Anna... at the beach

It was so much fun watching Anna at the beach as she discovered the ocean, the sand... so much new it had to offer. Last year when we went, she was only 5 weeks old so it was all about sleeping and nursing - not this year. She loved the sand, loved to feel it, taste it, crawl in it. And as soon as we would sit her down, she would tuck her head and crawl as fast as she could into the ocean... and she would keep crawling, deeper and deeper, ocean water seeping into her mouth... 'til we would scoop her up. She wasn't afraid one bit. She was such a joy the whole trip, would join right in to whatever we were up to at the time. She napped well although her night sleeping, well let's just leave it at saying it left some to be desired. Since returning home, we've worked the kinks out, and I'm happy to report she is sleeping so much better now. By next year, I'm sure she'll be running all around the beach with her brother and sisters. If I had to name the thing that fascinated her the most... probably watching the sea gulls. She seamed to enjoy every minute of our trip.

feeling the sand

determined to catch a seagull

goldfish are always a yummy snack... even when covered with sand

there she goes into the ocean

not always a fan of the hat!

We're home... at least 4 of us

Home sweet home... although the beach was mighty sweet, too. We arrived back home yesterday evening; well, most of us did. Benjamin and Catherine are spending the next few days at Nanna and Popa's house. This is the first time ever they've been away for more than a night or two. I'm sure they'll have a blast, but this mama sure will miss them.

Our time at the beach was wonderful, just as I'd hoped it would be. And I took a crazy number of pictures of which I'm still sorting through, so stay tuned. I've got a good long list of things I hope to accomplish this week while I have two less kiddos to tend to so hopefully I'll manage to squeeze some blogging in there somewhere.

Off to the beach

Our day of departure is finally upon us, and we are one happy and excited crowd at the Judd house.  Mary Scott has been ready to go for a good 2 weeks.  In fact one day she came down the stairs with a most interesting hair-do and an arm full of clothes... told me she was getting her stuff ready for the beach.  Thankfully it finally got here.  I hope upon our return I'll have some great beach pictures to share.  Hands down the beach is my absolute favorite place to photograph my kiddos.  And I've been sewing up a storm, a new little hobby of mine.  So I hope to snap some pictures of the children in some of their home made with much love things I've made for them.  But most of all, I'm praying for an incredible week of treasured memories, quality encounters with one another and with the Lord, plenty of rest and refreshment.  Until later...

Could it be... a little curl

                      Is that a little curl I see???

               loves to point those sweet little fingers

has been riding her truck backwards and learned to go forward this week

her little hands are discovering so many new things (Benjamin took this one)

dirty little feet from crawling around at the blueberry farm

Most would describe Anna as "bald headed."  This comes as no surprise as all of my babies have been that way... nearly 2 before any of them had a lot of hair.  I can tell Anna's is starting to grow and looks to be strawberry blond.  The other morning I was looking at her hair and got so excited to see what looks like might be a little curl in the making.  I guess time will tell.  Catherine had the sweetest curls when she was a tot.  Maybe baby sister will follow suit.  I tried to capture "the curl" in a picture.  The other pics are just a few ones I've snapped over the last several days of Anna that made my heart feel happy.

Meeting Baby Adam

What a joy it was to get to meet our new nephew.  Thank goodness Brian's brother, Paul and his wife, Rebekah, decided to journey down to Georgia and stop by our place for an overnight stay.  A precious little guy is what baby Adam is, and he has so much hair.  Big sister Avery was not feeling well so she wasn't up for much playing but it sure was good to see her, too.  And as always we enjoyed being with Paul and Rebekah.

Calling all cows

Thanks Chick-fil-a for dinner on the house.  Our family enjoyed a delicious meal for free... yes not a single copper penny was spent for all 6 of us to eat at one of our favorite dining spots, the one and only Chick-fil-a.  The only trade for our meal was that you had to be dressed like a cow.  At first mention, Brian was a little hesitant until I shared with him he'd get a whole value meal for free... that's all it took.  I didn't manage to get a family picture of us cows but on our drive over I snapped some of Brian as I was laughing my head off at him.  He was mooing and chewing his cud all the way there.  It was worth it just for a good laugh!

A normal summer day

A slip-n-slide will make any humdrum summer day a whole bunch of fun... especially when positioned on a hill.  The perfect decoration for our front yard and certainly entertaining for any passerby.  Oh what fun the children had.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ANNA - 1 YEAR OLD

                                                        Pretty girl

                    
                              the day after Anna was born                 

 
                                            Anna's 1st birthday cake

                  the Mayfield family celebrated with us

        not so sure about everyone singing to her

             I'm saying, "It's okay, you can touch it."

