Big Belly, Big Belly!

Just a few days left until baby Benjamin gets here, so I thought it was a good time to take some pictures of my enormous belly. I had Anna three weeks early, and didn't realize until it was too late that I didn't have any good pregnancy pictures. I didn't want that to happen again so here we are.

Here is Anna giving my tummy a kiss. She is noticing that my tummy is getting so big and often comments on it. When I have to explain that I am uncomfortable/tired/etc. she always reassures me, "It's OK mama, you will feel better. I will help you." She is such a sweet pea!

Happy Easter!

The Family Home Evening before Easter, we really tried to focus on the true meaning of Easter with Anna - that we celebrate Jesus, that He lives, that He loves us, etc. When trying to gauge what Anna got out of the little lesson she told us, "It's about Jesus, because He is so nice, He will bring us candy." So she got it...kind of.

Anna loved the excitement of an Easter basket. We even let her pick out one piece of candy to have before church, lucky girl. The spring tissue paper tree in the background is a little craft project my mom made with Anna.

Here is Anna waiting for nursery to start at church in her Easter hat. We got the hat at the dollar section of Target, and it had completely fallen apart by the end of the day, but was definitely worth the money.

Anna loved the book about Noah's Ark she got in her Easter basket. This is my mom wearing Anna's bunny ears and reading her the book. We had a yummy Easter lunch at my parents with my brothers and some friends of the family.

At the Rayhorns that afternoon, Anna got more Easter surprises. Her basket came with a Horton stuffed elephant that she just loved. She's a fan of the story. I think that we are going with Ethan's family to see Horton Hears a Who. It will be Anna's first movie theater experience...hopefully it goes well. Ashley planned an Easter egg hunt that was so fun for Anna. The eggs had some really cute stuff in them, and Anna's favorite were some pretty beaded bracelets seen above.

A few days before Easter, we went to our friends house to color Easter eggs. This was Anna's first experience with that and she thought it was pretty fun. It took awhile to convince her that we could and should eat the eggs. Finally I convinced her and it turns out she is a big fan of hard boiled eggs.

Party Time!

The last few weeks of February were filled with birthday parties Anna was invited to. Well, three to be exact. Her friend Jackson had a Thomas themed party, Hannah had an animal party at the U.P. Children's Museum, and her other friend Hannah had a Dog themed party. Fun times! Anna just loves, LOVES birthday parties. She loves picking out presents for her friends, helping me wrap them, talking about the cake to be shared, singing the birthday song, etc. When I told Anna that the day Benjamin is born, it will be his birthday, she was just very insistant that we have a cake, even if he can't eat it, "He will share with us Mama." Here are a few pics from the Children's Museum. Anna had a blast playing here!

That's my bubble hat!

There hasn't been anything too out of the ordinary going on around here, but we're having fun. Ethan's school/work schedule this semester is pretty much 8-5 with a lunch break thrown in there somewhere. So Anna and I have been trying to fill our days with interesting things, but I've got to be honest, my energy is running low. Ethan takes care of me so well, I can't even begin to explain, that I really look forward to 5 o'clock. Less than 4 weeks left until the baby - whoo hoo! I remember feeling sooooo much better as soon as I had Anna, I'm counting on that happening again. I have a c-section scheduled for the very beginning of April, but I am full term on March 16 so we'll see if I make it til then.

Some of the things Anna and I spend our time doing: Monday morning story time at the library, a Tuesday play group with friends from church, visiting daddy at work, going to my doctor appointments (Anna LOVES the doctors), reading books, doing puzzles - she's getting pretty good, and she loves to help me clean (although I haven't felt like cleaning too much lately, my belly is just too in the way, but Ethan has really, REALLY helped pick up my slack with cleaning. What a sweetie!) We also visit grandmas on a pretty regular basis.

Oh, Anna loves to help me cook. We both have aprons that she insists we wear anytime we make anything, even non-messy stuff. She knows what boiling should look like, what steam is, how to add in "just a bit," and she loves to help stir - which does make things a little messier. The funny thing is, even though we have been spending more time in the kitchen, she still calls it the 'chicken.' As in, "I'll go get a snack from the chicken." She has always spoken so well and enunciated very well that it is just hilarious that she cannot get this word down. Anyway, if we come across an amazing recipe in our culinary endeavors we'll be sure to share it.

Anna and I have been doing little school lessons most days. She loves it! She tells everyone that she has school classes and is always anxious to show them her "school stuff" which is a container of supplies we use for various things. Anna also tells people that I am her teacher, which is sweet and helps me feel like I'm putting my university education to use...even if she's not paying me for it. hehe It has been really great...I love watching her learn new things. It's amazing.

It is so wonderful having all this time with Anna. She is such an amazing girl...so sweet, caring, polite (usually), talkative, expressive, quirky, hilarious, opinionated, serious, fun! I know I am anxious to meet baby Benjamin, but I can't help but cherish this one-on-one time I have with Anna right now. Oh, the picture is of Anna in a bubble bath, to state the obvious. She was just really scared of bubbles for a while, so this is all kind of new for her. She loves making things out of bubbles, like the hat above.