Angel or Devil?

Originally, I was planning to post just these cute photos:

Annie is obsessed with her Crocs. So much so she had to wear them over footed jammies this morning. And don't anyone dare try to help her put them on, she will do it herself!

But then, just mere minutes after these angelic pics were taken, she ran upstairs. As I was finishing up some things downstairs before heading up there, I hear "Uh oh!" Never a good sign. And this is what I find when I get up there:
Yep, she got into my makeup and dumped bronzer everywhere. She was shaking the last of it out when I walked in. She also proceeded to step in it and drag it all over the floor. It was in everything inside the cupboard, all over the floor and all over her pajamas.

Once we got that cleaned up and Annie was allowed out of timeout, we got dressed and went outside...where she found a cup and dumped water from our little frog pond all over herself. Being so pregnant and all, I was not quick enough to stop her. This time, I did not have it in me to take a picture. I do love her, but some days....

**Edited To Add**
After taking her out of the wet clothes and eating lunch, she went for a nap. We've been having a battle of wills at naptime these days, so I let her jump/cry/talk for a little while. When I went up there, I walked in just in time to see her naked little body squatting to pee all over mattress. Annie, why do you hate Mommy?
Oh, and as I still had the camera upstairs and handy from the bronzer incident:
After seeing my defeated reaction, she put her hands up like this and started saying "Oh no!" and pointing at all the stuff she had thrown out of the crib.

Friday Night Lights

This past Friday, Matt was actually home early and had Saturday off. So we called our friend Jerry (and his daughter Riley), and we all took in a Dexter High School football game. Little did we know that Dreadnaught pride runs rampant in this community! It was packed! We could barely find terrible seats, and they had an entire huge cart selling Dexter Dreadnaught apparel. The even had a big tank-powered train whistle to sound at positive plays. (We only heard it a few times.)

This picture really captures Annie and Riley's excitement to be at the game. Popcorn improved their moods dramatically.

And what, exactly, is a Dreadnaught, you ask? Matt and I have also been asking this for weeks, with no answers. Matt's best guess was that it simply meant that they "dread naught," as in they were scared of nothing. I accepted that. But on Friday, the informative woman sitting behind us told us that a dreadnaught is "a big boat, kind of like a pirate ship." However, according to thefreedictionary.com, Matt's definition is actually a little closer. Sadly, there was no mascot to clue us in. There were a lot of students in togas, which is a bit confusing. We may never know.

Anyway, it was a perfect night for a high school football game. It was nice and cool. It even smelled like fall. :) Our neighbors decided to join us, too. So we had a great time. Annie ran back and forth from us to the girls and ate her body weight in popcorn. She also loved the "world-renowned Dexter High School marching band." Matt and I agreed that "world-renowned" was a bit much, but they were better than the football team, which got killed. And they did do a rousing rendition of Craig Ralls' favorite song "Hush."

Annie clapped for the team and the band and the cheerleaders and the dance team. She also showed off her language skills, yelling "Go! Go! Go!" and "Get that ball!" at generally appropriate times. Matt was quite pleased she enjoyed the game.

What's Not To Love

I think her shirt says it all. Annie was quite a delightful child this morning. We took a walk to the park, played at our house, read some books and now she's sleeping. How could you not love her?

Happy Birthday Matt!

Yesterday was Matt's 27th birthday! :) He had kind of a sucky day at work, so that stunk. But we had a really nice evening, complete with tacos and peanut butter ice cream cake. I even let him skip Annie's bath. (He says "forego a bath?" to me every night, even when she is really gross. I always say no. It's his "thing" with Annie. But I gave in on his birthday.) And we watched football. Not a bad birthday for an old man :)

Playhouse Disney Live and a Visit to the Manleys

A few days ago, I discovered that Playhouse Disney Live was coming to Toledo. Annie loves Playhouse Disney; we watch it every morning. I thought it would be fun, and I hoped Annie wouldn't be scared, so we got tickets and went. Annie LOVED it! It was all music and dancing with all her favorite characters from the Disney channel. She was clapping and pointing at everything. When Mickey Mouse came out on stage, Annie's jaw literally dropped open. I have never seen her look so excited. It was the sweetest thing ever. And when he walked off stage a few minutes later, she was very sad. She also loved Tigger and Pooh. We finished the show off in style, with Annie doing the Hot Dog Dance with the rest of the crowd. She did manage to point out that the pics of the hot dogs on stage also contained bop bop. Crazy kid.
It was hard to get pictures while she watched because it was dark, but here are a few I did manage to get.

