Anna Grows

Spring soccer finally arrived!  Anna was excited to start again and was anxiously looking forward to another season with Coach Tom.  Of course the most exciting two things about the beginning of the soccer season are the shirt color and the team name. This spring Anna will be sporting a light blue uniform.  Coach Tom had everyone's name put on the back of the shirt.  Anna was VERY excited about this, although was a bit concerned that she is not "Anna F." to distinguish her from "Anna R."  Apparently Anna R. had the same concern.  Both Annas have been in class together since pre-school and are quite accustom to using their last initial.  According to Anna R's Dad, she even signs her Christmas card  to her parents as "Anna R." less they get confused as to which Anna it is from.  The other important soccer accessory this year is coordinating socks for the team, which really pull the whole uniform together. Coach Tom has taken tight control o...

Anna is serenaded by Uncle Joe It was with great sadness that we learned of Uncle Joe's passing on April 5 after a long illness. Anna was able to see Uncle Joe on Easter Sunday and is still trying to reconcile how a week later he can be gone.  Like the many families and friends of Uncle Joe's, Anna always enjoyed visiting him.  He always had a joke or funny story to tell her (tonight she was re-telling one of Uncle Joe's stories about a runaway hot dog).  He also taught her a lot about training and caring for dogs.  Anna is concerned about how sad Bonnie must be now that he is gone. Anna joined the rest of the family in New York for the funeral services.  One of the bright spots of any funeral is the chance to see family and friends that have not gathered in years.  Anna enjoyed seeing her cousins and promptly attached herself to Andrew and Luke.  Cousin James gave a very moving tribute to his Dad at the funeral and Aunt Mary sang a beautiful p...

Coloring eggs with James Anna enjoyed Easter Break with just over a week off school (March 29 - April 5).  She enjoyed a couple of trips during her vacation. The first trip was an Easter Sunday visit to New York to join Aunt Mary, Uncle Joe, Cousin James, and Aunt Loren for Easter dinner.  Prior to hitting the road, Anna awoke early to find that the Easter bunny paid a visit and hid eggs around the house.  Following the early morning egg hunt, Mom managed to find a 7 AM Easter mass in Vienna before hitting the road.  This may have been the quickest Easter mass ever thanks to no music whatsoever (definitely a minimalist service).  The whole thing was over in less than 45 minutes. Anna arrived at Aunt Mary's house to find that the Easter bunny also left her basket there (definitely a much nicer basket).  Aunt Mary made Easter bread, including a special bread basket with an Easter egg for Anna.  Anna had time to color eggs with cousin James, visit...

Skiing at Wisp Anna had a 3-day weekend, thanks to a teacher meeting at school, so Mom & Dad decided to take a 3-day weekend as well and head to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland for a little spring skiing.  Thanks to mid-week storm, better known as "snowquestor in Washington," there was plenty of fresh powder along with a warm, sunny day on Saturday which equaled great skiing. Snow obstacle course for Dad Anna, confident in her new skiing abilities learned over the Christmas holidays, was excited to go skiing again.  Mom was anxious to try out her new ski boots, a birthday gift from Joe in hopes of relieving Theresa from the pain of rental boots.  Anna took one look at the bunny slope and decided it was MUCH bigger than the hill in Massachusetts and refused to go (try explaining the concept of steepness of a hill to a 6 year old).  After much cajoling, she finally went to to the top, held onto her Mom while skiing down - and promptly fell down.  Tears ens...

The Girl Scouts recently celebrated their 100 year anniversary.  While they were established as a way for girls to experience the out doors and participate in community service, there is one thing they are known for above all else:  the girl scout cookie. Anna with her cookie order Anna is in her second year of Girl Scouts (she is technically a Daisy Scout).  This is also her second year selling cookies and she is really getting the hang of it.  She can either sell and earn money or prizes.  As a typical 6-year old, she was motivated by the prizes.  Her goal this year was a stuffed golden retriever puppy,which required selling 115 boxes of cookies.  Girl Scout cookies sales have come a long way.  They now have an online system for girls to manage their accounts.  Anna set up her own user name and password.  She sent emails out to customers that purchased last year (some of you probably received these).  She also could set he...

Valentine's Day was extra special for Anna this year.  In addition to parties at school, valentine's from her friends, making heart cookies with Mom, a flower and card from Dad, and lots of other sugary treats, Grandma and Grandma arrived for a visit! A visit from the grandparents is the equivalent of Christmas for Anna as every day a new surprise seems to emerge from Grandma's suitcase.  This trip was no exception.  Grandma came armed with chocolate for Anna along with a new dress for Easter and assorted toys and books.  Grandpa was not sure there would be enough room in the suitcase for his clothes. Grandma and Grandpa had a busy weekend.  They spent Valentine's Day touring Capitol Hill with tours of the Capitol, Supreme Court, and Library of Congress.  Friday was a shopping day while Anna was at school.  Saturday they were on the Anna social circuit, where they were able to watch her ice skating lesson and went along to drop her off at the birth...

We are happy to report that Joe made it safely back from his annual work trip to Las Vegas.  There is a pattern worth noting when Joe takes these trips: February 2010 - Joe's first Las Vegas trip for work.  Snowmageddon hits Washington leaving him "trapped" in Las Vegas and Theresa & Anna snowed in. January 2011 - Joe's second trip to Las Vegas for work.  A freak rush hour snow storm hits DC drops 8 inches of snow in 2 hours and leaves commuters stranded throughout the region abandoning cars on the roads.  Theresa & Anna take refuge at Ms. Be's for the night because they cannot get home.   February 2012 - No trip to Vegas.  Washington has a winter of record warmth with no snow. February 2013 - Joe's third trip to Vegas.  A record blizzard is currently pounding our family members in the Northeast.  While Theresa, who was watching the weather with great apprehension this week, is grateful the storm went north and Joe made it hom...