Oh, The Sweet Things You Say!

This is how I found you a few minutes ago...  Does it get any sweeter?!  Yes... On the way to school you were talking again about babies in bellies.  You said, "When I get bigger I will have a boy baby in my belly.  I will name my boy baby Baby Carter, just like our Baby Carter.  He will smile lots just like Baby Carter does."  Then you said, "Mommy, do you have a baby in your belly right now?" I told you not right now and asked you if she wanted Mommy and Daddy to have another baby.  You said yes.  I asked you if you wanted a brother or a sister and you said, "I want a sister.  MOMMY!  We could name her Sparkle!!!!!"  lol-  I love being your Mommy!

Thankful doesn't even begin...

I've been reading all of the 24 days of thankfulness on FB...  As I didn't participate I don't believe there is a day that goes by that I don't count my blessings.  It's impossible not to when I get to hang out with the sweetest little girl ever - each and everyday!  Instead of posting 24 thankful statements on FB, I decided I'd rather write to you on the blog and tell you how you've changed my life and how thankful I am for you and your daddy each and everyday!  

#1 - (The first thing that goes through my head every morning when you wake up and when I sneak a peek at you before I climb into bed) I am thankful for the opportunity to be your mommy!

#2 - I'm thankful for your creative outlook on life!

#3 - I'm thankful for the way you see our family and now that you're big enough to illustrate just how you see us!  Even Daddy's hairy belly button!  lol

#4 - I'm thankful for the way you enjoy life.  Taking it all in like a breath of fresh air.

#5 - I'm thankful that you're a healthy growing girl.  (You may be growing a bit too fast though, so if you could slow it down, that would be great!)

 #6 - I'm thankful for your caring heart.  You notice how people are feeling and your empathy is beyond your years.

#7- I'm thankful for your roar... Both playful and serious.  You are very determined and although it's not always easy, you don't take no for an answer!  :-)

#8 - I'm thankful for your outgoing personality!

 #9 - I'm thankful for your spunk.

#10 - I'm thankful for your strength.

#11 - I'm thankful you're willing to try new things. (except for most veggies!)

 #12 - I'm thankful for your smile.

#13 - I'm thankful that you don't always follow the crowd.

#14 - I'm thankful you like to dress up like a ballerina.

#15 - I'm thankful that you love to play GI Joe!

 #16 - I'm thankful for the way you can play pretend with GI Joes, My Little Ponys, and Scooby Doo all at the same time!  What an imagination!

#17 - I'm thankful that you've got the confidence to shine.

 #18 - I'm thankful that you are surrounded by a loving family.

#19 - I'm thankful for the way you make everything more fun.

 #20 - I'm thankful for your sense of humor! 

("What time is it when an elephant sits on your fence!?")

#21 - I'm thankful for your humble moments.

 #22 - I'm thankful that you play hard and are excited to make new friends.

#23 - I'm thankful for my stolen moments when I get to watch you sleep.

#24 - I'm thankful for the way you look at your daddy and the way he looks at you.  :-)

I'm thankful to be your mommy each and everyday.  I love you Miss AB!  

So Sorry AB...

Since Mommy has started taking more and more pictures of families and friends, she's been slack in keeping up with all of the Annabelle images!  They are still there, however they are not finding their way out into the world.  On this blog, FB or even Email, forget about prints!  Tonight I started to open a project and get to work, but decided my time would better be spent writing you a little note telling you how much I love your spunk!  You've had a little cold/cough for about four days now.  The first few days all you were interested in doing was cuddling on the couch or in bed reading, drawing or watching your favorite shows.  Your spunk was a little "a funk"...  It's really made me realize how much I love my little spunky butt!  As I'm sure you've heard silly grandpa call me many times, "punky butt" I like to think of you as my little "spunky butt" because there is just no denying that  AB SPUNK!!!!  To describe your mojo in words is difficult to say the least.  You have a natural curiosity.  A lot like Curious George.  You see something and you want to go and check it out.  You ask A LOT of questions about the things you see and hear.  Like tonight when you over heard mommy and daddy talking.  I made a comment about something being stupid...  Whoops!  You waited until we were finished and said, "Mommy why did you say stupid.  That is not a nice choice word!" You were right and I had a momentarily laps in judgement.  I told you I should have used the word "foolish" instead.  You agreed.  Beyond that, your spunk can be described as PASSION and DETERMINATION.  I can already see it in your eyes and in your frustrated growl when your working really hard to do something 'all by yourself.'  Regretfully I know where the growl came from...  But what I love about it is your unwillingness to ever give-up!  It may be described as crazy, busy, or high strung but, spunky butt, trust me when I say it's pure determination!  Just remember that when you feel that growl coming...  step back, take a deep breath and come back to your 'project' in a few minutes.  :-)  Growling feels productive at times but it really doesn't help you achieve the end result.  Knowing when to take a break is maybe something you can teach your mommy!  You'll understand when your a mommy, but it's one of the many things I try to better about myself for your sake.  So, to prove that there are still pictures being taken of YOU here are a few pictures of you this summer and fall...  There will be more to come.  These are just a few.  As you look at them see if you can spy that spunk I've been writing about!

