1st Birthday Celebration

We celebrated Anna's first birthday a little early so that my family could be at her baby dedication. We decided to just have family at her party this year. Growing up, I never had aunts, uncles, or cousins at my birthday parties and Anna was so lucky to have almost all of hers in attendance. Fortunately, she was in a good mood and smiled for many of the pictures even though she didn't get a nap that morning. We had so much fun celebrating our little girl!

Some of the food and decorations...

So the cake wasn't perfect but Anna will definitely be able to tell that it was made by me with love.

Of course, Gigi was excited on her granddaughter's big day.

She loves her cousin Kaila who can get her to smile so easily.

Since the girl loves to eat, it was no surprise that she enjoyed the cake and then got mad when we finally took it away.

Anna's big present from us was a tricycle with a push bar for mom and dad's back :)

***I owe a big thank you to my friend Magen who made Anna's bib and hairclip. She also let me borrow the decorations that she made for her daughter's birthday. Check out her store with handmade baby items (she can also do custom orders).***

Anna's Baby Dedication

On Sunday we were able to dedicate Anna at our church. It was a special day for us and we were so happy to have so many members of our family standing with us. I love that our church gives the parents the opportunity to speak and pray over their children during the dedication.

Anna is named for the woman in the Bible who prophesied over the baby Jesus at the temple. She was a faithful woman, a worshiper, someone who prayed continuously and shared with others about the redemption that Jesus was bringing. It is our prayer for our Anna that she will also grow to be a faithful woman, a worshiper of God, and won't be afraid to tell others about her Savior.

A verse that we pray for her is Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with Hope by the Power of the Holy Spirit". We chose this verse because it is our hope for Anna that she will pursue God and begin to trust in Him with a joyful heart and not out of a sense of duty or obligation. We also pray that that joy and hope within her will overflow so that others may see it and be impacted for Jesus.

She brings so much joy to us every single day! What an honor and privilege is it to be trusted by God to raise one of His little angels!

Another Trip to H-Town

This weekend we went down to Houston to spend some time with my sister's family and my friend Vanessa's family. We spent most of our time outside enjoying this spring weather before the hot, humid summer begins. We went to a small airport near my sister's house and got to see airplanes take off and land up close. While Anna was a little young to enjoy it as much as the two year olds, she is in a phase where she points at everything so she pointed at the airplanes.

Thanks to Vanessa for taking a family picture of us.

Anna at Hooks Airport.

A rare picture of all three little ones together.

Everyone thought they were twins in this stroller. They are less than one month apart.

Vanessa, John, and Parker gave Anna a ride on horsie with a doll as an early birthday present. She loves for me to push her around the house in it. For my back's sake, I'm looking forward to when she is coordinated enough to push herself around :)!

Anna on her new horsie with Parker on his ride on toy.

Anna loved playing with all of Parker's toys including his bounce house.

Big D Half

Since Anna was born, I have slowly been getting back into running with thoughts of doing a half-marathon. My main motivation for this was that when I was training for a marathon back in 2006, I would see these cute moms running with happy babies in jogging strollers around Ladybird Lake. I told myself that I wanted to be like that when I became a mom. Well surprise, surprise, that wasn't enough motivation for me to run the long distances. In comes Virginie...we recently became running buddies after she said her goal was also to run a half marathon. She has run them in the past but not since her knee surgery.

We picked the Big D Half Marathon and ran it last weekend. The course went through some of the prettiest neighborhoods in Dallas and everything was in bloom which made the scenery even better. The best part of the race was seeing Brad and Anna at mile 8. As I ran past them, I gave them both a quick kiss (something else I always wanted to do after seeing moms do this during races:).

Me, Virginie, and her husband Casey

11 Months!

Wow, this is my last monthly post before she turns one. The thought makes tears well up in my eyes as I write this. Each month brings so much change and so much joy. I feel like this month has been characterized by Anna's evolving communication skills. For example:

1) She has started to do the sign for milk (cute, but just because she does the sign doesn't mean she gets some :) and all done. She doesn't quite understand exactly when to do the all done sign because I think she also uses it to mean more. She has been waving for awhile but now does it almost anytime we say bye-bye.

2) Anyone that has been around her for more than a few minutes knows that her favorite word to say is "Hi" and she will say it to people repeatedly. She has figured out that it always gets a good reaction. She also says mama, dada, buh for bird and da-ah-ga for dog (somehow she has turned it into a three syllable word).

3) When we sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes she will put her hand from her head to her shoulders.

4) She is even more interactive with her little friends, especially the little boy named Sam that I watch. He is three months older than her and has started asking for Nanna whenever she is napping. They are so precious together.

Anna also has quite the appetite these days. It seems like she eats as much as I do. She is only 1/5th my size...either I'm not eating enough or she is eating too much! When she is sitting in the high chair waiting for her food, she rocks back and forth, kicks her legs and does this funny little laugh in excitement and anticipation of her meal. Must be my awesome cooking...ha, ha, ha.

She is very into books and will sit and "read" for several minutes. When I am reading to her she wants to turn the pages faster than I can read so I have learned to improvise.


She loves to walk around with my help and now only needs to hold one of my hands. She still needs a little more confidence to try to stand by herself or take steps on her own.

That's My King

I love this video and thought today was the perfect day to put it on the blog. If you have seen it before, watch it again!

Happy Easter

Anna is going through a phase where she loves to put things inside of other things so she had fun taking the eggs out of her basket and putting them back in.

This is just a close-up of her Easter dress that I love. It was handmade in Peru and I found it for only $4 at a consignment store!

Anna hanging out with her cousins, Nalani and Shanna, after Easter lunch.

Seder

On Thurday, we hosted a Seder meal with our lifegroup. What is a Seder meal you might be asking...well, it is the traditional Passover Week Dinner celebrated by the Hebrews since the Exodus. It is like a Hebrew Thanksgiving to God for deliverance and redemption. Seder is also that famous dinner called The Last Supper, hosted by Jesus for His disciples just before He was crucified. I think the Seder meal is a good way for us to prepare ourselves for the significance of Easter and not let it pass as just another Sunday.

It was a fun evening with good friends and good food. Last year Brad's parents hosted a Seder dinner so this is the second year in a row that we have gotten to experience a Seder. Hopefully it will be a tradition that we continue.