Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is when we do our annual Porter family pictures and this year, AnnaBeth did NOT want to cooperate and sit still for the pictures. She constantly wanted to get down and explore but we somehow managed to get some good shots. We took her to feed the ducks after lunch and she was just in awe over all of the ducks!! We were also able to celebrate Thanksgiving at Nanu's where AnnaBeth had fun coloring. She nearly refused to sit at the table and eat with us (kept saying "awwww man!") so coloring was really the only way to get her to sit still. Here are the pics. Here's a video of her feeding the ducks at Freestone Park on Thanksgiving day. She had SOOOO much fun!

Coloring, Brownies, and Videos

AnnaBeth has really been into coloring the last few months. These are from last month (at 19 months). She colors quite vigorously and even holds the crayon properly (now...doesn't show in these pictures)! She uses mostly her left hand for coloring (picks up the crayon with her right and will transfer it to her left) but will occasionally color using her right hand. Either hand she uses, she holds the crayon as you or I would. The lid for the container is now totally covered in scribbles =)

 Lounging around with her boof

 And one day she helped me make brownies. She got a little taste of the batter and didn't care for it at all but she sure enjoyed them once they were baked with a little vanilla bean ice cream on top!

Here she is getting a big kick out of Bondo pulling her around by his tail.

And here's a short video of her talking on my phone....its too cute!

Pumpkin Patch and Halloween

We took AnnaBeth to two pumpkin patches this year. One that had a TON of animals to see and one that I knew had cheaper pumpkins =) And for Halloween, she was a bumblebee fairy. She was SOOOO cute and was a big hit at the fall festival at church. On Halloween night she did such a great job walking from house to house to collect candy. We were so proud of our big girl! We took Bondo with us and he even got a treat at two houses! Here are the pictures from the pumpkin patch and Halloween.

A Day At The Park

One day in mid October, I took AnnaBeth to the park near our house (down the canal about 1/2 a mile). She walked there almost the whole way! She had a blast swinging, playing on the playground stuff, observing ants on the way home and even picking up a little pine cone treasure. Enjoy the pictures!

October Birthdays

October means birthdays for me and Jacob, which I love being able to share with him. We always go to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate his birthday and then we have a family lunch to celebrate our birthdays together. This year we did a family trip to the Phoenix Zoo before our lunch and it was fabulous! AnnaBeth wore her "Curious George" backpack so we wouldn't lose her and she LOVED petting the goats. She did fall and scrape her knees, enough to bleed a little, but we have a very tough little girl and she didn't cry for long. The site I use for the slideshows is acting up and making it difficult to upload my facebook albums so from now on, I'll just hyperlink my facebook albums. Here are the pictures from Jacob's birthday and from the zoo.

Funniest Home Videos

Last night, AnnaBeth and I were watching America's Funniest Home Videos and there was a video of a dog, who looked just like Bondo, who was having trouble getting the left over food out of the high chair and she LOVED it! Sorry the video is so dark, I had the lights on but I took it with my cell phone so its not the greatest quality.

30 Years

Tomorrow is my parent's 30th anniversary. 30 years!! Talk about an accomplishment!! I'm so proud of them for sticking together for the last 30 years. I'm so thankful the Lord chose them for each other!! Here's a little scrap page from AnnaBeth to celebrate. :)