Rejuvenation is

. . . Spring Sunny Days
. . . Rain Washing Away Dirty Snow
. . . Getting Rid Of Junk
. . . Giving Away Old Clothes
. . . Getting New Mascara
. . . Skyping with Family
. . . Drinking a Fruit Smoothie
. . . Seeing Tulip Leaves & Other Flowers pop up
. . . Talking With Friends
. . . A Glass of Water
. . . Looking @ Old Photos
. . . No Root Canal (right now- cross my fingers)
. . . Movie Night With My Husband
. . . Spring
. . . Days off (I am wanting to plan my next!)
. . . Girls Night Out
. . . Morning Hugs
. . . Getting things done during nap time
. . . SPRING!!!

Random thoughts and wishes...

Today I have been wishing to have...



The energy and spunk of a 2 year old, namely Anna

Relaxation of my dog, Mia

The humor of my husband

A heart like Jess

Dedication like my Boss

Testimony like the Apostles

Sewing skills of Maggie, My mom and others

Lifetime of knowledge like my Grandma

Just make it happen attitude of my sister Holly

The ability to fix/jimmy rig things like my Dad

The talent of writing like Dave and Nicole

A passion for reading

Be a cake decorator on the Food Network

The ability cook like I knew ALL the right spices

Photograph like Melanie and Nicole

Ski like Olympians... heck just ski

A home of my own (okay technically I do, but I don't live near it, let alone IN it!)

A Blog like many others and make it not just about vacations and Anna

Time like vampires ( Yes, I just finished the Twilight Series, no it isn't my favorite, but I read it and was interested enough to want to finish it)





But I am ME in a warm house (thank you furnice man) and that is GREAT... I just have many project and goals to work on. (:



P.S. Yes there many of you out there that I look up to. I may have named you I may have not. These were just those that were relevant today. (:

The Windy City

In keeping with tradition, I'm posting a ridiculous amount of pictures from our recent vacation to Chicago. It was my "spring" break so we decided to take advantage and check out the Windy City. Though cold, the weather held up nicely and we had a great time!

What would a trip to Chicago be without a stop at Wrigley Field?

Here's a shot of the Hancock Tower (2nd tallest building in Chicago behind the Sears Tower)

Cool area of downtown where there are a lot of water features, water taxis, etc. during the warm months. They color this river green every St. Patrick's Day.

By far the biggest city I've been in. Great to visit as a tourist but I'm not sure I'd want to live here.

Here is the first of several shots of "the bean" in Millenium Park with the reflection of downtown Chicago.

Our happy little family reflecting in the bean.

It's fun to check out the different angles as well as walk under the bean (see next picture).

Here's a funky reflection looking directly up underneath the bean.

Heidi and Anna watching one of Anna's favorite things: ice skaters!

Hangin' out with one of our furry friends at the Lincoln Park Zoo.

I love this shot of the gorilla, who seems to be deciding whether or not to kill me.

View of Downtown Chicago from the 94th floor of the Hancock Tower.

Me and my little sweetie hanging out in the Hancock Tower.

We stayed to watch the sun go down.

Navy Pier (hard to see but is in the center of the photo). It has a ferris wheel, rides, etc but mostly during the warm months. When we visited, it was freezing so we only stuck around for a few minutes.

This is an open-air viewing deck with a screen window in the Hancock Tower.

Downtown Chicago at night.

I made sure to take some time to converse with the city folk.

View from the bay next to Adler Planetarium.

Heidi next to "Sue", the world's largest and most complete T-Rex skeleton (located at the Field Museum).

Anna and Mommy doing the flamingo pose.

Little Conversations

I love this Stage of Anna's life. She is HILARIOUS! Here are a few examples:

This morning when I opened the front door:
Anna: "Lots of Snow. Mommy clean it up!"
Me: "Off the car or the sidewalk?"
Anna: "The sidewalk"
Mind you, I live in a LARGE complex, looks like I had my day planned.

Driving to work: "BUS!!!! Hi, Bus! How are you? Good..."

Taking care of her Baby in her room I overhear her: " Hey baby, you want to go to Jackson and Jordans? Okay" (her cousins house).

Anna: "B Daddy go?
Me: "He went to school"
Anna: "Play Basketball."
Me: "No, He went to school"
Anna: "Daddy Bus!"

"Watch signing time!" ( I hear this at least a couple times a day)

"What's that?" Meaning who is that? When I talk on the phone
"B that?" meaning what's that- yes it is confusing
"B Daddy? or B Fiona? or B....?" Where is this person

Looking over the stair railing, "Bye bye everybody"- doesn't sound as cute in written form

"Talor Mommy" (Color with me mommy)

"Watch Daddy out the Mindow" (window) . . . "DADDY BUS!!!"

" I need help Mommy" this melts my heart.

"I PEE PEE POTTY!!!" Yelled as loud as possible, no matter where we are. (:

Latest "Firsts" in Ann Arbor

Pigtails! Hooray her hair is finally long enough. She has her Mom and Dad's straight hair so her little wispies would not stay in. Now she looks like a big girl. (even if I have to throw it together, crooked lines and all).Buckling in. Anna is all about buckling the buckles herself, whether she is in the seat or not.Avoiding bedtime... no this isn't new, but she is finding new ways to get comfortable instead of just getting in bed. "Signing Time with Alex and Leah" from the "Yibrary." Yes, according to Anna that is the ONLY thing that exists at the Library. This girl LOVES these videos, as you can tell they truly keep her attention.Avoiding looking at the camera forces me to get her attention and snap a picture, even if she isn't smiling.

"Mine do it" Miss Independent is learning all about getting dressed and doing things alone. She is great at unzipping her coats and giving them to me. I had to snap a photo of her in her little red riding hood coat. It is so cute! Taking Mia on a walk all by herself, okay not really, but we can pretend.

Making her first Snowman! Which really wasn't THAT interesting to her, but it was fun for the rest of us.

A beautiful day in Michigan. These days are hard to come by, but we actually had 3 or 4 in a row! This is the backyard of where I Nanny.

Fiona teaching Anna the art of Snow Angels

Anna learned that through the trees there is a playground, so of course that is where she headed right away. However it is another 1/2 mile walk and Eilidh (the one year old) was sleeping. It was very hard to deter Anna. The last time we went there she wouldn't leave and I had to carry her and Eilidh through the snow while Anna screamed bloody Murder, kicked and got mad at Eilidh for starting to scream as well. Needless to say we will wait until a little better weather or figure out if we can drive there.

Eating Snow, luckily Anna was preoccupied with something else, and didn't learn this activity let. Fiona, however, is a gold medalist.

Here is Anna preoccupation... trying on Fiona's gloves.

The view master, Jammies, and headphones....

"Be happened"

Anna's famous phrase which means, "What happened?" Let's just say "paint happens."

It's the Tunnel Monster...

Anna loves her tent and tunnel from her Great Grandma, there isn't a day that goes by that we aren't using it for some crazy activity. This was Valentines, while we were trying to get dinner prepared.