Happy 9th Birthday, Anneliese!

Anneliese is 9 today! (Today meaning, just after midnight, when all the sporadic birthday blogs get published, because if it's a good enough time to have a baby, it's a good enough time to post about it.)

All day I've been asking her, "you know what I was doing nine years ago RIGHT NOW?" and then telling her parts of her birth and labor story and she rolls her eyes (because tween) but then she side-eyes a grin with that dimple and I know she loves it.

I told her I wasn't going to let her go to bed earlier because once she was asleep, she'd be all done being 8, and I wasn't ready to authorize a new age yet. She's all, "mom! you do this every year!" Well... YEP I sure do, can't stop won't stop, get on board baby girl.

So! Birthday week! We are just in the aftermath of our second hurricane in a month (both minor for our purposes, still both frustrating) and we haven't had power and I couldn't bake a cake (I bought one for the first time, someone tell me it's fiiiiiine) or make a birthday video until the wee hours (we have power back, yay!) AND I just got back from a fall break trip with Nathan, so it's been an odd week of nerves and scattered attention and all of a sudden WHOA IT IS HER BIRTHDAY.

She's 9! Look at this sweet big girl.

Anneliese at 9 (almost) (as I'm writing this) is a kind, poised, quirky fun kid. She's ever more introverted, but still chatty with us at home. She's social and has lots of friends and giggles, but doesn't seem to be the leader in any group situation. (Except! We hear she is a leader in the classroom, which is fun to picture.) She has a steady approach to life, in many ways some version of an ideal self I think many adults would want to be (myself included): observing and measuring before acting, not reckless but glad to try new things, confident in saying what she wants or needs yet rarely pushy about it, and (usually) maintaining her composure even when she's confused or stressed.

UNLESS YOU RUSH HER DO NOT RUSH HER SHE CANNOT BE RUSHED. She will cry and break down and say she can't move fast or think clearly when someone is rushing her and stressing her and MOM YOU ARE STRESSING ME OUT (yes, it has begun) (she takes seriously 45 mins to shower and put clothes on every day, and I have no idea what she is doing up there -- staring at the wall? daydreaming of underwear? trying to "match" outfits? -- but I can't look too closely at it, I just have to trust that she'll be dressed and ready and she almost always is; we both do better when I don't micromanage her time but SERIOUSLY WHAT IS SHE DOING (I digress).

She loves to lollygag with her head in the clouds, she's very much a daydreamer, and also a big-picture dreamer, and I think it keeps her content and chill with most of what swirls around her, because she so easily can put her brain somewhere else. I sort of love that about her, because for all the ways she is similar to me emotionally, this corner of her brain is nothing like me, and it's interesting and fun to learn it about her.

She loves her violin and craves our attention and notice when she practices and masters a new song or skill. She likes books and audiobooks and has started leaning into some history and nonfiction which is fun. She is very pro-female and girl-leadership and scowls at people who underestimate girls. (YES YES YES.)

She decided this year she'd like to save some turtles, so we now get straw-shamed when we use a disposable straw around her in a restaurant, except when it's convenient for her, of course, and then it's fine. So... basically she's saving turtles at the speed of a turtle, which is better than not saving them at all right?

Despite being a whole head taller than average for her age, she's still plugging away at gymnastics, and getting better, and having fun! She also loves kicking the soccer ball around outside (this might or might not have more to do with attention and quality time with Nathan than any particular love of soccer) and she's still a strong quick little swimmer. She got a new bike for Christmas (after finally learning to ride last fall) and she's pretty good at that now too!

She's more and more independent, walking to and from the bus stop with Charlotte on her own each day, getting around Montreat on foot on her own this summer, and because she's eager for more independence, she's super reliable and helpful and trustworthy, which is... excellent, and a relief. (And a prayer it sticks, please.)

She loves milk and spaghetti and cabbage risotto and pineapples and sloppy joes and easy mac with sour cream mixed in (I don't even know). She dislikes fizzy drinks and all potatoes except the skinniest of fries, or chips. She would never choose ice cream over another dessert, and she'd never choose chocolate over vanilla, though she'll eat both of those things and rave about them when they're the only options. She adores babies, especially her youngest cousins. She loves dancing to music on YouTube and Amazon. She asked to re-paint her room this summer and after a zillion samples we found an aqua we both agreed on, so... yay for feeling invested in her sense of space? (And by yay I mean WHOA I'm exhausted.) She loves playing dolls with Charlotte and sports with Nathan and board games with Mark. She would communicate in nothing but emojis if we'd let her. She loves unicorns and rainbows and sparkles and slime, and her minecraft worlds are created thusly.

