The Big O-N-E!!!!!

How in the world is my baby one already?! It makes me really sad that she's growing up so fast and that I won't remember just what she was like as a baby. But, I'm also very excited to see her learning new things every day. Ah, mixed emotions! Annie is truly a joy of a child. She just kind of goes with the flow and loves being in the mix of our crazy family. Her personality is showing more and more each day. We decided sort of last minute to head down to Disneyworld for her birthday. Richard had the time off since it was Veteran's Day weekend, so we got to enjoy three days there. She didn't love being in the stroller/carried all day long, so when she got the chance to walk, she was all over the place. She even refused to hold our hands most of the time. She wanted her freedom!
We were at Epcot on the afternoon of her actual birthday and they were having the Food and Wine Festival, so there were all these giant cakes on display...very fitting!


Ella was very excited for Annie's birthday and said that we needed to invite everyone at Disneyworld to her birthday party. She had a hard time understanding that just being there was the present.

Annie was not loving the characters. She would walk near them (unlike Ruby, who wouldn't go near anyone but the princesses), but as soon as they started giving her attention, she would get the pouty lip, turn around, and run away.

Just disregard the fact that Ella is copping a feel here. Poor Sleeping Beauty.

Here's a little about Annie at 1:

- She started walking at a little over 11 months (our earliest one yet!).

-She has mastered going up and down the stairs. She had great motivation to learn this skill, since the playroom is the only room upstairs. Before she learned to go down, she would sit at the top of the stairs and yell until someone came and got her.

- She has never taken a pacifier, but would suck on an empty bottle for hours. My confession is that sometimes when she wakes up at 5 am, I bring a bottle to her that has about an inch of water in it. She will sleep for 2-3 more hours when I do this. Bottles in bed...I know...it's a no-no. But at least it's just a little bit of water. After our trip to Arizona for Thanksgiving, the bottle will be taken away.

- She can sort of say a few words. No one else would know that she's saying anything, but we think we hear it. She says Ella (sounds like "Ewa") and uses this interchangeably for Ella and Ruby. She says dada, but I don't think she knows what it means. When she does the sign for fish, she sort of says, "isssshhhhh". The only other sign she does is "all done". She used to sign "more", but won't do it any more.

- She has a couple of tricks that she will do on command. She plays peek-a-boo, and can do a few animal sounds. She does cow, monkey, and lion. She can point to her nose and eyes. She even says, "Eyes".

- She points at things and babbles on and on, like she's telling you the most important thing in the world.

- She's had her two lower teeth for several months, but is just now getting her four upper teeth. One of the central ones is coming in a little more slowly than the other 3, so she looks a little goofy.

- She goes to bed at about 7:30 pm and wakes up at about 6:30 (or later, depending if I use the bottle trick or not). She takes a morning nap after we take Ella to preschool or go to the gym, from about 9:30-11:30. Then an afternoon nap from 2:30-4:30. Except for the early waking up, she's a pretty great sleeper.

- She loves playing with her sisters! She's even liking Ruby more and more these days. She goes up to the playroom with them and dinks around with all the toys, playing just like they do. She loves to play chase and sit on the couch with them. She also loves to hold crayons or pencils and "write" on paper.

- We got her one of those Whisper Ride Buggy's on Craigslist for her birthday present, but ended up giving it to her a month early since the weather is so nice. She loves going on walks and riding in it!

- She still loves "The Wheels on the Bus". She's also starting to like the "Baby Signing Time" movies more. We figured she would be an expert at signing after our drive to Disney. She watched them over and over.

- She has a few nick names. Annie Mae, stink, bubs.

Here's a little video of Annie walking. I shot this almost a month ago. We like to call this "The Truffle Shuffle":

We all love our little Annie Mae!

