First Snowman

Annaliese was excited to get out in the snow. Last night she kept telling us, “Annaliese no draw snowman…Annaliese MAKE snowman.”

So, this morning she got to go outside with daddy and build a miniature snowman. She had a ball!

Unfortunately, I did not get a picture before it was demolished though!

Winter Driving

At the end of this week, Annaliese got to experience winter driving and apparently she thinks mommy does it too slow : )While in the back seat, she kept saying, “mommy…wheels broken?...drive fast!”

Made me laugh : )

Fun at School

Today when I went to pick Annaliese up from school, the principal came over to tell me that this morning in the gym (since it was too cold to go outside), they turned on “Cotton-Eyed Joe” and the kids all did a dance they had been learning in P.E. She said that Annaliese got so tickled by this and tried so hard to follow the moves the other kids were doing. She said it was great : )

So, when we got home, I found a clip of the song online and she got this huge grin on her face and started dancing!

We really appreciate all of these fun experiences she is getting to have in school!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

She started her day with gifts from grandmas & grandpas and from mommy & daddy – a new shirt to wear to school, a purse, cards, and candy.

 

 

After school, she could not wait to show us all of her valentines. I think she had a great day!

Valentine's Day Prep

Annaliese is really excited about her classroom party tomorrow for Valentine’s Day! She worked very diligently to make valentines for everyone in her class tonight - more practice for writing her own name!

Family Service Project - Part 2

This afternoon, Annaliese and I delivered some of the donations from the Bare Essentials project to the local DCFS office on behalf of The Forgotten Initiative (a liason between the church and DCFS in our community). Annaliese had an absolute ball carrying in boxes of diapers and was actually upset that I would not let her carry more than one at a time!

She really seems to find joy in helping others – warms this momma’s heart : )

Family Service Project

This morning we went to WalMart as a family to buy items to donate to the Bare Essentials project at church. These items will be given to the vulnerable in our community and included things like diapers, socks and underwear. We talked a lot about what we were doing and why we were doing it. Annaliese seemed to enjoy helping us pick out items.

Then, after church, we were able to help sort the items to be distributed to various ministries in our community. She did a great job helping us sort and then load the car for a delivery later this week.

We pray that these are the types of experiences she will remember as she grows up - realizing that she can always make a difference in the life of someone else.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

This is the first song that Annaliese started singing with me while we were in Ethiopia : ) She has come so far with her English since then!!

Doing So Well!

Someone has been working really hard on writing her name.

We knew she had been copying her first name from her nametag on her desk at school, but were surprised to find this on one of her papers today : )

First School Project

Tomorrow is the 100^th day of school (not for Annaliese, but for the typical school year), so Annaliese has her first school project due : ) We needed to collect 100 of something and arrange them on poster board. We decided to use buttons. She seemed to enjoy it.