Busy Weekend - June 7 and 8

Saturday morning the whole family had a class at the church. We decided that Annabel was big enough to move out of the bassinet part of the stroller to her big girl seat. She needs to grow a little more for it to fit perfectly but for now she loves being able to look out at the world.

After church Annabel and Jennifer went out to Naperville for Jennifer Knapp Hayes' baby shower. It was great to see Jennifer and her sister Elise.

Sunday morning the family went to Jack Wixson's birthday party. Annabel napped most of the time but Mom and Dad enjoyed seeing all the little kids running around and having a good time. After the birthday Mom and Dad went out for another round of house hunting. More to come on that topic soon.

We're Back

Since our last post alot has happened. We have not updated the blog due to a few technical problems but everything has been fixed so we will be posting all past events over the next few posts.

On June 2nd Jennifer went back to work and our Nanny, Wanda, started keeping Annabel. We are doing a "nanny share" with another family, The Pinters. Their son is Ben and he is four days older than Annabel. Ben comes to our house and Wanda takes care of both of them. Wanda is great. She takes them on walks, reads to them, sings and takes great care of them. Everything is really going well with Wanda and Annabel loves having Ben as her new best friend.

After our first week back to work The Pinters had us over to their place for dinner. Annabel and Ben got to play together some more. Ben was bragging to Annabel about how he is a "Chick Magnet".

Ben even let Annabel take a nap in his bed.

Annabel's First Cubs Game - May 29, 2008

Cubs vs Rockies
Cubs win! 8-4

Soriano

FUKUDOME - Strike!

Annabel goes to Tennessee

May 19 - 23 2008

Ann Elizabeth finally meets Annabel.

Annabel - 3 months old

Annabel loved watching her cousin play tennis! Maybe one day Ann Elizabeth will teach her how to play.

While on this trip Sara and I witnessed Annabel's first time to roll from her tummy to her back. It was like a sporting event too. Sara and I cheered her on and after she made the complete roll Sara and I "high fived" each other. We were so proud and excited. I loved that Sara and I were able to see that together. Sara is so sweet to Annabel, such a good cousin to have!

Sporting Events

While down South visiting our family we were able to see our nieces and nephews play Soccer, T-Ball, Baseball and Tennis. We hate the fact that we have missed so many games over the years so we were thrilled to be able to make up for lost time. We truly love being an Aunt and Uncle and love spending time with our nieces and nephews!!!
Below are a few shots I was able to get of Evan playing baseball. My Mom and Dad go to many of the games. They are so sad that the Beans are moving to Houston. Makes me sad to think about all that my parents will miss. However, on the other hand I am very excited for the Bean family to have a new fun city to explore! Mom and Dad will just have all sorts of places to go visit their children and grandchildren.

I was not able to get many pictures of Ansley playing Soccer, I think we were too busy with Annabel and trying to watch at the same time. Ansley certainly was happy to have Annabel there and happy to show her off to her teammates. Ansley is the goalie which I think is the coolest position!!

Here is Cooper playing T-Ball. He is so cute and has the best personality. He is all boy and loves his sports and working outside in yard with his Dad.

Ann Elizabeth attends Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga and is on the tennis team. The team qualified for the State Championship so Annabel and I went down to TN to see her play. It was so much fun to see her play. She was awesome and their team WON the State Championship!!

The GPS tennis team captured their third tennis state championship trophy in as many years with a win over Hutchison of Memphis on Wednesday, May 21. Claire Bartlett, Sarah Evans, Ann Elizabeth Holley, and Meredith Morrow each claimed singles wins. Only Holley and Morrow went to three sets. After Bartlett won 6-0, 6-3 and Evans breezed 6-2, 6-1, it was up to Holley and Morrow to win the event in singles without having to move to doubles play. A junior, Holley lost the first set but roared back with 6-1, 6-3 sets, leaving it to Morrow to clinch the championship. In the third set, she was down 4-3 before she decided to take her time with each point and frustrate her opponent. Her strategy worked, and she won the third set 6-4.
The Spring Fling win under Coach Sue Bartlett capped off an undefeated season (15-0) for the Bruisers, including a Region championship.

Showing off my Bunny Slippers

Annabel and Lily Patterson

We were so excited to have Amy and Lily come to visit us on Friday. We played on the floor for a little while and then went for a nice stroll and a visit to Whole Foods. Lily is very cute and sweet!! We look forward to a trip out to the burbs to visit again soon. Lily is about 5 months old and Annabel is 11 weeks in these pictures.

Mother's Day - 5/10/08

I had a wonderful first Mother's Day. Brodie and Annabel gave me a beautiful gift and we all spent the day together. It rained all day so we spent most of the day inside. The best part of the day was when Annabel finally reached out and grabbed her toy on her bouncer chair. Her parents are so proud of her we had to brag about it on the blog. Even Billy Dee was impressed. Now she does it all the time and we get to hear the song over and over. Starting around 6 weeks she started making baby noises. Now she is almost 12 weeks and she is always "talking" and over the past 4 weeks she has really been excited by her hands. Most of the time she has them in her mouth but when she is not sucking on them she is waving them all around and trying to figure out what more she can do with them.