 At Young's Dairy with Nana and Mimzey! What more could a girl ask for!?

 I think you would still be running around and around the path at Young's had I not said it was time to leave!

 A beautiful sunflower field on our way into Yellow Springs.  Remind me to show you the pictures of me and Auntie Katie in Italy...  There were fields and fields of sunflowers there.  You will see for yourself someday...

If this doesn't say SPUNK I don't know what does!

 Picking out the perfect pumpkin at Lynd's Farm!

 There's that spunk again!

 and again...

 and again...

 and again...

 We had the best little family day.  You picked apples with mommy and daddy, went on a barrel ride, through a corn maze and found out what to do when you need to go potty and there are no potties to be found.  -lol- Yes, you did!  For the very first time!

You told your daddy, with lots of spunk in your voice, "Daddy do you know, when you have to go potty outside and there are no potties around you GET TO GO POTTY IN THE GRASS!"    We laughed and laughed about that one!

I love you, Spunky Butt!

Mommy's Thoughts About Your 1st Day!

 Mommy's Thoughts about you starting Preschool:

Waking up the morning of your first day of school was filled with excitement and a lot of butterflies.  I knew as your Mommy, I'd be a little nervous but I didn't expect the first day jitters I had.  They were worse than the first day of school for me my very 1st year as a teacher!  I wasn't nervous because I thought that you wouldn't behave or even that I didn't think you were ready for this step...  I guess the only way I can explain my nerves is, that this was going to be your very first school experience.  For the next 19 years you will go to school and this was going to be your very first reference to 'school'.  I am nervous because I want you to LOVE it.  I want you LOVE your teachers and I especially want for you to build a solid foundation for the rest of your school career.  :-)  Having had such a wonderful experience with Ms. Connie, I also knew that today would be very different for you when you left my side, as you've done so many times.  

 We were so blessed to have you go to Ms. Connie!  It was like having another Mommy when we couldn't be with you.  She didn't run her home like a preschool or daycare while you were there, she ran it like a home.  We were so very glad you had that environment to enjoy.  It makes going to school something very different with different expectations for you as you begin your life as a student.  I am glad for this difference because it should hopefully allow you to see that school is something new...Something that comes with responsibilities...  

 I want you to know that you have be prepared to learn each school day.  You have to be clean, dressed, fed and well slept.  You'll need to remember things like your backpack and important things inside...  You'll have to walk through the doors ready and excited to learn something new each day.  See...  Isn't school so very important!  

 You woke up on your first day FULL of excitement.  You had your breakfast, brushed your teeth, washed your face and got dressed and ready to go.  As we were taking pictures outside in front of our house you insisted on picking flowers for your teachers.  Without any prompting you wanted to make them smile!  In that moment my heart smiled.  You were ready to listen and do anything to please those two lovely ladies and you hadn't even spent a day with them yet.  We loaded up in our car and on the way you told me that you were a little "stared" (scared).  I reminded you of the dinosaurs you played with in your classroom and you perked right back up! (Mommy's butterflies began to flutter again)  

 Once we were at school, you were again full of excitement and ready to head in!  Seeing your excitement made me know that you were going to love preschool because you were going in with the right attitude.  Mommy is a teacher and I can tell you the thing I love more than any other from my students is their excitement to learn.  You don't have to know the answers to every question.  You don't even have to understand what your teacher is saying all of the time.  BUT if you have excitement in your heart about school and learning you will naturally learn and have a lot of fun while you do!

Annabelle, we start this journey of school...  It will be a long journey for you, full of ups and downs, but it will be a journey worth having.  My wish for you this first year of preschool is for you to learn that school is FUN!  I know that you will learn so many new things while your at school, but if you can leave my side each morning excited to have FUN at school and come back into my arms telling me that you had FUN I will be the happiest Mommy on Earth!  Because it will prove you've figured out the best secret of all...

SCHOOL IS FUN!!!

(it's all in YOUR attitude)

This free scrapbook design personalized with Smilebox

Meet the Teacher Day!

