243/365

Not much going on around here today.   I have been sleeping horrible lately and when Ana Kate woke me up this morning I was SO tired.  I really need to go to bed earlier so I can at least try to get more than 4-5 hours of sleep each night.  But Ana Kate was up....so I got up and drank some coffee.  I never did feel great today, so we didn't go anywhere and we really weren't very active.

Ana Kate watched her new DVDs today and colored in her new coloring book.  She also played with the birthday cards that Whitney and Josh got her.  You know most people just read a card and then usually don't think about it again....and most kids don't really care about the cards either.  But Ana Kate appreciates her cards more than anyone I've ever seen.  Of course both of the cards Josh & Whitney got her play music when you open them, but she also cherished her cards that didn't play music.  She has spent lots of time carrying around all her birthday cards the past few days telling me how much she loves her 'letters'.  : )  Such a sweet girl.

I also found out today that there is an opening for Ana Kate at Mother's Day Out for Thursdays.  She was super excited when I told her.  I hope she has another wonderful day on Thursday.  She'll only be going two days a week, but they are a 'peanut free' campus, so I'm already wondering what I'll pack her for lunch each day.  PB&J is something that Ana Kate will actually eat.  She's not big on any other sandwiches except for grilled cheese.  I guess I'll just send lots of fruit and maybe some cheese sticks and crackers.  I'm starting to remember how hard it is to be creative with a packed lunch.  I used to run out of ideas with Whitney too.

She was dancing and singing to Josh's card in these photos:

242/365 - Happy Birthday Ana Kate!!

Today Ana Kate celebrated her 3rd birthday and went to her first day of pre-school.  She was super excited when I woke her up and reminded her what today was.  She was running around saying, " I was 2, but now I'm 3!"  I can't believe my baby girl is 3...how did that happen?  And going to pre-school!  You can definitely see the difference that a year has made in her, it always amazes me how much kids learn in the first 3 years.  I will do a post later this week with her 3 year update. 

As I was getting her dressed for school (which is at our church) we had the following conversation:

Ana Kate:  Will we sing songs at school?
Me:  I'm not sure.
Ana Kate:  Maybe I'll ask God.  God, will we sing songs at school today?
Me:  What did He say?
Ana Kate:  I think he said yes.

And yes...they did sing songs at school.  : )

She ran right into her classroom when we got there and started telling her teacher she was 3 today.  Her teachers were wonderful!  When I picked her up they were telling me how funny she was.  I also got a note of what she did today and the comments said she has a spunky personality.  So it went really well.  She also took a short nap at school.  I took cupcakes for her class and they loved them!  When I asked her how she like school she said, " I loved it!"  So a great start to a hopefully great year!  Yay!

Trying to get a 1st day of school picture, but she wouldn't face the camera.

I made dinner for everyone and Mimi came over.  Then after dinner Ana Kate opened Whitney & Josh's presents and was super excited.  They got her 3 DVDs that she wanted and a coloring book, and stickers. 

Photos for her birthday aren't great because I had to use a flash since we were inside.  I'm planning to try and take 3 year photos of her soon....if she'll cooperate.

Oh...I also want to say Happy Birthday to my friend Amanda who shares Ana Kate's birthday.  I hope you had a wonderful day Amanda!

Serenading the neighborhood with her card.

The card Whitney gave her played a song from Litte Mermaid and she had to have it in her pictures.

241/365

We started the day by letting Ana Kate open her present from Mommy and Daddy because we figured if she got presents yesterday, today, and tomorrow that it would be a big birthday weekend.  : )  We got her a Leapster Explorer and 3 learning games for it.  She loves it!!  She'll get to open one more gift from Mommy tomorrow and then her gifts from Whitney & Josh.  We'll also do her cake tomorrow since that is actually her birthday.

Around lunchtime we went to the park and had a picnic.  After eating we played soccer with Ana Kate and then let Ana Kate play on the playground.  After that we did some shopping and then spent the evening at home.  Ana Kate is SO excited about starting 'school' tomorrow.  I hope it all goes well, especially because it's her birthday.  I've heard great things about her teachers, so I'm sure she'll love it!

