Anna Grows

Coach Dad, Aunt Lucy, Anna, & Terri after the soccer game September in Washington is one of the nicest times of the year, so Aunt Lucy and Terri headed south from Massachusetts for a long weekend visit Anna and take in the sights.  The weekend got off to a fine start - including a smooth drive to DC in record time (this may be the first Fagella family member to successfully make it to DC without hitting a traffic jam).  After a long drive, they were ready to stretch their legs and got Anna to take them on a bike ride around the neighborhood.  This proved to be a harrowing trip for Aunt Lucy as Anna sped down hills and was otherwise oblivious to potential traffic hazards (biking in Vienna is a bit different than biking in Ohio with Grandma and Grandpa).  After issuing some safety reminders, Aunt Lucy managed to get Anna home without incident. Anna in action Saturday was a beautiful weather day...perfect for a soccer game!  Aunt Lucy and Terri came to cheer Anna on along

Anna's 8th Birthday September 3rd marked Anna's 8th birthday.This is a significant year for Anna as she can at last get rid of her car seat (actually, she was interested in keeping it after discovering it was more difficult to see out of the window without it). This year, Anna celebrated with her favorite dinner at home - gnocchi (this is the perfect food for a kid that is half German and half Italian - a potato pasta dish).  She also had cake followed by an assortment of presents from her grandparents, aunts and uncles.  Part of her birthday present this year was painting her room and getting rid of the little girl accents.  Thanks to some advice from the color lady at the paint store, she went with a light turquoise blue (a big thanks to Dad for taking on this project). Charge of the crazy characters The big birthday event was Anna's first slumber party, which was held on September 6.  While Anna had visions of 20 girls spending the night, her Mom quickly narr

1st day of 3rd Grade Anna began 3rd grade on August 25th.  She was quite excited to see her friends and proudly carried her new bag that she made with Grandma.  This year, Anna is in Mrs. Miller's class.  One of her first observations of her classroom is that there are no "behavior strips" this year (red, yellow, green).  After measuring behavior for the past four years by colors, this is bound to be a real change.  How will you know if you are in trouble?? One of her first assignments this week was to decorate a bag and put one thing inside that is about her, and then to present it to the class.  Anna did not hesitate to fill her bag with rocks from  her rock collection (as of the last month, she has been interested in rocks and opened a rock museum in her room).  Joe and Theresa were a bit puzzled as to how a bag of rocks represents Anna, but Anna had it all figured out.  Apparently she told the class that she liked to look at rocks from different places and it