After our first excursion to Iowa, we had a week of fun at home. We rested, played with friends, got reorganized and packed up again to head back to the great state of Iowa New Year's weekend.
We piled in the car on Friday night and headed to Waverly to spend a little quality time with our good friends Lindsay and Andy. (We usually get to see them about 3 times a year, and this year in December we got to see them 3 times in one month! Merry Christmas to us!) We got there around 8:30 and Anna pretty much went right to bed; she hadn't slept the entire day at that point, not even in the car! The adults stayed up and watched the Iowa bowl game, despite Brian and my distaste for Iowa...
We had a fun evening and then we got up early on Saturday morning and loaded back into our car...
We headed east to Dubuque to see my mom's side of the family. We got to Dubuque around lunch time and were able to have lunch with some extended, extended family.
Anna had to have her picture taken with her 3rd (?) cousin Anna. The two Anna's are adorable.
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| Anna Marie and Anna Elizabeth |
Posing with my great-aunt Bernette. (She was on our blog before...we visited their dairy farm this summer while helping Kate move into college!)
Anna making funny faces at lunch.
Saturday night we gathered with all of my mom's siblings and their families at my aunt and uncle's house. We are just shy of 40 people when we are all together so it's a fun, chaos!
When I was little (I am the oldest cousin) we had to take turns opening all of our presents...but now there are only 3 under 5, so we let them have a free for all while we all watched. Then the big kids and adults opened their presents.
Anna, Alex, and Sam digging into presents.
Anna and Alex. (Alex is my cousin, so I guess he's Anna's 2nd cousin. They are about 6 months apart, but Anna's probably 6 inches taller--she's a tall girl!)
Watching nicely with Aunt Katie as others open gifts.
Checking under the tree to make sure there aren't any more presents.
Every time we see Abby, Anna wants to be with her.
We spent Saturday night at my Great Aunt Joann and Uncle Tim's house. Anna loved their puppy named Annie.
Being goofy with Aunt Kate before we piled in the car once again!
Sunday morning, we jumped back in the car, grabbed a breakfast burrito at McD's and headed back west to central Iowa.
There we found Anna's first cousin, Will. He and his mommy are back from Virginia Beach! They are moving back to Iowa so we get to see them a LOT more often!
There we found Anna's first cousin, Will. He and his mommy are back from Virginia Beach! They are moving back to Iowa so we get to see them a LOT more often!
Anna loved playing with Will. He's almost 2 and she still thinks he's a "baby." So she likes to keep a close eye on what he's doing and help him whenever she can. She's going to make a great big sister!
Playing train with Will.
Giving Will stickers.
The Mommy's and their Babies.
Helping Will talk on the phone.
It was also Papa Randy's birthday on December 31, so we got to have cake and celebrate with him a day late.
Anna and Will were in charge of the candles.
Anna and Will were in charge of the candles.
We were impressed with Anna letting Will help too! (Although when he stuck it in upside down she quickly fixed it!)
Happy Birthday Papa Randy!
We had a little more playtime after cake and ice cream. Anna continued "helping" Will by holding him while he climbed up the slide.
Sunday afternoon, we piled back in the car and headed back north. We got home for a late pizza supper and all crawled right into bed and crashed. Luckily we had Monday to re-energize ourselves.
While it was a busy weekend, lots of travel/car time, it was well worth it. We got to see a lot of people, although in a very short amount of time. Anna was a great traveler. In our 12+ hours in the car, she only slept about 1 of them and despite a little meltdown on the way home, did exceptionally well. She watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer about 20 times and still requests it in the car.
This past week was a little slower paced. We did have a sick day at home, Anna got the 12 hour flu bug, but I think it was a good extra day to rest.
The weekend was filled with fun with friends and the one coming up will be too!
This week is a 5 day packed week. We have school and work and play! I have cooking club this week--this might be worth a post in itself if I have interested readers--so we are looking forward to more yummy food in our freezer.
My new year's resolution will be to get better at blog updates....I was slacking near the end of 2011!
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