Cover Girl

Matilda Jane Clothing is having a little Cover Girl Search for the fall, and we wear so much Matilda Jane, I figured why not enter! Part of the requirements was that the picture had to be taken at a Matilda Jane trunk show, with the display in the background.

So off to a show we went this past weekend. . .

At this particular show, photographer Kimberly Benyak was taking pictures of the kiddos all dolled up in their Matilda Jane duds for the contest, and she did a great job!

I don't know what the crew at MJC is looking for in a winner, but Anna will be my little "cover girl" no matter what!

Simply Observant

Yesterday afternoon after I picked her up from school, Anna came with me to run a couple of errands - first, to mail a few things, then to the grocery store. At the grocery store, I bought a Simply Lemonade with Raspberry for us to share while we shopped.



Anna was immediately enamored with the drink because - well, because it was pink. But she was also delighted to find that because of the shape of the top, she was able to take it off and put it back on all by herself. Oh, the liberation!

After shopping for a while (and her putting a pretty good hurtin' on the drink!), I looked over at her, and she had the drink under her shirt and was trying to open it with her shirt. Here's what followed:

Me: "Anna, what are you doing?"

Anna: "Opening my drink with my shirt."

Me: "Who does that?!" (thinking it's probably someone at her school or something)

Anna: "My daddy does that. With his beer."

It always tickles me to find how observant she is, although I told Derek this story and he claims he doesn't use his shirt to open bottles. She was kind of specific, though, so I'm thinking maybe - just maybe - he did it once. And she doesn't miss a trick!

Big Girl Bed

Guess who slept in her big girl bed all by herself for the very first time last night?!



So proud of you, Anna!

I Heart Faces - "Yellow" Challenge

For this week's "Yellow" challenge over at I Heart Faces, I immediately knew exactly which picture I wanted to use. I took some pictures of my daughter in a field of yellow wildflowers on Mother's Day this year {originally blogged here}, and this was one of my favorites.

The memory of the warm, sunny day spent with my little angel was captured perfectly with the beautiful yellow backdrop of the flowers.


Head on over to I Heart Faces to check out all of the other "yellow" entries this week, or submit your own!

Wigglin' in San Antonio

Last weekend, to celebrate our 7th anniversary, we decided to get away - albeit not too far - to San Antonio.

We drove in on Saturday morning and went straight to Fiesta Texas for some family fun! The newest attraction there this year is an area for the kiddos called "Wiggles World" where all of the rides are named after The Wiggles songs. There was even a little show with characters from The Wiggles like Dorothy the Dinosaur and Wags the Dog. This worked out really nicely because Anna loves The Wiggles, and she had a great time.

Derek took Anna on her first roller coaster ride (named after The Wiggles' song "Romp Bomp a Stomp"), which was kind of ironic since Derek doesn't ride roller coasters. But it was pretty mild, and I think he'd do just about anything for his Anna. We all rode the "Big Red Cars" together, and I took Anna on the "Big Red Plane" and the "Fruit Salad Yummy Yummy" ride. But I think she had the most fun playing on Captain Feathersword's ship, which had lots of slides.

We rode lots of other family-friendly rides, and Anna even played her first carnival game. She won a Scooby Doo that she was very proud of.

We pretty much closed the place down, but before we left, Anna had her first caricature made. She wanted to be a pink princess, and I think the little guy did a great job.

On Sunday, we went over to the San Antonio Riverwalk. We started off with a delicious lunch right next to the river at Boudro's, and Anna really liked watching the ducks swim by.

Next, we headed to get our tickets for a river cruise. We didn't have to wait long, and our tour guide was really funny. All was great until Anna started screaming, "I have to go poo poo! I have to go poo poo!" Really loud. And wouldn't stop. So we had to get him to pull the boat over and interrupt everyone's cruise, so we could go hunt down a restroom. Luckily, when we got off, we realized that we weren't too far from where we started, so we didn't miss much!

We did a little more exploring, then hit the road. We'll definitely do that again sometime!

I Heart Faces - "Faces and Flowers" Challenge

I took this picture of my daughter on the San Antonio Riverwalk this weekend (more about that trip later), and I thought it would work perfectly for this week's "faces and flowers" challenge over at I Heart Faces since she has that ginormous flower in her hair.

