The Big Read!

In the beginning of October we went to The Big Read in Clayton. It was a great community event promoting reading with lots of activities, book characters and giveaways! Here Anna and Justin are creating a bookmark. Anna and Justin were both excited to meet the Cat in the Hat, Madeline and Curious George!

My recent cooking achievements

I entered a chili cook-off at Justin's office, PGAV, on my birthday and won 3rd place out of 14! It turns out that first place was a woman who used Eleanor Roosevelt's chili recipe. How cool is that? She definitely earned the right to first place! I actually got 2nd place with my same chili recipe at Progress South Elementary school about 3-4 years ago. I was proud of myself:)

I also chose to make my own birthday cake and I loved it! So did my friend Lori and Justin, who hates chocolate cake:) i got the recipe from the Chocolate Cake Doctor Cookbook and it included making fresh whipped cream and an amazing glaze-like frosting. My only critique was veering from the recipe on the number of layers. I had two, since i only had 2 round cake pans, and next time i will have to buy a 3rd cake pan so we can enjoy one more layer of whipped cream:)

I roasted pumpkin seeds for the first time too! Justin and Anna carved their pumpkin and so I used a simple recipe I found online. All I had to do was separate the seeds from the goop, rinse them, pat them dry and coat them in 2 tsp of butter. Then, I spread them in a thin layer on a cookie sheet and lightly seasoned them with Lawry's seasoning salt and cooked them for about 45 minutes. Voila! They were awesome. I wish I could say Justin loved them too, but he swore that because they were pumpkin seeds, they had to taste like pumpkin and couldn't get his mind around that. Oh well, Anna even liked them!!!!

September in STL

I went to the awesome consignment sale again and got this adorable outfit for Anna that she wore to the RecPlex park one saturday with our friends Doug and Sonya. It was a pair of bootcut jeans and an Orange poncho/shawl. So fashionable! We had a great time and walked around, watched some PeeWee football, looked at the trees and the pond and even found a turtle!

The next monday, i decided to do a little "fall photoshoot" with Anna in the backyard. We got some pretty good pics by the marigolds in the front of the house ( i planted those when a friend told me it would put me into labor last June! ) Then by the ginormous mums justin planted a year ago when Anna and I first went to San Diego. Then we made our way to the backyard where Anna made beeline for the reservoir running into the storm drain ! So, the picture below shows what happened next... face first dive into mud! I had to take a picture!!!! She was so cute even though she was crying!

We also made homemade playdough! Fun! I knew Anna would try to eat it, so I figured, if i make it myself, i know it doesn't have lead paint or melamine or whatever china poisons children with... so she had fun with it and actually, still plays with it! I just store it in the fridge!

Anna now loves to read books and point out pictures as you say the names of things! Here she decided to read a book to her bear on the couch!

I got to participate in a focus group in September for "People who leaned conservative" It was pretty interesting! One girl had absolutely no idea what conservative meant and ended up convincing herself to vote for Obama in the end since He was the "popular choice" in her Bosnian neighborhood. It seemed like the younger voters didn't really care much about being informed on the issues, but cared what there friends were doing. Kind of disappointing. Heidi was in the focus group too and so her mother-in-law Deb watched Anna along with Avery and sent this picture to us via text message to show how much fun they were having!

3 times to see Ape Grams in 3 months!!!

Ape Grams came to visit again in August! It was not only to see us, but for Jenn and Steve's wedding! We had a great time on the road trip and Anna got to meet Uncle Tom, Aunt

Trish, Matt and Steph, Jenn and Steve, Amy, Aunt Maren, Sarah, Emily and John Laipple as well as Jim and Gretchen! We were going to wait to share the news of second baby, but everyone wondered why i wasn't drinking champagne... dead giveaway! Ali and Kristin had fun playing with Anna and so did Bema! Anna really got tight with Ape grams though and was reaching for her instead of mom after the ceremony...which she and I missed because Anna likes to talk as much as i do:)

Still catching up... August 2008 SECOND BABY NEWS

So, we went down to Memphis again in August to see Gramma and Grandpa Bentz, and Peepaw. We had a fun time, but I kept craving eggs and spicy foods and made Justin stop at taco bell like an hour after breakfast so I could get more food! I remember my mom saying, " Are you pregnant?" I thought... no.. i took a test four days ago... but did i ever look at it? So, i forgot about this until Tuesday, after feeling extremely fatigued monday (from travel of course;) and then i pulled the old test out of the bathroom trash... which was overflowing like always, so it was more like off of the trash, and saw a very, very faint line.... my heart raced... " I don't have any more tests, and justin took the car today!!!!" So, I called my neighbor gail and she brought me a test. ( A top of the line first response test) She said, you don't have to tell me if its positive, i know you want to tell justin first... then left. I took it immediately since anna was napping and I could not wait to find out. A very bold line appeared.... OH MY GOSH!!!! We had just started talking about trying for a second baby, and i guess that alone.... was enough:) I WAS DYING!!!!! I cannot keep good news to myself! SO, i had to call gail, knowing she assumed i was prego anyway and share the joy and discuss how to tell Justin! This had to be good! She had a lot of good ideas, but i had no car or carseat, so... I ended up writing "I'm going to be a big sister!" on a piece of paper and I let Anna color a picture over it. When Justin came home, he was on the phone with Mike, his other wife:), and i couldn't wait! I had anna hand him the picture anyway and he read it outloud, then said, WHAT? really??? and proceded to call everyone he knew to share the news. :)

