Happy 10th, Anna!

In honor of Anna's 10th birthday I'm posting 10 of my favorite photos of her.






I know it's so cliche to say, but seriously, where has the time gone? How is my first little baby 10 years old today? It's kind of a little bit painful to browse old pictures and realize just how much she's grown and how quickly it's all happened. A rush of memories came back to me as I looked through our albums. There's so much I'd forgotten like the way she used to scrunch her tiny little face up to be silly, or the fact that she was once chubby, or that she spoke perfectly and it was so funny coming out of such a tiny little girl with a nasally munchkin voice. For 2 1/2 years she was my constant companion, and was and still is such good company.





Many little girls are described as sweet so I'm afraid it doesn't always mean a whole lot, but that is one of the first words that pops into my head to describe Anna. She really is sweet, she is considerate, kind and caring. She is very empathetic and notices when people feel badly and does everything in her power to help. She is extremely affectionate, all her teachers from church and school tell me how they love running into Anna in the halls because she runs and hugs them every time.





She is creative, imaginative and confident. She has some struggles that she's really come a long way in improving. At first glance Anna is a prim and proper little girl, but there's kind of a wild and mischievous side to her as well. So much so that my brothers nicknamed her "black-heart" when she was a toddler. She did things like intentionally locking me and her newborn sister out of the house when she was 2 1/2. When I went around to a door with a window I watched her pretend not to hear or see me while she casually perused a book. She also locked a friend of ours in the bathroom (the lock was reversed for time-out purposes) who was in there getting ready for the day.





Fortunately for me her sweetness usually overrides the mischief, but it's definitely still there. Now her wild side can be glimpsed when you see her on the soccer field or sort of gliding past you faster than should be humanly possible.



As sad as it is for me to lose that little girl I had, it's so exciting and rewarding to watch this beautiful girl grow up. Happy birthday, Anna! We love you!!!!!