BEST husband in the WORLD!

So yeah, I've always thought it but now I have proof! The proof comes in the form of a photography studio in my guestroom. Yeah, I said it, a photography studio. I've had a dream of doing professional photography and that wonder of a man named Brett has decided to go ahead and help me along the way. I'm sure there is still plenty to be had but umbrella lamps, a new dslr and tripod, fabric and a professional printer go a long, LONG way. Actually to tell the truth, he got me ever more than that, but maybe I won't drone on and on about the details. I still have alot to learn and probably more to buy but I'm on my way dang it!

On the other hand, Anna has been a handful these past few days. She's a bit congested so I don't know if her not feeling great has anything to do with it but we've been in defiance CENTRAL! Sheesh, I hope it passes quickly.

S

Been awhile

So its been a bit since I've blogged, oops. I think this shall mostly be an Anna brag blog. So beware, lol.

Have I ever mentioned what a little songbird my child is. Seriously, she knows multitudes of songs by heart. I've never known a kid so young to know so many songs. Heck, I think she might know more songs by heart than I do. Its really really cute. Let me try to think of a quick list.

Twinkle Twinkle
Jesus Loves Me
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Where is Thumbkin?
Down by the station
Row Row your boat
Wheels on the Bus
Happy and You Know It
Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes
3 Blind mice
Baa Baa Black Sheep
How much is that doggy in the window?
Old Macdonald
Pop goes the Weasel
Jingles Bells
The Big Comfy Couch Song
Bob the Builder Song
Rescue Pack song
Hush little baby
Happy Birthday
The Alphabet Song
The Barney Song
Going to the zoo
Pussy cat Pussy cat
Do lord (chorus line)
Meet you in the morning (Chorus line)
Elmo's World
Stop and Go
Open the Eyes of my heart Lord
Dig it (chorus)
Dig Deep (chorus)
Archaeology
The WHOLE song of Pinch Me (Bare Naked Ladies)
First verse of Freshmen by the Verve
First Verse of Hang by Matchbox 20
So Happy Together
Chorus of Ridin' Dirty
Chorus of Over my Head
Chorus of Had a Bad day


Yeah, and I think there are more that she at least knows the chorus of. Its crazy, I tell you. If she doesn't end up with some serious music talent I will forever be shocked. She can hum the music to the songs. She can recognize all the songs if they are hummed to her. She can recognize the songs from the first several notes of music. She'll make up new songs to the music of other songs. She can recognize if one songs sounds is sung to the beat of another song. And she can dance to the beat of them all. Not just crazy white girl flapping around but cute little rhythmic dancing. She'll even imitate dancing she sees kids doing on tv, pretty well, I might add. I have wanted musical talent my whole life. I'm a huge music person. This makes a mommy proud, I tell ya!

So, the really cute part? We sing her songs every night. She asks for more and more songs lately. The day before yesterday, she started singing along with me. I typically sing her "YOu are my sunshine" every night. That night, she sang it with me. I cried. Literally. Its one of the sweetest, most precious things to hear her sweet little voice singing back to me, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine". Seriously, I'm tearing up just thinking about it. It doesn't get much sweeter than this. She's, without a doubt, one of the best things in the world.

S

I can't believe its been 5 years

So yeah, it was 5 years ago, I can't believe that horrible day has already hit its 5 year anniversary. Somedays I still can't believe it even happened. I didn't know anyone there and don't even know anyone who knew someone there. I think its so easy for us all to put some distance between us and what happened. In some ways, after it happened, some had to. All that death and sadness was so hard to handle, day after day. BUT, now, I think we have to be careful not to keep that distance. We need to remember what happened. We need to not embrace a false sense of security. We need not forget those who sacrificed their lives to try to save others. We need not forget all of those innocent people who never deserved to have their lives taken in such a horrible manner. We need not forget that such evil exists and is prevalent today.

I hate it all.

S

Must...have... air...

I don't mean oxygen, by the way, I mean air conditioning. We took Anna to get her pictures made Friday and when we came home, it was like 80 degree in our house, BLECH! So, Brett called around, like he's supposed to, and then called our church's fix-it man - Mark. Mark was in Murfreesboro then so wouldn't be able to come until Saturday. Blech, but at least its been cool at night. We opened all the windows (much to my sinus's irritation) and turned on all the fans and did our best. Yeah, so Mark came today and has been working on it off and on all day. Its STILL hot in here. At first he tried to say we just froze it up, that is until it was unfrozen and still not working. I believe its showing it to be about 83-84 degrees in the house right now and my eyes are bright red from all the pollen infiltrating my system. It should be illegal to live without a/c, I even took a cold shower today.

