Thanksgiving in Ruidoso

We just spent four wonderful days in Ruidoso at my parent's cabin with Will, Audrey and Keegan celebrating Thanksgiving. We all had a great time relaxing, snow tubing, shopping and eating, but the best part of the trip was getting 5 inches of snow on Friday night and Saturday morning. Ruidoso looked like a winter wonderland Saturday morning - how fun for the kids and for us!

Hanging out with Don Will and Donna Audrey

Reading with Audrey

Snowflakes in her hair

It's cold!
This is the view from the cabin - wow!
Don't you love her giant puffy snowsuit?
We were lucky to get snow in Midland this morning, too - so we made a cowboy snowman

Kansas City

Last weekend, we went to Kansas City with Mimi and Pops and had a great trip. It was Anna's first time in a plane and she did a beautiful job. We were all amazed at what a great traveller she always is!

The most exciting development for Anna as of the past few weeks is her ability to scoot. She has been performing for Jimmy and I in the evenings and we are blown away by how fast she is growing up. 6 months old! It doesn't seem possible...

Enjoy the pics and videos below!

Anna's first girl friend, Emily

In Union Station

Check out the beautiful fall colors of Kansas City

Be sure to listen to the sound on this video - I love all those little grunts!

Our little girl LOVES water :-)

6 Month Pictures

Hello all! No pictures from me this time - but I wanted you all to be able to see Anna's 6 month professional pictures that we took yesterday. They're wonderful!

Just go to:

www.rachelparkhurst.com

Then go to the "Clients" tab. The password is "anna".

The Cutest Ladybug Around

Happy November! Last night, Anna dressed up as a ladybug for Halloween, and though she wasn't terribly happy about her costume most over the evening, I did get a few good pictures of her right after we put it on, thank goodness! I'm also posting pictures of us and our pumpkins we made, pictures of Anna taking her first few bites of rice cereal, and a video of her sitting up. Just in a week, she has improved this skill ten-fold and is able to sit unassisted for several minutes at a time. What a big girl she is!

Be sure to notice Jimmy's mouth in this picture (ha!)

Fall Fun

How nice it is that it is finally fall in West Texas! The hot weather was beginning to get stifling, but now that it has cooled off, we are finally enjoying the outside again, much to Anna's joy :-)

We have taken a couple trips in the past week - both of them lots of fun. The first was a weekend to visit the Wright family. This was the first time that many of Jimmy's brothers and sisters got to meet Anna, so that was exciting. We had a great time visiting with them as well as some friends in the Dallas area.

Just a few days ago, Mom, Anna and I traveled to Austin to see Amy Tan speak at Southwestern. It was a fantastic event - Amy is a great speaker and we really enjoyed the night out. Thanks to Don Will for keeping Anna and Keegan for us!

There will definitely be another post in a week, since Anna is going to be a ladybug for Halloween. We've already previewed the costume on her - absolutely adorable, of course! Hope all of you are doing well and enjoying the cool weather!

Uncle Chris, Uncle Ken, Nunny and Anna

Anna with her Gramps and Nunny

You looking at me?

Cute little smile - doesn't she look like Jimmy in this picture?

Sittin' in a patch of pumpkins

I love this picture

She's getting so close to sitting up by herself!

5 Months Old!

Anna is now 5 months old as of last Friday, which is absolutely impossible to believe. She is growing so fast now that people who see her on a weekly basis claim she's changed tremendously since the last time they saw her. Even Jimmy and I notice a difference on most days. I looked down at her this morning while she was asleep and could hardly believe how long she is!

Last weekend we visited Ma and Paw-Paw in Fort Davis. It was so nice to get out of the house for a few days and enjoy the cooler air of the mountains. Other than that little venture, we've been homebound the past few weeks, which has been nice. It's great to get good family time in before the craziness of the holidays hits us.

Sitting up! (albeit barely) :-)

Daddy's favorite shirt

Mommy and Anna

A little drowsy in the car seat

Paw-Paw, Anna and Ma

If you think after you watch this video, "Jimmy's torturing that baby!" - I promise, she totally loves it - the surprise of it usually makes her giggle!

