Anna turns 1!

Anna had her first birthday on December 10th. It was a fun filled day that started off with her favorite breakfast: pancakes. Anna, as Adam calls her, is a pancake vacuum. She just shovels them into her mouth. It is pretty entertaining to watch actually. We had a ward baptism that we went to, we came home and had another family favorite meal: feijoada. Anna took a quick nap and then we used google hangout for the first time and involved family on her birthday celebration.

It is very interesting living away and having birthday parties over skype and google hangout. It sometimes can make it hectic, but it is worth it. We were so glad for the technology that is out there and that we could share Anna's birthday with family. We ended Anna's day with our Ward party. I the busy day is just a glimpse into how busy Anna's birthday will be every year ( I guess that is what you get when your birthday is in December).

Anna loved the feel of the cake in-between her fingers. She didn't love the cake and ice cream right then, but she later had plenty of my helping.

For the first 9 months of Anna's life we thought she was going to be mellow little girl because she had been a mellow baby so far. At about 9 months exactly her little personality came out in full swing. She loves to move around and make her will be known by her frequent talking and squawks. Anna likes to make funny faces and loves to have her sister make her giggle.

Anna likes to get into this position a lot. Although I have done some yoga, she has never seen me do any of the positions. The first time she did this was hilarious, because I looked up to see her staring at me through her legs.

Anna has been walking since the beginning of October so she is now running around the house! She loves to hold things and walk around the whole house talking. Every couple of minutes she will walk up to you and show you what is in her hand. She doesn't want to share, but just have you acknowledge what she has in her hands. She often comes running when I am loading the dishwasher and loves to grab the first silverware that she can (usually a fork or a knife). She looks at me, gives me a smile, spins on one foot and takes off in the opposite direction.

This little girl has so much personality and it is hard to share in pictures and words. She has brought so much joy to our little family. Alina loves to make her giggle and already talks about her "best friend." I love her so much! I love to think about the day she was born. It was a perfect day. The feelings of joy and love were so intense and I will remember them forever.

So there is always so much to blog about and I don't do it as frequently as I need to. We were able to go to my Aunts house in Missouri for Thanksgiving and that deserves a whole blog post by itself. We enjoyed our own little Christmas yesterday and it was magical. We are traveling to Utah to enjoy the holidays and I wanted to at least post about Anna before we left. It is always too busy to do any of this while I am there. Merry Christmas everyone!