Praying without ceasing...

At dinner every evening and at other times during the day, we pray together. Cam and I have been working on folding our hands and showing Zanna that we fold our hands before we pray so that she would have a sign associated with prayer. We've been folding our hands now intentionally for weeks, and most of the time, Zanna just looked at us like we were nuts. Until a couple of days ago, when we sat down at the dinner table and were doing the last-minute futzing about, making sure she had all her food and that we had forks etc., and we looked over and Zanna is sitting in her highchair with her hands folded,looking at us, like, come on guys, first things first! So, we prayed and praised her for reminding us! Now, she not only does the prayer sign whenever she gets in her highchair, but throughout the day. She will look at me and fold her hands together and wait for me to say a prayer. So, I do... and we say a sentence prayer and AMEN and then she'll fold her hands again, look at me, and we'll pray- again, for another person or situation. And it continues :) It's truly awesome because she knows that it's not just Mom or Dad talking to themselves, but that there is true communication going on. She gets so still and attentive (most of the time:)) and sometimes she claps or adds her own sounds (animal, mostly) to the prayer as well. Needless to say, my daughter is teaching me how to pray without ceasing. Thank you, Zanna.

Animal Sounds!

As you've seen in the previous post, Zanna loves animals, and she's really gotten into making the sounds of animals recently. So, I think this video is too cute because she is saying the animal sounds that she knows :) Not on this video is her new found favorite animal sound, "Boooooooo...." (no, it's not a ghost!) for a cow. It's the cutest sound I've heard in a long time.

Zanna Doolittle....

Zanna is an animal lover to the max! Put her near a dog or a kitty cat, and she just lights up! Here are some photos of her with her favorite furry friends.... the first is of Mimi and Uncle Bear's two dogs, Sabu and Kiwi, then one of Zanna getting a Molly kiss in her new swing in the backyard, and lastly Zanna and Maggie (Zanna's #1 favorite animal of all time!) sharing Maggie's new Christmas toy from Uncle Ryan and Aunt Lauren! Zanna's also perfected the doggie sign and sound, and while she doesn't do the cat sign, she does say "Cat" whenever she sees one :) We've got a Zanna Doolittle on our hands :)

Kisses for "Baby Sarah"

Aunt Stevie and Clint gave Zanna a very special present for Christmas, her very own "Baby Sarah". When Aunt Stevie was little, she had a cabbage patch baby that she named "Baby Susie" after her mommy... it was her VERY favorite doll and she carried it everywhere. Her best friend Jennifer (still best friends today) had the same doll that she also named "Baby Susie" after our mom. So, Aunt Stevie decided that Zanna needed to have her own doll named after her mommy and bought her a "Baby Sarah". Zanna has followed in the footsteps of Aunt Stevie and absolutely adores her "Baby Sarah". Today she went and picked her out of the doll basket in the living room and was giving her kisses... :) Thanks, Aunt Stevie!

Craftiness, Christmas style

Ok, so if you know me, you know that craftiness is not really my thing, so this project that you see is a huge deal!! Zanna was a sheep in the No-Rehearsal Christmas Pageant at First Pres.... we forgot to take a picture of the actual sheep inside of her costume, however, I really just wanted to show off the crafty success!! Aunt Mule, watch out :)

More Christmas time

Aunt Mule stealing some kisses from Zanna, Zanna enjoying the train tracks, the newlyweds Ryan and Lauren enjoying their first Christmas, and Mimi getting some Zanna love!! Every year when we were growing up in the Demarest house, Santa left a new item for the train track, and this year, Santa went all the way to Mimi's house and brought some of the train stuff to start the tradition for Zanna! Mimi even said she'd keep the Santa trains at her house (THANK YOU MIMI :)) during the year!

Baby's first....

Merry Christmas! Zanna loved opening her gifts on Christmas morning!

St. Nicholas left her a Little People barn and her own cell phone, and she got lots of other goodies from family as well! We had everyone in the Demarest clan here on Christmas eve for worship at FPC, and then for Christmas Day as well as Aunt Lauren and Uncle Ryan! Then, the day after Christmas, the B Allens showed up!