I guess I can no longer call Anna "my baby!" She's a big three year old, although when I see her- I still see a little baby girl that I just can hardly keep from cuddling and tickling and kissing. She is a ray of sunshine in our lives and it's actually painful to see her getting bigger, knowing that she is our last! I adore absolutely everything about this beautiful girl of mine. She is a gift from Heavenly Father to our family and we all think the world of her and feel so so very blessed to have her spirit in our home. Happy Birthday Anna Paige Marston!
An excerpt from her journal:
Favorite Things: You absolutely LOVE anything princess! You love Bell, Jasmine, Aurora, Ariel, Rapunzel! And especially Sofia the First. That is by far and away your favorite TV show and you watch it religiously, every single morning. You love to wear dresses and wouldn’t be caught dead in pants these days! You throw a fit of ginormous proportions if you are made to wear anything other than a princess dress for your pajamas and for your daily wear. Thankfully, we live in California and it’s springtime. You don’t need to dress warmly! You have such a special bond with your siblings, Anna! Your favorite thing is giving huge hugs and kisses. Often you run up to me or Dad or Evelyn and kiss us on the hand. It’s absolutely the cutest, sweetest thing on earth! You also love to make us laugh. You have a little dance where you wiggle your buns (you most often do this after baths when you are bare naked!) and you say “a-poopie, a-poopie”. I have no idea where you picked this up, but you better believe you get a laugh out of your siblings- that’s for sure! You love fruit loops, yogurt, pancakes, fruit snacks, cheesburgers. Fries with ketchup are your FAVORITE! You also love spaghetti and pizza. You are a great little eater and never cause us a moment’s worry with eating and growing. You are so good natured and mostly just go with the flow! That is, except when you skip your nap! You can miss maybe one nap a week, but more than than throws you for a loop! I’ve never had a child nap all the way to age 3! All of my kids have given up at 2.5…. Dane at 2 years 8 months. Here you are at age 3 and still going strong. You love your sleep! Speaking of, you sleep through the night and wake up around 6:45-7. You bound out of the room with so much happiness and joy. You cuddle in bed and try not to bother Dad or I and never wake up the kids. You are such a sweetheart to cuddle and love us in the mornings. It is the highlight of my day! You love art— coloring, painting, crafting, cooking. You love to tag along like a big kid, doing anything the older kids are doing. You basically live the life of a 6-7 year old because our life is so crazy and full and you just fit into the equation! Late bedtimes, dinner on the go, shortened naps, you name it! You absolutely love going to church because you adore nursery. You must be the most social child we’ve ever had. You love other children and always ALWAYS find a friend no matter where we end up. At the kids’ soccer practice, at the park, at church, at swim lessons- you find someone to play with and you are a great, sweet playmate whom everyone adores. Your best friend is Nora Doud and her big sis Elizabeth is your second closest friend. You are an excellent little player. You find a corner of the house with your little Disney figurines and play for hours! For your birthday this year, you will be receiving lots of Disney princess paraphernalia and Disney figurines because these are your obsessions. You bring them everywhere and sleep with them! You are a pro at swinging. Your siblings have almost taught you how to pump! You love swinging very high! You love sliding down steep slides and aren’t afraid in the least. You are so cute with your ball skills… you love playing soccer with the boys. You love throwing balls at us and saying “THINK FAST!” You enjoy spending time with your daddy at the park and love taking baths! You make huge and I mean HUGE messes all over the house- your bedroom looks like a tornado struck at all times. And your brothers gladly clean up after you because they adore you so much. They dote on you and tend to your every need. Anna- you pretty much love everything in life. There isn’t much that gets you down. You are full of joy and you make everyone around you feel happy. You are flexible, loving, funny, kind and smart. You are so social, so thoughtful. I can’t wait to see what you will become!
Special Memories: This year (Jan 2015) we discovered that you needed glasses! You were 2.5 years old! We discovered this because you began waking up with crossed eyes! And then intermittently, they would continue to cross throughout the day especially when you felt tired. It was quite scary at first— the doctors thought maybe it was neurological instead of an eye muscle issue! Your poor mom almost lost her mind for a few weeks while the doctors at Rady’s looked into the problem. Thankfully, they discovered a +2 far sighted issue with both eyes- which accounted for the crossing of your eyes. Glasses have helped to straighten out the problem- you are excellent at wearing them! They are darling on you and you receive countless compliments every day.
The kids get a HUGE kick out of some of the funny things you say! When you hear them misbehaving, you yell down “Boys! You are being turkeys!” When you see them, you say to dad “there are those to monkeys.” Whenever someone cries— you rush to their side and kiss them and then pat their back saying “you’re fine, you’re fine. stop crying”. When you see corn on the cob you are beyond excited. You love the stuff and call it “unicorn”. We don’t correct you because we think it’s hilarious.
At Disneyland and LegoLand this year you LOVED riding all of the rides—- nothing scared you! In fact, you began to cry when the rides ended because you wanted them to go on and on. You are a thrill seeker! This year you’ve had so much fun traveling to WA to visit Grammy and Papa, to San Clemente for a beach vacation, to Disneyland and to Tucson, AZ over Christmas. You love traveling and are such a trooper on any trip we take. Anna- we love you more than words can say and thank Heavenly Father for such a special little girl to add light and sunshine and also so much laughter to our lives. Happy Birthday sweet Anna Paige!
