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We went to Tawasentha
park in Guilderland to take advantage of the early spring this
year. Anna was absolutely thrilled to be able to swing high
on the swingset
March
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It took what seems like a long
time, but Anna's hair finally grew long enough to put into pigtails.
Shannon was very excited and took many pictures to mark this
momentous event
April
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Similarly, Anna seems to have more than grown into her yellow duck
bathrobe and seemed quite proud to be able to wear it while posing next
to the bathtub.
April |
We have an ant problem in our apartment.
Large numbers of ants swarm over the floors in both the bathroom
and the kitchen despite our efforts to get rid of them (Shannon says
this sounds far more dramatic than it really is :) ). Anna and
I took a moment or two to observe them going about their work. The ants
are very small so you can't see them in this picture. Anna is
pointing at one and was quite excited to be discovering such
interesting creatures at home.
April |
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Shannon & Nycole took Anna
and Maddie to the playground at Lynnwood Elementary School near our
apartment. The two cousins had a great time together.
April |
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Anna has a never-ending
facination with mommy's shoes. We liked this 'action shot' of her
taking them off after shuffling around in high-heels that are much too
big for her.
May |
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Shannon found a very summery dress and hat for Anna.
May |
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Anna likes to watch the
rain from our apartment porch. Shannon dressed her up in some
colorful high-heeled sandles that her aunt Becky gave her along with
her favorite hat. She ran around and had a great time watching
the rain and exploring the wet parts of the porch.
May |
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This was a great year for
lilacs. The time when they bloomed ended up being cool and wet so
they lasted a very long time. Shannon really loves them so we
would go out and find lilacs for her almost every day. Anna and
her posed for a photo after coming home with them one day.
On a somewhat sad note, we lost the hat Anna is wearing in this
picture. She really liked it and would put it on herself when we
would go places. Shannon took her shopping (so that Shannon could
get herself a hat to go with it!). At some point in the store
Shannon realized that Anna was no longer wearing her hat. They
retraced their steps but it had vanished.
May |
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All of us together on a Sunday afternoon after church and after picking lilacs.
May |
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For Memorial Day we got
together at Saratoga Springs Spa Park with my brothers and families as
well as another family from our church. We found a neat spot on a
little island in a small stream. Autumn is all wet because Adam
would hold her above the stream and let her dip her feet into it and
splash around.
May
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One of the families brought their dog with them. Anna loved playing with the little thing.
May |
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Later on that day we took
a walk around the park and found that the Hall of the Springs was open.
It is a big marble building built during the Depression by the
WPA. Originally it was to be used as a spring 'tasting' spot with
water from many springs piped into it, however (as I understand it) the
plumbing never worked very well. In any case, now it is used as a
banquet hall and such. Quite attractive.
May |
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This year we decided to
try our hand at container gardening. Over the course of the
summer we added Basil, Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, Spider plants,
Scullcap, Catnip, a Tomato plant, an Impatients, Mint, Lemon Verbena,
Lemon Balm, Tee Tree, Stevia, Dandelion (for salad), Strawberry, and
Raspberry plants to our collection. We had mixed success overall,
but it certainly made our apartment much sharper looking to have a
mini-garden outside the door.
June
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Shannon &
Jacob in the garden
June |
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Another nice discovery
this year was that there are lots of wild blackberry bushes along the
road near our apartment. Every evening for about two weeks we
went out and picked lots of fresh blackberries. Shannon put them
on salads for a very nice treat.
July
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Our apartment with
the garden. We continued to add additional plants as the summer went on.
July |
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Needless to say, Anna was
very excited about the garden. Especially the Mint and Stevia
plants. She would try and pick a leaf to pop into her mouth
nearly every time we went in or out.
July
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Shannon &
her Oma at Saratoga Spa State Park. We went again for the Fourth
of July for a cookout and to just spend the day relaxing there.
July |
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After the park we went to
downtown Saratoga Springs to watch the Fouth of July parade. The
police officers were riding horses which Anna found very intriguing.
July
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Anna was very happy to run about on the sidewalks and explore.
July |
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We are borrowing an
'upside-down' machine from a couple in our church. The machine is
a hinged table that lets you hook special boots to it at the bottom and
then swing yourself upside down so that you can stretch your back and
do exercises. We have a lot of fun letting guests try it out.
Maddie got quite excited about it after watching several of her
aunts give it a try, so Blaine and Nycole put her in the boots and
tipped her upside-down (with lots of help of course).
July |
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My parents and two sisters
were able to make it up to Albany for a week or so. Anna really
took to her Grandpa and especially enjoyed spending time with him.
July |
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I took a day off this year
and we went to the Altamont Fair. In my opinion it was very good,
especially considering that Altamont is a pretty small little village.
They had lots of animals there including horses, cows, sheep,
goats, pigs. geese, chickens, ducks, and rabbits. Every time we
walked through the section of the fair with those animals we would say
the name of the animal for Anna's benefit. Towards the end of the
day she would say the name (or try and imitate the sound) of the animal
as we went by them. The Fair also has a pretty big collection of
farm equipment that they bring out and run during the fair. Some
of it has gas engines from the early 1900's that are still in working
order (they do backfire a lot though).
August |
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We walked through the
Midway and Anna spotted the carousel. She started pointing and
making very happy sounds so we decided to let her ride it. As you
can see, she was thrilled at the opportunity.
The Midway prices are so ridiculously high it is a no wonder it was
almost empty while we were there. It cost $6 for the one ride for
Shannon and Anna!
August
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For Anna's second birthday
I made a wheat-free, egg-free, dairy-free cake for her and a
wheat-free, dairy-free cake for Shannon. I made the frosting out
of coconut oil, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Amazingly enough it
turned out very good (even to my wheat-egg-and-dairy loving
taste-buds), kind of like a German chocolate cake. We had guests
but Anna only had eyes for her cake after we gave it to her (she has
never had cake before).
August
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One of the presents we got
her was a small toy keyboard that Shannon bought at a children's
consignment shop earlier in the summer and kept hidden until her
birthday. She loves it. Keyboards and piano's hold a great
attraction for little Anna.
August
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It looks like they hold quite an attraction for little Autumn as well.
August
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Anna's Aunt Kristie (in
the photo) got her a tricycle which was a huge hit. Autumn got
very excited about pushing Anna around on it. It was very funny
because she would screw up her face in the most amusing expressions as
she pushed with all her might. About two weeks later at Maddie's
birthday she did the same thing (Maddie also received a tricycle),
except Maddie would help her out with pushing. It seems Anna is
the only one of the three that prefers riding to pushing right now.
August |
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Autumn got pooped out and decided to rest in the storage bin.
August |
