Anna is the queen of dawdling. It takes FOREVER for her to get her shoes on or wash her hands. She will be often be standing at at the bathroom sink for over 15 minutes singing songs or making silly faces at herself in the mirror. She is just in her own little world lots of the time, completely oblivious to what is going on around her. :)
Anna loves to learn and try new things. She still loves to sing and dance. She can do a headstand if she uses a wall to lean against. She loves to ride her bike around the block and play at the park. She is getting to be quite the artist and makes cards and drawings for anyone and everyone. She loves books and "reads" them before falling asleep almost every night. She knows all her letter sounds and is starting to sound out simple words. She can do simple addition problems on her fingers. She inquisitive. She asks hard questions and sparks conversations on topics like why do people die and why fighting back is sometimes the right choice...and she really seems to understand the not-so-simple answers.
Anna is very social and loves playing with friends and will talk to anyone about anything. She always has something to say! She is very socially aware and gets her feelings hurt easily. She has the pouty-lip mastered and it comes out in full force when she's in a sassy mood, but usually she is very obedient and eager to please. She always tries hard to do what is right, but I have noticed that she sometimes follows the lead of friends or her little brother to do things she would never think of doing on her own. We've had to have some talks about being a good example and leader to help others make good choices. Anna is a great helper. She loves to help with chores and always helps Paul when he can't do something by himself. She loves to make silly faces and say silly things to make other people laugh. She is kind and loving. She loves making gifts and cards for people she loves. She gives frequent hugs and says, "I love you" unsolicited. She is smart, sweet, sensitive, silly and sassy. She is our Anna-girl and life would not be the same without her!
Anna's birthday was on a Sunday this year, and we had a pretty quiet celebration at home with just our family on her actual birthday. We had our traditional birthday pancakes for breakfast (chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream and sprinkles on top) and she was super excited about the balloons on her chair. We let her open two presents before church. At church, one of her primary teachers asked if she was having birthday cake for her birthday. She replied, "No, I had birthday PANCAKES!" and then put her hands over her mouth and giggled like it was the craziest thing ever haha. After church, she chose homemade pizza for dinner and then we had cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday and opened the rest of her presents. She got several phone calls from her grandparents and aunts and uncles wishing her a happy birthday. She liked the phone calls but got tired repeating over and over what presents she had gotten for her birthday haha.
The following Saturday, we had her birthday party. She chose a cowgirl party theme (probably inspired by the stick horse and cowgirl hat she got for Christmas). We had fun planning the food and games and everything turned out really cute. It was her very first "friend party" and in addition to her aunts and uncles, we invited five of her friends from the neighborhood and church to come. Anna really wanted to play pin the tail on the horse, so we painted a little horse and some tails on poster board and cut them out for the game. That was the game we played first. Then we tried to do a little relay race using the stick horses, but there wasn't really enough room and so we ended that one pretty quickly. And finally, we played a pinterest-inspired game where the kids "rounded up" balloon "animals" into the corral (the trampoline). They loved that one and we played it three times. Then the kids wanted to get on the trampoline with all the balloons, but five four-year-olds plus Paul plus 40 balloons was a bit much for our little trampoline so I quickly called the kids for lunch.
Lunch was all cowgirl/farm themed (also pinterest inspired). I was really grateful to my sisters and Tyler for coming early to help with the food prep! We had mini pigs-in-a-blanket, deviled eggs, "haybales" (rice krispie treats) and "tractor tires" (Oreos) and "lassos" (licorice). Oh, and a veggie tray to be healthy. :) The cowgirl cupcakes were my favorite though. I was pretty pleased with how cute they turned out.
After cake and presents, it was time to go. We sent the kids home with little bandanna-wrapped party favors that Anna helped me put together.
It was fun to see Anna so excited the whole week leading up to her party and then at the party she was just glowing with little-cowgirl joy. She was one happy birthday girl!
