Closing in on 1

Here we are in late July already.  Last year at this time, I was big and pregnant and eagerly awaiting the arrival of our second child.  Meredith came a week early so I had my hopes set on #2 coming early but that wasn't the case.  So here we are just a little over a week until Anna turns 1.  It has been a great year and I am so lucky to be her mommy.  She is more than I could have hoped for and I am so lucky to have not one, but two wonderful, beautiful little girls.

Here are just a couple of cute pictures of my baby in case you missed them on Facebook.  

This one shows all four of her top teeth that she is teething right now.  

Anna's first trip to the cabin

In true fashion, I am almost two weeks late on this post.  I can never update my blog in a timely manner so my apologies.  

We spent the weekend prior to the 4th of July out at the cabin.  It's always fun this weekend because many of my wonderful aunts, uncles, & cousins come out and we have a good time.  Not to mention my immediate family.  Meredith and her Grandma went out one day early and we met up with them the next day.  We went home for the night while Meredith stayed and we returned the next day.  The weather was perfect...except for that it was near 100 degrees.  One day there was no lake breeze and the bugs were biting.  But we still had a good time anyway.  

Oh, and what trip to the cabin is complete without a Biff?  The day before we went out, I got a phone call to let me know that the septic system was not working.  GREAT!  100 degree weather and no facilities???  Thank goodness the Biff got delivered that afternoon.  

Here is the grand moment when everyone lined up to relieve themselves.  

Taking a break to hang out with Juana.  

Gotta have some s'mores.  

The weather was perfect for swimming.  The water was warm and no itch!  

My sweet baby :-)

Playing in the sand is always a hit too.  

Happy 4th of July

We spent the 4th of July running errands.  It was just too darn hot to do anything else.  100 degrees is too hot to even go swimming.  

Greg took Meredith to the Apple Valley fireworks though while I stayed home to put Anna to bed.  It was her first time.  I thought she would be scared of the noise because she is kind of skittish about that kind of stuff but she love it!  She was telling me about all the different shaped fireworks (you know those ones that explode like a heart, circle, bullseye, etc.) and how there was even a toilet shaped firework.  LOL.  

Here they are all decked out in their red, white, & blue courtesy of Grandma Schwake.  

  

Meredith got about 10 compliments on this as we were out running errands.  

Ducks

I'm a little behind with updates but I've been wanting to share this picture.  We live near a park with a small lake and there are always ducks on the beach.  One day Meredith was feeding the ducks leaves (I didn't have the heart to tell her that ducks don't eat leaves).  When we got home, I dried out a bunch of old bread for her to bring back the next time we were there to feed the ducks.  She loved it!  They come right up to you.  And I'm a horrible mom...I ignored the signs that said not to feed the ducks.  I did, however, make sure she didn't leave a bunch of bread crumbs floating in the water by only allowing her to throw one at a time and she had to wait until a duck ate it to throw another.  In some way, I felt that was redeeming for blatantly ignoring the sign.  Mer would have been heartbroken.

 Here's an action shot: