Anna is 4!

Anna has been declaring she is "3 and 3/4"  multiple times a day for the past 3 months, it will be interesting to see what turning 4 in about an hour will bring.  Here is her annual interview about all of her favorites.

Four Year Old Anna, What is Your Favorite:
Color:  Pink
Number:  4
Toy:  All of toys
Place to Go:  Illinois because of Elanor and Otto (our very good buddies the Hubers!)
Sport:   Gymnastics
City:  Chicago because of Elanor and Otto
Sister:  Claire because she's my sister
Food:  Cake!  Strawberry cake and frosting (I'm not sure that she's ever had this combination, but I guess it would be pink).
Game:  Don't Break the Ice (when reminded that she just played her new Sequence game 4 times in the last 24 hours she changed her answer) Oh, Sequence.
Friend:  Ginny (she played with Ginny last night)
To Wear:  Summer clothes -- dresses and shorts!
Animal:  Bears!  My bears that sleep in my bed:  Yellow Bear and Red Bear!  (She looks at me with disbelief and disgust...Her face says it all: are you not my mother?  how could you not know that?!)
How Old Are You?  5 (Claire corrects her.  No, you're 4.  Anna does not acknowledge her.)

Many of Ms. Banana's answers were identical to last year's.  She is definitely growing and doing new things, but her core is still Banana!  She is still not interested in impressing anyone, aside from Claire.  And Claire is definitely the person she loves to play with more than anyone else on Earth.  Her lack of fear and sense of adventure has lead her to excel in gymnastics and swimming.  And her love of all things Claire has allowed her to trust that this school thing is good.  She manages to slow down each day for a while, and when she does she can usually be found in her room paging through a stack of books...she doesn't like being interrupted, unless of course you are going to start reading the stack to her.  She is incredible, and we are looking forward to finding out what her fourth year brings!  Happy Birthday to Anna!

Check It Out, A Timely Post!

Preparing for the science fair, with help from an eager assistant.

Easter egg hunt.

Easter cuties.

This is Kinda What the Last Couple of Months Have Looked Like

It snowed, then it got warm, then it snowed again and got warm again.

Anna was super excited to be promoted to tag-along bike when Claire started riding her 2 wheeler WITH NO TRAINING WHEELS. Claire rode it so much on day 1 that she gave her hands blisters. Imagine the intense gripping going on to create hand blisters! Since then she has relaxed, adding some trick riding ("look at what I can do with my feet!"). So, I'm sure the first biking injury will follow soon.

Both girls got glamed up for our high school's prom fashion show. Fabulous.
Here's Claire on Valentine's Day. I'm very proud of my lip lollipops (:

Christmas Pictures are Super Cute 4 Months After Christmas

Santa came to our house early again.
The Christmas tree farm. Mrs. Claus was a pro! She totally won Anna over by letting her hold the purse.

I spy...

Summer Fun

The Birthdays!

Anna turned 3 in May and Claire turned 6 in August. We like to celebrate the kids birthdays for about 6 weeks, so that left us a weekend to celebrate Ryan's birthday and Father's Day.

Turning 3

Anna is a week away from turning 3. I attempted to sit down with the birthday girl for an interview, like I did with Claire when she hit the big "3". Anna is not much for sitting...so our interview was fast and involved a lot of climbing.

Anna's Favorites
Color: Purple and Pink
Number: 3
Toy: All of it.
Place to Go: To Millers (the little grocery store in town). Green (key lime pie) yogurt I really like. I like the doughnuts (the doughnuts there are awesome, I agree).
Sport: Swimming
City: Wisconsin (I told her Wisconsin is our state) I like it. I like our state. (I told her Verona is our city). Verona I really like.
Sister: Claire
Food: Crackers! These kinds of crackers (shows a Wheat Thin).
Game: Break the Ice (the box says the game is called "Don't Break the Ice", but Anna likes to play "Break the Ice")
Friend: Eli and Katherine. Eli and Katherine are my BEST FRIENDS!
Thing to Wear: This. This I'm already wearing. (A Claire hand-me-down pink t-shirt and her beloved Kai Lan underpants.)
Animal: Bears; yellow bear (her snuggly bedtime friend)
How old will you be on your birthday? Three. Can you write a 3 on there? Cause I'm going to turn 3. I want the three to be HERE (points to top of paper, I comply).

So, there are definite similarities between 3 year old Claire and Anna's interviews. Both seem to be content with where they live and low-key errands (thankfully) and whatever they have put on their body. But they are also very different. While Claire wanted the interview to go on and on, inventing additional questions for me to repeat back to her, Anna declared "I done" about a minute in, and refused to answer some of the questions initially.

Ahhh, our baby is turning 3.

April

Science Fair Claire Claire was very excited about being part of the science fair. Then they brought out the hardware; confirmed scientist.

This is as good as family pictures get for us these days. Glow braclets decorating faces and smile-plastered parents (Ryan and my plan with pictures is that we must remain smiling and unblinking, because this may be the one when the children smile sweetly at the camera. Neither of us want to be the one that screwed that up. So, instead we look happy to the point of panic.)

OK, these children are darling. Working on their message to the bunny.

Trying out the kites the bunny brought Easter morning. We were not the only ones at the park in our PJs at 8am!
Claire and I thought our utensil carrots were hilarious. Claire made a sign to warn the bunny.

March

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day as we always do, with green milk at our favorite Middleton Tavern. I think this series of Anna/Ryan photos sum up the night. Whoops, they are in reverse order, I think. Well, you can tell your own story. I just think it's funny that their expressions totally match in each picture.

Our new Children's Museuem is awesome! It's like we live in the big city!

Anna sledding with her buddies.

We might need to sign Anna up for gymnastics. Structure is not really her thing but she loves hanging and climbing.

February

Only 3 months behind!!! Check out that snow!

Way back in February we asked Anna if she might possibly want to try out a toddler bed someday, you know not right away, but maybe for a couple of naps...no pressure.

Anna, "Throw my crib AWAY! Put it in the GARBAGE! Give it to the GARBAGE MAN! NOW!"

Ryan couldn't get the bed up quick enough for her. She and Claire helped with assembly. Now she wants to move out of the toddler bed into her "big bed". We are holding firm on our trade offer -- pacifier for big bed. If history is any predictor we will crumble on this stand long before she does.

I have fully committed to living in Wisconsin during the winter (it took only 36 years). My mantra this year was "Embracing Winter". Claire and I were determined to enjoy snow, ice, and cold no matter what. I dare say we even enjoyed it.

Snowshoeing. My 40 lb partner did much better on the 5ft tall drifts than I.

Claire became an excellent downhill skier this year. Here she is helping her instructor set up the course.

Making each turn.

Ice Skating. Some indoor activities! Anna working on some Packer-green cheese curds.

Anna is a pro at feeding cousin Liam.

Claire and Bucky.

"Best Sisters"

Andres-Meyer girl hug.