                    "Yay, I touched my cake!"

     "This feels kind of squishy but it tastes kind of good..."

                 "Oh yes, yummy indeed!"

             sharing her cake with Benjamin

so glad Aunt Katie Beth was here to celebrate with us

                               Anna didn't overindulge

 
                     opening gifts is exciting

           but playing with Reagan is way more fun

Catherine kept redirecting her back to her gifts

Caleb, Anna & Keller - all live on the same street and born within a month of one another

                 such cute little friends

            Oh yes, Anna had a wonderful time!

What a true delight Anna is to our family.  It was so fun celebrating her first year of life... but gracious, where has the year gone?  Sometimes I long for a way to just slow things down, keep my children little for longer.  And as much as I want them to stay little, I celebrate their growth and new things they learn - what a dilemma.  We had a little breakfast for Anna on July 4th and where joined by a few friends and Aunt Katie Beth.  I figured birthday cake at 9 am was a little much so I decided on pound cake with fresh whipped cream instead, along with fresh fruit salad and some ham & cheese roll-ups.  On the menu to drink was juice, water and coffee.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it.  Anna had her very own little cake which of course had to have icing so I decorated it with here monogram.  I iced it with white icing and then used light pink icing for the monogram and little decorations.  A few minutes later we realized the pink icing was fading to white... still haven't figured that one out.  I've never had that happen before.  

After we finished breakfast, we gathered around Anna to sing Happy Birthday.  She seemed to be enjoying every minute and then part way through the song, she got this really interesting look on her face like... "why are all these people looking at me and singing to me?"  After needing some help with blowing out the candle, it was time for Anna to dig in.  She was being encouraged by everyone and finally stuck her little finger into the icing.  A bit later, it was evident she liked it and wanted to share some with Benjamin and Catherine.  I love watching her interact with her brother and sisters.

When it came to opening her gifts, she was way more interested in playing with Reagan, one of her little friends at her party.  Catherine did a great job of redirecting her and finally managed to get her somewhat focused on the matter at hand.  The pretty tissue paper stuffing the gift bags is always a big hit at this age, and the gifts she was blessed with were extra special, too.  But Anna made it clear that time with friends was the best part of all.

We had a great time celebrating Anna's 1st year of life!

Sweet Anna, Anna Banana, Anna Boo... you precious, precious girl, how thankful I am for you.  You are such a blessing to me, Daddy and to your brother and sisters.  One thing's for sure, you are not lacking for love.  You have the sweetest smile that melts every bit of my heart.  And the way you wallow all over me and snuggle into me... I wouldn't trade it for anything (even though you're in my bed because you've woken us up at some point in the night).  One of your favorite things to do right now is climb up and down our stairs.  I'm still teaching you how to turn yourself around on your belly and go down the stairs feet first, but you've almost got it.  The other thing you seem to get so much enjoyment from is waving... to us, to others, whoever will acknowledge you... hello, bye bye... makes no difference to you.  You're eating whatever we eat so long as it's safe for you.  And you have this terrible little habit of throwing your food and cup on the floor so we're doing some training in that area.  You're incredibly aware of your surroundings and have this cute little way of pointing at things.  You don't have a vast array of words yet (Mama, Dada, bye bye), but you're starting to try to say more and more it seems.  You get quite frustrated when you clearly want something but aren't yet able to tell us so what we often get is screaming... we're working on that, as well.  You're crawling really well and really fast and are pulling up on everything and cruising all around.  But walking... not yet, but I'm certain it will come soon enough.  You still have these wonderfully chunky legs that are beginning to melt away since you're on the move.  And you have 8 teeth - 2 on bottom which were your first ones and 6 on top which you cut all at one time (yikes!).  You're bottom 1 year molars are on their way in, too. 

 

We are incredibly thankful for you, precious one, and look forward to loving you,  providing for you and teaching you about love, life and mostly about how much your Heavenly Father loves you and desires that your heart and life be surrendered to him.  HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, ANNA GIRL!

Freedom

Happy 4th of July!  Hope you made some memories with people you love.  Our day started with celebrating Anna's 1st birthday.  She was one on the 28th of June.  She seemed to enjoy her little party and was smiling and clapping a lot of the time.  I'll post on that later.  We ended the day with watching some fireworks from a distance with the children.  And Brian and I shared with them about the freedoms we are offered in our country and how we ought to never take that for granted but instead always have a heart of gratitude.  And most of all, I am thankful for the freedom we as believers have in Christ.  That indeed is the best freedom of all!