Her Real Birthday

Happy Birthday Anastasia! As she has been telling me for weeks, today is her real birthday. I thought I'd put together a little photo display from her last 6 years. It was really hard to narrow down 6 years of pictures to just a handful. And of course, I'm embarrassed at how bad some of those early pictures are.
This was taken at about 1 week old - I can't seem to find any of the better pictures of her early days.
All dressed up in her baptismal gown.
Crawling!
She was about 11 months here.
Jumping right to the 2nd birthday.
I think she was about 2 1/2 here - but I'm not quite sure (her hair seems long though, so that's the best way I can guess).
A proud big sister!
Her best buddy Peyton. Photo courtesy of Jordan.
Around 4 1/2 - One of my favorite pictures of her, ever.
Always having a good time.
Such a sweet smile and a sweet girl. Always ready for fun, and "game" for anything. Happy 6th Birthday Anastasia. We love you!!

Visiting Santa

Today Santa came to town. Granted, he was not the most realistic looking Santa around, but hey, we only had to drive 1/2 mile to see him.
Rafael looking like an elf in his hat. He told Santa he wanted toys which is a request I think Santa can handle, unlike Anastasia's Christmas wish . . .

Anastasia told Santa she wanted a magic wand. Earlier she told me she wants a real magic wand, so she can just get whatever she wants, whenever she wants. I have to give her credit for thinking this one through and figuring out how to get the most bang for her buck, although I tried to explain to her that Santa can't get her (or anyone for that matter) a real magic wand.

p.s. Doesn't Anastasia look pretty in this picture? Her hair was a complete mess and her smile isn't the most natural one, but there is something about the symmetry of her face, or the lighting or something that I really like.

Snow Day

Yesterday we woke up to snow! To be fair, this is not the first snow of the winter but it was the first real accumulation of snow. Yikes! It's not even Christmas, so I think that means we are in for a baaaaad winter. I am not a lover of snow, although I do remember loving to play in it as a kid. Anastasia, on the other hand, is totally a snow lover. She was out for hours yesterday. It's amazing to me that she doesn't seem bothered by the elements and will literally stay outside forever whether it is 100 degrees or 20 degrees. Did I mention she was playing outside in freezing rain the day before it snowed?

Anyway, I just wanted to capture a few pictures of the kids in the snow. Unfortunately, my rechargeable batteries are losing their ability to recharge and they were dying, again. I could only take one picture at a time before the camera turned off.

Rafael was all excited to go out in the snow, but really didn't like it much once he realized how cold and wet it was. He tried shoveling, ran around a bit, fell a few times, got very upset and then had to be dragged back inside. He stood at the door asking to go out again but when I opened the door he refused to go back out. I went to close the door and he screamed that the door was closed. Oh well. Sometimes you just can't win.
Not the most flattering picture of Anastasia, but it was all I could get.
The neighborhood gang running in the snow.
Rafael looking a little lost in the field of snow.
On a somewhat unrelated topic, Rafael basically doesn't take naps anymore, except when he is simply too exhausted to stay awake any longer. This means he just falls asleep wherever he happens to land. Today he fell asleep in his little chair like this. Such a silly little boy.

Birthday Bash

Yesterday, we had a co-birthday party with one of Anastasia's best friends, Tevyn. Since both girls are December birthdays, it is always complicated to figure out when is a good time for a party with everyone getting ready for Christmas and going on vacation. So this year an early "joint" birthday party was the solution. It turned out pretty well. Of course, both girls will be having another family party on their actual birthdays. Hmmm, maybe a December birthday really isn't that bad - seems like they are getting a lot of parties!

Here are a few (too many) pictures from the event.
Anastasia wondering what is in the presents, and hinting that she'd like to open them early.
Posing with a few of the balloons she blew up and tied herself!
Love the little smiles the birthday girls are sharing.
I think the birthday girls were embarrassed when we were singing "Happy Birthday" to them. Fortunately, Emmy was willing to give me a smile.
Anastasia and Peyton getting excited about one of the presents.
Another present being opened.
One of the presents we gave Anastasia was a little 3 foot Christmas tree she could put in her room, complete with ornaments for decorating. She did it all by herself and here is the finished product! Not bad for an almost 6 year old.
After the party the birthday girls and a couple of their best buddies, Peyton and Emmy, headed to the movies to see "Bolt". Rafael enjoyed the movie but was very tired after all the festivities and fell asleep on the floor at 7 pm. Of course he woke up at 1:30 am and was hungry, but that's another long story.:) Here he is all tuckered out after all that partying.