S

She can read???

Yeah, so she can't really but its sure cute anyways.  Anna has the Dr. Seuss book titled "Put me in the zoo".  Its about this crazy spotted animal that longs to be in the zoo. 
On just about every page, there is a sign of some sorts pointing to the zoo or that says zoo.  I try to point out
words to her and so I'm sure I've shown her that it says zoo.  Well, now she remembers.  To an outsider, it would
probably look like she can read.  "It says zoo", "there's zoo again!"  "This one says circus" (yeah the last sign 
says circus!).  LOL.

And then today we were doing a puzzle that has colors labeled on it.  I was showing her the word and
telling her what color it said.  Each word is the color it spells and is underneath the puzzle peice of the sam
color.  LOL, she caught on really quick though and "read" each of the other words to me, about 8 in all.

Yeah, so maybe I should go onto my May 04 board on BBC and tell everyone that, I'm SUUURE that would go 
over lovely, lol.

S 

The moon is dancing!

Today we had a great day. The fam went to a Labor Day picnic at a lake with a beach. It was really too cool today (IMO) for Anna to swim but we let her get her feet wet and play in the sand. She had sooo much fun and so did I. It was really a blast, making letters in the sand, trying to keep our footprints from being washed away, digging our toes in the sand... wish we had been taking her to the beach ALL summer! Its sad b/c summer is basically over so we'll have to wait until next year. Oh well, still it was lots of fun!

Then, on the way home, the whole family was jammin' to Shay's fav song - Riding Dirty, LOL! Yeah, it a rap song but its relatively clean (any curse words are obscured by the crazy fast flow) and Anna LOVES it, ha ha! She has inherited my "hoodness!". So, anyways, she was jammin' along, dancin' like a fiend in her carseat and yelled out "The moon is dancing" with the purest joy and amusement in her voice. I guess she looked up while she was dancing and saw what looked like the moon was dancing (since she was bobbin' that head like wild). SOOO CUTE!

LOL, oh and a brag? She made the letter "A" all by herself in the sand. A few times it looked more like an "H" (the top didn't join) but she made a REALLY good A several, several times... TOTALLY impressed! Guess I'll have to figure out ways to show her the rest of the letters now, lol!

Oh and one more VERY cute story. Brett put her to bed tonight (and it sounds like she is gonna fall asleep easy AGAIN, wahoo!!) and he asked me if I knew where her giraffe stuffed animal was but he spelled it out. We looked for it for a few minutes but then just kinda hoped she wouldn't notice it was gone. Right as I was leaving the room, she yelled out where is my "G-R"?? LOL, she forgot most of the letters but realized we were looking for something for her. Brett asked her what a "G-R" was and she said "um, a toy??" LOL! She is catching on to our spelling game. She had no real idea what we were looking for but knew it was something good, something she would want... I guess we're gonna have to get a little less obvious, ha ha.

S

She won't sleep

Its driving me freakin' crazy. My daughter claim she "can't fall asleep" 95% of naps and 90% of bedtimes. She refuses to lay still and be quiet. I'm going crazy about it. She can sit in there talking and singing to herself for hours, if I let her. Its 10:30 here and she JUST fell asleep. Yeah and she woke up at 7:30 this morning. She only took about a two hour nap. This nap she took easily b/c we were on our way home from Wal-Mart and she conked out in the car. Thats the ONLY easy way she takes naps anymore.

Ever since we came went to Chicago, her sleep has been messed up. Yeah, a month and 1/2 ago. She had alot of late nights on that trip and alot of missed (or just falling asleep in the car) naps. It couldn't really be helped and she had a hard time falling asleep even when we were home at nap and bedtimes b/c it was a strange place. So, first it was bit rocky getting back to normal. I thought it was take a week maybe two weeks and she would go back to talking in her bed for about 20 minutes or so and then just fall asleep. It just keeps getting worse and worse. She has a set routine and I'm pretty sure she's really tired alot (dark circles, rubbing her eyes, wanting to cuddle alot, getting cranky more easily and even yawning) so I don't think I need to NOT let her nap. She seems waaay too young for that. BUT, I don't know what else to do so that naps and bedtime don't turn into hours long ordeals. I get sooo frustrated at her when its like that (and she at me). Anybody that might actually be reading this, if you have suggestions, I'm totally game.

S