Happy 6th Birthday Annabelle!!

More like six, going on sixteen. Still wondering where that time went. In the words of Annabelle, "six year olds are sassy." And she ain't kiddin'. Annabelle has become quite sassy in her old age!

This past year has been a very busy one for Annabelle. A few weeks ago, she lost her first tooth and then lost a second one on her birthday! In September she started Kindergarten at the "big kid school" where she has been doing really well. She is learning all sorts of new things and has made a slew of new friends. She absolutely loves school, mostly for the social aspect, I think.

Annabelle is so independent, she has always wanted to do things for herself but all of a sudden I feel like she has her own life. She constantly wants to be with her friends; every day when I pick her up from school, the first words that come out of her mouth are, "can I have a play date?" Often she and her little friends will make plans to get together, unbeknownst to the parents, and get very upset if things don't go according to plan... It can be very tiring at times!

Annabelle likes to keep busy with activities. She is always up for trying new things and signing up for groups. Currently, she plays soccer in the Spring and Fall, takes ice skating lessons, swimming lessons, belongs to Daisy's (girl scouts) and takes an after school art class once a week. If we let her, she would sign up for everything!

Not only is she keen to do everything, she is also very good at most everything she tries! She has a bizarre natural sporty ability- she is very good at soccer, she mastered riding her bike without training wheels over a year ago, she can ice skate, ride her scooter, skate board and roller blade pretty well and is now swimming in the 10ft. side of the pool. Now she wants to try snow boarding and play baseball and take dance lessons and karate and everything else under the sun.

Although she is a very, very busy little lady, she also enjoys her down time too. She loves to draw/color/paint and do anything crafty. She loves books, especially being read to, but is also learning to read for herself. Although she is desperate to read and often gets frustrated when she can't work out certain words, she is trying very hard and making great progress.

At six years of age, Annabelle still cannot sleep without "blanky", her ducky blanket which she has had since birth. She is still completely obsessed with puppies and can't wait to get one of her own. For the past two years, we have been promising Annabelle that she could get a puppy when she turned six. Well, six is here and we have had to put getting the puppy on hold for a year; instead of a puppy, she will be getting a new little brother soon! In the meantime, she has been collecting stuffed puppies and, at the moment, probably has over 200 of them!

Currently, Annabelle's favorite color is blue. Her favorite flavor of ice cream is chocolate. Her favorite food is macaroni and cheese. At her six year check up she passed all the tests with flying colors. She measured 46.5 inches tall and weighed in at 46 lbs.

Happy Birthday my big girl! I love you!!

Status Update From Jack:

"Hey, guess what! BOO HOO, the groundhog saw his shadow- six more weeks until my birthday. That's boring and rubbish. Wah."

...He learned about Groundhog Day at school today