Annie's 5!

Annie is FIVE! I'm at a loss for words.....just kidding! The years are just flying by. I think even she thinks they are flying by. Every once in a while she will start to say something along the lines of, "soon I'm going to be 10, and I'll have to drive to shop at the stores all day long" or "soon I'll be 9 and I'll need my own house. Can we find a house for me just around the corner from you so I can always live close to you?"

Anyways, what a year for Annie! First jump off the diving board, first trip to South Dakota, milked a cow, upgraded to a bigger bike, took some ski lessons, panned for gold, learned all of her sounds (first step to reading!), started playing soccer, the list could go on and on, she is one adventurous girl.

This year her love of art really started to shine. Last year she was just drawing...well, nothing too interesting to most people, but this year, she wrote and illustrated a book on the subject of cleaning! Just last week she made a picture book of the seasons, my favorite was her depiction of summer - her wearing a bathing suit, barefooted. She drew each toe, complete with toenails. Super sweet! Here is my favorite piece, titled "Green Devil". She drew this one for Halloween.
She is also very affectionate and loving. She loves to snuggle with me at bedtime, and she always crawls into my bed in the morning for some more snuggling before getting up for the day. On the other hand she also can have a raging temper...wonder where that comes from...she can really let loose if something isn't going her way.

She is working hard at school on learning to read and starting to do a little work in the math area too, counting by 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's...etc. Most of her time is spent in the art area, so much time that sometimes I feel like I should be buying extra paper for the class to make up for how much she uses. She is a very creative and imaginative girl. Just this evening she decided her stuffed cat needed a bed to sleep on so she got into my box of fabric and started at it. I helped her finish it and now Ms. Picklepants has a new bed to sleep in.

I wonder what is in store for her this year...all good things, I'm sure!