It's Not What's On the Outside that Counts!

My Anne is 9 today.  It is her birthday and I couldn't be more proud of her.  Ever since she was a baby, people have stopped me on the street to tell me how beautiful she is.  Photographers have given me their business cards and requested that I set up appointments with them to photograph her.  She has always been a beautiful little girl, and she knows it.  However, what all of those people can't see is how beautiful my Anne is on the inside.  With Anne I have to be gentle.  There is nothing loud about her.  She is soft and gentle and just beautiful.  She looks all girl and she loves princesses, littlest pet shops and barbies.
One of the things I love about her, and that most people who look at her would be surprised to know is that Anne is VERY logical.  She has a very linear and logical mind and when she thinks, you can almost see her thought process.  It is amazing.  She is incredibly smart and she LOVES math and science.  With Anne, you just do don't things halfway, you put everything you have into it.  She wants to be a scientist when she grows up and so every book that she reads and every present that she wants has to do with becoming a future scientist.  Anne loves to learn.  Anne loves to help people.  Anne loves to be on the computer.  Anne is thoughtful.  Anne is kind.  Anne has a very big heart and looks for people who are left out and makes sure that she plays with them.  Anne loves everyone.  Anne is never mean and she never tries to hurt or bother people.
If there were more Anne's in the world, the world would be a very beautiful, logical, methodical, gentle place to live.
When I think of Anne, the word that always comes into my mind is the word "Beautiful".  She is beautiful on the outside, but she is truly beautiful on the inside too, and after all, it is what is on the inside that counts!

A Mother Never Forgets.

Being in a constant state of fogginess right now has made me appreciate a lot of things that I have taken for granted for most of my life.  I am waiting for my blood test results from my doctor to figure out what is going on with me, but until then I just have to try my best to keep on keeping on with this constant cloud of drowsiness, coldness and lack of focus over my head.  I usually have a great memory!  I can multitask like no other.  I can keep track of 5 different schedules all at the same time and not miss a thing.
But now???
Now I can't even remember to get a babysitter so that I can go to my kids' volunteer tea.  I can't even summon up enough energy to walk up or down the stairs.  I can't focus. . . . . I REALLY can't focus!  In fact, I can't even remember what it is I wanted to say about that. . . . sorry!  I'm forgetting everything!  EVERYTHING!
However, there are some things that a mother never forgets.
I didn't forget Anne's birthday party yesterday!  We had a blast!  It was a spy theme.  It was AWESOME!!
I didn't forget that today is my littlest angel's birthday!  My Robin would have been 3.  I haven't forgotten what she looked like, or the hospital room.  It is a clear to me today as it was when I was there.  I haven't forgotten how tiny her little casket was, or how we thought that she was a boy during my pregnancy and called her Bobby.
I haven't forgotten my Angel Baby.
There are some things that a Mother NEVER forgets!

She'll Remember It

I was talking to a friend yesterday and we were talking about Anne's baptism. I told this friend (who has a son who will be baptized in December) how incredible it is when your child gets baptized and how much it affects you. He agreed and we started talking about how weird it is when your child goes through something that you know that they will remember for the rest of their lives.
In our church, we baptize our children when they reach the age of 8 because we believe that at that age they are old enough to be accountable for their own choices. So, Anne got baptized on Saturday and it was great. She got baptized with a friend of hers that was born a day before her. In fact, we saw each other in the hospital when our girls were born. Both of our girls are these sweet little blond haired, blue eyed girls and they are actually quite good friends. When I found out that their daughter would be getting baptized with Anne, I was quite happy with that because I knew that everything would run smoothly.
It was beautiful. The talks were great, Anne's cousins were there, all of my family was there and most of Otto's family was there. We even had some good friends show up and both Anne, her friend and all of their sisters sang a beautiful song called "Baptism" and I really felt the Spirit there.
Afterwards there was a family dinner at my parent's house and we had a BBQ, a bouncy house, a trampoline yummy cupcakes and lots of family there. I really appreciated my sister and her husband driving down from Edmonton to be there and my brother, his wife and their brand new baby for coming. I always feel so honored that my siblings make such a big effort to always be at the big milestones for my kids. They have no idea how much that means to me.
So after family, parties, presents, food and general good times, its neat to think that Anne will remember most of what happened on Saturday. I am so proud of her for making the decision to get baptized. One thing I love about Anne is that she never does anything halfway. She always puts everything into whatever she does. I know that she is going to grow up to be an amazing woman and I still can't believe that she is old enough to be baptized. The time is really flying by, but I sure am enjoying having her in our family. I know that Saturday will be a day that Anne will remember for the rest of her life.