When I bought that headband, I don't think the lady believed me when I told her I was going to put it on my 3-year old because of the sheer size of it. Believe it now, honey. When it comes to hair accessories, I pretty much think the bigger, the better!


Head on over to I Heart Faces to check out all of the other "faces and flowers" entries this week, or submit your own!

The Way She Sees It

Now that Anna has been taking gymnastics, she seems to see everyday items differently. . .



We now have to walk on every single curb we encounter as if it were a balance beam. And we climb and swing on every bike rack we see as if it were a high bar. We jump on anything that gives some bounce - beds, restaurant booths - as if it were a trampoline. And we do "cartwheels" and forward rolls on any piece of open floor (and even some not-so-open spaces).

Slows us down a little bit, but I have to say it sure is refreshing to get to see the world the way she sees it.

Mother's Day 2010

We typically go to Louisiana for Mother's Day to celebrate with our moms, but because Anna had a special gymnastics performance this weekend, we found ourselves in unfamiliar territory - just the three of us here in Houston. We did a lot of running around on Saturday, so we decided to keep things very low key on Sunday.

Poor Derek got a really nasty stomach virus, so Anna & I celebrated Mother's Day as a true "girls" day. I decided it would be fitting to start our day by taking my early Mother's Day present (my awesome new lens!) out for some fun in a wildflower field I've had my eye on. . .

Anna really didn't care much about my camera, but she just loved being in all of those flowers!

When she picks them, she always just pulls the head of the flower off of the stem. I've tried to explain to her time and time again that she needs to pick them down lower - both because they'll be easier to hold and so that we can put them in water - but she likes her way better.

Then we spotted the dandelions! She thought they were so cool. . .

I showed her how to blow on them, but she couldn't seem to blow hard enough, so she usually would resort to pulling it apart with her hands.

After pictures, Anna and I ate lunch outside on the patio at Cafe Express (one of my favorite little casual places), then headed over to Barnes and Noble to browse the childrens books. We ran several errands while we were out, and she was such a sweet little angel. She even spontaneously said, "Mommy, I love you forever" while we were in the middle of Kirkland's, for no reason at all.

This Mother's Day, I'm just so grateful for the immense blessing that Anna is to me, and for the fact that I get to experience this wonderful journey of motherhood with her.

I'm grateful for my husband, who (even sick!) did a ton of laundry while Anna and I were out gallavanting. The lens is amazing, but clean laundry is an extremely close second to that in my eyes.

And I'm so very grateful for my mom, who I have always loved, admired and appreciated, but do even more so now that I am a mother myself.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mayfest 2010

Saturday morning, Anna's gym had a little "showcase" for the parents called Mayfest, where the kids get the chance to show off what they've been learning all year. The theme this year was "Under the Sea", hence the fish nets and sea creatures in the background.

Anna did such a great job performing, and she even got her very first trophy! We videoed it, so I might try to get some posted later to share.

We're so proud of you, monkey!

Half Baked Feature!

I was just catching up on the blogs I follow, and imagine my surprise when I saw Anna's princess party as a "Real Parties" feature on the Half Baked blog!

I didn't send anything over, so I really was super-pleasantly shocked! I got tons of ideas from Half Baked for Anna's party, so I'm very flattered to be a part of it :)

If you're planning any parties in the near future, be sure to check it out!

Keeping Secrets

Tonight, as I was getting Anna in her jammies after her bath. . .

Anna: "Friday is Mother's Day at my school."

Me: "Really?"

Anna: "Yeah, I made a plate."

Me: "You made a plate for me? That's so sweet, Anna!"

Anna: [Leaning in really close and putting her finger over her mouth] "Shhhhhhhhhh! It's a secret!"

Me: [Laughing hysterically] "It's a secret, huh?"

Anna: "Yeah, from my mommy and my daddy."

I tried to explain to her that that means that she wasn't supposed to tell me, but I don't think she gets it (which is fine with me!) But I guess I should make sure she better understands what a "secret" is before I go sharing anything confidential!