Annette turned 8 months old yesterday!! Happy birthday to our little princess :-)

On Tuesday we went to the Noah's Ark splash park with the mom's group from our church. The water was pretty cold, but Annette liked splashing her hands around in the mushroom waterfall :-)

She graduated from her swimming class at the Y on Wednesday by getting completely submerged in the water a few times. She looked surprised when she came up, but didn't even cry!

Today we went to the Empty Bowls fundraiser for the Houston Food Bank, which was held at the Center for Contemporary Craft. With our donation to the Food Bank, we got to pick out one of the many bowls donated by local artists, and have a cup of soup for lunch :-)

On Friday Annette went for a lakeside stroll with her friend Trey, and checked out the ducks.

Trey's mom Tanya did a photo shoot with us this weekend, to get some practice with her new camera. She's a very talented photographer already!

Annette was able to stand up and hold onto the bars on the fence all by herself!

Here she's getting some help standing from Mommy and Daddy :-)

She loves flying!

"Babies" - Annette stayed with Nani and Frank on Sunday afternoon so Kendall and I could go see the new babies movie. Babies all over the world are practicing their pouts just like she is :-)

We stopped to take a picture by the first flower on our magnolia tree on our way to swim class on Monday.

"When you're going to San Francisco..." The princess finally has enough hair to wear bows and barrettes like this crocheted flower one :-)

Playing with Daddy this morning in her toy basket

Annette's become quite the roly poly lately - she's started sleeping on her tummy, and is really thinking about crawling!!

Happy Mother's Day! We've had a busy weekend of celebrating...

Yesterday we went to visit our newest neighbor down the street, who's only 3 weeks old. We told Annette that she was that small not too long ago, but she didn't believe us :-)

This morning Annette gave me my first Mother's Day card, with a bit of slobber on it.

Then she posed for the new camera Kendall got me, in her going-out-to-brunch outfit!

We went out to brunch with Nani and Frank. Annette decided to be very well-behaved at the restaurant, which was a great Mother's Day present :-)

Annette has had a busy few days! On Friday we went to our friend Caroline's house for a playdate with her boy Asher, and another friend's son Finley. The babies had lots of fun playing together, and Annette got to be the center of attention since she was the only girl :-)

Uncle Nils, Aunt Allison and cousin Sophia were in town this weekend searching for a house, since they'll be moving here from Chicago in July! On Saturday we all went to the Urban Harvest Farmer's Market.

Sophia showed Annette how to play with her toys in ways other than chewing on them :-)

Everyone came over to our house for dinner, which featured fresh shrimp, cheese and produce from the farmer's market!

Annette was so inspired by her Daddy's good cooking that she helped him make breakfast this morning!

Annette started swimming lessons this week! She likes splashing her hands in the water and kicking her little legs, and even dunked her face in the pool a few times :-)

Yesterday we went to the zoo and visited the large animals - Annette smiled and laughed when she realized that there were animals in the world bigger than her wiener dogs!

The giraffes were her favorite :-)

Last weekend we celebrated our 4 year anniversary with a trip to Canyon of the Eagles, a resort outside of Burnet, Texas (about an hour northwest of Austin). We enjoyed the perfect spring weather, and sleeping in (the trip was a present from Mormor and Morfar, which included their babysitting services for the weekend)! Here we are on the Vanishing Texas River Cruise on Lake Buchanan.

We cruised by this picturesque waterfall, and also got to see a beaver building his dam on the side of the lake!

It was the perfect time to see bluebonnets, which were everywhere!

We also went on a tour of Longhorn Cavern, one of the few river-formed caverns in Texas. The bat guano in the cavern was used to make gunpowder during the Civil War, and part of the cavern was turned into an underground speakeasy during the 1920s.

It was wonderful for the two of us to get away for the weekend, but we sure did miss the princess (I think she missed us too)!

Happy 7 month birthday, Annette!

On Saturday we went to a family picnic at Memorial Park with Holy Strollers, the mom's group from our church (love their name!).

After the picnic Annette enjoyed some reading time in her new chair, a gift from Mormor and Morfar :-)

On Sunday we threw a birthday party for Mormor, who turned the big 6-0 last week!

The two birthday girls :-)

Baby in the bluebonnets! Yesterday we drove out to Chappell Hill with our Mom's Group to take the babies' first bluebonnet pictures.

Annette liked playing with the flowers, but was one of the few babies who didn't eat one :-)

Today we went for a picnic at Discovery Green, which was celebrating its 2nd birthday.

There was a free "Alice in Wonderland" puppet show for the kids, plus birthday cake!

Daddy walked over from his office to have lunch with us in the park :-)

On Tuesday we went to the Tot Spot where Annette chewed on her favorite toy

Having lunch at the Buffalo Grille after church this morning

Hanging out with Morfar and Mormor this afternoon in our living room, which we've converted into a playroom for the princess :-)

Happy Easter! On Thursday Annette went to meet the Easter Bunny - she thought he was very soft and even pulled out a little tuft of his fur :-)

On Saturday she had her first Easter egg hunt at our church.

Daddy showed her how to pick up the eggs and put them in her basket.

Before we went to church this morning, Annette posed in her Easter dress next to her basket from her Mommy and tulips from her Daddy :-)

Her basket was filled with toys and books this year, but by next Easter she'll be able to have some candy in it!