Happy Birthday Anna!

Our sweet Anna Banana is 1!! I just can't believe that one year has passed since she was born (which I remember like yesterday.) We just had to have a little monkey and banana themed party for her since we have called her Anna Banana since day 1! Although I was going to plan a big shin-dig for her, I decided to just have a small family celebration and Grandma and Grandpa Big John drove here to join in the fun. It turned out to be a great choice to have a small celebration as we were also threatened with Hurricane Irene. It rained the entire day so we weren't able to visit the pool or splash pad as we had hoped:( Despite the crummy weather Anna had a great day playing with Grandma and Grandpa Big John, eating her favorite foods for every meal (pancakes for breakfast, chicken nuggets for lunch, and watermelon with dinner), playing with her new toys and of course diving into the cake! I will let the pictures tell the story.

It must also be said that Emma thoroughly enjoyed Anna's birthday, too. She loved the balloons, waited all day to sing her Happy Birthday, blow out the candle, and, of course open her presents. Most of all she loved playing with all of her new toys!

At one year Anna is still furniture walking and a crawling maniac. She loves all types of water and has recently discovered that there is water in the toilet bowl - yuck. She loves to follow Emma everywhere including the bathroom and I often hear Emma screaming "Mommy she is trying to put her hand in the potty!" She also likes to flush the toilet. She has also discovered that the kitchen cupboards are full of all sorts of goodies - especially the one with all of the cleaning supplies. With a year of such ups and downs for us it really is good to see her developmentally on track and being so mischevious all the time, like a one year old should be!!! We love her so much and say a little prayer every day that she continues to stay seizure free and reach all of her milestones. Happy 1st Birthday sweet Anna!

Birthday balloons

Had to have the invitation for the scrapbook


Birthday smiles

Birthday lunch

Monkey cake made my mommy:) It took all afternoon but it turned out super cute!

Lucky girl to have all those presents!

Rare family pic

Grammy and Grandpa Big John with the girls

Come on Anna give us a smile!

Beautiful sisters

Let there be cake!

Anna surrounded by her gifts

Wow! What is this?

Look at me mom with all of these new toys!!

Emma loving the toys too!

Emma enjoying the gift Grandma and Grandpa brought for her - headphones for her DVD player! Mom and dad like this gift too:)

Happy Birthday song. I apologize in advance that you have to mostly hear my horrible singing voice. Since I was the one behind the camera, I am also the one that you really get to hear.

Pure Michigan Vacation #2

A couple weeks ago the family packed up the car yet again and headed back to Michigan for another week long vacation. Jay had to be in Houston for the week for a conference and it happened to be the week that my family (including my parents, brother and his family, aunt and uncle and cousins with their child) had two cottages rented for the week. Jay offered to drive us to Michigan and then fly to his conference out of Detroit and fly back in at the end of the week to drive us home and I took him up on the offer! He earned a few bonus points for doing this:)

We stayed at some cottages at Pt. Betsie Lighthouse on Lake Michigan between Frankfort and Beulah. My Grandma Peggy rented a cottage up there every year and our family, along with my aunt and uncle and cousins, would go every year to spend time together. After Grandma Peggy passed away, my mom and aunt continue the tradition and whatever kids can make it every year are more than welcome. I haven't been back in seven years (I can't believe that it has been that long, but I vividly remember being there when I found out I passed my National PT licensure exam)!!! The cottages are less than extravagant -no TV, internet, or fancy furniture (to say the least). The lure to the location is being right on beautiful Lake Michigan, sandy beaches, beautiful sunsets, the never ending hunt for Petoskey stones (I found two!), and, of course, Pt. Betsie lighthouse which was Grandma Peggy's favorite.

It was a really nice week filled with gorgeous weather, walks, playing on the beach, sitting with family on the deck enjoying our daily happy hours and beautiful view of the lake, smores, ice cream, a little shopping, our first geocaching experience, and kiddos happy as can be playing in the kiddie pool. It was great to see our extended family that we don't see often enough and to FINALLY meet my cousins child Owen. He is such a happy, well behaved little boy. We had a great time!

The moms enjoying a well deserved drink at happy hour!

Emma playing with Owen

Cousin love:)

Erin and Emma and the box that we found on our first Geocaching experience! It was so much fun and Emma kept saying that she was Dora the Explorer trying to find the hidden box - she loved it!

Three cute naked babies loving the pool!

The family enjoying a nice sunset

Grandpa Big John with his babies

Anna is all smiles in Grandpa's arms

.....and all smiles going for a ride

We even got to celebrate Grammy's birthday with her!

Enjoying some time on the deck

Life is rough for a kid! How did she end up with the best chair?

More naked baby pool time:)

Hmmm which song should I play next?

Sweet baby Owen

Tired Anna

Emma reciting Purplicious to Grammy and Aunt Jenny

This was our stove/oven. One burner had completely fallen in - total fire hazard. We didn't have a microwave either! Thank goodness for the other cottage and modern amenities!

Enjoying a smore being hand fed to her. Yes, Emma is such a clean freak that she doesn't like to touch her own smore's because she gets too sticky!

Grammy and Evan roasting some smores

The Hetrick Family

Enjoying a gorgeous sunset with my baby!

My only pic of the lighthouse in the background

Did I mention that there were gorgeous sunsets?!?

Fun time on the beach - or for Anna fun time trying to find rocks to put in her mouth:)

Emma enjoyed being buried in the sand

Anna's new look with two piggies

Have a good week! Only 10 days until Anna's big 1st birthday - I am still in shock:)