 Our big girl is off to Preschool Wednesday, September 14th!  Today we went to meet her teachers and see her school and classroom.  Annabelle wanted to make treats for her teachers, Ms. Gavin and Ms. English so we baked some peanut butter, chocolate chip cookies.  I couldn't resist the opportunity to cute it up.  :-)  It's so much fun having the extra time to do things like baking, cute packaging and blogging for that matter!

 Annabelle was hesitant all morning, saying she was "stared" (scared) and "Mommy are you staying with me at my school today?"  I'll admit that I had butterflies worse than I've ever had on my first days... and it's not even her official FIRST DAY YET!! LOL

At school she spoke to both of her teachers and played mostly with the dinosaur collection in her new classroom.  I pointed out her name on the door, which made her excited and we had some cookies and pink lemonade with some friends from her classroom!

I'm hoping when Wednesday rolls around we'll be able to pull from those memories to help her along on her first day when Mommy will have to leave... :-(  I know I'd leave her at Connie's and most days we were both fine...but this feels very different.  Little independent AB is off to school!  It's hard to believe.  Where does the time go!?

When we got home we were doing some painting on this rainy day and listening to some music.  While I was watching her paint away a song came on from Tarzan, "You'll Be In My Heart."  It was a perfect song to express how I'm feeling as my Little-Big Girl heads off to school.  Here are the lines from the song that really touched me.

For one so small, you seem so strong.

My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm.

This bond between us can't be broken...

Cause, you'll be in my heart,

You'll be in my heart,

For now and forever more...

You'll be here in my heart,

You'll be there Always...

Just look over your shoulder,

I'll be there, Always...

Birthday Fun!!

On my birthday, Annabelle decorated a cake for me. It's hard to see in this picture the amount of icing on top but let me reassure you...IT WAS A TON! My dear friend Angela got me a set of icing tips for my birthday along with a cupcake stand, fancy food coloring and a family recipe for homemade frosting. The theme was, 'The tools I would need as a stay at home mom!' From the moment I opened the package Annabelle was excited to use the icing tools for my birthday cake.

Here she is going to town on my cake. What you see here already on the cake times 1,000 is the amount of icing she piled on top!!! AB emptied the tube!

To make sure it was safe after adding the food coloring, Annabelle did a taste test! Birthdays are so much more special when you have a peanut as sweet as mine to spend them with. For my gift from Annabelle I got a pair of the coziest jammy pants EVER and a shirt daddy says she picked out that simply states "I LOVE ME" on the front! I think her daddy may have helped with this one! He believes he's extremely funny... The best part of Annabelle's gift was the card. It was a Cinderella card which sang 'bibbadi bobbadi boo!' and inside it was signed 'AB' by none other than AB! I will treasure it forever... The very first card to me signed my AB.

My lovely husband, along with the input on pj top gave me a gift certificate to Kenneth's Salon! I am very excited to use that for some pampering and fun. He also gave me the sweetest card. I feel very lucky to have shared my birthday with my amazing family.

Speaking of AMAZING! The weekend before our birthday (Liam and I share the same birthday!!!) we were in Maryland celebrating my nephew's 1st birthday! There couldn't be a better birthday buddy! Our visit started with a surprise... LIAM WAS WALKING! When we were down in July he was so very close. It was so much fun to watch him tottle around.

Liam's birthday was Army themed and was it ever so cute! He wore the cutest army get up and had American flags, camo stars and goodie bags, with his pictures all over and a tank cake which his mommy made to perfection! It literally was the cutest 1st birthday cake I've ever seen!!

Family makes everything better! Even birthdays after 30!!!

The Bangs are Staying!

And they had a very very busy day!!! These pictures are from The Taste of UA. It was a fun afternoon, with beautiful weather and lots of fun activities!

I had my camera out and ready today. It's terrible, but since I've started taking pictures for others, I sometimes forget to bring it to document what we're doing as a family. I guess I like to just soak it all in. I also feel that with a camera always out things aren't always as free and easy as they are without it. Today things were free and easy, and I caught a few shots along the way. AB with bangs does keep her more toddler sweet. Most of us agree on that one. From a Mommy's perspective keeping her my little girl-little- for as long as I can is my hearts desire.

As the summer continues I'm really excited to still be -just hangin with AB- and not thinking about how many folders and markers I need to pick up or who has the cheapest glue sticks-

Wal-Mart or Target...

It is faces like this one that makes me so very excited to -just- be AB's Mommy! I can't wait to find this enthusiastic, spunky, spunk on a daily basis!

She's just too much fun and sweeter than candy, which AB will tell you is pretty sweet.

A sweet tooth is something she shares with her Daddy! Here they are nibbling on a funnel cake. Yummy!