She watched most of the show like this

Annie and Kerri sort in front of the stage after the show

She got a new cup, and she was really exited to drink out of it.

After the show, we stopped by to visit the Manleys. After a few minutes of warming up, Annie was back to her old tricks at their house. The Manleys house is like little kid heaven. They have tons of animals, they love to play and they let Annie do whatever she wants generally :) During our few hour visit, Annie got to: eat her nuggets picnic style on the carpet, play with Carolyn and Garrett, bang on pots, take pictures with Amy, see a bunny, see tiny kittens, see horses, jump on a trampoline and I'm sure I'm forgetting more. We've missed the Manleys, and it was so good to see them. Thanks for all the fun with Annie :)

Annie and Carolyn

Annie and Amy taking some pics


Annie banging on pots and pans. It was loud.

Whew. That's a lot for one post. We had a big day. Annie passed out in the car on the way home. :) Good day.

Bubbles!

Matt feels very badly and is almost ashamed to admit that we let our daughter go over 19 months of life without a bubble bath. We didn't even own any bubbles. So on our last trip to Target, Matt and Annie together picked out some lovely Little Einstein bubble bath, and we gave it a try last night. Annie was actually a little scared of the bubbles, but she still seemed to enjoy the bath. She did spend the entire bath yelling "Bubbles! Bubbles!"

Think She's a Ralls?

I've been meaning to post these for awhile. Someday, when Annie is fighting with her siblings, no one will ever be able to tell her she's adopted. Not only does she act like her father, sadly for her she looks just like him, too.
When the Smiths were here a month or two ago, Owen saw this picture in our bathroom.

He came down and asked me why we had a picture of Annie on the toilet in our bathroom. As the 80s wallpaper and blank stare show you--It's not Annie, it's Matt :) So, however hard Annie may try, I don't think they'll be much denying she's a Ralls. Here's a bonus pic to prove it:


So I don't feel left out, and, as my mom and sister insist, there are a few moments when she does appear to be mine, as well ;)

Here's hoping baby girl takes more after her mama :)

Gigi's Birthday

This past weekend, Annie and I traveled to Cleveland to celebrate my mom's --dare I say--50th birthday, and all I have to show for it is this picture.

I was very excited to take pictures at my mom's birthday party, or "end of summer party" as she liked to call it. Annie was looking very cute in a jumper my mom got her and the whole Hageman family was in town. Annie was quite the party animal, staying up dancing until nearly 10:00 p.m. A good time was had by all, and we'll be eating cake until Christmas. :)
Sadly, I was distracted by chatting and took nary a photo at the party. The next day, my mom refused to let me photograph her and Annie, as neither of them were looking their best. (You still looked good, Mom!)
If you're wondering about the lone picture, I took it in the car on our drive back to Michigan. Annie was watching Elmo, but the setting sun was right in her face. She kept saying "Eyes! Eyes!" so I gave her my sunglasses to protect her little peepers. And the scary balloon is a tiki god leftover from the party that Annie desperately wanted to take home.
Anyway, we had a great weekend. And we love you, Mom. We hope you had a fabulous end of summer :)

Bop Bop

Don't worry, she's not injured. Annie has a favorite condiment, and it is bop bop. Matt and I like to call it ketchup, but Annie insists it is bop bop. She will literally eat anything if served with bop bop. We discovered this many months ago while trying to get her to eat a meatball. I opened the fridge to see what I could put on the meatball to entice her. Since then, her love of bop bop has only grown. Today at lunch, after she finished her hot dog and fruit, she started downing bop bop on its own. Handful by handful. Then she laughed hysterically.

Ratatouille

Annie watched her very first movie this weekend -- Ratatouille. We went to have dinner with our friends Jamie and Jerry and their daughter Riley. Typically, when we get together, we have the girls watch a show of some sort so they leave us alone and we can eat in peace like real adults. This time, the Szelagowskis offered up a feature length film that all six of us ended up watching. Annie was mesmerized. She was very scared in the beginning when the cartoon old lady busted out a shotgun to rid herself of the rats. She was clinging to Matt and I. And when I took a short bathroom break, she also got upset. But other than that, she loved it! Matt and I were trying to think of more Disney movies that she could watch, but realized that nearly all have scary villains. Anyone think of any that don't? So far, I've come up with Toy Story and that's about it. Admittedly, I haven't seen a lot of movies lately, though. Please feel free to comment and leave us some good ones :)