Little of This and a Little of That!

Hi, This is Anna's Mom. She is 6 years old now and in 1st grade. A lot has been happening since we updated the blog and since she is busy in school I thought I would catch everyone up.

It has been a rough year in many ways but she has managed to have fun too. In January we lost Anna's Pop! She thought he hung the moon and the stars just for her and I am pretty sure that he is up there making sure they shine extra bright for her now. This summer Anna lost both of her Great Grandmothers (both of my Grandmothers) but she did have a chance to spend lots of time with family that we really hadn't been around to much lately. She discovered the joy of cousins and great aunts that will spoil her! Being in the country for a large part of the summer Anna discovered how fun it can be to turn black from dirt, how cool it is to ride in the back of a mule to go visit cows and how precious puppies are before they even open their eyes! She fell in love with one of those puppies and we brought him home with us when he was old enough. His name is Scooby!!! Or if you want his full name it is: Scooby Dooby Doo Where Are You! And I can assure you that he hears his full name ALL the time! The little guy likes to hide and go places he probably shouldn't.
Anna is loving first grade! She thinks it is WAY better than kindergarten. She loves the work and the teacher and has a few "BFF's" in her class. I can't tell you how much better I feel not having to practically drag her to school by her hair. She gets up happy (most days) excited to go to school. We should get progress reports soon so we will see how she is really doing but she seems to be doing well.

Scooby wanted to go to school with her but you know they have a rule NO DOGS ALLOWED! I guess they think dogs would be a disruption. Oh well, I am just thrilled that she is happy!

This is our cousin Ella! She is cute, huh. She is only about 6 months older than Anna. Her Mom, Alle, is becoming a children's clothes fashion designer. She made the dress Ella is wearing. I know it is adorable, right? She is making Anna 3 outfits and I can't wait to get them.

I wish I had gotten more pictures of Anna with her cousins but honestly it was a rough summer for me. I am hoping that some others in the family got pictures so that I can add them later. Ya'll email me if you have any!!! PLEASE!

Oh goodness, I almost forgot Anna's favorite part of the Summer!!! Her birthday party at Monkey Joe's. She had 6 friends at her party and they had a blast! I don't think she could have had any more fun even though the party was thrown together so fast my head was spinning! I guess that is one of the advantages to having the party somewhere besides home.
Cute things Anna has been saying:

A while ago when someone like me would sneeze really loud Anna said "Wow that was a really loud bless you!" or if she would have a sneeze she would say "I have a bless you stuck and it won't come out!" I guess since I say bless you when she sneezes she just started thinking of them as bless you's.

She really wants a cat and she talks about it a lot. Her Dad isn't a cat person so a cat is out of the question. Early this summer we were walking through wal-mart. She said "Mom when I get big I am going to get a cat and you can come visit my cat whenever you want." I said "That is very sweet I would love to visit your cat!" She said "You might have to travel though cause I might move a long way away." I said "What, you are going to move away from Mommy?" She said "you never know where God is going to want me to go Mom!"

Anna is an incredible kid. She is funny, sweet, compassionate, thoughtful and smart. I am blessed to call her my daughter!!!