REASON #163 WHY I TAKE LOTS OF PHOTOS | Because most of the time school pictures don’t tell the whole story.

I grew up playing soccer.

Big-time, weekend-consuming competitive soccer until I entered high school. At that time I had to choose between swimming and soccer because they were the same season. Swimming won out.

I have great memories of playing soccer as a kid. Many a weekend and evening were spent on the field and often times in the Northwest, in the rain.

When I drove Anna to school yesterday we were talking about her going to soccer “practice” and that it might just be in the rain. I talked about how much fun it was to play in the rain and that my favorite part was that you got to come home and take a hot bath and get all clean again. She liked that part best.

Luckily it was just a bit windy and the rain held off.

This is what I call parents & kids & helpers & coaches all-over-the-place soccer.

It was a little chaotic but Anna was excited. It’s just a fun, 4-week soccer introduction. A great chance to get outside and see if it’s something she’d like to do more of in the future.

She got to run around, kick the ball into a net, try trapping, and run around some more.

She does pretty good waiting her turn too.

And as usual, there was some Simon chasing involved.

Looking forward to next week and maybe a bit-warmer weather.

Go Anna go!

Sometimes it can be painfully obvious to myself that I might be a little too serious.

Last night Anna I and climbed onto her bed to read some of her new library books.

The first one she picked out is called Walter The Farting Dog.

Okay, ha, ha. Sounds funny and silly and perfect for my three-year-old who loves nothing more than saying any number of phrases related to poop.

I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard.

And I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard with her.

And I know she liked that because I could see the surprise and delight on her face at seeing my laughing so effortlessly.

I bet we’ll read it again tonight.

Simon asked to go spend some time with my parents at the coast so Anna and I had a whole weekend by ourselves.

I’m actually pretty sure this was our first weekend all on our own. It was pretty great. Great to just hang out with her, great to let her pick out things to do and watch and eat, great to listen to her laugh and great to just have her upsets to deal with vs. two.

Here’s a run down of our adventures:

FRIDAY NIGHT | Ate mac & cheese and watched Babes In Toyland (Katie picked it up for us a the library earlier in the day). I let her sleep in bed with me and we read a couple stories before she finally fell asleep and I read until I finished Mockingjay.

SATURDAY | George the cat wanted to wake up earlier than Anna and I and he kept walking over us and purring really loud right in our faces. We finally woke up and Anna asked to watch The Princess & The Frog on my phone. I went downstairs to grab it, fed the animals, picked up my laptop, the newspaper, and some goldfish + apple juice and headed back upstairs. We lounged in bed for the duration of the movie.

Stripped the beds, carried the bedding downstairs to the laundry room and started that process.

Made some eggs and toast and Anna played legos and washed dishes in her little play kitchen (which is basically in our kitchen). I unloaded and re-loaded the dishwasher, cleaned the pantry, kept the laundry moving, cleaned out a couple drawers and she “helped” and chatted and worked on her own dishes and drawer.

We drew cats. And ate more goldfish and some Skittles. We watched Babes In Toyland again (I did a bit more sorting in the kitchen during the second half). Right near the end of the movie she had a melt-down, hit Lily, and ended up in her bedroom for some “quiet” time.

I left her up there for 20 mins or so and went to check on her and she was quietly playing with her Playmobil people.

We cooked together. Sausage and bean soup. To have someone interested in the food being prepared was awesome. Soundtrack was Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto. We ate together (she had yogurt, oranges and a couple bites of the soup). Soundtrack was Dave Matthews on Pandora.

Did the dishes. Anna played doctor with one of her barbies. I love listening to her stories and conversations.

And then popcorn. And a cup of milk for her. And a couple rounds of Olivia on the DVR.

A meltdown on the way to bed. Stall tactics. Lots of crying. I get her in her PJ’s and get her in her bed. In and out of her room a couple times in-between making my bed and she finally gets that she’s in there for the night. I get ready for bed, check on her again and turn off the light, take a shower and start reading 1000 Gifts.

SUNDAY | When she wakes up we repeat Saturday mornings ritual. Iphone movie, banana muffin (+ a few crumbs) and reading the paper in my bed.

Bath-time for Anna in the big tub.

