Anna Grows

Christmas Eve with the Grandparents Christmas 2013 has come and gone.  Anna was thrilled to have Grandma and Grandpa come to spend Christmas this year.  Grandma and Grandpa were jet-setting and flew in on December 19 in time for Anna's Christmas concert at school and flew out Christmas morning so they could spend the day with Aidyn.  As always, Grandma and Grandpa proved even better than Santa. They were not prepared for the spring-like weather that ensued when they first arrived with temperatures in the low 70s for the first day of winter.  Grandpa helped Joe and Theresa rake the last of the leaves out of the yard and assisted Joe in a drainage project.....all while wearing his slippers (he was not prepared for warm weather and outside work).  Grandma took care of LOTS of baking and supplied the goodies for Theresa to take to the neighbors and the office, where Grandma got all the credit. When they were not working, Anna did take her grandparents out on...

Anna & her cousins  The Fagella Thanksgiving 2013 will be one for the history books.  Actually, it is one from the history books thanks to the pilgrim and Indian Thanksgiving/Aunt Lucy birthday party hosted by Uncle John and Aunt Yvonne in New York. Anna & her aunts The planning started early thanks to the efforts of Aunt Mary and cousin Deborah who requested that everyone come in costume.  The pilgrim and indian theme expanded to include the 1960s (in honor of the year of Aunt Lucy's birth).  Anna was thrilled to be going to a costume Thanksgiving and immediately decided she wanted to be an Indian since she was studying Native Americans in school for social studies.  Since Theresa did not make it to the after Halloween sales in time and failed to book Grandma in time, she was forced to pull out a sewing box and make Anna a costume.  After a couple of trips to JoAnn fabrics, Theresa and Anna secured the supplies and went to work.  Fo...

Anna & Dad - ready for the dance Anna was thrilled to attend the annual Father-Daughter dance Saturday night with her Dad.  This year's theme was "Western Round-up," which meant that everyone could wear jeans (Dad was very happy about this). Reports from the dance indicate that there was in fact very little dancing by the dads.  There were lots of sugary snacks for the girls, which aided in the dancing.  Apparently the dads joined in for the conga line at the end.  Anna had a great time and is already looking forward to the next dance.

Aidyn & Anna....in Aidyn's pajamas Anna got to enjoy a long weekend over Veteran's Day thanks to parent-teacher conferences at school.  Since Mom also had Monday off AND it happened to be the weekend of the Kent family Thanksgiving, Anna hopped on the plane with her parents for a long weekend in Ohio. The major milestone for this trip was the fact that Anna willingly left her kitty pillow behind.  In her place, she took her much smaller owl, Hoot (thanks Aunt Gayle).  Anna survived, although we may have seen a tear in kitty's eye as she was left behind for the first time. After arriving in Columbus, we picked up our rental vehicle - a bright red minivan with New York plates.  While we were initially chuckling about the New York license plates (haha, Joe if from New York), we found out later that the real problem was the color of the license plates:  orange.  Apparently under current Ohio law, if you have 3 DUI offenses you have to pu...

Pumpkin Carving with Dad It was a fun-filled Halloween week for Anna.  This year she galloped around the neighborhood as a cowgirl on her horse, Misty (thanks to Grandma for the hat and boots). Halloween kicked off for Anna on October 20 with the neighborhood Halloween parade.  The festivities continued on October 25 with the annual "Trunk or Treat" in the school parking lot, which involves decorating the trunk of your car and trick-or-treating from car to car.  Anna filled her pumpkin at that one.  There were hundreds of kids!  The rest of the week involved cookie baking and pumpkin carving in preparation for the big night. The cowgirl Today was the Halloween party at school.  Theresa volunteered to bring the snack for the party planning to send in the traditional Kohler pumpkin cookies.  That was the plan until getting the note from the teacher about a "healthy snack" for the party.  This resulted in Theresa cutting apple slices at 6...

Anna & Brie at Soccer It has been a beautiful fall in Northern Virginia.  Thanks to the nice weather, Anna is enjoying lots of fun fall activities. Fall for Anna means fall soccer where she is back with her team and Coach Tom.  This season's color is navy blue and Anna is on the Blue Rockets.  Coach Tom refers to them as the Blue Rocket Divas, which somehow seems more appropriate.  The rocket part really depends on the game.  Last week was a good one in which Anna scored four goals.  A couple of weeks ago, there was not a lot of rocket speed to be found anywhere on the team as they were crushed by a very talented 6 year old on the opposing team.    In all the seasons Anna has been with Coach Tom, this is the only game anyone ever saw him get mad (he is still upset about getting showed up by a 6 year old).  The girls have a good time and are already talking about next season. Fall always brings outdoor activity, which included...

Charley, Anna, & Little Anna It is with great sadness that we learned of Charley Courtney's passing on October 14 at age 93.  Charley has served as Anna's local grandfather since the day she was born. Charley and Anna have been an important member of our extended family here in Northern Virginia for the past 10 years.  When Anna was born, he happily assumed the role of the doting grandfather, complete with photos to show to anyone when he was talking about his grand-daughter.  He and Anna were little Anna's first local babysitters, taking her to the park, blowing bubbles, playing games, and of course always providing some sort of treat (Charley always took little Anna for ice cream). Every holiday or birthday, they always made sure to bring Anna some sort of surprise with Charley always asking ahead of time what she liked to play with so he could make sure to get her what she wanted (Charley supplied a lot of Thomas the Train s for little Anna).  A religi...