Coming up on the big 2...

I can't believe...this time last year, I was still making Annie baby food, and we were wondering if she would EVER walk, or if she would EVER talk....

At 23 months, Annie is off to a busy start this summer.  She LOVES going to the park and thinks nothing of climbing up nearly any stair or ladder and heading for the biggest slide she can find.  She usually narrates the entire visit with "Annie big slide!"  "Go go go!"  "Yay Annie!" "Annie swing" --  and an always social, "Hi Kids!" to anyone shorter than Mom & Dad.

Her vocabulary and speech picked up around 18 months, but lately it has just exploded!  Some of the things she's started saying to me regularly:

"Need hug"  "Pick up Annie"

"Scratch back"

(not her, no, she wants you to turn around, and she'll scratch YOUR back...pretty sweet deal.)

"No Milk" and "No Cheese" and "No Ice Cream"

(music to my ears...she really is paying attention!)

"Sorbet is good"

"Avie (cousin Ava) & Annie drink same"

(meaning they both drink formula vs. milk)

"Great Grammy sleeping there"

(with the loss of so many great grandma's this year, came many cemetery trips...now whenever Annie sees a cemetery, she tells me that's where Great Grammy is sleeping.)

"Peas, bike ride! Bike Ride!"

(we have a new bike trailer and have been going out almost every day on our bikes, Annie LOVES it)

"Peas, cook!, Peas see!" -

Annie loves cooking, and wants to be up on the counter to watch whatever is going on in the kitchen.

"Thank you Grammy, Thank you Bonnie" -

Annie remembers who gives her things.  If she's playing with a book that Aunt Bonnie gave her, she'll say "thank you bonnie" while she picks it up...or if she sees a picture of herself eating cake that Grandma made for her, she'll say "thank you Grammy"  Such manners! (and memory!)

"Peas, roses"

(means she wants to play ring-around-the-rosey)

"Read a boogame"

(read a book to me)

"peas, Signingtimdotcom"

(she says it really fast, but that's "Signing Time dot com" ;) She's wants to watch Signing Time)  (Can we get a little commercial credit please?)

*peas = please

She's also started singing little bits and pieces from songs she knows and has been doing a lot of dancing :)  We actually have conversations now, and she's no longer just pointing out things she recognizes, but telling me what she wants to do, or how she feels.  It's incredible, incredibly fun! :)

Happy Father's Day

Annie & the greatest Daddy ever!
We love you!

Happy Birthday Ava & Grandma's Auction

We've had a busy week/weekend! Ava's big 1st birthday party was Saturday -- Annie had a blast playing with cousins and slopping around in sand, water, cupcakes and the like. Nothing more fun than a hot summer day getting messy and being a kid....Annie certainly did all of it! I would have made Great Grandma Fitz proud with my calm demeanor as Annie covered herself in water and sand, and then proceeded to eat cupcakes and rice krispies wither her sweaty sandy hands...and, Gram, you were right, she loved it, and she lived -- what a great day.

Kelly, Ava & Maddy

Kelly & Ava

Annie & a Happy Cupcake face!

A & A sharing cake

This weekend we also attended the estate sale that was used to auction off all of Annie's Great Grandma's things since her passing this winter.  I was not prepared for how difficult that would be.  Seeing the things that were familiar to us in her home, the games we played, the pots I remembered her making spaghetti in, the cookie pans used for her delicious chocolate chip cookies (squares are the best!), boxes of cards - with slips of score cards still with her handwriting, the aggravation game that I had written my name on, her sewing table, chair and box, the one she used to make me pajamas, halloween costumes, doll clothes and perfect care bears...all of which were held in the air - and then most of which was hauled off by strangers for a dollar here and there.  Luckily we managed to come away with her piano, I'm anxious to get the last picture of Great Grandma and Annie sitting at that piano into a frame, and on top of Grandma's piano, in it's new home.  I love knowing that Annie will see that picture, and sit at that piano...and know, that at one time, she and her Great Grandmother were together on that very same piano bench.  I learned a few things with this experience, one, we need to attend more auctions, what a great way to get fabulous things for next to nothing and two, no more family auctions for me.  Aside from being able to come away with some of Grandma's things - it'll be awhile before I can shake the sound of the auctioneers voice, the sight of all of her things up for grabs, and the empty house and yard when it was all said and done.  A life time of belongings and memories gone in one summer afternoon -- to whomever outbid me on the aggravation game with my name on it...I hope you love it as much as I did!  (Same goes to whomever outbid me on the cookie sheets, croquet set, and monopoly game - boo!)