I've said it many times, and I think it even more often: it's bananas cool that we get to be her parents, to love her, to raise her, to see who she's becoming. All of us who get to know and love her are truly better for it, I really believe that.

Video of the past year:


(If you can't see the video embedded above, click here to watch it on YouTube.)

Past years of memories:
8th year
7th year
6th year
5th year
4th year
3rd year
2nd year
1st year

Happy birthday, baby Beanie. We love you forever and ever.

Happy Birthday, Anneliese!

Anneliese is 8 today! I secretly want to keep her home from school and take the day off work and snuggle and watch movies (read: birthday videos) and hang out with her all day, and I even offered her the option to play hooky, but she wants to go to school and see her friends and have a class birthday breakfast or whatever, so LE SIGH woe is me etc. I will just be here, distracted from client stuff, feeling my mommy feelings and watching the clock.

Tonight we have a pool party planned at an indoor parks and rec place with a slide, and all her fall pool party birthday dreams will come true. (She eyeballs her siblings' summer birthdays wistfully, and they do the same for her school-year birthday. The grass is always greener, munchkins. Get used to it.)

I have a german chocolate cake waiting, and will put something colorful on top (?) before the day is out. Coconuts and chocolate and nuts for my girl, with a rainbow and a grin.

The world has delighted Anneliese for another year, and she has delighted us too. Some fun moments from this year:


(If you can't see the video embedded above, click this link to watch on YouTube.)

And the memory lane videos:
seventh year
sixth
fifth
fourth
third
second
first

Every time I stop and remember how excited I was to meet Anneliese, to have a daughter, my daughter, I am amazed anew at how she's exactly as wonderful as we hoped, and more wonderful all the time. Our lives are better because we get to love her, and the world is better because she's in it.

Happy birthday, dear Anneliese. We love you so much!

Anneliese at Almost 8

We have reached the point in this funny moment in time known as "blogging" where instead of everyday tidbits and daily-slog-minutiae delight nuggets, I find myself only vignetting my babies into words a thin slice at a time. And that's harder than you'd think, or maybe exactly as hard as you'd think, because capturing any human into a slice of a moment in time is... well, hard.

And here we are, with tiny "new baby" turned big girl big sister "middlest baby" Anneliese as an almost-eight-year-old. When I try to wrap my brain around where we were eight years ago this week -- newly a stay-at-home-parent, very pregnant, worried about H1N1, curious about folks getting smartphones, wondering how to picture our only child as a big brother, ending what we then naively adorably thought was the hardest decade in America we had seen in ages haaaaaaomg -- it's almost hard to remember that. It seems like another life. It was another life.

And then there was Anneliese. And now, well, look at her go.

Last winter, she finally lost that janky tooth that busted up her face when she was two. It's weird how it feels like both Anneliese and I spent five years cussing that tooth and missing her baby smile (me), and hating the jank (her), and then when it finally came out, I was, like, profoundly sad. When you have legit feelings about teeth as the end of an era, that's when you know your mom math is some weird sh!t, yo. (Anneliese was uncomplicatedly thrilled to toss it to the tooth fairy and move on with her life, for the record. Gave none craps about the memory and trauma and face change. KIDS AMIRITE.)

Anneliese at almost eight is a bookworm, devouring chapter books and audiobooks faster than we can put them in her hands or ears, and always on the hunt for a new free little library. She has taken in some of my own children's favorites this year (Harry Potter, the Little House series, the Narnia books, Roald Dahl, Beverly Cleary) which has been super fun (for me). One of her current favorite things is for us to go on a walk together and listen to our audiobooks and hold hands. She won't outgrow this too soon, right? Right?? RIGHT?! (Someone tell me she won't. Lie to me if you must.)

She has also decided sometime in the last year that music is maybe her Thing. She started on violin in orchestra last winter, and also auditioned for a spot in a community choir in a neighboring suburb, and adores singing with them. She is the youngest one, and thinks that singing with big kids all the way up through high school is the best. She spends a fair amount of time upstairs in the closest between her room and Charlotte's, sounding out tunes on the keyboard and trying to match it to her violin, which is super sweet, and also whoa dang loud, and also no you may not start piano yet, my dear, you are already super booked up. (But yes, our band nerd hearts are proud.)

