Anna Grows

Anna enjoyed a quick trip to New York City last weekend to visit the Fagellas. The occasion was cousin Yolanda Tomasulo's 90th birthday (and Uncle John's 39th birthday....at least that is the rumor that was going around). James and Deborah volunteered to entertain Anna while the adults headed to the party. To say Anna was excited was an understatement. James and Deborah kept Anna fully entertained with movies, games, and a trip to the St. Barnabas street festival. Later, Anna enjoyed celebrating Uncle John's birthday complete with New York pizza and a delicious cake. In the meantime, Theresa got to experience her first Fagella family car ride. Maybe it was just a New York car ride....but it was an experience. Aunt Mary volunteered to drive Uncle Joe, Uncle John, Joe & Theresa to the party, which was approximately 40 minutes away. From the time the engine started until the arrival at the restaurant, the conversation revolved around the best way to get to the restaurant. ...

We are happy to report that Anna is enjoying preschool and is excited to go. We are already seeing the results of her time at St. Mark's School in our nightly dinner conversations. Those of you who have experienced dinner with Anna know that she is quite the conversationlist and can jump from topic to topic. Tonight, a new dimension was added: Anna: Mommy, I want to tell you something. Theresa: o.k...what do you want to tell me? Anna: God made you Theresa: That's right Anna: Mommy, I want to tell you something else. Theresa: o.k. Anna: Remember when the bad guy fell in the toilet? That was pretty funny. It should be noted that the last statement is a regular Anna fall-back line that apparently is in reference to a scene from Madagascar or Madagascar II (neither Theresa nor Joe seem to recall this scene). That Catholic pre-school education is already paying off. We can only hope Anna isn't using her toilet line at prayer time.

Today was Anna's first day of preschool. She has been talking about it for weeks and looking forward to it. Last week Mom took her to the "sneak peak" where she was able to meet her teachers and some classmates. Again she was very excited. Today - not so excited. The problems started this morning when apparently Mom made Anna's eggs the wrong way. It seems that only Dad can make the eggs the right way. Anna refused to eat her breakfast and Mom refused to make her another breakfast. A standoff ensued. Anna changed the subject by saying she didn't like what she was wearing. Mom, upon looking at the clock, told her it was too late to change. That is when the waterworks began, complete with wailing and gnashing of teeth (Anna, not Mom). After Mom carried her upstairs and brushed her teeth (a maneuver that required a headlock), Anna refused to go to the bathroom and continued to scream I don't want to go to preschool . Mom was able to capture some of this on video ...

Anna celebrated her 4th birthday on September 3. While she was excited about her 4th birthday, she is already looking forward to her 5th birthday and all of the things she is going to do when she turns 5 (ride on two wheels, swim underwater, go to kindergarten....she has quite a list of things). Anna was having a discussion with her Dad the morning of her birthday about turning 5, when she asked "what happens when you turn 6?" Good question. Anna's birthday started a week early with the arrival of the first gift - a full size keyboard from Ms. Be and Mr. Fancy. Despite Mom and Dad's protests, Ms. Be was insistent that Anna needed a piano to practice. Anna is quite into the various back-up beats and has committed to get complimentary tickets for Ms. Be and Mr. Fancy at any future concerts she may headline. The music continued later in the week with the arrival of a birthday card from Aunt Loren. It was not just any card., but a singing Carebear card, which Anna proceed...

After a two consecutive rainy sundays, we finally made it to McIntosh Fruit Farm in the Shenandoah valley for some fresh peaches (along with tomatoes, flowers, and assorted other fresh fruits and vegetables that we could not pass up). In addition to enjoying the lovely scenery and fresh country air, it is also educational to see just how much the mark-up price is for fresh produce at the DC farmers markets vs. the pick it yourself markets in the mountains (it is substantial). Anna was very excited - for the first 10 minutes. She quickly discovered that the lovely sunny day and 90+degree temperatures made her sweat. Then she discovered that there are A LOT of bugs on the farm...something she is not particularly fond of. In short, Anna is a city/suburban girl and prefers to pick her produce from the AC, bug-free displays at a grocery store. Mom and Dad are considering taking her camping soon in an effort to develop a greater appreciation for the outdoors. In the meantime, everyone enjoye...

August 21, 2010 marked the a major milestone for Anna: her ballet stage debut. Well, it wasn't really a stage but rather a bunch of small chairs lined up in a small studio with dozens of adoring parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles with cameras. The performers: 10 ballerinas, ages 3-4 (you have to give a lot of credit to the ballet instructor who is able to get 3 & 4 year olds to do anything that remotely resembles ballet). Aunt Loren and Aunt Mary had driven all the way down from New York for Anna's ballet debut. Unfortunately, Anna had other ideas. After arriving at the studio, Anna took one look at the crowd and ran to her Mom. Mom walked her in to get her costume, but Anna wanted nothing to do with it and ran back to her Mom crying. The teacher managed to coax Anna back in for the beginning of the performance...briefly. While the rest of the dancers were doing pilates, Anna dashed out of the room and back to her Mom. Of course part of the reason for this quick depa...

Anthony (left), Anna, & Thomas began at Ms. Be's together as babies. Last Thursday was Anna's friend Anthony's last day at Ms. Be's daycare. Anna and Anthony have been at Ms. Be's together for 3 years. Anthony, otherwise known as "Thomas"- his train ultra-ego, is moving to San Diego where his Dad will be stationed with the Navy. Anna and Anthony are good buddies and have spent their formative pre -school years together learning such things as eating with utensils, potty training, riding tricycles, reading, and counting. They were also the train leaders at Ms. Be's, assigning train names to the other kids. One of the things Anna is already learning is that Washington is a very transient area. With the departure of Anthony for California and Caitlyn for kindergarten , Anna is officially the "big kid" at Ms. Be's. Caitlyn attempted to provide some leadership training for Anna before she departed, but Anna has some additional lessons t...