Clawson 4th of July Celebration

We went to the Clawson fireworks on the 4th of July. The City has a pretty big celebration including a parade at 9:00 am (MUCH too early for us!), a kiddie fair, craft show, pancake breakfast, race and fireworks. We made it down there around 7ish and hung out until the fireworks started. Anna had fun playing on the play structures, but wouldn't go on any of the kiddie rides, and we were too big to go with her. But, by far, her favorite part was the fireworks. We ended up sitting right across the street from where they were launching them, which meant we were pretty much directly under them. It was very loud, really cool and Ken and I were on hot ember deflection duty from the massive fireworks. We were quite impressed with the show, it lasted over 30 mins and will definitely go back next year!

Anna has also developed an extreamly fake laugh... here she is on the swings doing it.

Anna loved every second of it, and had a total melt down on the way home because she wanted to "go back" and watch more fireworks. I guess the stimulation and sugar we pumped her full of to keep her going wore out a little too early! But, smart M0mmy, Anna had to go potty and knowing that I didn't want to balance her over a porta-john, we brought her little potty with us and left it in the car. Since we lucked out and got a close parking spot, it was a sinch to get her to go in the car. Which, to her was quite a silly and exciting thing to do!

For some reason, Anna wanted to hide from the fireworks before they started... she is under the blanket.

All smiles for the fireworks... not scared at all!

The Budry's living on the edge!

Ballerina Anna

This is what we were doing at 9:00 am on the 4th of July! September is when dance lessons start and we are ready for them!

Here are some pics of bath time fun!

Silly Girl

Here are some pics of Anna. She is still only wearing dresses... but, hey, the way I look at it, if this is what she is going to be stuborn about, it is ok with me! There are a lot worse things for her to be stubborn about than wearing dresses!

This is one of her and Daddy trying to get Gus into the castle. He isn't too into it.

This one is of Anna and her friend hanging out in the castle and reading books. Ignore the red eye.Today Anna rode in her wagon when we went for our walk... notice the princess dress, princess hat and princess snack bags (thanks Aunt Sara and Uncle Mike!).Aunt Sara got creative with her camera and snapped some shots of Anna in black and white with only blue things being in color.

Here is my girly-girl touching some ants.

Steak Dinners and Hide & Seak

As Anna gets older, it is fun to see what traits she takes on. Well, she is definately a Daddyy's girl when it comes to eating. We had steak two weekends in a row and she ate about 4 oz of steak each time... leaving only 2 oz of my 6 oz steak for me! But that is ok, because I am not a steak eater.

Anna's Hide & Seak skills have also gotten really strong. Every day before Ken gets home, she runs and hides and waits for him to find her. Here is one of their games. She is a really good hider, I bet you can't find her. Sometimes it takes Ken quite a while to find her.

She wants a Castle; Daddy builds it!

This is what you get when you mix two engineer parents, a three year old, two rolls of duct tape and three large furniture boxes. I have to point out, that all the joints are reinforced internally and all connections are reinforced externally and internally. This castle is probably more reinforced than our huose.

Ken continues to gain ground as Anna's favorite parent... this really gave him a huge jump over me! Anna was thrilled to have her castle and of course the kitty had to go in too. Poor Gus is not a fan of the castle.

Also on display are Mommy's mad skills at Play-dough art! Hey, Anna was thrilled! That's all that matters!

Sprinkler Fun

Anna is enjoying her Ariel sprinkler. This came in handy when we were without power last week!

Shorts!

Here is proof of Anna wearing shorts! Just reciently, she started to wear PJs with shorts rather than night gowns. I saw this as an opportunity to get her to wear shorts during the day, but she won't go for that. Apparently shorts for PJs are ok, but only dresses during the day. Which is too bad, because last year I bought about 20 beautiful outfits from a garage sale for like $10 and she won't wear any of them. My mom suggested slipping the clothse on her while she is sleeping, and I think we should give it a try! Sorry for the red eye.