Anna Grows

One of Anna's favorite games at meals these days is the rhyming game. While eating, Anna will say "what rhymes with...." whatever word and everyone takes turn coming up with a word that rhymes. Sometimes Anna comes up with new words. For example, this morning's game went like this: Anna: What rhymes with mouse? Dad: House Anna: Touse Mom: What is a touse? Anna: It's french for a sugary, sweet drink. It is a bit of a concern to Anna's parents that she can make something up so quickly. On the other hand, Dad attributes this characteristic to Anna's grandpa Fagella. Anna will likely be a formidable scrabble player.

Anna finished her last ballet class of the winter session over the weekend. She learned quite a numer of new steps during this session and really enjoyed the class. Anna seems to be the undisputed fastest ballerina in the class as she races across the floor doing assorted leaps. The class concluded with a performance. We are happy to report this performance went much better than her debut. There were not tears, she wore the costume, and proudly showed off her moves. One of the reason she enjoyed this class so much was because her good friend Ella from pre-school was also in the class. Perhaps Ella and Anna will continue their ballet studies in the fall. In addition to music at ballet class, Anna is exposed to all sorts of music at home thanks to her crazy parents. One of the advantages of having more mature parents (at least that is what we are saying) is the exposure to some of the greats of classic rock that can also serve as teaching tools. For example, last week Anna did not want t...

After a long winter (well, not as long as the winter our Northeast family members had), we decided it was time to head for someplace warm and sunny. Thanks to some free airline tickets (courtesy of AirTran following a flight gone bad last summer), we decided to head to Mexico for the week. Theresa had some reservations about the destination initially. Perhaps it is from reading too many news reports about the violence in Mexico or maybe it was the concern voiced by friends that work for the Department of Defense...Mexico did not seem like a relaxing vacation place. After Joe convinced Theresa that the drug cartels probably own most of the resorts and that it would not be in their best business interests if tourists were kidnapped and ransomed, Theresa relented and agreed to go. The trip was well worth it complete with beautiful beaches, delicious food, l ovely accommodations, and no drug kingpins in sight. The "free" airline tickets required taking a 6 AM flight, thus we were...

This weekend was President's Day, thus a long weekend (at least for government workers and bank employees). Anna got to enjoy Sunday night at a sleepover hosted by Aunt Gayle's. As Anna said, "I get a vacation." Anna took her kitty pillow on her "vacation" from Mom and Dad and had a great time at Aunt Gayle's. There was drawing, and games, and chocolate dipped strawberries....what more could a kid want? Anna has her own room at Aunt Gayle's, which she is very excited about. Mom and Dad were excited too and used the opportunity for a belated Valentine's Day celebration with dinner and a movie. They decided to splurge and go to a trendy restaurant in Alexandria. At the end of the dinner they concluded: 1) they are not trendy; 2) trendy places are snooty: 3) you need to spend $1,000 to leave full. After dinner, they headed down the street to Murphy's Irish pub to get some nachos (and beer for Joe) because they were still hungry. They...

Anna's Great-Grandpa Kohler (or "Old Herbie" as he referred to himself) passed away January 24 at age 98. Anna and her parents traveled to Ohio to attend the funeral. Death is a difficult concept for adults to grasp let alone children - leaving Joe and Theresa pondering ways to explain it to Anna without frightening her. In the end, they opted for the direct approach which often works best with Anna. Anna studied the casket and great-grandpa very closely and asked several questions about sleeping and heaven. The questions are likely to continue for a while, but really - who ever stops questioning these topics? The side benefit of a funeral is the chance to see a lot of family members - many of whom have not been together since the last funeral. Anna had a great time with with her cousin Aidyn. Well, she had a great time with cousin Aidyn's train set while staying at Uncle Tim's house. When cousin Aidyn came onto the scene it was more like brother and sister rather...

Snow at last hit Washington. Anna was excited about the 8 + inches of heavy, wet, snow that fell last night - prime snow for snowforts & snowballs. She was disappointed that school was canceled. The ONLY people in Washington that were excited about the snow were the kids. The winter wonderland created a traffic nightmare of epic propostions. While our Northern relatives, who have regularly been seeing 19+ inches of snow per storm, may laugh at the inability to handle snow in Washington, it is no joke here. Theresa - a snow veteran from Northwest Ohio fell victim to the chaos. The problems began when everyone left work early - and then the snow started early at the rate of 2 inches per hour. Theresa's 15 minute drive to pick up Anna turned into 1 1/2 hours. The snow was falling so fast and traffic was so gridlocked that the plows were also gridlocked. Ill prepared drivers were unable to go up hills, further blocking traffic. Theresa ended up spending the night at Ms Be's day...

January 18 was party day at the Fagella household. According to Anna, her Dad was celebrating his 8th birthday (Anna is still learning basic math skills). Anna was definitely more excited about the occasion than her Dad, mainly because it involved birthday cake. Anna celebrated with her parents at a local Italian restaurant (complete with Italian music and a Frank Sinatra cardboard cut-out). The food was excellent and Joe enjoyed the evening. The evening concluded with cake and presents. Happy Birthday Dad!