"AMERICA: Torn and Bleeding" starring.......MY DAD!

It was MY turn! ALL the years my dad has sat and watched me perform (and still is!)....I got to watch HIM perform in his church's play! My parents' church, Our Savior's Lutheran Church, put on a WONDERFUL production of "AMERICA: Torn and Bleeding". After a delicious dinner in the Fellowship Hall, we were taken back to The Civil War. It was in Reader's Theater format, and everyone did such a great job with lots of passion and excitement.
What a great night! A precious memory I will never forget. My DAD the star...

The star of the show greeting all his fans...

Dad with some of his cast mates...

Proud daughters and wife...

Dad had many speaking parts...which he did so effortlessly and wonderful!

PROUDEST. MOMENT. EVER. Listen to that voice!!! That's MY dad!!!

V.I.P.

Well.....we've always known he's one....but he has been chosen by his teacher (Mrs. Liebig) to be the V.I.P. of the week! This means he is basically Mrs. Liebig's "right hand man", "helper extraordinaire" of the class! Line leader, paper passer outer, door holder...you name it....all very important tasks every 2nd grader wants to have for a whole week.

On Friday, right after he was chosen, the students told Mrs. Liebig adjectives that described Luke. She made this awesome poster for him...
I love seeing the words honest, caring, handsome, and genuine on there...how sweet is that?! He even got a MAGNIFICENT!!!

This weekend he got to decorate this poster (like a newspaper article) that will be displayed in the room for all to see this week...

Here's some close ups of the sections of the poster

SO proud of my little Lukie and so excited for the fun week he has ahead being the VIP of the class!

Lesia's Day with Aunt Annie!

Lesia's turn! Lesia chose a trip to the nail salon and the dollar store as her treat with Aunt Annie. Each niece had their choice for their Christmas gift from me.
We had such a sweet time together...

Lovely Lesia

Sitting so still enjoying every minute!

Look at those sweet feet!

She picked a pretty purple color!

We had fun sittin' and chattin' together in our comfy "thrones"

So pretty...

After our trip to the dollar store, we ended our day with a yummy treat!

What a special time with my sweet niece, Lesia! Love you, girl!

To my Valentine...

Max's SURPRISE!

Max has been asking for an electric guitar since he started lessons 2 years ago. We explained that if he showed hard work, practice, and dedication he would earn it. Guess what he got for his birthday today?! It was SO FUN surprising him with it....he did NOT think he would be getting it!

Celebrating our MAX...

FAMILY PARTY TIME!
We had a fun time at the park tonight...
Had some fun shootin' hoops...

I brought Max's baby book and the cousins got a kick out of looking at "baby Max"

I love my sweet boy

Another one of Granna's fabulous cake creations!!!

Max got some GREAT gifts from everyone!

The whole crew....well, we are missing one VERY important person....LUKE! He was at home (Rich and Papa "tagged teamed" and spent time with him) with a high fever and just feels horrible. So sad that he missed it, but SO glad he was able to be at Max's kid party on Friday!

Happy 11th Birthday, Max!

My baby is 11 years old...

Blessed beyond belief.....that is how I describe the feelings I have being Max's mommy.
I can't believe 11 years ago today I became a mom.
What a gift. What an overwhelming gift I received when God blessed me with this precious boy.
I had NO IDEA what was in store with this boy, and it has been the best adventure ever.

My heart grew GREATLY at this moment!

What a TOUGH labor and delivery.....but look at what I got!

SUCH an ADORABLE baby...this is Max at 3 months...

6 months...

9 months (my FAVORITE baby age for him)

is he cute or what?!

BEST 1 year old pic, ever (in Mommy's eyes!)

Max was such a "tough" newborn...or was it that Rich and I had NO IDEA what we were doing as first time parents?! He did have colic, cried all the time, and was literally attached to me at all times (I was the human pacifier!)....but once we got all that under control, we had a totally different, happy, charismatic, fun, silly, sweet, sensitive, cute, charming, and all around awesome baby.....he is still to this day all those awesome characteristics, and I just LOVE him to pieces. Max is a friend to the end, the life of the party, wears his heart on his sleeve, smart and witty, and probably the funniest person I know.
Thank you, God, for blessing me with my precious first born boy, Maxwell Edward.

