Our little Cowgirl!

Here are few more pics from the rodeo....
I thought that the row of highchairs was just too cute....notice how Gabi is desperately trying to steal some of Zanna's food while Harper is none to happy about lunch time. :)

Rodeo!

Zanna's Mother's Day Out had a rodeo last Thursday. They began with a parade around the church... Zanna is sitting in the bye-bye-buggy with her friend Max. Some of the older kids rode stick horses in the parade or carried their livestock lovies with them. Then, we headed to the "arena" for the rodeo fun! Here's Zanna enjyoing a ride on the buckin' bronco while Emerson waits for her turn. She especially loved visiting the "Junior Livestock Association" complete with animals galore. I'm not sure who had more fun at the rodeo, Zanna or Mom. I really enjoyed getting to know some of the other moms and watching Zanna play with her classmates! Giddy-up cowgirl!

Meeting Daniel!

Some of my best friends from Seminary were in Austin for a retreat a couple weeks ago, and Sara, who now lives with her hubby Chris and baby Daniel in Minnesota, brought sweet baby Daniel with them! Sara and I talk every few weeks and I have been so excited to introduce Zanna to her Mid-west buddy for a while now. It was pure joy to watch them interact :) Daniel just loved to stare at her, and Zanna thought his hands and bald head were so fun to touch! He is SUCH a cutie and a sweetheart and I cannot wait to see him, and his parents, again soon! I think they need to give up this crazy cold Minnesota life and come back to Texas lickety-split!

Strawberry pickin' with Daddy!

A few weekends ago, I rode in the Hill Country Ride for AIDS with some members of First Presbyterian Church. While I was climbing hill after hill on my bicycle, Cam and Zanna went out to Marble Falls for a day of strawberry pickin' and coconut-pie eating. Cam says that Zanna absolutely LOVED strawberry picking, and would immediately take the strawberry off of the bush and stick it straight in her mouth...when they finally got to Krause Springs that afternoon to celebrate the completion of the bike ride, Zanna was covered in dirt and sticky strawberries... and boy, was she a happy camper :)
I love the picture of her in the cut-out lady bug, I can't believe how old she looks!! What a fun Saturday Zanna shared with her Daddy!

Jesus is Risen- let's WALK to celebrate :)

Zanna really took off with walking today, Easter day,...she had been toying with it all weekend long (see the previous video "walking") but today, she walked and walked, and walked and walked and walked.... it was incredible! Life has officially changed forever!

The Easter Dress

Zanna has had this dress in her closet since before she was born, and I was so excited for her to wear it on Easter this year. It has a very special story behind it and is an "international" dress!
Last November, PHPC (my home church) went on a mission trip to Nicaragua. My pastor and mentor, Elizabeth, and one of my best friends, Sarah, were thinking about Zanna while they were on their trip and when they saw this dress at a Nicaraguan market, they bought it for her! THANK YOU SARAH AND ELIZABETH! It's beautiful!
We had such an incredible Easter day today! We went to worship together (well, I was at the front helping lead worship and Zanna and Cam sat together :)) and then our great friend Rebecca came over for "Christmas Casserole" (though I'm thinking we should re-name it "Chreaster Casserole" cuz we eat it Christmas AND Easter these days) and an afternoon egg hunt. We invited some of the kids from the block over for a late afternoon hunt, but.... they were no-shows, so our friend Calum (Cam's best friend Darrell's son) had a blast finding the 75+ eggs that were crammed into our front yard on his own :) We spent hours in the front yard hanging out and playing with Easter eggs (which Zanna thinks are the greatest invention!). It was a glorious Easter spent with family and friends!!
Christ is risen, he is risen, indeed! :)

Bookworm

Last year, Grammy and Poppy came to visit at Easter and brought Zanna some Bunny books. This one is called "My First Easter" and Zanna really likes the pictures in it. We had fun reading Easter books and playing with Easter eggs yesterday. Zanna is like her mom and dad, she really loves to read. She often pulls off every book on her bookshelf and looks through all of them. She is particularly fond of Goodnight Gorilla and Goodnight Moon. She makes all of the animal sounds in Goodnight Gorilla and lives for finding the mouse with his banana on every page, and in Goodnight moon, she LOVES the little old lady whispering "Hush" and puts her hand up to her mouth saying "sssshh" and then laughs. She also knows where the two little kittens are on every page. It's fun to read with her!