A trip to Sears to deal with a microwave that’s becoming an expensive fix (with a quick stop for a latte & kid’s hot cocoa – only she was very insistent that it was a “girl’s” hot cocoa vs. a “kid’s”). The microwave is one of those that’s built in above an oven and it’s only sold as a set with the oven. Awesome.

A stop to look for a new coffeepot, two stops at thrift stores. Come home with four new barbies, including two that have pink and purple hair and sparkly bodies. All barbies get a very good bath in the kitchen sink.

Lunch of left-over mac & cheese and strawberries.

A couple Dora episodes for Anna and magazine reading time for me in-between laundry folding sessions. Lots of “potty talk” – right on target for a freshly minted three-year-old.

Head outside for some weeding and picking up dog poop and dreaming about what that space could be. Thinking this may be the year that I really invest some personal time in that space.

Play soccer. Shoot a couple baskets out in the driveway. Lots of laughing. Clean up the yard stuff we got out.

Feed the animals.

Inside for edamame. We both love it. Black Butte Porter for me and apple juice for her. Watch a little TV.

Carry the baskets full of clean laundry upstairs and she helps me put clothes away in Simon’s room, in her room and in my room. Her interest in domestic stuff makes those sorts of chores just a bit more fun. She picks out her jammies. I help her put the top on and she does the bottoms.

She crawls up into my bed for some snuggle time and falls asleep playing a matching game on my phone.

I finish up this post, read a bit more of the paper, and then say a really big thank you prayer.

Dear Anna,

This past week you turned three years old.

That smile in the photo above says it all.

Here’s a bit about you right now:

You love tomatoes.

You love barbies – specifically Disney princess Barbies.

You love dressing up like the princesses.

You love pink & purple and sparkles and lipstick and nail polish.

You love your parents, cousins, aunts & uncles, Grandmas & Grandpas and Katie and Kim and Emma.

You love your brother, big time.

You love to sing, songs you’ve heard and songs you make up.

You love your school and your teacher reports that you are a little ray of sunshine.

You love chicken noodle soup (especially the noodles).

You still love apple juice best, with lemonade a close second.

You love your ballet & tap class.

And we love you so, so much.

Love Mom

Last week Anna attended her first ballet/tap class.

Her enthusiasm was awesome. She was so excited to pack up a ballet bag that included slippers and tap shoes and head to class.

There’s no doubt I was really, really excited too. I got to watch her through a window and loved seeing her experience the motions and follow directions and watch the other girls.

She’s totally ready to go again this week.

Love that she’s getting to do something that is just for her.

I’m getting excited about the upcoming Craft & Hobby Association trade show later this month. I’ll be attending for the first time since Anna was born - time is flying.

Today I wanted to share a quick sneak peek of some brads from Elizabeth Kartchner’s Dear Lizzy Neapolitan line for American Crafts. That little fabric brad with the camera is super cute. Her new line features 22 papers, including a darling stitched ruffle paper & three patterned vellum papers. Complementing the papers are a variety of embellishments from painted wood buttons, epoxy stickers, chipboard word banners, embroidered brads & woodgrain chipboard pieces. Other new additions joining in on the fun are Flutterbys (sewn butterfly & pendant banners), a Roller & Phrase Stamp and Paper Pinwheels.

Dear Anna,

Hi sweet girl. Just wanted to capture a couple things about you right now and get them down in a letter.

First thing, we love you so much.

Second thing, you are awesome.

Third thing, you make the best faces.

There’s a million more things of course, but those are the three that are standing out right now.

You are currently two-weeks into your Montessori preschool experience and it’s safe to say that you seem to be happy with it. Each day we drop you off, you give a hug and a kiss at least twice (and the last couple of days you kissed our hands as well) and then you head into the room to see what kind of work you’ll want to do first. You have a very kind, gentle and soft-spoken teacher.

I loved this morning when you walked through the door other kids were saying “Hi Anna!” and “Anna’s here!”

Each night you like to have a couple books read to you and then you like to look at books on your own for quite awhile. Sometimes longer than I’d like you to stay up, but it’s for a good cause.

You “read” them out loud to yourself or whatever baby dolls might be hanging out in your bed. Often you mimic whatever you remember about the story or you pick something in the photo/illustration that spurs you to turn the page. I know this because I often stand outside your door and listen. You yell for me when you’re done looking at books to come back in and turn off the light. Lately you’ve been telling me to “have a good sleep Mama” as I close the door.

