{Our Happy Little Valentine}

Bob and I were very excited to celebrate our first Valentine's Day with Anna.  I was off of work Monday, so Anna and I got all dressed up in red and went out to lunch with my mom and grandma.  When Bob got off of work, we met his parents for dinner before heading back home to exchange our Valentine's Day gifts with each other.  Bob and I have never really made a huge deal out of Valentine's Day, but it was so fun to spoil Anna with a few gifts this year.  We gave her a new bath toy (which she already absolutely LOVES and it hasn't even made it into the bathtub yet!), a pink and white stuffed elephant, some cute new pink shoes and tutu (because what girl doesn't need new shoes and tutu?) and a very cute "Daddy's Sweatheart" sleeper.  Anna was pretty wiped from a full day of being out and about so she crashed pretty quickly after opening her gifts and spending some time scooting around the family room (more on that below!). 

I also want to give a big thank you to my dad for such cute cards this year for both me and Anna.  My dad has been making my sisters and I Valentine's day cards since we were babies and this year he got to do one for Anna as well!  He has been doing this for nearly 30 years now and I still have a hard time picturing him down at his office, in the middle of tax season, cutting out pink and red hearts out of construction paper, but he does and every year the cards seem to get better and better.  My favorite line from my card this year...

"You and Bob did a great job bringing into the world Anna Rae,
and soon you will realize that having children will make you pay!
Thank you very much for making me a grandfather,
And remember that for me, taking care of Anna is never a bother!"

And my favorite from Anna's...

"I look forward to watching you as you grow,
and learn all the things a little girl should know.
So I hope for you today only good things and such,
And always remember Grandpa loves you much!"

Thanks dad, these cards are such a special gift!  We know this is such a busy time for you - we so appreciate your dedication to make them so special!

So speaking of scooting from above, this little girl is on a roll!  I am absolutely amazed how well she can get around these days!  While Anna is not officially crawling yet, she is demonstrated that if she really wants something out of her reach, she can "scoot" herself forward with her feet to get to where she wants to go.  It is so fun to watch her work so hard to get around and really is absolutely amazing to see the progress she makes from day to day.  This new development led us to start "baby proofing" the house this past weekend.  We pushed back our coffee table to give Anna some extra room to explore and bought outlet plugs and cabinet hooks to install on our cupboards.  We just need to buy a baby gate for the stairs.  Of course nothing in our house was built to a standard size, so we have to return the one we picked up at Target for a bigger size.  Hard to believe Anna's is already getting to that "mobile" stage, but it is so fun to watch her play!

Of course, I cannot resist an excuse to dress Anna up and take some pictures and Monday was no different.  Below are some pictures of Anna all dressed up in her Valentine's Day outfit.   Enjoy!!!





My Favorite Shot of the Day!

Opening her Valentine's Day Gifts