Rolling Over, Part Deux

Last week, Anna learned how to turn from her back to her stomach - and in record time! According to "What to Expect," she is a full two months ahead on this feat, but of course, Mommy and Daddy are not surprised by this - we already knew she was a genius!

Here's proof of her new amazing ability:

Below, I'm posting a casual family photo, a pic of Anna all dressed up, a pic of her with Pops, and a pic of Mommy and Anna cooking together. Hope everyone has a great week!

Master of Disaster

I've been meaning to post this for a couple days, but haven't gotten around to it until now. Anna wanted her Don Will to know how proud she is of his new job...and in honor of that, she'd like to say just one thing....

We love you, Don Will! Congrats!

Visitors, peek-a-boo, and other happenings

It feels as though, over the last week or so, Anna's had an explosion of learning. She's fully laughing now, not just sort of wheezing like she used to. She also enjoys peek-a-boo, "sings" along while you sing to her, and is now doing half circles in her crib (meaning when I lay her down, a few minutes later her head is where her feet used to be). Her Mimi was over earlier today, and she commented that Anna is even beginning to scoot so that she can play with something - evidently, she was working to get at a little squeaky toy on her playmat and was pushing as hard as she could to get over there. It never fails to amaze me how quickly she learns and picks up on things - she's just a little sponge!

This last week, Anna got to meet her Aunt Amy for the first time, which was so much fun. Of course, I didn't get any pictures, because I'm terribly forgetful - but she really was here, and it was wonderful to get to see her. Our friends Steven and Lindi also came to visit this weekend - we did get pictures of them (!), so they're posted below.

I'm also posting a video of tickle time, as well as some pictures of Anna in her new playroom. Jimmy and I spent most of our weekend last weekend working on getting the playroom ready - the best part about it is that it has magnetic paint on the bottom half! We're excited to start teaching her letters and numbers on her magnetic wall.

All About the Hands

The newest development for Anna over the last week have been all about her hands - she seems to have completely discovered how amazing they are, and so they are constantly reaching, grabbing (especially if you have long hair or hoop earrings!), and being gnawed on. A display of her new talents:

We had a wonderful trip this last weekend to Austin and Houston to visit friends and family. Anna was a great traveler, as usual, and we had such a blast seeing Will, Audrey, Keegan, Amy, Jacob, Nate, Zach, Mike, Julie, Chrissy, Emily and Uncle Ken. Unfortunately, Mom forgot to get new batteries for the camera, so we have zero pictures of the weekend! Nonetheless, we really enjoyed getting to see everyone.

More adorable pics of Anna below...have a great weekend!

Rolling Over

I've been bragging about it for 6 weeks, but now I finally have proof - here's a video of our big girl rolling over:



In addition, I'm posting pictures of Anna playing in her Kick 'n Play (notice that her foot is blurred because it's moving so fast!), quiet time with Daddy, a pic of her with her foot (almost!) in her mouth, one of her looking rather surprised, and a sweet pic of her with her Ma. We had a great visit with Ma and Paw-Paw this weekend, and celebrated Anna's first visit to the big town of Rankin.


Finally, here's a pic of Anna on the beautiful quilt made especially for her by Hazel - thank you for the gorgeous blanket!

Saying Goodbye...

Last week, we said goodbye to Auntie M (otherwise known to the rest of the family as Melissa, my sister) as she travels off to Northern Ireland for a year to do mission work with the Presbyterian church. While it's sad to see her go (and we'll miss her immensely!), she is truly following her calling, and we are SOOOO proud of her. We love you, Auntie M!

As a special goodbye, I thought I would post some of my favorite pics of Melissa and Anna today. Here they are:

I'm also posting an adorable picture of Anna in her Bumbo - her second favorite sitting place, behind her Kick & Play bouncy chair. Mommy likes the Bumbo because she looks so cute in it! In addition, there are pics of her with Mimi, Percy and Charlotte, and a video of her hiccupping and what I like to call "pre-laughing" (not really laughing, but sort of wheezing with the same tone of laughing - it's what she does when she's really tickled about something). Enjoy!