Happy Birthday Anna! (and Mom, Gail, and Grandma Micheal)

From the movie The Sound of Music (except I substituted "Anna" for "Maria")

How do you solve a problem like Anna? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? How do you find a word that means Anna?A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the wisp! A clown! Many a thing you know you'd like to tell her. Many a thing she ought to understand. But how do you make her stay? And listen to all you say? How do you keep a wave upon the sand? Oh, how do you solve a problem like Anna? How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?

Anna isn't a problem by any means so I hope no one views the quote above in that manner. It's just a figurative way of describing a child who has always marched to the beat of her own drum.

It's hard to believe our "baby" is now five. She is a woman who knows what she wants. She makes up her mind and she is safe and secure with her decisions. She is relentless when she wants something. And, while she's tough, she's as tender hearted as they come. If you need entertainment, you never need to look far when Anna is around. She even taught me a new word recently....butt lamp. She came up with this on her own one night after Jeff built a fire in our back yard. He put a blanket on the lawn so that Rachel and Anna could sit on the ground to enjoy the fire. The next thing we see are our daughters on all fours with the pants down, fannies in the air getting warmed by the fire. Anna deemed this activity "butt lamp." Happy Birthday to our daughter! I have not had the opportunity to take her yet to get her birthday portraits done. I plan to do that next weekend after she is back home. And, once I get those made, I'll scan them and share them here.

My Mom Proudly Showing Her Birthday Card from Jeff

This weekend, we drove to Bessemer, AL, on Friday night to visit with my Mom and Grandma. My Mom's birthday is February 21st so we wanted to visit with her to wish her a "Happy Birthday." Happy Birthday to my Mom!

We all met up at my Aunt Josephine's house and then when to lunch at the Olive Garden in Riverchase. Anna's cousin, Jennifer, delivered Anna's birthday spankings before we left.

We had a small informal gathering to celebrate Anna's birthday at Chuck-E-Cheese's in Huntsville. Our friends, Gabrielle and family and Kim & David with family attended. It was great to visit with our friends and share Anna's special day with them. And, of course, Gail & Harold were with us too. The children loved it. As for me, we may have gotten "cool parent points" for having it there, but I'd rather not go back if I don't have to. For one thing, the pizza is only marginal at best and it costs a fortune. Then, as if wasting your money on the countless games and such isn't enough, they spit out these tickets that children can then trade in for countless pieces of junk to fill the home. But, like I said, children love it and that's what was most important...Anna having a good time on her birthday.

Aili, Gabrielle, Krista & Lia

Kim, Sam, Emily & David

On Monday, Jeff and I drove back to Georgia. Before leaving, I took a picture of Gail with the girls as Gail's birthday is also coming up in a week. Happy early birthday Gail!

Anna shares her birthday month with several family members including Grandma Micheal who just celebrated her 90th birthday. We'll be visiting with her in a few weeks when we head to Texas in our RV. Happy belated birthday Grandma Micheal! It will be our first really long road trip with Rachel and Anna. We'll be going to Arlington, TX, for a few nights then Fredericksburg, TX, for a few days and finally to Pensacola Beach, FL, before returning home. We've got some pit stops to break up the longer legs of the trip but they'll be overnight stays only. I'm looking forward to the trip to visit with Grandma Micheal, Uncle Ed, Aunt Barbara and our cousin Christopher in Arlington.

After dinner tonight at home, we took a long walk together. We were trying to figure out when we had enjoyed such a simple luxury previously in our life. It has got to be years. When you are parents of young children, you forget how nice it is just to have such time alone with your spouse.

I leave for Marietta tomorrrow. I dread going back to Atlanta after just driving through there today to come back home. On my last few trips there, I pretty much stuck around the hotel room and enjoyed doing as close to nothing as possible. I think I may venture out some this time as there is so much to do in Atlanta.