Family

Anya and I went to visit my family the first week of July. Andy was a big poopie head and wouldn't come with us. That's fine. I left him a long list of things to do. (He even did a few of them!)

We had a great time playing in the backyard full of evil mosquitoes and going to our favorite restaurants and shopping at the Goodwill Emporium and getting our hairs cut by Ms. Pat and eating sheep and worm and mouse pancakes and chasing ChewyDog and NonnieCat and BobCat and seeing peaches packed and making cowstumes and squirt-gun-fighting with Grampa and Bubba and having a big ole birthday party with chocolate-cherry cake and candles to blow out! PHEW!

We also played in the pool,



and made tree kites,



and Anya dressed up in her hootchie-mama-Goodwill top (which some lady tried to steal out of my cart - the nerve!),



and jumped up and down at Monkey Joe's (but not in the hootiche-mama-Goodwill top).



Although part of the journey and not the actual visit, I would be remiss if I failed to mention that Anya went poopoo on the side of the road (not once, but twice!) on the way to Georgia. Ethical dilemma: do you leave the poo on the side of the road (non-populated area) or clean it up? I mean, surely all sorts of things are out there pooing all the time. But then...what if someone gets stranded and steps in the poo? What if a mower mows the poo? What if a bunch of kids stop there to do a Chinese fire drill and slide in the poo and all is ruined?!?!?!?

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Anya sings:

Baa, baa black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.
One for my Mommy,
And one for Daddy,
And one for Bubba,
And one for Grampa,
And one for Gramma,
And one for Gramma,
And one for Anya!

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Anya and I were in the newspaper! The photos are here.

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Who the heck gives a three year old a badminton racquet?!?

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Where did my mommy go?
(thudthudthud)
Where did my mommy go?

MOMMY MOMMY!
(thudthudthud)

Maaahhhhmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?

Mom?

Mawwwoooom?
Woowoowoo?
lalalalalalala woop
mumblemumblemumble

Where my mommy go? Goooo oooo ooo?


MOMMY!

Mommy?

Maahhhhhhhhhhhhhhmeeeeeeeee!
MOMMEE!
Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhmeeee?
Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhmeee?
Maammee?

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaayayayayamee?
Maahhhhhhme?

Mommy? (whinewhine)
mommy?

MOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMYYY! (thudthudthud)
MOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMYYY! (thudthudthud)
(thudthudthud)

(thudthudthud)


(thudthudthud)


MAHMAY!
MAHMEE!
MAHMAY!
Maahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmeeeeeee?
Maaaaaaaaaaaahhhhmeemee?
MOMMY! eh

MAAAAAAAAAAHMEEEE!

(cry) (whine) (whimper) (cry) (cry) (whine) (whimper) (cry)

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For the first time since Anya was born, we had a non-holiday / parental-visit meal at the table. Anya was confused.

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I have decided that Anya's special talent is frisbee. As someone who has problems throwing a "flying disk" after three decades of practice, I am in awe of her ability to fling that thing. In a few short sessions, she's progressed from tossing it all wonky-skoodle to getting the disk airborne and delivering it to the intended recipient. Okay, so it only goes to the intended recipient if they are standing in the correct place, but shouldn't they be doing that anyhow?

A nice thing about a frisbee over, say, a baseball, is that when Daddy throws a frisbee at Anya and whacks her upside the head or bounces it off her foot, it doesn't really hurt. We are still working on teaching Anya about catching (and Daddy about throwing a baseball).

I don't have any action photos of our practices, but here's a cute picture of Anya on her jumpy.

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Anya is now an old fart. (Her cake is not gray; it is purple. I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, and she said purple. So, I made her a purple cake with purple frosting. And sprinkles.)



I couldn't take a picture of Anya in the ole picture spot because we threw that sad changing pad thing out pretty much a year ago. And we moved the cabinet it was on downstairs. And there is a couch in front of that window now. But hey! The couch she is sitting on in this birthday photo is that couch in front of that window, so some continuity has been preserved!

So, what has the old lady been up to this year?

+ Talks in multiple word sentences: "I no eat dinner. Daddy and Mommy eat dinner; I eat goldfish!" (Yes, she uses semicolons, too.)
+ Counts up to 10 or so, but the numbers aren't always in the right order: "1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 4, 6, 13!"
+ Ditched the diapers! YESSSS!
+ Gained a reputation as "Oh, no, that girl!" at the library's story time. You know, that girl who runs around going LALALALALA waving scarves and bouncing off other kids?
+ Can get on and off the potty all by herself.
+ Can get out the screen doors but not back in...yet.
+ Learned about frisbees, kites, and baseball.
+ Helped knock down a wall.
+ I'm sure there's more, and I'll add it when I remember, but this is all I can think of now especially since it is oh so late and past my bedtime.

Andy's mom came down for the big 3 celebration. We took her to Mabry Mill and had lunch there. Yum. We'll definitely be going back there. Anya ate so much, her tummy popped out of her shirt. See? Yeah, um, that's what happened! Because Anya would never wear clothes that are too small. No way!



In addition to the Cinderella doll, Andy and I gave Anya a wagon for her birthday. It's a honking big wagon and took about an hour to assemble. Anya really likes it but will not ride in it. Oh no. We put her in it and she wailed. So we put Buddy in it, and he scrambled out. In the end, Anya decided the best thing to do with a wagon is to push it.



After wagon pushing, it was time for some gymnastics. Andy showed off his mad tumbling skills by doing a front roll UP HILL. He then wowed the audience by standing. On. His. Head. I've been married to this dude for almost twelve years, and I never knew he could stand on his head.



All in all, it was an interesting birthday weekend.

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After the Great Kite Incident of '10, Anya kept asking when we were going to go "choppin" to get a new one. I finally got her one (two actually, so we had a backup), a bit ago, and she was oh-so-very-excited. Turns out the kite I got this time is the super economy model and is about as big as a legal note pad. I also picked up a handle/extra string thing that is (a) purple and (b) heavier and hopefully won't float away if she drops it. I love the laugh on her face in this picture.



(In the upper left of the picture, you can see one of the two plum trees we planted.)

After Anya was done, Andy flew for a while. He got the kite stuck in a big tree on the other side of the power line, but he managed to free it. I was very impressed and did a little cheer.

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Saturday (or maybe it was Friday) it was windy outside, so we got out the kite Anya received from the Easter Bunny. Ok, it's almost always windy here, but it was windier than normal. Anya thought it was the greatest thing in the world, especially once we finally got it to stay aloft for more than 15 seconds. She stood in the driveway holding on to the string with both hands, because she wanted to do it all by herself. Then she let go.

It ended its life with the string stuck to the telephone/power lines, and the kite flapping madly until it was consumed by a kite-eating tree in the woods on the other side.

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