Reviews

I have been lucky enough to have been selected by CSN stores to regularly do a review on this blog of an item from their site.  I will be starting them soon and then be providing a review about once a month.  They won't be huge items like dining room furniture or anything, but smaller items from their online store.  I did a review for them last month on my work blog and decided to move the reviews to here instead.  Hope you enjoy!

Lake House

My family and I were fortunate enough to be invited to a friend's lake house this weekend, and we had the most wonderfully relaxing time!  We spent all day on the lake exploring all different modes of water transportation (kayak, paddle boat, tubes, floaties, jet ski), we collected snails, explored shores, observed nature and just plain had fun.  It was an ideal, inexpensive family vacation.  We were joined by 3 other families and my brother who is home from Italy for the summer, which made the whole experience that much more fun!  Enjoy some pictures below :)

Happy Birthday, Anna!

A few weeks back, Anna turned 5.  Five seems to be a magic number - sense of humor starts developing, real personality starts emerging, and interests become clear.  Anna is a silly little girl who (still) loves tiny things.  She's very interested in collecting things - she collect rocks, shells, leaves, anything she can find many of!  Anna has also begun to show a talent for art.  She loves to draw animals and people, and will often hear a song or a story and then promptly draw what she's imagining. She still loves her monkey "Monk" and has recently aquired a new favorite animal - Pokey the lizzard.  Both of these are garage sale purchases!

This year we had a jungle-themed party for Anna.  She was allowed to invite 12 of her friends and she had a great time!  I'll put up a post about that later.  For now, enjoy photos of Anna over the years:

Newborn Anna

1 yr old

2 yrs old

3 yrs old

4 yrs old

 5 yrs old

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!  Mommy and Daddy love you so much.  We enjoy your silly jokes and the way you love to sing and draw.  We are proud of how loving and giving you are toward your brother and friends.  We love your enthusiasm for God and how "God can do anything!"  We are excited to see how you will develop over the next year!