Road Trip!

Something that has daunted me a little since Anna was born is the thought of taking her on a road trip. She is normally a pretty laid-back, flexible kid as long as we don't stray TOO far away from her normal routine, but I couldn't quite picture her being in a good mood sitting in her carseat for endless hours while we drove across the country!

Well ... this last weekend was time to test her endurance. We drove to Illinois for Grandmama Crouch's funeral. She passed away on Tuesday morning, at the age of 100. We are grieving for her, but rejoicing at the same time. She had an incredibly close walk with Jesus and was able to recite Psalm after Psalm until just a few months before she died, and we know she is with her Saviour now. It was heartbreaking to see her confined to a nursing home bed not knowing what was going on around her, so although we miss her, we are happy that she is home.



The drive from here to Illinois is about 9 hours, and Anna handled it like a champ! She had a grand total of about 20 minutes of bawling on the way there - potentially a result of the molar we didn't realise she was cutting! - and hardly complained at all on the way back. I am SO thankful for her - she is such a delight to me!

I am realising, though, that parenting has been pretty easy thus far and is about to start getting complicated! She is old enough to start disciplining, and I am becoming aware of the monumental amount of wisdom needed not only to do this in the correct way, but to combine Mark's and my two different upbringings and opinions on the subject! I am so thankful that we have the perfect Parent to model ourselves after.

Here are some of her birthday pictures that weren't ready when I last posted; we had a little picnic on the night of her birthday, and then on the following Saturday we had a big cook-out and had a bunch of friends and family to help celebrate. Her birthday theme was ladybugs, since she's been Daddy's little bug since she was a couple weeks old. I made her little birthday dress the morning of her party!





Birthday cupcake!



Opening fun presents :)



Sweet girl...

A precious girl, a resolution and no tornado

I mention tornadoes because although we didn't have any during this last spate of storms, the sirens (which I have never before heard except on sunny Saturday afternoons) woke us up at 4:30 this morning to announce the presence of -- rain. With wind and thunder, yes, but no tornadoes!

In other news ....

Today my sweet baby girl turns one!

I am so grateful for the last year that I have gotten to spend with Anna. She amazes me every day, and while she will always be my baby, she also seems so grown up. She calls me Mama, she uses sign language for 'please' and 'all done' correctly, she understands and (mostly!) obeys 'no-no', she can put her spoon in the dishwasher, she loves other babies and children, she has a sense of humour already, she is becoming braver about walking with her push-along toys, she can go underwater when we go swimming, she loves looking at books (especially her childrens Bible!) and pointing at the pictures. She gets so excited when she sees a dog or cat that she nearly throws up, and she loves being outside - especially when she feels the wind on her face. Yesterday she found a paper-towel and tried to help me clean up Riah's spit-up from the floor and my leg! She grabs my fingers at least 20 times a day to go for a walk, and loves her new-found crawling independence :) She recently started doing breaking out some baby dance moves (you know ... bobbing up and down in one place when she hears music!). When she hears a prolonged loud noise - the vacuum, driving with the windows down etc - she feels it necessary to match the noise. She has shouted for entire car-trips around town just because I had the windows down and it was noisy!

Here are some pictures from Anna's first year of life ... enjoy!

(Oh - and my resolution? To be better at keeping my blog up-to-date over the coming year. Predictable, I know. But needed!)



Anna was born at Hillcrest in Tulsa, on May 13th 2009 at 00:51 after 22 hours of labour.



Aunt Tiffany babysat for a few hours and took some pictures!



Anna's first weeks included several pool trips ... mainly involving Auntie Megan!



Steph was her first trans-atlantic guest :)



Anna's dedication at Believers Church when she was a month old, while mom and dad were in Tulsa



Starting solids on her 4-month birthday!



My Grandma flew in from Canada to meet her Great-grand-daughter....



... shortly followed by Steph and Matt :)



Trip to the pumpkin patch





And a trip into the pumpkin!



Anna's halloween costume :) We dressed up as Alice, the Mad Hatter and the Caterpillar.



Anna Clause



Mark almost got snowed out on Christmas morning ... but thankfully, after walking four miles in the snow, got home just in time to help Anna open her stocking! What a good daddy :)



Good times in the snow on Christmas day!





She went through a hilarious fish-face stage



Her first plane trip! We went to England at the end of January, and she did so well on the plane! This picture was taken at 2am after having travelled for over 12 hours - bright and cheerful!



England family



Back home in time to celebrate St Paddy's day



Anna's first picnic, in our back yard :)



Easter-egg hunting with daddy!



Anna and Riah in their Easter outfits. It's going on the wedding slideshow...!



She LOVES Mimi's pool :)



Birthday waffles & syrup this morning were a big hit!

Sweet girl, we are so thankful that you are part of our family. May God bless your next year and guard your heart as you learn more about Him. We love you!