Anna's Halloween Party

Anna's teachers at school planned a Halloween party for the kids and invited parents to attend. It was adorable!

Boo Dey

Boo Dey for two reasons: 1) It's Anna-Boo. 2) The Bengals lost.

Fun Video

Today Anna let me put her hair in pigtails for the first time - I about died, she looked so cute! Here she is eating her lunch, showing off her mad spoon-using skills. Listen closely and you'll hear her say applesauce (or her version of it), cup, Hi Baby, and bye-bye. She's also started saying bowl, ball, nose, and puppy, but those will have to wait for another video. Truth be told, she's also started saying the dreaded no, but I'm going to pretend she hasn't for a little while longer. Ignorance is bliss, right?!?! Where did our baby go? Who is this smart, spunky kid running around our house? She sure is a hoot!

The Weekend

Jimmy, Anna, and I have been really enjoying our last few weekends at home together. Although traveling and visiting family is fun (and necessary), so is having quiet, at-home, just-the-three of us time. That's what the last few weekends have been all about. We've gone to a farm (where Anna took her first hayride and picked cotton), a fall festival, a park, had a backyard picnic at her new picnic table, and lots of fun -albeit quiet - adventures.

This Saturday started off with pancakes, which Anna promptly learned how to dip into syrup.

Followed by play time. These days, play time consists of lots of "chasing" Mommy and Daddy!

Then we got ready for an outing to a nearby park. Anna decided to "help" me pack our lunch by camping out in the fridge. This is one of her newest favorite places to sit. *Don't worry, grandmas - I know this is dangerous and am very watchful ... she can't open the door herself ...

Notice the new ponytail?!?! I'm trying my hardest to try and tame her mane!

We enjoyed a picnic lunch, followed by much swinging, sliding (by herself!), and climbing around on the jungle gym. Jimmy and I were following Anna around the whole playground ... she knew just what she wanted to do! It's so fun (and terribly frightening) to watch her feel brave and excited over the freedom her increased mobility gives her. She was EXHAUSTED by the time we left and took a second nap in the afternoon (giving Mommy and Daddy time to work on sealing the driveway --- something we'll share photos of in another post).

What could be a better way to end a fun day than with her first cookie?!?!

Here she is tossing back her milk at her picnic table this morning before church.

This is the pumpkin Anna painted at Nichole's house on Friday. Nichole had asked to keep Anna on Friday so Josiah could have someone to play with. They had so much fun! Nichole was so sweet to have planned a fun art project for the kids. Anna likes to point at the pumpkin's nose (which she knows how to say and identify now!).

Finally, here's a cute picture of Anna and Jimmy from this afternoon. She's been in the habit of taking Jimmy's hat off and putting it on herself. Today Jimmy got her Reds hat and put it on her; she thought it was so cool to match Daddy. She wore her hat during our trip to the grocery store and kept it on the whole time (that's unprecedented for our girl!). She got lots of smiles at the store ... pretty cute.

All that to say, we've been loving our low-key weekends. It's been so fun to really have some consecutive weeks of good, solid family time. I feel like Anna's blossoming into this really fun "kid" --- she's hilarious and loves to get laughs out of whatever crowd she's around. It's nice to have these quiet weekends to soak up every second of what I know will be another fast year!

Love and miss everyone!

Weekend Videos

Anna-Zilla!

CupCup

Here are some pictures and video from our weekend.

Having lunch on Saturday afternoon

Anna goes walkabout

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have a Toddler on Our Hands!

It's been busy at the Leitsch household this month. Between traveling to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, Jimmy being out of town for work, and my bad choice to assign lots of writing to my loveable students, I've been doing my best to keep my head above water. Please forgive my absence from the blogging world!

There are lots of pictures from Anna's first birthday party on Facebook, compliments of Aunt Jess, and I hope to have some cute pictures from Erin and Anissa soon that chronicle our big Mish get-together in Cincinnati last weekend.

For today, this video will have to suffice. Nichole and I were both husband-less tonight, so she suggested we take the kids to Chick-fil-a for dinner. Who am I to pass up waffle fries?!?! Watching Anna play in the kids' area after dinner, I was struck by the huge change I see in her --- she's no longer a baby, but a mobile little kid with a mind of her own! She's been talking, walking, and responding so much more intentionally than before. Even in the last week I've noticed changes in her awareness of her surroundings. She's hilarious, sweet, and spunky - just the way I like her!