Anna Grows

It was beautiful Easter in Northern Virginia with sunny skies and 84 degrees. It was a perfect day to hunt Easter eggs. The festivities began the day before with the making of the lamb cake (a Kohler tradition) and the Easter bread (a Fagella tradition). The Easter bread became a true family project for the day with Theresa & Anna mixing, Joe kneading, Theresa punching dough, Joe/Anna making ropes, and Theresa braiding. The bread was a big improvement over last year, with only one loaf that did not bake properly. Joe was more excited on Easter morning about the Easter bread than Anna was about the Easter bunny. After 10 AM mass, we headed home to hunt Easter eggs in the yard. We spent the afternoon at Kristy & Greg's house for a delicious dinner and another Easter egg hunt. Anna was also the recpient of a bubble blowing machine, which she had a great time with. The evening ended with a thunderstorm. Theresa's grandmother use to say if it rained on Easter Sunday, it woul...

Joe was expecting to hear this line from Anna when she was 16, not 4. Anna came home from Ms. Be's on Friday displaying two tattoos - one on each forearm. This was the result of her Easter party (4 year old don't party like they use to). Ms. Be's grandson applied the tattoo (according to Anna, Mr. Fancy can't do tattoos straight). Theresa was confident that Anna would want the tattoos washed off by the end of the day. No such luck this time as they remain on. They looked lovely with her Easter dress.

At long last, Grandma and Grandpa made the trip to Washington just in time for the peak of the famous cherry blossoms. Unfortunately, the weather was not at its peak - featuring cold, rainy days rather than sunny spring weather. Grandma and Grandpa left just in time to miss the 85 degree day on Monday. Timing is everything. Despite the cold weather, a good time was had by all - especially Anna. It was like Christmas for her as presents seemed to appear daily from Grandma and Grandpa. In addition to a beautiful Easter dress, assorted toys and games, and more new clothes for spring, the grand finale was the sandbox that Gran dpa brought for her (look for pictures in future reports). The grandparents also dropped Anna off at pre-school and picked her up, allowing Anna to show them around her classroom and meet her teachers. They also enjoyed playing with Anna. Grandma even agreed to play dress-up with her. The visit was a present for Joe as Grandpa spent a couple of days assis...

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...