And five months later... sadly, i guess that's how we roll

Wow! Anna looks so different now! She is a full blown toddler! So, what's new in the last 5 months? Well, "Second baby" is on the way. We will change this term of endearment to make it more specific on November 17 when we find out if its a boy or a girl!!!! Anna is talking up a storm... she loves airplanes, school buses, animals, perfume, shoes, elmo and abby cadabby and organizing things. Justin is doing AMAZING at work and will probably be mad i even said this:) He hates it when i make a big deal out of things (hence the exclamation marks). I can't exactly share what is going on since i don't know what is public info and what is on the down low so i will fill you in later:) SO, lets go back to 4 months ago and start recapping out latest escapades:)

June, 2008

In June, ANNA turned 1!!! She also had to go down for an impromptu nap in the MIDDLE of her party;) What a hostess! We had so much family in town and so much excitement, she refused to nap all day, until.... you guessed it... party time! It was still a great day! Thanks to all of the family who could come! Anna had a blast with Ape Grams, Grampa, Grandpa, Aunt Jess and Logan! Cousin time! Here's a picture of Logan and Anna, only 6 months apart. Later in June, we went down to Memphis... or more specifically Brighton, Tn for my Mom's birthday. Her liver is in pretty bad shape, so she couldn't make it to Anna's party so we came down to see her. Justin cancelled his trip for the opening at Niagara Falls so he could be there with us. It was a good time! We swam a lot (Anna didn't want to leave the pool) and had a Shrimp boil! Yum!! Also Anna enjoyed watching Thomas videos with Logan and chasing around my parents' dogs Brutus and She-ra. Have fun now, Anna... we will not have pets!!!

July 2008

We went to San Diego for our first family vacation in July and had a great time with the Stichter fam! Anna loved the beach, making sand castles with Dad, sunbathing with Aunt Megan and Ape Grams, playing in the waves with Unkie punkies and eating sand! Ape grams was happy to share those memories with Anna since she is a self-proclaimed beach bum:). We also had mexican food in Old Town, breadsticks at Oscars, ate at Islands and Claim Jumper and got to share our old faves with our bffs in STL Marc, Heidi and Avery Sikma:) Anna loved having her best friend on vacation with her. Heidi thought it was funny how the freeway names were all preceded by THE, ie: the 15, the 5, the 8 etc... They also loved churros, which they got to enjoy at Sea World! So fun!! Luckily they sell them here at the Costco snack bar for a dollar a piece! A little bit of home;) We also hit the zoo and In N Out burger and Anna got to share some ice cream and hugs with Grampa! Oh, and thanks Grampa for the cool turtle float! We will have to get one next summer for our house!

Almost 1!!!! where did the time go?

Here's Anna last weekend at the kite festival!

Just an update: she has 2 1/2 teeth, is nearly walking... any day now, says: mama, dada, bye bye, hi, es (yes), dat(that) and she loves to laugh! She likes to try putting on her socks and shoes, doing Itsy Bitsy Spider, playing hide and seek in her tent, and cooking in the kitchen with mom. She is also very active and busy all the time, and extremely strong-willed. We are trying to teach her that no, means no and she should not throw her food on the floor. She seems to like testing us because she will look us (with a very strong glare) in the eye, and do it anyway. We have NO idea who she got this stubborn nature from...:) Nevertheless, she is a huge blessing to us! She is also quite the ham when it comes to facial expressions!

You can see many more pics at : http://picasaweb.google.com/justinstichter/May200802?authkey=RYpVzzKsuS8

TEETHING!!!!!

Anna has crossed over to the dark side... or so it seems. She has been "teething" for the last 5 months off and on, but all of that preparation was nothing compared to this week. She actually has a tooth breaking through and the poor girl is miserable. I had just got her sleeping through the night a month ago *yeah* and now the teething monster had to come along. Two days ago she cried anytime I walked in a direction opposite hers and wasn't happy unless she was in physical contact with me. She has improved during the day, but two or three nights this week, including tonight, she has woken repeatedly screaming in pain. WHEN WILL IT END>>>??? Will all of her teeth be this bad? At least her funny faces have kept us smiling. Pray for patience for me, and rest, and especially an end to pain for Anna.

Ramblings of a stay at home mom...

So, sorry to keep all two of you who read our blog waiting:) We have been needing to write, but lacking in time and/or interesting topics. So, Justin fell asleep on the couch and I am taking this time to blog for us:) Forgive me for my rambling, but i am quite the talker, and Anna just doesn't talk back yet!