240/365

Today we got up super early because Whitney was having a garage sale.  I didn't really help with the garage sale, but everyone in the house was up by 6am except for Ana Kate.  Whitney made $150 for just sitting out in the driveway for a few hours, so she was happy.  I also got rid of a few things I had stored....so it was a good morning.  When Ana Kate woke up she played with Grandma and watched some cartoons.  I wrapped her birthday presents this morning and she was carrying one of them around all day.  After her bath she kept asking if she could open one and Grandma said it would be ok if she opened her gift from them...so she did.  She was SO cute when she was opening it.  She kept saying, 'Oh boy! Oh boy!'  It was a box full of princess dress up clothes and she loves it.  She immediately dressed up in the 'Belle' outfit and posed for us. 

I had to convince her to take off the dress up clothes so we could leave for church.  We had our long night at church tonight, but it went well.  The service was wonderful and very though provoking for me.  After church we had some dinner and then watched TV.  I am really tired, so I think I'll be heading to bed soon.

239/365

Today we got up early and watched a couple of cartoons.  Then Ana Kate played with Grandma and Mimi while I got ready and went to run a few errands.  When I got home I gave Ana Kate a bath and then we went to Walmart to get some last minute things.  She was such a good girl today and has been very good all week.  We are still doing the 8pm bedtime and it's actually going really well.  She still hasn't napped since we started going to bed early, but I'm thinking when she starts adjusting and waking up around 7am that we might try for at least a 1 hour nap mid-day.  I would never think a 2 year old doesn't need a nap, but she really hasn't been cranky this week.

Ana Kate got 3 birthday cards in the mail today and she was SO excited!  She has been asking for mail for a couple of weeks and then getting sad and pouty because as she says...'No one sends me letters.'  : (  It is so pitiful.  So when she finally got 'letters' (birthday cards) today she was beside herself.  They all had money in them, but she just put the money to the side and hugged her cards.  She carried them around for a long time and I heard her saying, 'My dreams came true....I got birthday letters!'  Super cute!  It's so fun to see such true happiness over the small thing and makes me want to try harder to appreciate all the small things in life.  Ana Kate is such a sweet sweet girl! I love her SO very much!

238/365

Ana Kate started out the day playing with Grandma.  She loves it when Grandma and Grandpa are here!  We got ready and went shopping for birthday presents.  Ana Kate was really good while we were shopping and we found everything we were looking for.

We spent the rest of the day just visiting and playing.  I made chicken spaghetti for dinner and Ana Kate seemed to enjoy it.  She is really starting to eat much better than she has in the past.  I found out today that she is going to mother's day out on Mondays, but not sure if she'll get into the Thursday class as well.  It starts next week, which means she would be going on her birthday.  I was going to keep her home, but I think I'll go ahead and send her because I'm sure she'll love it.  I think we'll do a more traditional pre-k next year, but we'll see how it goes.  I am looking forward to having some free time, but at the same time I will be miss her while she's there.  : (

237/365

Today we finished cleaning house and Ana Kate was such a good little helper.  She was in a great mood today and was SO excited because Grandma and Grandpa came to see her!

She did go to bed last night at 8:00 and was asleep within 10 minutes.  She did wake up at 9 for a few minutes and then again at 4am (for about an hour...but she stayed in bed thankfully).  She finally went back to sleep and woke up this morning around 9AM.  So....she probably got about 12 hours of sleep in all, but that's better than 10 or 11.  I think she only woke up because one of Doug's alarms went off and he got up to turn it off.  So we'll continue with 8pm bed time.

We all went out to dinner tonight at a local Chinese restaurant and it was really good.  Ana Kate ate really well and we had fun!  When we got home I took pictures (very quickly) and managed to get one with Whitney and Josh.  Not quite as sharp as normal (I should have bumped up my ISO so I could get a faster shutter speed), but I was in a hurry.

Ana Kate didn't have a nap today and I put her to bed again at 8.  It was tougher tonight because she was wound up with Grandma and Grandpa here....the last thing she wanted to do was go to bed.  : (

236/365

We stayed home again today, but Ana Kate didn't nap (even though we tried for well over an hour)....so it made  for a really long day.  I'm not sure what's going on with her, but the day goes so much more smoothly for both of us when she takes a nap.  I did some cleaning, but it wasn't easy with Ana Kate trying to get in the middle of it.  She wanted to help, but it usually is just a lot more work.  She did manage to pick up her toys today without my help...which was wonderful!  I really want to sort through her toys and get rid of a lot of them, but it's very difficult to do while she's awake.  She of course doesn't want to get rid of ANY of her toys.  I guess I could do it after she goes to bed, but when she doesn't take a nap I'm so exhausted by that point that I just want to relax.  Oh...the joys of a child that doesn't sleep very much.  : )  I am going to attempt to put her in bed at 8 tonight and if that goes well, we'll start doing that every night.  If that works, then forcing the nap may not be such a big deal.