Trickin' & Treatin'

We had so much fun going trick-or treating this year. Our new neighborhood is great. Tons of kids everywhere and lots of people go all out with the decorating. Ella and Ruby were in heaven, running from house to house. They'd knock and say "Trick or treat", then say, "Thank you! Happy Halloween!". Then as soon as they turned around to go down the steps, they'd yell, "Mom!!! He gave me chocolate/gum/lollipops/this thing!!!!!" It was pretty funny. Annie had a grand time riding around in her little pink car (that is supposed to be her birthday present, but we've been using it for the past couple of weeks!) and sucking on a dum-dum. We lasted about an hour. It was a gorgeous night, and didn't get chilly until the sun went down.

Ella as Alice in Wonderland

I had to do a bit of convincing early on so that Ella would change her mind about being Sleeping Beauty again. But she quickly jumped on board, and I think she makes the perfect little Alice. I ordered her costume using a Groupon I got, but they only had a size 6/7. So I did a little tweaking and I think it turned out pretty well...just don't look too closely at the seams!

Ruby as a Butterfly

Ruby changed her mind about 800 times before deciding on a butterfly. Lucky for me, we already had this dress, which I picked up for $2 at her dance school's costume "yard sale". We borrowed the wings from a friend and Ruby was happy as a clam. At pretty much every house we trick or treated to, she would let them know that she was a butterfly.

Annie as a Cat

Annie did not want to pose for a picture. She just wanted to hold the pumpkins and find rocks. So this is the best we've got! Still a pretty cute kitty if you ask me. This is the same one Ruby wore a couple of years ago. I tried to make them all a theme, but there aren't a whole lot of girl characters in Alice and Wonderland. So if you stretch your imagination, Ella is Alice, Ruby is the caterpillar after he turns into a butterfly, and Annie is Dinah (Alice's cat). It works, right?!



We got to participate in lots of activities leading up to Halloween. The first was our Ward Halloween party, which was actually pretty lame. They had fun games for the kids, but other than that, it was super blah. It was no Buffalo Ward Halloween party, that's for sure! I think we were there for 30 minutes. We haven't quite gotten into the groove of this new ward yet, if it even has a groove.

We went to the pumpkin patch at Mike's Farm again (we went the first time with my Mom). My friend is in a group called MOPS (Mom's Of PreSchoolers) and she organizes the monthly playgroups for them. She invited me along as an honorary member. Their group meets at the same time as Ruby's dance class, so it doesn't work for me to join. Plus, I just don't find myself as the group joining type. I'm too flaky. But that was a lot of fun to hang out with some other girls and let the kids run wild.

Ella's class had a little pumpkin decorating party, with treats and face painting. That was lots of fun to see Ella with all her little class mates. She's already made some cute little girlfriends and they ran around together the whole time. The next day, her class had a field trip to Jumpin Jax. It's one of those places with a bunch of bounce houses. The kids all had an absolute blast. We stayed for a good 2 hours and they played hard the whole time. Ella surprised me with what a dare devil she was. She went up the tallest slide and would bounce at the top, then leap off and kind of slide/bounce all the way down. It was hilarious to watch! Ruby is pretty nervous around heights, so she mostly stayed in the toddler sized bouncers. Until the last 30 minutes or so, she finally got brave and went down one of the tamer (but still big for her) slides. She couldn't get enough! It was fun to see them have such a great time, and I got to chat with some other moms for a while.

On Halloween afternoon, our neighborhood HOA put on a festival at the park and it was such a blast. I was debating even taking the kids, but I am so glad I did (minus the first 10 minutes we got there when Ruby wandered off while I was getting Annie in her stroller. I had the firemen, who were there to give tours of their truck, looking for her. I finally found her on the swings, having a grand time. I was so mad!). After that though, we got to play on more bounce houses, get free food, play games, and march in a parade. They had a police car in front, then all the kids and their parents, then a bunch of guys on motorcycles, then the hayride tractor, then the fire engine. We paraded around the street and waved at all the people who came out to look at the kids. When that was done, we headed home and got our buckets to go Trick or Treating. What a fun week we've had. November is going to fly by! We've got lots going on and it's all really exciting stuff!

I threw this picture in just because I love it. Look at those smiles!! I love these girls!!!!