Summertime

I wish my computer was faster. I would download the 10 non-smiling, turn-my-back, hands-in-front-of-my-face, run-away, pictures that always preceed the one good one! By the time I get it I have promised ice cream and pulled all of my hair out. Do kids rule our world or what?

Chores

We thought it was about time that Ann Rae start pulling her own weight around here. (all 30 pounds of it;) This is one of her favorite things to do, wash the car with mommy. Usually, there are a few inches of gravel in the bottom of the bucket when we are done, but you get what you pay for!

We have had a very sick winter this year. She has caught everything that has gone around. About a week ago she came in contact with someone that possible had the foot and mouth virus (formally known as hoof and mouth I believe, something like that). Anyway, she has been running a high fever for 2 days and I asked her to open her mouth to see if there were any boo boos there and she said "there are no boo boos in my mouth, Jessie has a boo boo in her mouth." Just another example of how kids hear everything and forget nothing. For those of you that don't know, Jessie is a dear friend of mine that had a cancerous tumor removed from her tongue about a week and half ago. Thank God, they got it all and it did not spread!

No. We are not Democrats now.

Okay, before I get a lot of slack from my wonderful Republican friends, and a lot of praise from my terrific Democrat friends, let me explain. We had a dedication at the new Shawsville Community Center. Which, by the way, is fabulous. We have our very own YMCA, Library, Museum, Community room, and soon more. We had several dignitaries there, including former Governor Mark Warner. Mom graduated from High School with Governor Warner, or as I call him, Mark (Ha, ha). I just couldn't resist this Kodak moment. Plus, you never know we could be standing next to a future President. (Not that I would vote for him) I can respect the man, just not all of his views. I will leave it at that.

Easter

What a busy Easter we had this year. It literally lasted 3 weekends! It started with an egg hunt at Shawsville Elementary 3 Saturdays ago. Then, 2 Saturdays ago Kelly (My sister) and her friend hosted a fabulous Easter party, it was a lot of fun. Then, of course this last weekend was the real thing. It started with our Veggie Tales Easter program at the church on Saturday. Sunday began with Ann Rae's personal egg hunt and all her basket goodies then it was on to our Easter cantata at the church, I was a member of the choir this year and enjoyed it so much, of course Byron makes a great teacher. After church it was off to Grandma and Granddaddy Sissons for Easter dinner with that side of the family. Everything was really nice, ate too much of course. Ann Rae had another egg hunt with her cousins Scott and Mary Beth (Julia was there too, but she is too old for egg hunts now:(. We came home for a short nap then went to my sister's (Kelly) house for the Fij side Easter supper. Followed by another egg hunt with Maci and Michael, PHEW! Needless to say we have more candy in this house than Walmart. I gave Tim a big Ziploc bag full to take to work.
Ann Rae posed for some pictures (which is very rare) I couldn't get her to keep the gloves on, she loved them she just couldn't get to her thumb with them on! I know that it looks like nice weather in the picture but you must know it was actually about 24 degrees and I made my daughter pose without a sweater. She needs to learn now "Beauty is Pain"!

Christmas was so much fun! And, as usual, Ann Rae racked up. She woke up Christmas morning and this was her exact conversation, "I heard sompting lass night" "What did you hear?" "I heard jeemble bells outside my window" "Really?" "Uh-huh, Santa Taus is toming!" (She can't pronounce the 'Ka' sound yet) It was soooooo cute. The first thing she saw was princess dresses Santa left on the mantle then she saw an awesome Thomas the Train set that Santa set-up for her. This has been her and daddy's favorite gift. Finally something not-so-girlie that daddy can play with her. It has been a ritual every night when Tim comes home to go straight to the train set til supper is ready. We had spent Christmas Eve with Tim's family so Christmas late morning/lunch was with mine. Then we hauled it over to his Granddaddy's Christmas night to celebrate with the whole family. We had a great time. Another special part was that Ann Rae got to see her cousin Isabella from Colorado. Those two girls are crazy about each other and play really well together (Isabella is 3yrs old and Ann Rae 2yrs old) Ann Rae still doesn't quite get it when Isabella goes home, she wonders where she is.

Thanksgiving. Of course we had more than one meal. Everything was nice. Tim's brother and his family came up from Mobile and we enjoyed a too short visit with them. (Sisson Cousins in the picture) Then it was off to mom's for the Fij side dinner.

