A Day in the Life

Well, it is hard to believe that Annalise is nearly TWO years old.  Here is a glimpse of our simple, yet wonderful, everyday life at this age.

We smile a lot...although it is difficult to catch on camera because we are constantly on the go!

We love, love, love books!  Touch and feel books and books about animals are especially popular.

We meet our friends at the park.  Here are Annalise and Leila at Ironwoods Park, before the winter weather set in.

Oh, somehow I have a feeling that these two are going to get into lots of trouble together...  ;)

We cheer on the Jayhawks!  Yes, I'm not sure what it says about us as parents, but Annalise can readily identify and say "Jayhawk."  She also enjoys watching games and saying "Go team!"  We sometimes attend Burger Night at Da Club, and they have a (very talented!) balloon artist who made Annalise her very own Hawk.  Here it is, before A popped the beak with her teeth...

We drive our car all over the basement.  Johnson County motorists, look out!

There are a lot of things going on in the next photo.  Annalise is sitting in her kiddie size brown leather recliner, which magically appeared in our hearth room while I was gone for a girls' night.  She is hugging one of her favorite stuffed animals, which we got at Our Lady of the Snows Shrine in STL last holiday season.  Last but not least, she is doing some computing on her personal laptop.  I guess Mommy and Daddy's habits are wearing off on her!

We are FULL of surprises!  Our nanny was treated to this gem one quiet afternoon.  To be clear, Annalise went down for her nap wearing both pants and a diaper.  Little Houdini!

What is life like at 21 months?  I think it is safe to say...life is good.  :)

Holiday Happenings

With Thanksgiving being late this year, we went straight from devouring turkey to decking the halls.  The first weekend in December was especially packed with Christmas festivities.  The Mosiers invited us to a special Christmas concert at Christ Church on Saturday.  The morning began with milk, cookies, and crafts.  Kelly and I worked hard creating reindeer headbands for the girls.  We attempted to capture the moment in the photo corner...

  

Below, Annalise is giving us THE eye.  At least the antlers are on her head!

After the kids' activities, we headed into the church for an absolutely beautiful concert by The Snow Globes.  They are such a talented trio!  We went home and promptly purchased all their Christmas albums on iTunes.

On Saturday evening, we changed gears and attended an adults only event - the Murray Christmas party.  There was a special twist this year, with each couple adopting a child and bringing their gifts to the event.  (Fab idea, Lindsey!)  Adam special ordered this festive sweater, after extensive research.  He thinks it is just the right combination of ridiculous and classy.  You be the judge!

As the night progressed, we broke out the photo booth!

Over the years, I have realized that the "prepping for a girl pic" photos are almost as fun as the girl pic itself...

The next morning, we were up bright and early for the annual Walker-LaBounty Christmas celebration.  Gifts are not required, but Adam always manages to find something.  This year, he bought each of the guys a truly awful tie.  Witness the results...

The following weekend, Mommy had to work, so Daddy accompanied Annalise to breakfast with Santa.  As she did last year, Annalise barely tolerated Santa Claus.  No laughing or crying.  Just sitting on the lap.  I think she is saying, "Not impressed!"

Merry Christmas to all!  More holiday cheer to come!

Gobble Til You Wobble

This year, I was fortunate to be off work for Thanksgiving.  I was excited to head home for a long weekend - our first big holiday back in STL since our move!  To get us in the holiday spirit, Annalise made this adorable turkey at Gymboree art class.  (Can't get the image to rotate, for some reason!)  

The drive was easier than usual, with a two adults to one toddler ratio.  Annalise had a little motion sickness but recovered quickly, with the help of Mr. Hawk.

Thanksgiving itself was blissfully quiet.  The male culinary committee of Dave, Steve, and Adam spent the day cooking us a feast.  We devoured the usual faves, especially the dill dip, and tried some new standouts, particularly the sangria.  (We will never drink sangria without the brandy again!)  My parents' dog, Sierra, also dined well.  Annalise made certain that her bowl was well stocked with treats throughout the weekend.

On Black Friday, we avoided the stores and headed for the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  This year MoBOT hosted the inaugural Garden Glow.  The lights were beautiful, and we made the wise move of arriving when it opened and beating the crowds.  

A good time was had by all, especially Annalise!  After fighting sleep in our hotel room during the visit, she completely passed out on our drive back to OP.  I can only assume that she was dreaming of turkey...  

Gobble, gobble, gobble!  Gobble til you wobble!

