"Say Cheese"

When I take a picture of Annaka I tell her to "say cheese" and she makes the funniest face...it's because she knows that this bright light is going to flash into her eyes and she's not so sure she enjoys that very much, but she likes to get her picture taken (because she likes to see herself after on the camera) so she tries really hard to look. Funny goose of ours :)

ONE

Well, we made it to the one year mark! Went fast, but really it seems like this sweet thing has been in our life a lot longer...I look forward to all the new things she will learn and her bright personality coming out along the way.

Happy Birthday- We love you, Annaka!

Her birthday was, in my mind, the perfect 1st birthday...consisting of:

1. Food
2. Presents
3. Cake
4. Family

Before I get started with the party, let me just inform you that this little girl LOVES books. Thus, the book worm theme (of sorts, I only did so much)

The invite:

Food:
Yummy shredded chicken tacos, creamy orange jello/pudding whip, fruit salad, pasta salad, and homemade strawberry lemonade ~yum-yum~

Presents:

She got spoiled: Books, clothes, Dora couch, music CDs, The 3 Little Pigs playset, Jungle bopper, bathtub stickers, doll, toy dog, toy cell phone, orange ball(to be seen later in post) and so much more! Thanks everyone!

Cake:

She took 3 good bites of her cake and then mostly just played in it. That's my girl!

The above mentioned orange ball, from Troy and Becky, she let you know how she felt about it

Family:

Thanks everyone for making the trip, it made for the best birthday! It wouldn't have been the same without you!

Whitehead Family
Beaumont Family

Almost one

So I thought I better update the summer of Annaka before she hit the 1-year mark...wowzers! Here goes nothing:

See that thing in her month? Yeah, that pacifier or binky or whatever you like to call it...well take a good look, because this is the last picture of her with it in her mouth. Yep, it is gone, at 10 1/2 months we weaned her from her pacifier...Dad did a great job and I'm soo happy we took the week or so to do it! She doesn't need it now and has learned to self-sooth to sleep and calm herself down...plus, from this picture you can see that she loves books, those do a great job whenever she needs a little R & R.

While I taught swimming lessons Dad was hard at work all summer long putting down new floors, landscaping the backyard, and organizing all his boxes...Anna loved to "help" him out too...

Good girl Goose, way to take a load off Dad :)

LAKE POWELL TRIP:

Annaka's first time to Lake Powell! SO much fun. Had a few hard times with the schedule of things as we were trying to load up and shop (how do you get around that?) but once we got out on the lake she was great! Loved the sand, the water, being outside, riding on the boat, jetskies, and even wakesurfing...I'll have to get some pictures from my dad (grandpa).

First dip in the lake-half naked of course.

On the trip she found her toes...can you blame her, having to sit in her carseat all the time she found something to entertain herself with.

My sister did this and took pictures on my phone...she thought she was pretty funny, but I'm pretty sure Annaka liked it too...yummy fruit snacks.

The drive Annaka did really well. From Vegas to St. George she did great, I can't even remember what she did, so must have been good. From St. George to Powell and back she (me and Kirb) had it made, Becky and Brady got to sit in the back with her and entertained her the whole time-thanks guys:)

Annaka, aka: Anna, Anners, Angel, AnnEka, Annie, Munchkin, Missy, AND GOOSE :)

It has been 2 whole months from the last time I posted anything, that’s one way to put into perspective how fast Annaka is growing up. Here’s a quick sum up of what Annaka’s been up to over the past 2 months!
She has become a lot more mobile. She pulls herself up onto everything. The first place she learned to do this was right where her toys are...from the picture you can see what she likes to do when leaning over her toy box-just pull all of the toys out. I think it's only the beginning of this because in nursery the kids still love to take the boxes of toys and throw them all over the ground (:S)

This picture is one of her first times pulling herself up, she was grunting and groaning.


A friend I have here let me borrow her walker and it has been heaven sent! Can you tell how much she loves it???

FINALLY, we found something for Annaka to sit in during meal times! It was just $5 at a yard sale and it does the job.

She loves to get messy (one attribute she did not get from her dad). If we give her bananas or anything soft at all, it never ends up in her mouth, but all over her hands and tray! Crazy munchkin!

Summer has been fun, we get her in the water as much as we can (which is NOT enough) and she loves it, every second!

We love our Goose!

Title of this post: I thought I'd mention just a few of her nicknames.

Big shopper

Over spring break we got our tax return and decided to do a little shopping! I don't know if it's sad to say or not, but I finally put Annaka in the shopping cart without her carseat and it was pretty funny... Not sure about it

Ok, I think I like it

Yeah, this is pretty fun!


Hey, no hands!!

Man, this is the life.

Love my captions?? :)

My superhero baby

These were taken before Spring break, which was before Easter, so it must have been the end of March and I just never have put them up, but thought she was pretty funny. Annaka's out of her bumbo, and into a space saving highchair of sorts...found at a garage sale for $5, but we are still in search of a real highchair...