My Anne

Happy Birthday to my Anne! I love you! I can't believe that you are now 8 years old and are going to be baptized next week! I love your beautiful personality. I love how you can be soooo girly and yet such a science fanatic at the same time. I love your tender heart and your loving spirit. I love how sensative you are and how helpful you are. You have blessed my life in more ways than you can imagine! I can't think of a more wonderful girl than my Anne!
Happy Birthday kiddo!

The Sun will Come Out, Tomorrow!

Ever since I can remember I have loved the musical Annie. I think that this was partially because my parents loved the musical Annie and thus made me love it. Ever since I can remember I have watched the movie, sung the songs and pretended that some day Daddy Warbucks would come and adopt me. (My dad turned out to be pretty great too!) In our earliest video recordings of my brother, sister and I, I am singing songs from the musical Annie. I sang an Annie song at my Uncle Brant's wedding reception when I was young also. It just seems that the musical has always been a part of my life (I even named one of my daughters Anne).

Last month, the musical Annie came to town and for Christmas my mom got myself, Anne, Abby and her tickets. Then we found out that my sisters would be in town and my mom got them and my sister-in-law tickets also. So, we had a girls night out to go see Annie! What can I say? I LOVED it! Anne loved it and so did Abby! The play was different from the movie, but it was fantastic! We had so much fun humming the songs to ourselves as we watched the actors sing them. I was surprised how many of the jokes Anne understood and laughed at! It was a great time!
So, even though this is a month late in being posted, I want to thank my mom for giving us such a fantastic Christmas present! It was one of my favorite nights! A little girl's dream come true!

My Science Geek!

Today I got to spend the entire day with Anne on her field trip to the Calgary Science Centre. My Anne is such a science and math geek! You would never know it, but she craves math problems and science experiments. In fact, today we were talking about the type of Christmas tree that we are going to get for her room in a couple of years when she has her own room and she wanted a math and science tree. Ok. . . now where on earth am I going to find math and science decorations??? Lahni??? Got any to spare???
I had so much fun today with Anne's class. It was so cute because Anne was excited all day that she had me all to herself. She is in the most wonderful stage where she thinks that I am the coolest person in the whole wide world (and who am I to argue with that???). She kept telling her friends how cool I was and how I used to be a chef at a restaurant (apparently that's really cool) and how our group will have the most fun. Well, I think that we did have the most fun. The two boys in my group were. . . well. . . . boys and they wiggled the whole time, but it was so much fun! Anne and the other girl in my group were really good and we made sure that we touched and played with everything that we could possibly find in the Science Centre.
We finished off the day by watching an IMAX movie and I almost fell asleep (that's what happens when you put me in a nice warm room and turn off the lights).
My kids are growing up so fast and I realize that I don't have many years left before I go from being the coolest person to the most terrible person. I made it my goal when Abby started kindergarten that I would always volunteer for field trips because I know how much it means to my kids and it is lots of fun being able to spend that time with them.
So spending all day with Anne was a blast. I loved being at the Science Centre with my own little Science Geek. Hopefully I will get the chance to spend more time with her on her field trips before I become uncool. (Which we all know will NEVER happen right???)

All it takes is faith and trust. . . . and a little bit of pixie dust!