She loves babies and taking care of her baby cousins, and is convinced (and will tell anyone who will listen) that she possesses a talent called "baby magic" that means she can always soothe them, and, well, I mean, let's just say I will be a very sweet mom when her own kid has colic, because that's definitely happening, right? That's how the universe works, last time I checked.

Anneliese and Charlotte have been playing together better this year than ever before in their lives. The closet between their rooms is currently set up like a nursery for all their babies (and I do mean all! their! babies! SO MANY BABIES OMG) and it reminds me so much of Ashley and me at that age that it just squeezes my heart and is exactly what I was hoping their sisterhood would be like.

She and Nathan are still fast friends too, and they all three still pile into her room every Friday night for a sleepover. I'm so scared those days are numbered but I will cling to it and let them do it as many more weeks/months/years of their childhoods as they want.

Anneliese become a bit more shy and a bit more poised this year. She is polite and mostly quiet in a group, yet also social and fun with lots of friends and party invites and stories from school. When she's chatty, she's nonstop - but she's decidedly less chatty than Other People who live in this house.

She switched this fall from dance to gymnastics and that seems to be going well, although it's a new rhythm for our family not to have any tiny dancers at the moment. She also likes crafts and sewing, and (like her mommy!) loves notebooks and pens and is always trying a new pretty ("pretty") lettering.

She loves sunshine and hates cold weather. She considers herself an indoor cat, except for trampolining and her newly-learned skill of bike riding. She adores sleep. First one down every night, and the last one up every morning. And she would nap any day we'd let her.

She is obsessed with spaghetti, especially her daddy's. She loves coconut and almonds and somehow loves popping candy but not carbonated beverages, because, well, people are complicated I guess.

And yes, a streak of rainbow still follows her everywhere she goes.

We love you, baby Beanie. Happy almost 8!

Anneliese at Almost Seven

Okay so there are golden birthdays, but is there such a thing as a golden due date? If so, this is Anneliese's. It's October 7th again, and she's almost 7!

Anneliese these days is made up of big feelings, rainbows, chapter books, dolls and doll dress-ups, spaghetti, coconut, craft projects, an odd blend of sassy and compliant responsibility, a head of loose teeth (though not enough missing for her taste), running, swimming, dancing, Olympics, creativity, bright smarts, and one of the funniest kindest hearts I've ever known. She's into girl strength and also silly girlishness. She's a beautiful singer. She loves school and sleeping late. She does cartwheels the way some people talk with their hands. She's the object of affection and attention from both her siblings. She is our middlest, and she is beloved.

I can't believe it was seven years ago she was inside me and we only knew her as Beanie, the awaited baby daughter I was so excited to finally have.

Once in a while, something your heart has huge hopes for, turns out to be exactly as good as you'd hoped. For me, being Anneliese's mom is one of those things.

I love you, little Beanie. Happy due date.

Happy Birthday, Anneliese!

It's Anneliese's birthday! She's six! SIX! It sounds so old, doesn't it?

Another year has flown by:


(If you can't see the embedded video, click here to watch on YouTube.)

(Other birthday videos: first year, second year, third year, fourth year, fifth year.)

It always makes me a bit sad and nostalgic watching my babies grow up, and watching all the past years of birthday videos makes me full of sappy tears and memories. There an ache to it, of course. But mostly, today, it's a warm ache, tempered by the lovely feelings of watching her grow into a person I really like and respect. She is a wonderful child, the world is better with her in it, and it is an honor to be her mom. My heart is full to bursting.

Happy happy birthday, dear Anneliese.

Anneliese, Almost Six

Last week in Anneliese's kindergarten class, she was the "owl of the week" (because just being student of the week is so last millenium?) and she got to ("got to") make a collage and bring a stuffed toy home and write in a journal about it, and also answer a questionnaire about herself.

One of the prompts was to name a dream she has for herself one day. Her answer? "See a rainbow." When I pointed out that she has indeed seen a rainbow before already, she said "Yes! And it was a dream come true!"

So, that's basically all you need to know about Anneliese and her delightful little heart these days.

But here is some more anyway:

She is reading, more and more. She is writing, more and more. Suddenly the world seems hers for the taking. (Hashtag: literacy, amiright?) She sings and dances and makes funny facial expressions and talks with her hands.