A Jumpin' Good Time...

Max and his buddies had an awesome time at AIRWORX Trampoline Center for his Birthday Party tonight...
Jumping on trampolines while playing dodgeball and basketball....what more could boys ask for?!

Ben, Todd, Max and Jake

Max and his buddy, Todd

Granna made Max a FOOTBALL CAKE......is that awesome or what?!

Thanks, Granna....the cake was a TOUCHDOWN!

Max and his sweet cousin and best buddy, Daniel

The whole crew...

SO MUCH FUN...

FUN RUN

5th Annual BBS FUN RUN!

The boys and their buddies...

Warming up...

Daddy and Sam bookin' it!

WATER BREAK!

WAY TO GO!

Strong Finish, Max!

Strong Finish, Luke!

Happy Birthday, JULES!

My sweet niece, Julia turned 10!!!
Julia is always surrounded by BOYS (3 brothers and 3 boy cousins)....so I made her a certificate for a day with Aunt Annie so we can do just GIRL STUFF - I know what it's like to be surrounded by boys, too - we BOND that way...

The whole clan...

Julia is an excellent soccer player...check out her cake!

Granna was the extraordinary cake maker!

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR JULIA!!!!
(Sweet brother, Daniel accompanied on trumpet)

GIRLS WEEKEND 2011....VEGAS!

So my girlfriends and I were "chatting" on FACEBOOK about 6 months ago, and I typed, "Oh, how I miss you girls." Jill Dillman responded back, "Oh, Annie....I miss you, too!" Jill Irwin responds, "I miss y'all so much!" Julie chimes in, "I wish we lived closer..." Liz comments, "Love you, girls!" I comment, "I need to see you girls." Jill Irwin comments, "Vegas anyone????" and the rest is history. Within 1 week we had our trip planned!
I have known these girls for almost 20 years. We were in the same sorority pledge class, in each others' weddings, two of them are my boys' Godmothers, we've experienced the ups and downs of life together, and we get along SO WELL. We know each other so well! What a JOY it was to have this quality time together. We laughed until we cried and cried until we laughed! FUN!

It helps having two older brothers...

I did it!

I wanted to "change up" my work out routine a bit......I was getting BORED of the gym every day, so I decided to train for the PF Chang's 1/2 marathon! This was my 3rd 1/2 marathon....the last one being in 2002! Not much of a runner these days, but I loved it!

Rich was my chauffeur to the starting line....it was COLD...
It was exhilarating being with all the runners before the race.....everyone was so pumped up! After a moment of silence for the shootings in Tucson, and then the National Anthem, the gun went off to start.....it was pretty overwhelming, and I immediately teared up! Probably a combination of nerves and excitement! Because there were so many runners, they had us in "corrals" and we would start in "shifts". I was in corral 9, so I didn't really get to "start" until 15 minutes AFTER the gun went off! Thank goodness I wasn't in corral 20!

The run was hard, but FUN. I had my ipod with my good music, plus when I was tired of that, I would take off my head phones and listen to the LIVE BANDS that were every 3 miles! There were so many spectators cheering us on, cheerleaders from everywhere, I even ran through 3 "tunnels" some of them made with their pom pons! A wonderful surprise was Lynnette CALLING me during her run! She was running the FULL marathon at the same time, and called me at her mile 12 and my mile 6...that was awesome! SIMONE and JIMMY were at mile 8 to cheer me on! Simone got on her bike and rode with me for a bit....such a huge help! At mile 10 a huge HILL approached me...I think I said out loud, "SERIOUSLY?!" It was somethin' else! But, the best was at the FINISH stretch of the race seeing and HEARING Rich, the boys, and mom and dad! I was SO happy to see them, I knew the end was in sight! I raised my arms and crossed that finish line. YEAH!

We enjoyed all the goodies after the race...this friendly Gecko handed out pez candy!

My fans...

Lynnette is so awesome....this was her 5th marathon! Way to go, LJ!

My friend, Russ (I sing with him!), ran his first 1/2 marathon!