Annette LOVES playing outside! We've found that this is the best outfit for playing in the dirt :-)
The princess cleans up very nicely! She loved riding in the chariot at her friend Charlotte's 3rd birthday party yesterday.
The kids enjoyed pizza, cake and a live show at Chuck E. Cheese.
Today is "Go Texan" day in Houston, when everyone gears up for rodeo season. They had a parade at school complete with a singing cowboy!
Annette in her western wear :-)
Annette turned 17 months old yesterday!
In preparation for her upcoming role as big sister, we got her a doll stroller which she pushes all around the house. She's also added the word "baby" to her repertoire :-)
With spring having officially arrived in Houston, we've been playing outside every day. This playground at Memorial Park is the perfect size for toddlers.
On Saturday we went to a neighbor's birthday party, which had a cowgirl theme. Annette sat nicely at the table while the bigger kids brought her toys they found in the haystack.
There were even pink ponies to ride! Annette preferred petting them to riding them though, since that was less scary :-)
The weather this week was beautiful, so we got out with some members of our old mom's group from the hospital and went to the zoo.
We went to the African Forest exhibit, where Annette checked out the display of huts.
She liked seeing the chimpanzees, and holding hands with her friend Trey :-)
Then we went to the Children's Zoo, where Annette got to run around on the playground.
In the mouth of the lion!
Annette has been busy getting ready for Valentine's Day!
Her homework for February was to decorate a paper heart, but she decided that decorating herself was more fun :-)
This is what happens when daddies draw Hitler mustaches on their babies...
We went to Mad Potter with the moms group from our church. Annette LOVES to paint!
She's also been enjoying the beautiful weather - nothing beats dining on apples and cheese al fresco :-)
It's been cold and rainy here for the past couple of weeks. One particularly cold morning Annette got all bundled up in her winter coat and mittens! She thought the mittens were fun at first until she realized that they prevented her from sucking her fingers :-)
Annette gets a homework assignment from school every month to decorate a picture - for January it was a snowperson. Annette was very good with the finger paints at first...
but the final result turned out to be a bit messy :-)
She made up for it by helping around the kitchen. She loves putting on the oven mitts, even though they take up her entire arm!
Uncle Nils, Aunt Allison and the cousins came over to play one weekend. Annette and Fritz liked checking out baby Isabel :-)
Annette got her first real boo-boo last week. On Thursday she fell into a wooden slide at Gymboree class and got a cut next to her eye. It's healing very nicely though and doesn't bother her anymore :-)
Yesterday her friend Rachel came over for a playdate. The girls enjoyed playing together until Annette bit Rachel's finger :-( She has another tooth coming in and anything that gets close to her mouth gets chomped on!
They made up over a wonderful dinner of baked ziti, green beans and blueberry pie with ice cream!
Let's ring in the New Year! On New Year's Eve we went to the Children's Museum for their annual noon ball-drop.
Annette tried watching the parade while sitting on her Daddy's shoulders, but she decided that was a bit too scary.
She did enjoy dancing to the music though!
We counted down to noon and watched the ball drop in the mini version of Times Square (much less stressful than the real thing, as Mommy will attest to!).
Afterward Annette celebrated the New Year with a tea party in the Tot Spot :-)
On Christmas morning Daddy made waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. Annette enjoyed cleaning the whipped cream off the egg beaters :-)
Then she opened her stocking and tried on her 6 hair bows from Santa!
Her favorite part of opening presents was playing with the ribbons and walking around holding the boxes.
Mommy got her a magna-doodle, which Daddy liked playing with too!
Happy 2011! We had a wonderful holiday. On Christmas Eve we got dressed up and went to the children's service at our church.
Annette was an angel like she was last year, but was a bit more of a handful this year. She had a lot to say and wanted to walk all around during the service :-)
Afterward we had appetizers at our place, where Annette got to meet her Great Grandmama in town from Seattle!
Auntie Lauren was also in town, and Annette enjoyed playing with her.
All ready for bed in her Christmas pjs :-)
This weekend we went to our neighborhood Christmas party, where Annette enjoyed doing crafts. In addition to coloring, she made a hand print ornament and a jingle bell rattle.
Yesterday was Annette's 15 month birthday, and we went to the doctor's office for her check-up today. She weighs 25 pounds 2 ounces (80th percentile) and is 33 inches long (98th percentile!). She is going to be tall just like her parents :-)
Last year Annette enjoyed going to see Santa,
but this year she was having none of it. While she's been getting bigger, it seems like Santa has shrunk!
We're all getting ready for Christmas! The dogs went to get their holiday grooming last weekend, and came home with matching festive ruffs. Bella even got hair bows on her ears, which she managed to get rid of pretty quickly :-)
Annette got in on the festivity too!
All ready for bed in our matching pjs :-)
Annette decided last week that it was time for her to start walking! She loved walking all over the parachute at Gymboree.
She resorts to crawling sometimes, since that's still her fastest way to get around :-)