You still grab and tug and hold onto our ears when you are very sleepy – either just waking up or just falling asleep.

You are a big fan of playing at the sink. This past weekend you took everything off down to your undies, socks and shoes and played and played. Pouring, scooping, dumping water and asking for more bubbles. More than a little water found it’s way out of the sink and onto the floor. You really, really wanted to get into the sink but I told you that you’re too big for that now.

I love that you’ve got opinions about your clothes. You were pretty particular about wearing the striped green socks with those cute little shoes. Most days I give you a choice between two things. Most days you pick one or the other without too much back and forth.

You are physical. Climbing. Jumping (you love a small personal trampoline we got for your this summer). Hanging. Jumping. Jumping. Jumping.

You are quick to understand and quick to ask another question “why?” or “what’s that?”

Apple juice is your drink of choice. Goldfish your snack. And broccoli is your vegetable (you really and truly love broccoli – it’s the first thing you go for on your plate). Your current favorite choice for breakfast is grapes and cheese.

You want a kiss from Simon before he heads off for school and love to wave at him as the bus drives away.

You are a bundle of goodness sweet Anna girl. We love you so much.

Love, Mama

it’s really fun to draw all over yourself.

This was the scene not once but twice on Sunday.

It first happened while I was on a run and Chris was hanging out. She asked him for some pens and paper, he obliged and then went back to doing the breakfast dishes while she was in the living room. When I came in the door from my run there she was – all lovely and blue hands, legs, feet.

He scooped her up and put her in the bath and scrubbed and scrubbed.

The second time it was the purple pen.

Fast forward a few hours. She and Simon were hanging out in the living room. I had gone upstairs with Chris to check on our phone line (which is having some issues) and when I came back down there she was again with writing all over her legs and her hands.

I scooped her up and put her in the bath and scrubbed and scrubbed.

And you know what my main thought was through this whole thing (besides a bit of annoyance at the scrubbing)? I was thinking how cool it is that her drawing is moving into a different phase. Some of the marks she’s making on paper (and in this case on herself) are looking more like letter forms.

Not that we’re in a hurry for all that…simply an observation on what is around here right now.

Last weekend Chris took some photos of the kids while they were playing in the tent we’d put up in the yard. Simon had actually requested he come out and take some photos of his shadow.

While he was out there Anna started doing a little dance, as she likes to do from time to time, and he took a bunch of shots in a row of her moves.

When I loaded them onto my computer I wondered what they would look like if I added them into iMovie. Here’s the silly, 12 second result:

Dancing In The Light from Ali Edwards on Vimeo.

Hope you have a wonderful light-filled weekend!

Anna had her first swimming lesson yesterday.

The plan was that Katie would take her (Katie’s our nanny).

Because, you know, I work.

And then I was sitting here working and I looked at the clock and it said 9:50am. Her lesson started at 10am.

I said to myself, “What am I thinking? I want to be there.”

So I ran downstairs and grabbed my wallet and looked for my keys in the little blue pot on the windowsill where the keys are supposed to be. Not there. Of course they’re not there when I have only five minutes to make it to Anna’s first swimming lesson.

So I went to the garage, pushed the button to open the door, and jumped on my bike.

I peddled, peddled, peddled my way on over there (it’s not too far) and arrived just as she was getting in the water.

She was mostly smilely and a little scowly at the cold water and the clouds that were blocking the sun. She kept looking over at Katie and I, smiling her big toothy grin. She was shy with the teacher, a big guy, but was happy to take her turn off the steps to do her kicks as he guided her around the shallow end.

I bet today she’ll be blowing bubbles just like those other two little boys in her group.

Towards the end she was looking over at us and saying she was cold. Right about then it was time for a field trip over to the hot tub for an end-of-class warm up.

She was mad when I finally pulled her out of the hot tub to wrap her in a towel. Katie and I looked at each other with a knowing look about this awesome, opinionated, almost two-and-a-half-year-old who is coming into her own.

She changed her attitude when we told her about seeing Mama’s bike out in the parking lot.

“I want to ride.” she said.

So she rode home with me in her new seat on my bike.

“Woo hoo” she yelled and then chattered on as we made our way home. “Mama, I want to tell you about Max and Ruby. Mama, my helmet is too tight. Mama, where is your house? Mama, where is Katie? Mama, I tired. Mama, I love you.”