Monday, September 28, 2009

Meet Annie.




See Annie smile.


See Annie walk up steps.


See Annie walk down steps!


See Annie play with Memphis's tennis ball.


See Annie throw Memphis his tennis ball.


Meet Brant. This is Annie's daddy.

See Annie watch Brant leave for his first day of all-day-long work.

See Annie grind her four little teeth.

See Annie push the book ladder in Border's.


Annie gets a lot done on her autumn days!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Cowan's Gap

A few weeks ago we went with my parents to Cowan's Gap State Park, a beautiful place in the mountains near Altoona. I just found the pictures from that adventure. We swam and paddle-boated in the lake, hiked the mountain, and enjoyed being in such a natural setting.

Annie and Poppy scouted out the perfect picnic bench by the lake.


While taking a break from swimming laps in the lake, Annie sported her trendy beach cover-up.


We had so much fun (and got so much sun!) paddle-boating around the lake. It was beautiful!


All ready for the hike up the Horseshoe Trail. See Annie in Brant's backpack??


The trail was marked at a high difficulty, but we figured we could handle it. Boy, it was steep!!


On the way back down, Annie refused to be in the backpack anymore. She was so tired. So I carried her like a little baby all the way across the backside of the mountain. Luckily it wasn't steep anymore. :)


Walking around at the overlook


What a lovely summer vacation!

P.S.-- Today is my 25th birthday! Brant, Annie, Memphis, and I are are about to leave for some more adventures!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Livin' the Pennsylvania Life

We are currently without cameras. Both Brant's and mine have in some way bit the dust. This is a bad situation for me, one I need to rectify SOON. But in the meantime I wanted to post about two awesome activities we've participated in . . .
first: A few weeks ago we went to the Elizabethtown fair just a few miles down the road. We brought my dad, who was going to be a contender in the . . . horseshoe competition!!! Unfortunately, though, we didn't realize it was an all-day commitment, so we all (Brant, Annie, my dad, and I) ended up just sitting in the wooden benches and watching for a few hours. We also spent some time letting Annie converse with the goats and cows and eating yummy fare that can only appear out in the Pennsylvania countryside. It was a fantastic morning. Brant and Annie even attracted the attention of a newspaper photographer. We didn't know it had been published, but at a family gathering in Gettysburg a few days later, my grandmother pulled this clipping from her purse:

Annie's first newspaper appearance!!
(It's a picture of a newspaper; sorry, that's the best I can do) The caption reads:
"Annie Ellsworth, 1, gets a high-in-the-sky thrill from her dad, Brant Ellsworth, while they watch the horseshoe competition at the Elizabethtown fair."

second: We went to Kipona, on a whim put into our minds by our friend Spencer. Kipona is an arts/outdoor fest that occurs in downtown Harrisburg every summer. I remember last year's well, as the city was still recovering from it when I showed up at the hospital downtown on Annie's due date. Well. Spencer asked Brant to compete with him in a canoe race that's part of Kipona, and of course Brant took him up on it and Annie and I joined the affair as spectators. Our adventurous friends Scott and Nancy (and Anne, who's always up for any adventure) met us down there. To make a long story short, Spencer and Brant WON. They WON!!! The CANOE RACE!! They entered as novices, and their heat was intense, as far as canoe races in the Susquehanna River go, and let me tell you, this is the only one I've ever seen, but Annie and I were cheering very VERY loudly from the river banks. :) Scott was nice enough to take a video of the race, and I took some pictures on Spencer's camera, so those (along with pictures of Annie's birthday, don't forget) will be posted as soon as I get them! And you all can feel as if you were there with us!

third: This isn't really an activity, but I just wanted to say how happy it makes me that Annie still makes this face when she's looking at something really up close:
(5-day old Annie Jo)
I love my cross-eyed baby!! :)

And here's one of my favorite pictures I just found. Why not post it too?

And, just in case this post hasn't been rambling enough, here are some examples of the crazy funny things Annie's been up to lately. She's really into attaching things to her body and walking around like that. Let me illustrate:


She's so into this dishtowel that hangs from the oven, walks with it over her head and will wrap it around her shoulders and pose.
She'll ham it up even more if we say, "Ahh, soo pretty!"

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Happy Birthday, Dear Annie

Our little girl is one year old! I'm so proud of her and daily amazed at her spunky personality and growing body!
I can't believe all that's happened in this last year, and it's so fun to look back to see how far we've come. :)

The finger-sucking days, ah the crying and short-short naps
Family trips, braving the outside world; Annie has a mother who will just never be able to stay inside on beautiful days, even when she's got a newborn baby
See that pacifier? Haha, funny, we were so naive thinking if we just kept trying she would eventually take it . . .

The days of comfy strollers she looked way too small for, and playing the "startle" game with Daddy, when any and every thing was so new and fascinating to look at
Getting so much bigger and falling madly in love with her papa

Annie's birthday actually started on Monday, when Poppy gave her her first first birthday present . . .
Let the piano lessons begin! Pretty soon she'll be charming boys with "All of Me," just as her daddy did with me :)


Last night we had a dinner party for Annie. Presents and cake and good friends--what a lovely evening!
(**More and better pictures, taken by Scott and Nancy, will be posted soon. :) )

The table

The birthday girl
The guests (little baby Anne is there too, even though she's hiding!)


Getting ready for the cake!
Waving to her guests mid-bite
Yum!! It took her a little while to figure out what this stuff was we'd put in front of her, but once Brant put a little in her mouth, she went AT IT. (See videos below)
Messy face! ("Please, sir, I want som'more")
Clapping with Daddy
Presents!! Reading a card from Grandma and Poppy

Hugging her newest doll, Name-Yet-to-be-DeterminedToy from Great-Grandma Jane!

And soaps---mmmm they smelled so good!

Raiding the adorable clothes from Grandma CC
Oh my, I was having as much fun as Annie was! This girl is gonna be stylin' in the fall. Wooden shapes toy! She stayed up an hour past her bedtime playing with this . . . :)

And now she's one year old! Now I don't have to say my baby's age in months; I could just say, "she's one." Wow!! We just got back from the doctor's this morning . . . the other birthday ritual, unfortunately, was a lot of shots. But Annie was very brave and is doing fine. She even hugged the doctor! She's still in the 10th percentile for weight (18 lbs 6 oz; darn it, we still have to wait a while for that highly anticipated front-facing car seat), and she's about 29 inches long. Yay!

For your viewing enjoyment, here are some videos from her very happy birthday:

Singing Happy Birthday


Eating her cake!