at all.

The next day we woke up and headed to visit G&G Nuetzel in Wooster. Annie puked all over herself about halfway through the drive. A Christmas Miracle! The next rest-stop was only 1 mile away...and another miracle - the maintance guys were there and they let us borrow some towels to clean her up with! Some Wooster highlights - sledding at the Agriculture College on the coldest day ever, taking a trip to the Cleveland Museum of Nature and Science, home to a very scary looking stuffed crocodile, Olivia did not like that guy at all. Annie had a great time playing with cousin Jonah (much more fun than the year she spent defending herself from him!) Olivia had a few fun moments with cousin Faith but mainly spent her time guarding her toys from Faith.

Olivia definitly had a huge breakthrough in vocabulary while we were in Ohio. That girl will not stop talking now. She's not much of a conversationalist, but she enjoys telling you what is going on, ie "Dadda make-a brefast" or "Annie reak a book". Mainly she likes to repeat the last 3 words that you say to her, like if I ask her "Should I help you?" Depending on her mood, she will say "Mine help a you" (translation = no, I'll do it myself thank you) or she will answer "Help a you" (yes, please help me, thanks). She is so curtious. My favorite is when she wants to be picked up -"I carry you!". A little off subject, I never noticed how long Olivia's hair is until tonight during her bath, when it is uncurled, it reaches halfway down her back. She is so cute...she even almost scratched my nose off the other day, but still super cute. Even Annie thinks so. At her Wooster Bowling Party, I was trying to get a photo of Olivia and I guess it was Annie's turn to bowl. Annie yelled to Olivia "Olivia, stop being so cute so I can bowl!" Awesome.

We flew back to Denver on the first, and that was about the longest flight ever. When we docked at the airport, Olivia stood up in the aisle, started jumping up and down yelling "All Done, All Done!" Would you believe it took us another 90 minutes to get out of the airport? We zipped through "Old McDonalds" as Annie like to call it, for dinner...there is one new years resolution down the drain! Actually, not really, for some reason my new planner is missing Jan 1 through Jan 3, so my new years resolutions did not officially start until today!

ps. In case you were wondering, Annie's birthday wishes (one for each party) for this year were
1. I wished I could FLY!
2. 100 birthday cakes
3. Lots and lots of Toys
4. To Fly!