She plays with her American Girl doll and her baby doll and chats about Shopkins and Pokemon. She can build lego sets now, with only a little help from big brother. She can fix her own food and find her own tv show and she has her own email address, which she uses to send very important emails covering important topics such as I LOVE YOU and also I LOVE PARSNIPS and also HI BYE LOVE ANNELIESE, but with far fewer correctly spelled words than that there.

She remains obsessed with rainbows. And wearing as many colors as possible. In another of her school projects, she did a collage (why so many collages, teachers of America? whyyyy) or list type thing of her favorites -- naming her favorite color as a rainbow and her favorite animal as a unicorn.

She will not fit into someone else's fill in the blank, NO SHE WILL NOT. (In the most delightful way possible.)

And she is trying very hard to seem grown up, and to grow up, and to be taken seriously, while also clinging tight to a few vestiges of babyhood: her thumb, and Hattie, and dress-ups.

Anneliese seems to approach the world with the assumption that the world is out to delight her. And, therefore, it usually does. I think this is a good way to live. I think I would like to be more like her when I grow up.

I can't believe six years ago tonight she was still inside me, and now here she is, a bright-eyed funny smiling little kindergarten human, making the world better because she is in it. She is everything.

Happy due date, Beanie. We love you always.

First Day of School!

Welp, the big kids are off to school. Nathan is in third grade, and Anneliese is in kindergarten, and I am... verklempt.

Look at them! They are such big kids! How did this happen?? I feel like I even had an "extra" year at home with Anneliese, because she's so much older for her school year than the others. And still, it wasn't enough. I miss her.

My heart is squeezed very tight, and my thoughts are across town in her little classroom, and my memories are full of this whole first era of her childhood that's... over. Yes, she is still a child, yes, I will see her all the time, etc etc etc I KNOW. But it really is the end of an era, and that always comes with feelings. Feeeeeeelings. Capital F. You know.

When she was born is when I officially stopped working and became a stay-at-home parent, and now we are entering a season where I will start work again, in some capacity, and there is still so much unknown and unplanned but it really just feels like an era is ending.

Anyway! Brisk clap! Look at this sweet picture of the two of them three years ago, on Nathan's first day of kindergarten and Anneliese's first day of preschool. They are the same! Yet so grown up! Yet still my babies!

2012 and 2015

OH MAH GAH Y'ALL. My heart.

Brb I need to hug my last baby at home and cry weepy mom tears and wait for the bus.

(The bus came. It was the best part of Anneliese's day, she said. After all those years of waving to Nathan, she finally got to ride with him.)

Anyway so yeah. School is back. All the other moms can throw a party but I'm not there yet. Someone send me a hug and a cookie please kthx.

Last Day of Preschool

The girls are all done for the summer! For Anneliese, it's her last day of preschool ever, so of course I felt all the feelings and cried all the tears and we stopped for a traditional Last Day Starbucks before we took a picture on the steps at the church.

Her first day of preschool, and her last. Oh man. Just... what.

And Charlotte too!

Happy summer, sweet girls!

PJs and Pancakes Party

On the afternoon of Anneliese's birthday, we had some friends over for PJs and pancakes, and it was really sweet! I wasn't sure if a Monday afternoon birthday party would fly, but it did! It was easy and cute.

Anneliese requested a strawberry cake, with a rainbow with clouds on top. Done and done.

(It's no masterpiece like last year's rainbow cake - which was definitely the peak of my birthday cake makings - but I did make a damn fine strawberry buttercream, so at least there's that.)

We set up the kitchen for a big breakfast-for-dinner: bacon, eggs, yogurt, and milk in cute bottles (I had to drink a lot of frappucinos to have all those bottles ready for the party) (I'm a selfless mom, what).

And, make-your-own-pancakes! They could choose their "toppings" and whatever kind of pancakes they wanted, and we had several kinds of syrup to choose from. PSA: kids do not choose fruit when you give them the option of sprinkles or chocolate chips instead. #themoreyouknow

We let them decorate their own coffee tumblers, and then I put a packet of hot chocolate in each of them. Activity + party favor = easy win.

Because I'm not much of an organized games kind of mom, they spent most of the party playing outside in the yard on the swingset. I'm not sorry. It was easy, and it's fun, and other people's yards are always more exciting than your own when you're a kid, right? Especially in your PJs.

