:: Smushy ::

Analise likes to smush things on her face. She thinks she is quite funny. She is right. She is funny. Here is today's object of choice.

:: Her Middle Name Fits ::

Analise's middle name is Joy. What a fitting name it is. This little girl brings us great joy all of the time. She has been a bit sick the past week...first with a cold, and last night she got sick in her tummy...all is better now in that area, but she is still not on her A game. We often comment on what a joy she is in our lives. Even when she is sick, she is a joy to be around. She is the 'happiest sick kid' we know. The few times she has been sick, she doesn't complain or whine much, she still manages to make us laugh, and remains quite jovial. The best part is how snuggly she gets!

She had a long nap today, and woke up a bit subdued, but smiling. Because she has not been feeling well we gave in to one of her guilty pleasures and let her watch her favorite cartoon, Ratatouille. She has yet to see it from start to finish. She catches ten minutes here, ten minutes there, but she just loves it. As soon as you say the main characters name, Remy, she lights up and gets so excited. Here is a pic of our little sick girl getting her 15 minutes of Remy today. As soon as Markus walked in the house, she was up and following him around the house. We are so thankful to have such a joy in our lives!

:: Mother's Day ::

I had a fantastic day yesterday. I felt so loved and cared for by both Markus and Analise. Analise slept in until 8:00am, which was nice for both Markus and I. I got to stay in bed, and Markus and Analise went to Starbucks to get me a coffee and yummy pastry! After I got my treats, Analise came running from her bedroom with a special present that she made for me (with her dad's help).

This is Analise's very first drawing. She spent some good time making this card for me. Markus said once she understood that color only came out of one end of the marker, she went to town on the paper. I was so touched by this card, and Markus wrote some very special words to me on the back. I would have been so pleased if this was all the day entailed.
Once we got ready for the day, we headed over to San Jose to go to Happy Hollow, which is a small park and zoo. Analise really enjoyed her time here! It was such a fantastic time. We saw lots of animals. Among her favorites were the Jaguar "kitty, kitty", the colorful parrots that yelled at her, a HUGE tortoise, a dirty, stinky sheep, some goats, and the fuzzy wallabies. She almost let a donkey lick her, but she pulled her hand away!
The look on her face each time we saw some animals was worth the entire trip. She is finally at an age when you can tell that she genuinely is having a good time. She was so sweet the entire day, loving on both Markus and I. When we got home, we all napped and then did the grocery shopping for the week together. Markus and Analise took good care of me on Mother's Day. I am so thankful for both of them!! It was a special day!

:: Gigglebean Photography ::

Once again, my dear friend Jessica has taken some amazing photos! As a birthday gift, she took some family photos of Markus, Analise and I before the new baby arrives. I simply don't have enough words to describe how wonderfully talented Jessica is with her photography. To say that she is amazing, classy, wonderful, has an eye for capturing special moments, and shows great passion for what she does--it's just not enough. She is truly GIFTED.
It was hard to pick just a few of the many fantastic photos to share with you. You never would guess that Analise wanted to have nothing to do with us on the morning we took these pictures, or that Markus and I are not too fond of the camera either! Just another example of how natural Jessica makes everything with her photos.

This is just a sampling of some of the photos that she took last weekend. If you ever want some of the best photos of your family or children captured in time, think of Jessica. Check out her website right here.

www.gigglebean.com

:: It's Easy Being Green ::

We are working on 'going green' in the Lettner household. There are lots of things we can do to be even more environmentally friendly than we are, but we are taking baby steps. We recycle everything we can, we use little heat, and try to watch out how much electricity we use.

Analise decided she would join us in being 'green' and make good use of her diaper box before we broke it down to put in the recycling bin. She thought she was just the coolest thing cruising around in her Cruisers box! Markus would zoom her around the room and she would squeal and laugh her little heart out! I love how she hung her arm out of the box like she has been driving for years...The most recent step we have taken toward 'being green' is getting reusable grocery bags. We always get paper bags, but we both feel like we can be doing more, so yesterday when we went grocery shopping we bought ourselves some great reusable grocery bags. These Trader Joe's reusable bags are fantastic! They are sturdy, strong, and they hold even more than normal paper bags! Kermit had it all wrong when he said it wasn't easy being green!

:: Rowan Right Along ::

This is Rowan Murray. He is so much fun! He can squinch his nose up just like his mom, he likes to pet our cat, and Rowan is one fast kid! He can make quite a cool car noise, and he is the best growler I have yet to meet! He and Analise like to play together.

Today Rowan and his mom, my dear friend Lauren, came over to hang out with us. Rowan has made an appearance on this blog before, but not nearly enough! We had a great time watching he and Analise play together. He quickly won the way to her heart by bringing her a pink and gold sparkly pinwheel (which just happens to be one of her current obsessions - along with kites and flags). After Rowan left she found as many ways as possible to carry the pinwheel where ever she goes. Her latest carrying creation is in her block container.

Here are some pictures of Analise and Rowan playing together.Here are my favorite pictures of Rowan from the day. He is so much fun! He gets just as excited about seeing a ball as Analise does! "Ball! Ball! Ball!" That seems to be the slogan around this house!