Nana's Birthday Weekend

This past weekend the Peckenpaughs all met at the cottage for a celebration of Nana's birthday. We went out for a nice dinner at Tabor Hill and spent some down-time playing cards and enjoying being together. We also took a trip to the playground and let Annika experience her first trip down a slide. She wasn't too impressed. Our dog Gordy enjoyed it more than she did.

We were excited to show off Annika's walking, but unfortunately she refused to perform when under pressure. Of course, as soon as we returned home she was walking all over the place. Hopefully one of these days we'll get a good video we can post.

Here are some photos from the birthday weekend.

Nana making Annika giggle

Playing peek-a-boo with Papa

First trip down the slide with Dad

Teeth!

Annika has been a little slow in the hair and teeth department, so when her 2 bottom teeth poked through the week of her first birthday, we (especially Branden) were pretty excited. It has taken a while for them to come in enough for a good photo, but I finally got one at bath time tonight. I don't think my cropping of the photo can disguise how displeased Annika was for trying to get her to show her new smile.

Happy First Birthday Annika

On Sunday we celebrated Annika's first birthday with the Peckenpaughs and Johnsons. Annika was thrilled to wear her special pink dress, open her (many) gifts and eat cake. Although we expected cake to be a insanely messy experience, Annika proved that she is a dainty girl by neatly picking out small bites. It took her almost ten minutes to dig into the whipped cream.

We remember Annika's first days so vividly, it's hard to believe that a year has already transpired. We love every day with her and pray often for her future and for God to shape us as parents.

Happy Birthday Annika. You are a gift.

Out West...

This past weekend we took a family trip to Vail/Beaver Creek for some fresh mountain air and skiing. Annika was better than we could have ever anticipated on her first airplane ride. Everytime I am in Colorado I try to rationalize why I don't live there. I guess beautiful scenery just isn't a replacement of family and friends.

A couple of highlights from the trip:

- Running into old guy friends from Hope at the top of Vail's blue sky basin
- Snow...lot's of it
- Putting Annika in her snowsuit. (She wasn't a big fan of being plopped in the snow to play)
- Getting to spend a day skiing with Jacki and my dad
- Lazy nights watching the Olympics

Thank you Mom for watching Annika so that we could spend the days on the slopes. You're the best!

Girls Day

My office is moving locations and as a result I got today off of work and the treat of being home with Annika. We lounged in our PJ's, went shopping and most of all, I had a blast watching her amuse herself IN the dishwasher for about an hour. I was cleaning up breakfast when I looked over to see that she had climbed up into the dishwasher and pulled out a few spoons. After my initial fear of her getting injured, I sat back and had a couple good belly laughs watching her play.

11 months

I don't know what to say except for that I am baffled that Annika is already 11 months old. I look at her daily and realize that she is moving further and further away from being my sweet little baby and is instead blossoming into her own little person. Although she doesn't quite have the confidence to try walking on her own, she has become an expert crawler and "cruiser". She is eating lots of table food (her mean mom (that's me) tries to still keep it as healthy as possible though). This weekend she was introduced to the joy of blueberries. I've never seen Annika preference one food over another like she does with blueberries. I think we have a lot of purple stains to look forward to this summer!

Go Vikings!

Annika won her dad's heart tonight by donning her Vikings football jersey and helping him root on one of his favorite teams. Though she doesn't know it yet, she doesn't have much of a choice about becoming a Minnesota sports fan.

Unfortunately the game's outcome wasn't as was hoped for, but we had fun spending time with the Johnsons and our good friend John Madvig anyway.