Then we opened presents and sang and had cake and ice cream.

Totally a delightful party. Happy birthday, sweet Anneliese!

Happy Birthday, Anneliese!

Anneliese is five today! FIVE! Five seems like such a big number. A new era.m Part of me can't believe it's been five! whole! years! But mostly I'm just excited to see what another year will bring to our joyful kind sweet baby girl, who is turning into a delightful cool little person, right before our eyes.

Some memories from the last year (also known as the year Anneliese wore that rainbow 4 shirt many times every week):



(If you can't see the embedded video, click here to watch it on YouTube.)
(To watch in a mobile browser, click here.)

And if you want to see Anneliese from the beginning:

Her first year
Her second year
Her third year
Her fourth year

Happy birthday, little lady! We love you!

Back to Preschool!

Everyone is officially back to school!

Charlotte went back today:

Her first day of 3's! She will go three mornings a week, Monday and Wednesday and Friday.

And Anneliese went back yesterday, her last first day of preschool:

Most of the "old 4's" like her are going five days a week (which is a new option at our church), and she is totally ready for that if we had wanted her to (she's actually ready for kindergarten, in my opinion -- and desperately wants to go to kindergarten -- but just after she was born they changed the NC schools birth date deadline from October 15th to August 31st, so she misses the deadline now), but now that I have seen what it is like to have a kid gone all day every weekday, I'm in no hurry to rush it for preschool -- so she's only doing four mornings, Monday through Thursday. On Fridays she will be at home with Ali and me, and I am glad for it.

Can I point out here how much it delights me that my children happily bound up those steps outside church and grab that rail and smile for pictures now? What started as a random photo of Nathan as a toddler has turned into a legit first-day tradition, complete with Starbucks. (All the best traditions come with Starbucks. True story.)

Anyway they each had their first days, and next week starts our new routine. Nathan is in school most of the day every day, of course. And all the girls will be home every afternoon. But the mornings will be more scattered:
- Mondays I will have just Ali,
- Tuesdays and Thursdays I will have Charlotte and Ali,
- Fridays it'll be Anneliese and Ali,
and Wednesday mornings (while Ali is at mmo) will once again be MINE ALL MINE. Those four hours are precious, y'all. Not because I have anything important or pressing to do (although it's nice to have a go-to window to schedule things I don't want to drag any kids along to), but simply because, like most people, even chatty extroverts, sometimes I like to be ALONE FTLOG.

I have big plans for giant coffees, and long showers, and reading under my covers, and I might even poop with no one talking to me. It's going to be awesome.

First Swimmers

Happy July! Is it July already? *cue freakout*

All of our pool time (and the bribery promise of any frozen/lego/cars toy they want) has brought some real progress on the swimming front for Nathan and Anneliese. Progress as in, THEY CAN DO IT.

I mean, there is no good stroke work going here, or anything fancy, but they are letting go of the wall and the bottom and moving their bodies in the water, willingly, without help, and OH MAH GAH I'M SO PROUD. (And relieved. This is a big safety thing for me.)

Anneliese did it first, on Sunday:


(If you can't see the embedded video, click here to watch on YouTube.)

And then Nathan, in a burst of "can't let little sister outdo me," did it today. It's all in the legs for him, apparently:


(If you can't see the embedded video, click here to watch on YouTube.)

(We actually don't hate that Anneliese did it first. According to my sources, middle kids hardly get to do anything first. Also, she is (most of the time) a wee but more confident than Nathan, so seeing her do it was good motivation and reassurance for him. Peer pressure in the best way.

They will also both go underwater for diving rings (mostly just off the steps) and just in general are not freaking the eff out about getting their faces and heads wet. It is huge progress for these kids who are slow to catch up to their water-loving genes, apparently.

Oh! And baby Ali had her first swim too! In our pool! (Both our girls had their first swims in Uncle Nick's pool, so this was a sweet turnabout.) Considering how much she likes to yell about life, we weren't sure that she would be very happy about swimming, but she loooved it.  Stayed happy and content in the water for a good long while. She was squishy and slippery and drippy and oh so sweet.

It has been an emotionally wrought few days around here, nothing having anything to do with the kids, so seeing them be summery and proud and determined is basically the best thing ever. It makes me teary.