Anna turned 9 months old today! Yeah daughter!!! *inside joke* So, she is just getting over a double ear infection and is oh so much fun! We went to the biannual Becky Brooks Recycled kids consignment sale and got some adorable sundresses and jumpers for her to wear this spring and summer. She is now so ginormous that she is wearing 18mos clothing!! She must get her tall, thin stature from me, surely not from the Stichter side:) Anyway, some of the clothes still had tags on them and they are all so stylish! Now I just have to get in shape and go shopping so I can keep up with the little fashionista:) SMILEYS!!! Where is my husband to keep me accountable? Back to Anna, she is starting to say some words... This morning while i was changing her diaper, she waved to me and said Ba Ba! translation: bye bye? So cute! She also said on the phone to justin: HA DA while waving. translation: Hi dad! She loves to dance and shake her little groove thang. Its funny now, but give her 15 years and Dad won't be laughing..
She loves to read books and turn the pages by herself and has started to point at things, although not to communicate, just because she can point now.

So, what about me? Not much really exciting about me... I am still trying to fall into some rhythm where I can manage to keep the house clean, stocked with groceries and meals, pay bills, play with and take care of Anna and then find time for me to shower, get dressed, sometimes run on the treadmill, lift handweights... I feel like sometimes I lose myself in the shuffle. I do get out and spend time with friends from time to time, but I feel like my main focus right now has to be Justin and Anna and I am doing a pretty good job of that. I know that just like Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament says, "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven." The birds sang it well too:) So, right now is my season to enjoy being a mom and wife. I feel really blessed that I have the luxury to be with anna everyday and see her grow and change. I just have to find a way to manage my time better. I have found a new hobby/business venture. Making bows.... Can you tell I went to Baylor? I have put these cute bows in Anna's hair since she was tiny or relatively tiny... and my neighbor Gail said, "We should try and make our own to match their outfits!" So, while Justin was on his last visit to Canada and we were going to be snowed in I got the supplies and taught myself the bow trade:) They are super cute and inexpensive and so we may actually sell them! We'll see where it takes us. I plan to give some as gifts to friends and family too!

Justin plans on posting about his latest project under construction and including pictures so stay tuned... I am so proud of him! He is also trying to juggle his new role as a dad with being a project architect, husband, friend etc... I think he's doing a pretty good job. Its amazing how God gives parents such different strengths. He can get her to sleep like no other, he is a very consistent and patient disciplinarian...(just saying no and deterring her), and I am thankful for him. So, well. Not much else to say now except, warm weather better come soon! We need some sunshine:)

Sooooo.... winter weekends in Missouri are so incredibly exciting! (she said with a hint of sarcasm) Being that I grew up in San Diego; one wardrobe, pretty much 2 seasons.... Sunny and Marine layer, winter and i are NOT on speaking terms... Justin keeps laughing at me..as I write, but i am dead serious! We'll have these days that you look out the window and see nothing but sunshine, then, you walk out into 8* weather! What kind of sick joke is that? I guess the only hope I get this time of year comes from what they say about Missouri weather, "If you don't like it, just wait an hour." Needless to say, we have to get pretty creative with our weekend plans.

So, Friday night we watched the movie, "Trade" which made me sick to my stomach not only from the theme, but the horrible acting.

I am convinced that Redbox is a vending machine for crappy movies... i.e Trade - although I am still hoping that next time I visit the local Redbox, Hannah Montanna will be back in stock. I am secretly addicted t0 Hannah Monanna - it all started when Anna was born. During our hospital visit there was a Hannah Montanna marathon on Disney, and I watched almost the entire thing - I figured that I needed to get up to snuff on "girly" things.

Now the weekend is over, back to Justin working 24/7 and the winter drudgery... I can't wait for Spring! At least I have Anna's silliness to entertain me!

Anna's First Post... ever

Below you will find a message from Anna... she isn't a great speller yet, and Angela is not home to help correct... I figure in a few years we can ask Anna what she was trying to tell the world.





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OUR blog

Well we finnaly decided to make one of these blog thingys... I think I like it better than Facebook - less "so-and-so challenged you to a gay quiz" notices... Anyways, the fun part about this blog, other than Angela's spelling corrections every 5 minutes, is that it is going to be co-created. Both Angela and I will be responsible for content... I know, it's crazy! However, it has also been the source of many debates thus far - i.e. what color palette should we use, blah, blah, blah...



We are going to also self impose strict color options on our text - i.e. Justin types in one color, green; Angela types in another, she hasn't decided yet...



Okay.. Justin already looks a little agitated by my .... advice:) Well-meaning though it may be:)



Apparently Angela's text will also be accompanied by a smiley :) after every 4 words...no... i won't, or at least i will try not to. So, this blog should be a pretty good look into our relationship and family life...that is if we maintain it. It should also be a pretty good communication exercise for our marriage... kind of like our tandem bike. I try not to tell Justin how to write and withhold all advice on spelling and grammar, so that he can speak his mind (eventhough he misspelled finally), then I can wait for my turn... in purple:) dang you smileys!!!