Happy 1st birthday Annabel

Last Saturday we celebrated Annabel's first birthday.

Here she is just before her party modeling one of the two special shirts made by Aunt Marci. (Thanks Marci!)

Hanging out with Grandpa

Playing in the back yard.

With Aunt Marci

Opening presents ... with some help.

Maddie helping(?) Annabel with her new toy.

Marci and Ben. Thanks Ben for taking pics and videos.

Courtney, Jason and Bryson

Daddy putting the new giraffe riding toy together

A monkey cake for my little monkey

Daddy giving Annabel the first piece

The mess that followed

So, they had told me they were going to use white icing and do the pink spray on it. It turned out to be solid pink icing. Wow!

The big kids had fun playing in the back yard.

Bryson refused to share even one of his "ya ya's" with me. He loves to tease.

Easter

This Easter we had lots of fun celebrating the resurection of Christ.

We started our Easter festivities with an egg hunt at my work, complete with a visit from the Easter Bunny.

The girls were slightly more cooperative when I tried to take a picture with the inflatable bunny.

We got to go to Oklahoma for the first time in a very long time. It was great to see lots of family and friends. We went to Jared's grandma's house on Saturday.

We spent Sunday at my parents house. Mom, Dad and the the girls ready for church.

Marci, Ben and Maddie dying eggs.

Annabel unpacking an Easter basket

Mom and Annabel

Playing in the back yard

Us with the girls before church - maybe one day we will get a good pic of all of us at the same time. Until then, this is the best we have.

Me and the girls with my dad's mom (Mimi or GG Mimi to the girls)

The Easter Bunny even made an appearance at my parents house. The son of one of my mom's friends dressed up and was so sweet to come by and let my girls and all of my little cousins see him.

Me and the girls with my mom's parents.

It was a great Easter.

(If you think this is a lot of pics, just wait for the next one -- Annabel's first b-day)

eleven months old

Annabel is 11 months old today. It is hard to believe that she will be one year old soon.

I wouldn't say that she is officially a walker yet, but we have seen her take 1, 2, and even 3 steps at a time. She usually just resorts to crawling or creeping along furniture now though.

She is quite a dare devil and loves to climb. Jared (with help from our friends and my dad) brought the play set from our old house to our new(er) one and reassembled it. We figured that she would love the baby swing, but she also loves sliding and being in the "fort". She can even climb up the slide to get into the fort with out any help. This is actually a little scary to me. We can't take our eyes off her. She also climbs on top of Maddie's little wooden chairs that go with her table. I have repeatedly found her standing in them facing backwards.

My aunt and uncle passed on a lot of baby toys and furniture to us when Madison was born that we have gotten so much use out of. This little ride on car that they gave us has been one of Annabel's favorite modes of transportation.

Annabel also loves playing with (0r on) Wrigley. I am not sure that he loves it, but he tolerates it really well.

This is the first picture we have of her standing without assistance. She is getting more and more confident with it.

A day at the ranch

Today, one of the owners of my company invited everyone to his ranch to play and enjoy a crawfish boil. We spent about five hours there and had a great time. Madison found a new favorite activity. We didn't get there in time for the hay ride, but we still had fun playing on the trailer with all of the hay bails.

There were three labradors that made the girls feel right at home.

Annabel crawled and cruised around the ranch, having a great time.

Fun on the swing

Madison got to ride the horse twice. I led her once on another horse, and after dinner she was begging to go again, so I got to take some pics as Jared led her around.

We spent a lot of time on this swing. It was under an awning and the shade was wonderful.

We also took a couple quick videos of Madison riding.

What a great afternoon!