Ann Rae's first night in her "Big Girl" bed. I have to brag (I am her mother, I have the right), she has been in this bed since the beginning of November and has not had a single accident. Knock on wood, she is completely potty trained. Not bad for a 2 year old! She is pretty cozy with her teddy bear and bitty baby doll. She also has Dora sheets and a Nemo blanket. What more could a girl want?!

Halloween 2006. Ann Rae dressed as Nemo.

Ann Rae LOVED carving pumpkins. Or, should I say gutting pumpkins! Slimy!

This is the house we stayed in. Gorgeous! Came with a pool in the back yard, an elevator, 6 bedrooms, 6 baths, and is for sale if anyone is interested. If I remember correctly I think it was 3 million. Pocket change!

Okay, so I am not as good of a blogger as my dear friend Jessie, but, I do the best I can! SEVERAL months ago we went to the beach. We actually left on Ann Rae's birthday. What a great trip! We rented a house on the Isle of Palms, SC (Charleston) with friends and family and that just made it even more fun. Ann Rae LOVED everything about the beach. She loved playing in the waves and sand and she even got to fly her Nemo kite with daddy. I know that I am biased but she was an absolute angel the whole trip. The only time she cried was when mommy played pool with daddy. (The house came equipped with a pool table) I don't know why that upset her so much, she just didn't want me playing pool. Who knows? Kids. Anyway, we got to visit the aquarium one day, which turned into a Nemo hunt (she likes Nemo, have you caught on to that yet?). The lady at the front said that Nemo was inside and well, I am not calling anyone a liar, but we never found him and we had expert eyes looking. We took a carriage ride around Charleston for a little historical education, Ann Rae was remarkably patient with that as well. All in all we had a perfect vacation. We even met Nana, Aunt Kelly, Bubby and Maci in N.C. at the N.C. State Zoo on the way home. Needless to say, we were wornout by the time we got home and needed another vacation to rest.

Well my little girl is now 2 years old! Crazy, isn't it? We had a Dora themed Fiesta. Tacos, Pinata and the whole nine yards. We had a great time. Ann Rae had some friends there along with family from both sides, actually we had a very full house. And, boy did she get a lot of presents! It was like Christmas. She continues to grow and learn things daily. The other day I overheard her counting, by herself, she got all the way to thirteen. And then yesterday she counted to ten, in Spanish (thanks to Dora). I know, pure genius. She gets it from her mom. She actually is a chatterbox (like her mom) I stay amused at the things that come out of this kids mouth. I really need to be writing them down, because it is something everyday and I forget so easily. Well I am going to be uploading some pictures from the beach very soon, so stay tuned......
This was a game at the party. We hid small toys in the sand and the girls had to dig in the sand to find them. I thought it was cute how they ended up in it!

We went to Smith Mountain Lake for Memorial Day weekend. (Tim's Aunt and Uncle have a house there, we mooch.) We had a great time! Ann Rae loved it. She doesn't stay away from home very often and I was relieved that she slept as good as she did. She also loves the boat rides.

What a pretty smile! Is this kid happy or what? What can I say, every now and then I give in to a giant, blue Mickey cookie. Wouldn't you if you were rewarded with a smile like that?

Easter Morning

Hi everyone! We thought this would be a great way to share with you how fast Ann Rae is growing up. (even if we did steal this idea from our friends the Dowds, thanks guys;) Plus for everyone with slow computers this really saves with the frustrating downloading part of picture sending. Let me start with saying Happy Easter. This is a picture of Ann Rae this morning in her Easter dress. Of course this week has been full of skinned knees and bruises on her legs, and, of course, I did have to get the shortest Easter dress I could find, but that's life. She is still too cute! I could NOT get her to stand still and pose, we opened the door and she took off accross the yard. I told her to make a silly face and this is the best I got! At least you can see the dress, and can you believe that I got a 20 month old to wear gloves! She had a Dr's appt last week, 50% in weight, 90% in height, and 95% in head circumference, that is: skinny, tall and big head (for those of you that are not parents this is the chart where they compare it to all of the other kids) She definetly has a Fijalkowski head, that is because we are so smart! Ann Rae has learned a ton of words and is now starting to put 2 and 3 of them together at a time. Our favorites so far are Ketchup, (ke-shup), Isabella, (E-sa-belllla) and Mississippi (Sippi-sippi) we just threw that last one in there for fun and she said it! Well, I won't bug ya'll too much with emails, just make note of this site and check it out every now and then, I will try to keep it updated as much as possible. Hopefully mom won't learn how to blog, if she does there will be one on the dogs within a couple of days!