Rainbow Party

Ahhhh! Okay y'all this rainbow party for Anneliese was the cutest little party I have ever had. (Note: I have only done about three real parties. Out of a combined twelve birthdays for all my babies. Whatever.) I am starting to move past my previous mindset of "oh just a playdate with cake" because doing something with a little theme* is fun. Yeah I said it.

So, Anneliese asked for a rainbow birthday party (well, a rainbow number party, which, um... ???) so I went ahead and made it my mission to Pin All The Things. And then I executed a tiny few of them. And she freaking loved it.

One of her favorite things was her party outfit, which I will never be able to top, so I don't even plan on trying ever again:

My friend Jeanine (the crafty one who taught VCS with me this summer) made the skirt from jersey t-shirt material. Isn't it incredible?? And my friend Meghan (whose mom and aunt run a craft business, yes really) made the 4 shirt happen.

Hattie got a rainbow embellishment to wear for the party too:

I made some rainbow-ish food (turkey wraps with cream cheese, fruit kabobs, and water with rainbow paper taped over the labels) (yes, I taped paper to water bottles) (I don't even know who I am anymore).

(We forgot to eat the fruit at the party, but the good news is my kids' lunch boxes got stepped up in craftiness for the next week.)

We made cute little gift bags and lined them up on the mantle. Mark loves to tease me about gift bags on the mantle. It just increases my resolve to always, every year, from now til forever... make gift bags and put them on the mantle. So there.

Inside the bags there were rainbow-y things. Hmm let me try to remember... rainbow crayons and pencils, some scratch-paper bookmarks, little notepads, stickers, and these really-cute-if-I-say-so-myself bundles of m&ms.

(Side note: in case you were wondering if bags of m&ms come with equal amounts of each color, they do not. There exists a paucity of red m&ms in our world, and I survived rainbow party prep to live and tell about it.) (It also makes me annoyed at myself for how hard I hunted for purple knockoffs to complete the rainbow when it turns out red was my problem. Red! Who knew.)

Oh and also in the favor bags, these fun sunglasses. I probably didn't order them from the pride parade section. Probably.

We decorated the deck with streamers and balloons, the better for non-ugly dried bushes photo backgrounds (pinterest didn't make me no dummy), and set out fun colorful things to do: rainbow-dyed pasta for making necklaces, a spin art machine, scratch paper to make bookmarks, and pumpkins to paint. LOOK AT ME EMBRACING CRAFTS.

Anyway so the children did crafts and chalked on the sidewalk (look at that awesome rainbow Charlotte drew all by herself!) (HA HA NO), and Mark and Another Nathan let me boss them around (also, please note that Nathan took all the beautiful pictures in this post, and the crappy ones are from my phone), and then Anneliese opened presents and everyone played on the playset out back for a bit.

Then we had cake.

And can I just say, this cake was a thing of beauty.

 I am so proud of it. I looove how it came out. Please praise me for the rainbow cake, is what I am saying.

(I made a tye-dye version of it when Nathan was two, but this stripey one was so much prettier, I think.)

So, yeah. The party was adorable, and I loved doing it, and she loved having it, and we loved watching her love it. And she is still loving it, a week later, with the banner of balloons from the deck now hanging in her bedroom. The whole thing was sweet and fun and so very... Anneliese.

*Apparently the lego party was my gateway party. I... cannot disagree with that, actually.

Happy Birthday, Anneliese!

Anneliese is officially four years old! And officially wonderful. I can't believe how much she has grown up over the last year. And I don't just mean the tooth, or the hair metamorphosis. She has become a really cool big kid.

A year of memories with our happy outgoing silly middlest baby:


(If you can't see the embedded video, click here to watch it on YouTube.)

Happy birthday, dear Anneliese. Happy birthday to you.

(Years past: first, second, third.)

A is for Almost Four

This little girl who four years ago right now was still comfortably hanging out inside me, mocking any pretense of a due date, is now suddenly not a baby, and not a toddler, but a kid. See?

Well, I shouldn't say suddenly. Anneliese has seemed... old (?) for some time now. Articulate, outgoing, tall enough to tower over the other kids in her class. I have been asked more often in the last few months if she and Nathan are twins than any other time so far in their lives. (Still hard for me to remember she is actually closer to Charlotte's age than Nathan's. Weird.)

Anyway, she is growing up. And instead of feeling all sappy and sad about the passage of time, I am sitting here feeling soaring happy thoughts about her. The exhausting horrible season of defiance and toddler frustration is really and truly over. She still has naughty maddening days, because hello, she's three, and they are just days. And in the middle of that she is downright delightful.