Okay, so one of my most favorite things about being a mom is creating magical moments for my children. I know that some people think that they are helping their children by not letting them believe in mythical characters like Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy. However, I am a firm believer that childhood should have magical moments and that the saying "It is better to have love and lost than to have never loved at all" applies here. Yes, my children may be sad when they find out that the Tooth Fairy and Santa Clause aren't real, but they will have great memories of a time when they thought that they were!
So let me share with you Anne's little "run in" with the Tooth Fairy. Anne lost her tooth this past weekend while we were out of town and she was so excited to put her tooth under her pillow because she wanted the Tooth Fairy to come. Well, being completely forgetful, the Tooth Fairy forgot to exchange her tooth for a Loonie. Anne was really sad and disappointed that she hadn't come, so I told her to put the tooth under her pillow again and that the Tooth Fairy would come. Needless to say, the Tooth Fairy forgot again and I again had a disappointed daughter. I felt bad, but I did remember while she was at school that the Tooth Fairy needed to come. And she needed to apologize!
So, while Anne was at school yesterday, I wrote up a note all in purple for her (using fairy printing, of course and not my own printing) from the Tooth Fairy saying that she was sorry that she had forgotten to come and get Anne's tooth but that she had forgotten because right now was her busiest time of year because lots of children get their teeth knocked out on the school playgrounds and can Anne please forgive her? I then added some extra fine purple glitter swirls to the note and I put it on her pillow. I put a Toonie under her pillow, and because I knew that Anne would like it, I sprinkled some piles of purple glitter onto her pillow (it caused a bit of a mess, but Anne thought it was worth it).
When Anne came home, I pulled her aside and I told her that I needed her to go up to her room and check her bed to make sure that all of her stuffed animals were still there because earlier in the day I had heard a bit thump and it sounded like someone was moving around in Anne's room. She first asked me if it could have been Caroline or Dustin or the dog or the cat, and I assured her that they were all downstairs when I had heard the noise. Well, that scared Anne enough to go running upstairs to go check and see if everything was alright.
I stayed downstairs because I don't think that I could have hidden my huge grin as she found the note from the Tooth Fairy, but two seconds later she was running back downstairs. She found me in the den and she was so giddy. She was hopping up and down and giggling and smiling and dancing around and she told me that I needed to come upstairs quickly. When I asked her what was missing and pretended to sound really concerned, she assured me that everything was alright and that I needed to see something on her pillow. So I went upstairs to "check things out" and she climbed up to her bed (she is on the top bunk of the bunk bed now) and pointed to the note and the "fairy dust" and explained that the Tooth Fairy had finally come. I asked her to read me the note and she did. Then she proceeded to show me the fairy dust while speculating on how it got there. I asked her if she had checked to see if the Tooth Fairy had left her a Loonie, and she said that she hadn't even looked (she was too excited about the note and the fairy dust to even think about the money). So, I checked under her pillow for her and there was a Toonie instead of a Loonie. I explained to Anne that the Tooth Fairy had left her twice as much as she usually did and Anne was so excited. Then as we were getting ready to leave Anne's room, Abby found a quarter on the floor. (I have NO idea how that got there, I think that Anne's money jar must have gotten knocked over because I certainly didn't put it there) and both of the girls swore that it was from the Tooth Fairy. When I asked how the Tooth Fairy could have dropped a quarter, Anne's eyes opened wide and she explained to me her theory. You see, according to Anne the big Thump that I heard must have been the tooth fairy dropping her bag of money and so that was why there was fairy dust on her pillow and there was a quarter on the floor. To test that theory, the girls hunted all over Anne's room to see if there was more money, and they actually found about 3 more pennies (hooray for knocked over money jars).
So that was the talk of the entire evening. And this morning, before Anne went to school she made sure that she took her note from the Tooth Fairy to show to the other kids in her class.
Now, just try to tell me that there isn't something wonderful and exciting about believing in mythical characters. . . . .I won't believe you!!!

