Well...

I have been attempting to upload some photos from yesterday, but the computer and camera are in a bit of a disagreement, so...stories will have to do for now (and some older pictures!)

We have had quite a couple of weeks with Annie. She is a full-fledged toddler now, I don't remember the last time I saw her crawl. We spent part of every day last week at different parks in our neighborhood, where she walked and walked and walked, stopping of course to pick up sticks, pine cones, leaves...She's tried to join in middle school boys' basketball games, elementary aged boys soccer games (the soccer players were willing to humor her, the basketball players did their best to ignore her), and has enjoyed sliding, swinging, and pointing out every airplane in the sky (which makes for a lot of time looking at the sky as we are so close to the airport!). It's been fun to watch her embrace this independence!

In the last couple of days, her babbling has taken on a whole new dimension, both with the sounds that she makes and her inflection. If only we could understand her, we are certain she's telling amazing stories--some make her giggle, others sound quite matter-of-fact. We've tried to catch those on video, but it seems she likes to tell those in person.

She helped me to celebrate a lovely mother's day yesterday. She and Eric went to a local bakery and got one of my favorite almond treats for breakfast, we went to church (Annie spent most of the time wandering around the building and charming the ushers!), we enjoyed a wonderful lunch with Eric's mom, brother and his girlfriend at a great restaurant, a visit with Eric's dad, step mom, grandmother and cousins (where Annie again enjoyed pushing her Great-grandma's walker!), an iChat with much of my family in Arizona (Annie got to show-off her walking skills and her elephant sound), and a picnic and a nearby park. It was a full day, a fun day, and so nice to spend all of it together.