A Fall Adventure

If there is one thing that Adam loves, it is an "adventure."  Last Saturday, when we had the whole day to ourselves, with no major work or social commitments, I caved and agreed to go along with whatever adventure he had in mind.  Adam wants to own land one day ("You know, so the kids can go camping and have haunted hayrides and stuff..."), and he is interested in some properties near Paola.  We piled both Annalise and Tini in the car, then headed south on 69 Highway.  Around 400th Street, I began to wonder how much further we had to drive.  I pulled out my phone, only to discover that Paola was a good 40 minutes in the opposite direction!  Classic.  

Undeterred, we made a change of plans and headed for the Louisburg Cider Mill.  After all, it was a gorgeous day and unusually warm for November.

Our bellies full of apple cider and pumpkin doughnuts, we hopped back in the Bravada, presumably heading home for nap time.  As we pulled out of the Cider Mill, Adam noticed a sign for a winery one mile down the road (adventure calls!).  Five minutes later, we found ourselves at a cute little winery called Somerset Ridge.  

They had a food truck selling tapas, an outdoor patio, and live music.  We were sold!  Martini snoozed in the car with the windows down, while Annalise (and Mr. Jayhawk) enjoyed running around and dancing to the music.

Quite the nice little Saturday!  I often shoot down Adam's plans for an adventure, but, this time, it turned out to be exactly what we needed.  :)

Halloween 2013

Knowing it would be the first year that Annalise could trick or treat, we had been looking forward to Halloween for quite some time.  Selecting a costume was fairly easy.  We went the traditional route and bought a pink and silver princess outfit.  We'll save our creativity for when she is school age!  

Annalise was not a huge fan of the crown, which is interesting because she usually doesn't mind hair bows.  She did love her sparkly silver shoes (and still requests to wear them on an almost daily basis).  This is one of the few pictures documenting her full ensemble.

As our family and friends know, we have a long history of dressing Martini in a ridiculous Halloween costume, and, last year, we took it one step further by coordinating Annalise and Martini's costumes.  What female costume goes with a princess?  A fairy godmother, of course!  As Adam and I were discussing it, I said, "Fairy godmother...or fairy dogmother?"  Sooo cheesy, but we knew that we had to do it!  Our 80 pound Rottie was an amazingly good sport, given that she was wearing a purple tutu and had a fairy wand tied to her collar.  

Remembering how difficult it was to get Halloween pics last year, I opted to do separate photo shoots for Annalise and Martini earlier in the day.  I thought the odds of getting a decent group shot were slim to none.  Fortunately, Adam and Grandma, who kindly made the road trip to join us for the holiday, were more optimistic.  This was the result...

Before we headed out the door, Annalise decided to help Grandma with some last minute hair styling.  ;)

I think that Adam was more excited than anyone, as he bolted down the sidewalk, with me scrambling to grab Annalise's treat bag and Grandma snapping photos from behind.

I caught up to them for a quick family photo.  It is a rare thing to catch all four of us in the same frame!

Grandma and Mommy walked Annalise up to the door...

...while Martini stood on guard with Daddy.

We managed to visit all the houses on our cul-de-sac before the sun set and the temperature started to fall.  Knowing that we best not press our luck, we escorted the princess home and all indulged in some Halloween candy.  Annalise does not have too much of a sweet tooth, which is probably a good thing, and, by the end of the night, there was a large graveyard of rejected candy.  She did, however, love greeting each child who came to our door.

Definitely a night to remember.  Now it's time to start dreaming up next year's costumes!

PPP

The longer that I am a parent, the more I realize the importance of family traditions.  Our visit to the Louisburg Cider Mill was one of my favorite memories from last fall, and I decided back then that we would make a pumpkin patch trip an annual affair.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to make our friends' trip to Louisburg this October, so we decided to switch things up and go to nearby Powell Pumpkin Patch.

We hopped on 69 Highway, drove south beyond 200th Street (as a St. Louis girl, this always cracks me up!), and followed the signs for PPP.  A few gravel roads later (thank goodness we brought the Bravada!), we had arrived.

Annalise began by checking out the goods...

Next, we made a stop at the hay bale playground.

Then, we headed for the main event - the corn maze!  Adam has wanted to go to a corn maze since we moved to Kansas, and, now that Annalise is a very mobile toddler, I finally agreed.

I wondered if she would be intimidated by the tall corn and all the twists and turns.  Should have known better!  She could not wait to run and explore.  Adam and I began to wonder if she would ever stop and turn around!

I convinced her to walk a little with me, if for no other reason than the photo op.  :)

We ended the afternoon with a snack in the picnic area.

Happy, happy fall!