Christmas Caroling 2008, Tiki Friends

leafs, deer and polar bears..oh my...

the deer at the end of the road

deep in the woods, got to do what ever big brother does.

if you look real close in the middle picture you can see the polar bear deep in the woods! (ooohhh Gunner!)

There is Jade, she is so darn cute and the best dog ever. Annaka is sooooo in love with her Bro-Bro, she loved walking with him and exploring the woods.

I love walking on our road, it is so secluded and fun for the kids to explore. Andrew found a big puddle with ice on the top, that he just had to get a stick and crack it apart. Annaka found a "leaf trail" and a "polar bear" in the woods. The polar bear was our neighbors dog, Gunner. He is all white and has a big leaf pile deep in the woods that he lays in. After running into the polar bear we went to visit the other neighbors deer, he raises them and gets lots of onlookers watching them in the fall. Of course Jade had to come along to, she turned 10 this month and is really showing her age. She is so white in her face, but has the energy of a puppy still.

Casting her spells

She loves to dress up lately. She wears these wings and uses this wand to turn us into all sorts of things. Like the hat?

Scott's Birthday and the sad, sad girl.

We lit 43 candles for Scott on Sunday for his Birthday. He and Ally didn't get home until 8pm that night so we didn't throw much of a party. Annaka was so excited to blow those candles out. She had picked out"pink" candles for his cake. But once we sang the song (excuse the voice of me, I had no idea it would pick it up that good) Annaka was devastated when the candles were blown out and it was over. Scott and I were not about to light another 43 candles for her. Life can be so hard sometimes..

2nd Annual Halloween Party.. BOO!!!!!

Looking at the hens.

Best friends forever!!

waiting for the wagon ride!

swinging on the horses.

Miss. Witch, Miss. Little Piggy, Miss. Duck and Miss Skunk...

on our way to the party!!!

Is hard to believe it has been 1 year since our first Halloween Party. The girls were so cute and so fun to watch. We definitely think the "little piggy" won the award for most energy used. Poor Krista has her hands full with Zoie. This year we went to Tweites Pumpkin Patch , there was so much to see and do. At first I thought the cost was high and maybe if I had to pay for all of my family to go I would probably not, but for Annaka and I it was worth it. They have done a good job of making it very kid friendly. After the girls warmed up to each other they had a lot of fun. When Zoie wasn't heading off in another direction she was usually leading the group. Everyone there seemed to really enjoy the girls being dressed up.

Till next year. Wonder what Annaka will want to be when she is 3??

Rain boots and Puddles!

What is more fun then splashing in puddles in the driveway on a rainy day. Annaka got this outfit almost 2 years ago from our friend Kimberly. Its neat to see her finally be able to wear it and have so much fun. I think she found every possible puddle she could that day. We ran into town and on the way in to every store she had to hit all the puddles on the way.
Its hard to believe it will be 2 years in January she has been home with us. I think back to when we were waiting and seems like so long ago. She has fit into our family so perfectly.

Giggles and Playtime

we went to Ashely's soccer game the other day and Laney and Annaka has a blast putting a sippy cup down the poster we made for Ashley. They are so funny and have so much fun together. I hope you can view the video.

Doctor, xray and boo-boo's

What a day.... Tuesday we had a long list of things to do. As we were walking out of our house to get Annaka in her car seat the door to our house and the garage slammed on Annaka's finger.

It happened so fast that I could hardly help her, lukily it was only one finger and not more.

She had a bad cut and I just couldn't decide it would need stitches or not so off we went to the doctor. Poor Annaka was scared and it was bleeding pretty bad, but she was a trooper. They got us right in at the clinic and cleaned it out with saline. She had to have xray's done because her nail was already coming off so they were afraid it could be fractured. She haded every second of it, I have never heard her cry so loud! She wanted nothing to do with the lead apron they put on her and I. The radiologist had to go get help just to help me hold her down. When we walked out of the room Ally and Andrew asked what was happening to her because she was so loud.

No fracture though. But it was decided that she would need a couple stitches to keep it closed. They gave me some numming medicine to put on her finger and we held it there for 30 minutes. Then the time came.. Ally and Andrew were asked to wait in the waiting room and we started the stitches. Personally I don't think the medicine helped one bit because she was screaming so loud and to me it felt like she was in a lot of pain. But she made it and 2 stitches later and a million stickers we were done!

Its been 5 days and she is doing good, she will not let that finger be with out a band aid though at any time! Her nail is a pretty purple, and will probalby fall off eventually. If you ask her about it she will tell you "doctor" and "boo-boo"

Her are some pictures of her when we got home that day.

Ponytails and smiles!!

She is growing up so fast!

I was talking to my friend Kimberly, and next year she will be Annaka's preschool teacher. It goes fast when you miss that first year of their life. She does so many funny things. Her favorites are Dora and Diego, reading books, watering the flowers with mommy, going to the pool, playing with her best friend Laney and lots of other little things we do everyday. Her memory amazes me sometimes, she says things that we have told her weeks before and blows us away. School starts in 2 weeks and I have to say I am looking a little forward to it because it will give us back our 1:1 time together. Then I can start posting more pictures of her.

Here it is

Annaka in her big girl bed the first night...

Aunti Cage (as annaka calles her) and Annaka in the boat

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the big inner tube was a blast! Ally out did everyone!

My computer has been sick for over a month, bad virus. Poor thing.

Here is what we have been up to. We went up north and the kids had a blast. They got to ride their bikes and swim everyday.

The BIG BIG news is Annakak is sleeping in a BIG GIRL BED NOW! here are some pics of her.

June 24th, Taking a walk at our neighbors land

I wanted to get some pictures of Annaka in this dress, it is so darn cute. I am lucky this summer she likes to wear hats! I asked Annaka where she came from the other night ( which I thought was China) and she told me "Judy's" She is so funny now, she says so many words now in a sentence it cracks up so much . She likes to grab our hands and say, "Lets Go" and leads us to where she wants to play. We have been swimming 2 times now and she really loves to be in water, she has a bucket that she plays with trying to fill it up and then pour it down the back of my swimsuit.

All I thought I would take is a nice picture of the kids...

These are from last year. Look how short her hair is!! I tried to take some pictures of them last night and this is what i ended up with....