Easter 2009

*DISCLAIMER* I have had this post drafted since the week after Easter; however, our internet has been iffy at best over the last several weeks so I'm just now getting to actually post it.


Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! We spent the weekend in Hallettsville surrounded by the families that we are so blessed to be a part of.

Easter started out with another fabulous Henke get-together on the Hill on Good Friday. The kiddos had a great time running around, jumping on the trampoline and riding the camo jeep! They got to go on a ride looking for the Easter bunny and while they were gone, that sneaky bunny came up on the hill to hide eggs for all of them. Luckily, they got back before the bunny left so we did get a few pics with the Easter bunny. Anneliese loved him again. Though, she keeps asking who was in the costume. I hope I don't have that annoying kid who figures it all out before they're 5! Anyway, Anneliese got lots of candy and had fun playing with all of her cousins, especially Klayton. Those 2 just love each other!






On Sunday we got to celebrate Easter with the Noskas. Anneliese had a ton of fun playing with Constance! We got to break confetti eggs over each other and then the girls got to do their very own egg hunt. Of course, Anneliese got more candy!





She must have been a very good girl this year because the Easter bunny visited her at Nana's house, Granny's house and at our house. At each stop, she got more candy. Which means we now have more Easter candy at our house than we could possibly eat in one year! She also got a bunch of other neat stuff.




I do think she is the luckiest girl in the world to be part of such wonderful families! Love to all!

p.s. Baby #2 update - We go in on May 13 to find out if we're having a boy or girl! I'll keep you all posted.

Life with a 3 year old . . .

Here's what happens when you leave your 3 year old outside, alone, for 5 minutes so you can vacuum the living room. This is why I don't vacuum more often! ;)

The Zoo

Hi, everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates but we've been busy just living normal life and there hasn't been much exciting to blog about that I have pictures to go along with.

There have been a couple of exciting things happen recently:

1) We found out we're expecting baby #2! We are very excited and Anneliese can't wait to be a big sister. Right now, she is a bit partial to us having a girl because she says she doesn't like boys but I'm sure she'll love whatever God gives us. ;)

2) We recently were reminded of just how very smart our little girl is! Since she will be in St. Ignatius' 3-year-old program next year, she had to come up to the school to do an entrance test. They do these tests for all incoming 3, 4 and 5 year olds and they're just a variety of questions and tasks that a teacher asks the child to do to see what he or she already knows. I was so nervous before I brought Anneliese in. Not that I didn't think she would do well, I just wasn't sure if she would "perform" for a stranger. Well, I had no need to worry. Our child did great! She started off a little slow and was hesitant to go with someone new but once she got started, she really shined! Anneliese got a perfect 100, completing all of the tasks they ask her to do perfectly! She even did extra - when she was telling the teacher her colors, she was also showing her how to sign them. :) I was so proud of her. She's actually the only 3-year-old to score a perfect 100 so far this year! I'm telling you, I couldn't have been any prouder - let's just hope this good behavior continues throughout her school career. :) Of course, I don't pretend to take any credit for her smarts - her daycare is AMAZING and we will miss them very much in the fall.



Okay, on to the zoo. We've been trying to take Anneliese to the zoo since last summer but our plans kept getting changed for different reasons. We finally were able to go a couple days ago. Brandon took a few days off during Spring Break and the weather was perfect so we drove to San Antonio to go to the zoo. We all had a great time. These are pictures of some of our favorite animals.









Hopefully we'll have more updates soon. Love to everyone!

Happy Birthday!

Our baby girl is 3! It's so hard to believe that Anneliese is 3 years old - where does the time go?!?!

We started off her birthday celebration a day early so she could celebrate with her friends at school. She did a great job helping me make cookies.


Then it was on to celebrating on her birthday! We started out early getting ready for her party. The day was great and Anneliese had a fabulous time playing with everyone that was here, especially Dawson, Jon and Klayton! Those kids ran around like wild monkeys for hours! I'll leave you with highlights from the day. Thank you so much to everyone that came to help us celebrate our little girl's birthday! She is so blessed to have all of you in her life!

Test 2

Sorry, still testing.

Testing

Nothing exciting new yet, but I'm trying to figure out an easier way to get pictures on my blog before Anneliese's birthday so I've got to do a few trial runs.

Christmas '08

Happy New Year, everyone! Another Christmas has come and gone and it was a great one! Even though Christmas is always so busy, I can't complain because I feel so blessed to be able to have all of our families so close so that we can spend time with everyone, even it it is just for a little while. We bounce around for 3 days from one family gathering to the next but it is always great to be able to see everyone! Now that Anneliese is almost 3 (only a week and a half until the big day), she really gets Christmas and loves it almost as much as her mommy does, I think. It was so much fun watching all of the Christmas movies that I love with her and hearing her ask for them over and over again. I bet we watched Charlie Brown Christmas and The Grinch 20 times each at our house and for those that know me, I loved that! And, I think, she was almost as sad as I was while we were taking down the Christmas decorations. She kept saying, "Aww, mommy, where's the tree?" or "Aww, the Christmas lights aren't on anymore. Put them back on." She and I will have to count down together until next year.

Anyway, here's our Christmas '08 in pictures.

1st visit with Santa in Hallettsville (unfortunately, I failed to get pictures of our 2nd visit but she did very well then too).


Checking out the loot from St. Nick.


Hanging out with her best bud "Jackaboo" at their school Christmas program.


Christmas #1 at our house on Christmas Eve morning.




Christmas #2 with Brandon's family on Christmas Eve night. Can you say "trouble?"




Christmas #3 with mom and dad at their house Christmas morning.








Christmas #4 with the Noska side of the family on Christmas day. We don't have many pictures from this one (to my defense Brandon is in charge of pictures at this one). Sorry about the blurry pic.


And finally, Christmas #5 with the Henkes. I didn't take many pictures at this one either because we were all too busy playing games and having a good time! I managed one picture that wasn't blurry (what's up with that?).


Christmas #6 was with Mom-boo and Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Sharon but I failed to take any pictures. Oops.

Trying out a couple of new toys.





And, I'll leave you with a few family shots that a friend of ours took. He also took the pic for our Christmas card - he's very good!









May all of you have a happy and healthy 2009!
Love, The Noskas