She said the funniest thing yesterday.  I got a new photography reflector and I had just gotten it out of the box and she said, 'Hey Mommy...what is that nifty thing, did you make it?'  I thought it was so cute.  She knows so many words and exactly how (and in what context) to use them.  I know she's smart, but she still surprises me every day with how much she knows.  She has been watching the Talking Letter Factory & Talking Word Factory and she loves them.  She is going around talking about which letters make which sounds and she told Doug the other day that vowels are sticky letters.  She's known her letters for a long time, but now she actually wants to put them together and try to read....so we'll see how that goes.  I really don't want to rush her because it looks like she won't be able to start kindergarten until she's 6.  So we have 3 more years to get ready for all that.  I am trying to get her in the mother's day out program at our church, but there is a waiting list, so I'm not sure when or if she'll get in.  I registered very late, so I"ll have to make sure and register early next spring.  It's very much like a preschool program and she would go 2 days a week, so hopefully we'll be able to start sometime this fall.

We went outside on the porch for pictures tonight and it felt SO nice!  It's so much cooler already and it's supposed to get down in the 50's tonight!  Ana Kate had to bring her fish out for pictures again....so we got another picture of him.  Her favorite show was on again last night....so we saw a couple more episodes of River Monsters.  She also likes man vs. wild, which I find a little odd for a 2 yr. old girl, but she likes it!

235/365

Today we stayed home and did some cleaning.  I didn't get as much done as I wanted, but I did pretty well considering that Ana Kate didn't nap.  She did go to bed a 9 again though....so I guess it's ok.  Definitely not the way I would prefer it....I think naps are good for both of us, but she just doesn't sleep as much as the average 2 year old.

I did work some on setting up a website for my photography business.  I am still messing with it, but hopefully will have it ready to go in a couple of weeks.  I still have lots of other things to do as well before I'm up and running, but I'll get there.

Ana Kate's birthday countdown in on....one more week and she'll be 3!  She's getting really excited!  I need to go order her cake/cupcakes this week.  She picked out the princess theme, so we'll be having a princess party for our little princess!  We're just having family here, so it won't be a huge deal, but she'll have a great time.

When we took photos today Ana Kate made me take a picture of her fish.  This is one of ugliest stuffed animals I've ever seen, but she LOVES her fishy.  We got it a couple of years ago and she hasn't played with it for a long time.  She has gotten hooked on that river monster show on animal planet and so she went and dug through her toy box for this fish and she's carried around with her everywhere the past couple of days.

234/365

We had a super lazy day here today...which means we'll be doing lots of cleaning tomorrow.  : )  It was nice to have nowhere to go and to have Doug home with us.  Ana Kate did not take a nap again today, so she was wearing us out by the end of the day...but she fell asleep by 9pm!  So, not much to say, but we have a busy week ahead of us.

233/365

We had a pretty slow day today....at first.  Doug had a fever and wasn't feeling well, then I had a headache when I woke up, so we kind of stayed around the house until it cooled down some.  After 5 we headed to Sam's and then drove around for a while.  Ana Kate almost fell asleep in the car (no nap today), so in an effort to wake her up Doug asked if she wanted to go to the park.  She snapped her head up and rubbed her face a few times with her hands (waking herself up, I guess) and said, 'Yay...the park!'.  So we grabbed her soccer ball and went to the park.  She played soccer for a while with Doug while I took pictures and she was having SO much fun!  I then got Doug to throw her up in the air, which she loved, so I could get a few shots.  She wanted to keep doing it again and again, but I think Daddy was getting tired.

After the park we went to Mimi's for a while and visited with her.  We thought that Ana Kate would crash as soon as we got home, but she's still going strong!



I think we might have a future soccer player....she handles the ball really well for her age.