She loves dress-up and dancing and she sings pretty much constantly. To the radio, in church, when someone else is singing, when she knows the words and when she doesn't. The girl knows how to make a joyful noise.

She is bright and speaks well, but hasn't quite shaken the toddler habit of not getting words quiiiite right: Firefighters are fighter-fighters. Backpacks are still pack-packs. Our current season is falling.

She has been looking forward to her birthday for months. Mostly since Nathan's and Charlotte's at the end of the summer, but also kind of since her last birthday. She really loves birthdays. Like really really loves them. More than anyone I have ever known except her Aunt Ashley. She told me last week in the grocery store, in her most serious voice, I am just so excited for my birthday I can't even believe it. And then proceeded to sing her way through the rest of our errands, I love birthdays, I love birthdays, in some made-up tune because that's just... what she does. Sometimes I forget to appreciate how adorable she is because I am so used to it.

Also, clearly, she remains the best shopping buddy I have ever given birth to.

She isn't doing much (any) reading or writing yet, but she is starting to recognize letters. With every A she encounters, she proudly proclaims A is for me! Yes, they are. Every single A for you, baby girl.

So, yeah. She is pretty great these days. Still sometimes a pain in the butt, but a pain made of glitter rainbows, so we will take it.

And while I don't feel terribly sad about the passing of time as she hits another year older, I am, predictably, full of sweet and sappy thoughts about her birth and newborn days. A daughter! I had wanted a daughter so badly! And then I had one, I had her! My daughter! And four years later she is this awesome funny silly bright little person, and she is our person, our Beanie, our Anneliese, and good grief do we love her.

Last Kindergarten Chapel

The last day of school! Finally! Maybe I'm being naive, but I am so ready to have all the kids home every day for the summer. Nowhere to be by any certain time which I will certainly feel late for! No more fighting for parking for school dropoff! PJs all day! (Well, some days.) Playtime at home! NO MORE PACKING LUNCHES!

Okay so yay summer break, but before we celebrate can I just be nostalgic for a second? Anneliese is done with her first year of preschool. Nathan is done with kindergarten, and graduating out of our church school for good.  Look how far they have come in a year:

And in case you thought those two were looking too old, try not to freak out at how huge Charlotte is all of a sudden. Um, excuse me? When did that happen?

(Also, oh my sweet babies, you are so perfectly and wonderfully awkward. Never change.)

Nathan is all dressed up because the last day of school was his final "graduation" chapel. I tried not to be too emotional but the second he walked downstairs with his tie on and asked for help with his sleeves, I was crying. And kept going off and on until chapel was over.

So, that's how that went.

And of course he wanted Daddy to wear his matching tie. Which of course Daddy happily did.

We are hella in love with this awesome kid. He is so bright and incredibly kind. He is still a budding introvert, but ever more confident, and I can't believe how far he has come out of his shell in the past year or so. I am both terrified and proud to send him to a big public school this fall.

We love you, Nathan. So much. Congrats, little graduate.

And now, summer.

Playground Party

Last weekend, on Anneliese's birthday afternoon, we had a little celebration for her at a playground near our house. In these parts, we generally subscribe to a "playdate with cake" goal for birthday parties, and it ended up being the perfect thing for Anneliese. Her first party she could understand and remember, and she loved it. Was so so happy.

We had made a cake together, strawberry cake with strawberry frosting and strawberries on top (this, from a child who used to not like strawberries) (Daniel Tiger loves strawberries so strawberries are kind of a big deal in our house right now) and I have to say, it was pretty freaking delicious. Strawberry cake might be the most under-appreciated of all the cakes. It was tasty and pink and basically a win.

We had three of her school/church friends come to play, and they each brought siblings (and parents! we're not crazy), so all together we had eleven kids (three were babies about Charlotte's age), which means... yeah we were glad to be at a playground and not our house.

The children ran and played, then we sang to Anneliese (she sang to herself too, naturally) and ate cake, then we gave her her birthday present (a bike!), then we went home.

Sweet and easy and she loved it. I haven't seen her so happy in weeks. She has been counting down to her birthday, basically since Nathan's and Charlotte's a few months ago, and at her party she basked in the attention and fun. Drank it in.

Like a birthday girl should.