Easter 2011

We had an awesome Easter this year! Anabelle got to visit the Easter bunny the previous weekend when he came to our neighborhood. She thought he was very funny and laughed when we put her in his lap! She also had fun at the petting zoo where she got to get up close and personal with goats, pigs, baby chicks, bunny rabbits, kittens, ducks, and even a llama! As for Easter Sunday, we decided to stay here in McKinney and celebrate just the three of us! Anabelle hunted Easter eggs that the Easter bunny left for her. She had so much fun gathering the eggs and putting them in her basket (with the help of mom and dad). We spent most of the day outside playing in our back yard and we took a long walk in the afternoon. A perfect Easter weekend!

Anabelle and the Easter bunny!

Our family. Gathering eggs.
Bailey is joining in the fun too.

Gathering eggs!

More eggs.

Anabelle and her daddy!

Daddy helping Anabelle gather eggs.

Anabelle checking out all the animals.
Looking at the baby goat.

Mommy & Anabelle.

Petting the chicken.

Petting the kitten.

Checking out the duck.

Anabelle and the llama.

Tulips, tulips, and more tulips!!!

The Arboretum is a beautiful park in Dallas that we had heard so much about when we moved here. After our first visit we even bought annual memberships! It's a great place to spend the afternoon and Anabelle really loves to look at all of its beauty. Each season they do different displays but I don't think there is any better time to go than in April for the tulips. Anabelle and I visited there with my friend Natalie and her adorable daughter, Violet. We loved it so much we took Eric back the following weekend! Enjoy the pics!

Tulips!

Anabelle hangin' with her daddy.Practicing walking.

Mommy & Anabelle.
More tulips!

Stop and smell the tulips!

Too cute!

Violet & Anabelle.

Violet & Natalie.

Anabelle's 1st Birthday!

Anabelle opening gifts.

Peeking around Daddy's shoulder.
Having fun with Aunt Carrie.

Friends.

Opening more gifts.

Delicately eating her birthday cupcake.

Having fun! Practicing walking with Mommy.

Hanging out with Daddy and Nana.

Anabelle is 1!!! Her birthday was March 2nd and we celebrated her birthday in Lakeway with friends and family. Eric and I have been blessed this year because of our daughter. We can't believe she has already been with us a year. We look forward to many many more birthdays!!

Anabelle update!

Happy baby!

Eating breakfast!
Mommy & Anabelle!

After dinner... in need of a bath!

Riding her horsey from Nana & Grandpa!

Gorgeous!

Ready for the snow!!

Play time!

Splish slash!

More play time!

Anabelle (the duck) and her friend Violet (the ladybug) on Halloween!

Miss Anabelle is growing and changing everyday! I feel so blessed that I get to stay home with her everyday and watch her grow and change! She just got her first two teeth which is very exciting for us! Some of her favorite things right now are blueberries, music, books (specifically Go Dog! Go! and Brown Bear, Brown Bear), other babies, tomatoes, Yo Gabba Gabba, goldfish crackers, peaches, going for walks, my iPhone, looking in the mirror, clapping, and of course Bailey!

Dallas White Rock Half-Marathon

Me and Eric celebrating post-race!

I have been wanting to run a 1/2 marathon for a very long time and have found many excuses not to do it, but after I signed up for Dallas White Rock 1/2 Marathon (and paid for it) I knew there was no turning back. After 2 months of training, on December 5th I did it! I reached both my goals of running the entire 13.1 miles and I finished in 2hrs 18min 58sec (approx. 10min 30sec miles) which was faster than I expected! It was so fun and I plan on doing a full marathon sometime (in my lifetime, not any time soon). Eric also ran in the relay marathon where he and four other team members finished the entire marathon as a relay! Each person had approx. a 5 mile run and Eric finished his portion of the race with 8 min. miles! Super-fast!!!

Thanksgiving & Christmas!

Anabelle and Aunt Carrie at Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving with her Nana.Anabelle in her Christmas dress.

WOW! The holiday's flew by! We had a terrific Thanksgiving and Christmas in which we spent both in Victoria and Lakeway/Austin. It was so great to see both of our families since we don't get down to Victoria very often. However, we have discovered the great difficulty of travel with a child. Please! Could someone give us some tips? How do you do it!? Our car was packed to it's capacity for Thanksgiving and we had to leave lots behind for Christmas in order to fit our Christmas gifts... I think we're hoping it gets easier as Anabelle gets older :)

Anabelle's first Christmas was very special to us. She got some really great gifts from her grandparents and aunts and uncles and now our house looks like a messy toy store (but in a good way)! Thanks to our families to a wonderful holiday season!

(I'll post more Christmas pics later. They're on a different camera...)