Annie's First Airplane Ride

We spent Thanksgiving in Lexington, Virgina visiting Elizabeth and Alex in their home away from home!!  We had such a fun visit, and I have a ton of pictures to post, but first, I want to do a separate post on Annie's first plane ride!  

Brad, Annie, and I flew to Roanoke, VA and then Elizabeth picked us up and drove us 1 hour to Lexington.  We were so thankful to be able to fly using Brad's Delta Skymiles that he has worked so hard to accumulate from his grueling work and travel.  Otherwise, the trip is a 9 hour drive without stops so I can only imagine how long it would have taken us.

Annie loved every single minute of our trip!!!  She was fascinated, excited, and perfectly behaved!  It was so much fun to experience this big milestone with her and enjoy her joy!

Warning this is picture overload because she was just too cute taking it all in!

Here we are just getting started at the Birmingham airport.  She squatted and watched the planes as well as all of the other vehicles!

Pointing at the planes!  She would clap like she does in order to call the planes back after they took off. She was a little disappointed when they did not come back at her request!

First time inside an airplane - you can just barely see the expression of awe on her face!

Love her sweet pose as she takes it all in!

As we settled in, she wanted to read up on the safety instructions :)

Then, she took in all of the other passengers!

She was particularly interested in the girl behind us who was sleeping!

Proof that Mommy was there too!

After we took off, she enjoyed a yummy snack of goldfish and water!  She loved having her own tray and eating a special snack that we don't ever have!

Playing with Daddy!

Once we landed in Atlanta, we headed to the Delta Sky Lounge which is another perk of Brad's platinum Delta status to find some snacks and go to the bathroom.  Annie loved the yogurt covered pretzels :)   Such a high-class traveler!

We only had a 50 minute layover before we were back on another, very small plane to Roanoke!  Annie was getting sleepy and enjoyed lots of cuddle time in her Daddy's arms!

So sweet!!!

She never went to sleep and eventually perked up for the remainder of the flight!  I love this profile shot of her perched on her hands looking out the window!

We took one quick family shot to document the occasion - too bad its blurry!

Upon our arrival, Elizabeth was waiting for us in the tiny and beautiful Roanoke airport!  Annie went straight to her and was so excited to see her!

I love this shot!

I am so thankful that Annie loved the airplane travel so much!  She never seemed uncomfortable from the pressure or scared from any of the noise!  She also loved riding in the elevators and riding the train between terminals in the ATL airport - simple pleasures!  This sweet, sweet baby sure does make life easy and fun on us!

14 Months

Annie is 15 1/2 months, and I am just now getting her 14 month update.  Annie has been sweet and fun at this age, but life has been busy and hard these past couple of months  In a 30 day stretch from mid-September to mid-October, Brad had 4 long business trips and 3 camping / hiking trips that just all happened to fall one after the other.  It was exhausting for me physically to care for Annie and our house all by myself, but worst of all, it was emotionally draining.  I missed Brad terribly - more than expected really since I usually handle his travel in stride.  But, thankfully, we are nearing the end of all his travel for the year (I hope!) so we can finish out the year together!

So, with all of that said, I just haven't been inspired to blog.  But, I am ready to do it now and don't want to miss out on posting lots of Annie's pictures at 14 months (September 2012).

She loves to go through the pantry and pull all sorts of things out.  This particular morning she got to the syrup and opened it before I ever saw what happened!  

"Uh oh Mom!  Was I not supposed to do that?"

Lynlee turned 2 and we went to her birthday party at Gymboree!  

Annie seemed like such a big girl sitting at the table with all of the other kiddos!

She had such a great time at Gymboree!  Here is a little video of her loving the parachute!  I can't get it to work again.

After church and just before nap time, she ended up in her sleeveless onesie and bloomers!  I thought she looked adorable!!

Grandma turned 91, and we celebrated with the Oser's!

Football season started off with a bang, and we enjoyed watching several games at my parent's house while Brad was away!  Annie loves the carved wooden bear that my parent's have for their cabin.  She sits by him on the hearth a  lot!

Annie has really taken to the Praise Baby Smile movie!  She looks like such a big girl sitting on her quilt watching TV.  

Annie loves playing at the park these days!  She especially loves to slide down the slides with me!

So serious at the Tot Lot one afternoon!

Love this shot :)

Annie also loves taking walks these days! I am so thankful because there was a time when she didn't really want to sit in her stroller.  Here she is being a big helper by holding the leash and walking Layla!

She looks so sweet here on our Starbucks date one gorgeous September morning!  

Taking care of her baby doll!

Wild hair before bath time!

Her eating has slowed down quite a bit.  Some meals she is just not that interested, but will then have some meals where she is very interested!  We are just rolling with it for now!

She is obsessed with her shoes and often requests to wear her church shoes over her PJ's in the morning!  Cracks me up!

Reading with Daddy before bed!

Annie is great at using a fork so I tried to video her one morning.  She was adamant about me not videoing her and was not fooled when I told her I was not!  

Since this post is so far behind, I know that I probably missed a few things that she learned and did during month 14, but at least its on the record books.  Now onto 15 months!  

Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween, and we had such a fun Halloween night this year!  

We were supposed to eat chili with some neighbors, but our little tiger had a fever during the day so we stayed home to make sure we didn't get anyone else sick.  Instead, I made Santa Fe soup and Emily joined us!  

Initially, Annie was not excited about wearing her tiger costume at all which made me so sad!  My Mom made this costume and another one just like it for my sister and I when we were babies.  After us,  Elizabeth and Jeffrey both wore it!  

Here we are at age 20 months wearing the tiger costumes!  I love this picture!  I love our costumes, our Nike tennis shoes, and my Dad's glasses and hat!  I am on the left and Emily is on the right.  We had to ask my Mom who is who because it is so hard even for us to tell us apart at this age.

Here we are again with our neighbor Kate!  I think Emily is on the left and I'm on the right this time - Mom is that right?

So, after a lot of encouragement and excited talk about the tiger costume, Annie finally came around to wearing it and actually loved having it on!  But, she never came around to the hat :(  She doesn't ever want to wear hats in general so I am not surprised, but I was disappointed.  

We managed to snap two quick pictures with the hat on before we took it off for the rest of the night.  The only reason she is crying is because of the hat!  

After pictures and a few of our neighbors trick-or-treating at our house, we set out for the busy street which is just two streets over from us!  Annie thought it was exciting although she was apprehensive the entire night!

Aunt Emmie and Annie checking out the street!  I love her tiger tail and them holding hands!  Like my aunt said, a blonde headed tiger is a very rare and special species :)

On our way!

She didn't really want to walk up to each house by herself but would go if we carried her!

She did love carrying around her pumpkin and has continued to carry it around the house!  She was so excited to have candy in it although she never tasted any.  She just liked having it in her bucket!

Thanks Daddy for your help!

Still a little unsure but having fun despite the serious face!

One house had a broom that moved on its own and made noise!  Annie was curious but understandably nervous!

And finally, at the last house, she decided to walk to the door just holding my hand and reached out and got the candy from the bucket all by herself!  Such a big girl!

Once we finished trick-or-treating, we headed home and Annie wanted to take a little late night ride in her car!

Then, she decided to take inventory of the candy we were giving away as well as what she had collected in her bucket!

She approved and liked it even with the wrapper on!

I love Halloween and all the decorations, dressing up, weather, candy, and excitement!  I think it will be so much fun next year when Annie is hopefully very enthusiastic about dressing up and trick-or-treating!