My Anne

Anne's first name is Nellie, after my great-grandmother. . . whom I miss so much sometimes!!! I swore to my great-grandmother that I would never actually call her Nellie if I named her that, but I told her that I was going to name my daughter after her and there was nothing that she could do about it. (I get my stubbornness from my great grandmother, so I think that she kind of expected that response and would have been disappointed with anything less.) My great-grandma (Nana) hated her name and so she did not want anyone else to have to endure that name. The name Anne comes from a princess name, and to me that is alot of who Anne is. Anne is very sweet and is loved by everyone she meets. She is kind and gentle, and kind of reminds me of Snow White. I can totally see Anne being lost in the woods, singing and talking to all kinds of woodland animals. Okay, now onto the facts
- Favorite Color: yellow
- Favorite Toy: Webkinz
- Favorite TV Show: Anything that Abby will let her watch. She still likes little kid shows like Barney, Dora, etc, but she also likes the older shows. . . .the ones that Abby likes to watch.
- Favorite Past time: Playing on the computer, dancing, reading and solving math problems
- Favorite Characters: Sleeping Beauty
- Favorite Food: Chicken and fries
- Favorite Snack: Anything that mommy bakes
- Favorite Book: Whatever she can read to herself
- Precious Moments: Anne has lots of friends and often gets invited over to people's houses. She not only plays with her friend when she gets there, but she always includes their younger siblings.
Anne thinks that food tastes better at other people's houses and will eat things there that she wouldn't eat at home.
Anne is a very linear thinker. I can always tell when she has been playing with toys because they are all lined up in a straight row.
Anne does not like things to be out of order.
Anne loves to wear socks.
Anne can't match an outfit to save her life. She always has to ask if something matches, and it usually doesn't.
Anne loves to grow things.
Anne loves to read.
Anne loves to solve math problems. When we are in the car she will continuously ask me if two numbers add up.
Anne loves to dance. She is very good at it and she is very disciplined.
Anne loves to take piano lessons (from her mother).
Anne loves speaking Spanish. (She is in a Spanish school).
Anne is GREAT at going to bed.
Anne is kind to everyone (well, her siblings are only most of the time).
Anne can look past physical appearances and see people for who they really are. She doesn't notice physical handicaps.
Anne is very sensitive and doesn't always understand sarcasm. (This can sometimes be a problem around Grandpa and Uncle Jason).
Anne is very thoughtful and will constantly do random acts of kindness for people.
Living with Anne is like living with a little angel. When I think about her, the one word that I always come up with that describes her perfectly is "beautiful". Anne is not only beautiful on the outside, but she has the most beautiful personality. She is the epitome of goodness and loveliness. She is always a pleasure to be around and there are very few people who don't absolutely LOVE my little Anne.

Anne

Today has been a nice day for me. It didn't start out that way because at about 6 am, Anne came into my room complaining of a headache and feeling dizzy. Normally I just tell my kids to go back to sleep, but Anne has been diagnosed with children's migrains, so whenever she complains of a headache I listen. I will also let you in on another little family secret. . . .whenever my kids are sick, you can see it in their eyes, so it is really obvious when they are faking it. Poor Anne's eyes were terrible this morning, so I knew that she really was feeling bad. So, I gave the kid some tylenol and took her into bed with me. . . Otto had already left for work, so there was room for her to sleep.
I let her sleep in and I took Abby to school late. When she woke up, she didn't really want to eat, but I made her eat some fruit and drink lots of water. I then took Abby to school and Caroline caught the bus to her school, as well. I asked Anne if she was feeling well enough to go shopping (I had to get the groceries for Friday Forum), and like the true girl that she is, she said that she thought that she could manage a bit of shopping. . . it was Costco after all. After going shopping, we came home and I put Dustin to bed and Anne and I watched "Meet the Robinsons".
Even though Anne wasn't feeling well, I enjoyed spending the day with her. Last year Anne had morning kindergarten and Caroline had afternoon preschool and Dustin would nap in the afternoons. This meant that I got to spend alot of time with just Anne, and I really enjoyed getting to know my little girl better. This afternoon felt a little bit nostalgic to me because I got to spend some one on one time with my little princess. It's too bad that it took a migraine for me to be able to do it, but I am glad that we got to hang out for the afternoon.