Pumpkins and Bluebonnets: 5 years

There are things in regards to memory making that I greatly regret missing out on in our 4.5 years as a family, (I wish I videoed more, I wish we did yearly family photos, etc).

One thing that I have done right and it brings me immense joy is Annie's biannual photoshoot- Pumpkin Patch and Bluebonnets. It just so happened to be perfect timing- October and April. So I have pictures of Annie every 6 months since we have had her, (her first pumpkin photo was taken the day after her gotcha day!).

I have been and will always be obsessed with Bluebonnet shots, but since I have begun this tradition, I now also love pumpkin patch photos. Here are the collections of the 5 years in the Pumpkins and Bluebonnets- Annie every 6 months since she joined our family. 

Pardon my while I go cry now! 

Check back later this week to see all over our bluebonnet posts over the years, especially the never before seen 2015 bluebonnet pics. :)

Mommy's Wedding Dress

Today is 8 years since our family was established. To celebrate, I let Annie play dress up in my wedding dress. I also did this in 2013, right after she turned 3, (pics below). :)

 4.7.07

In fall 2009 I was able to take pics again in my dress, just for fun. :) (thanks to traci-marie photography).

Please note, I did not edit any photos from today or when she was 3. I definitely need to though! I wanted to get these up though, and I will edit them later. :)

Without further adieu, Annie in my dress today:

 As always, she picks her poses...this one wasn't her best choice! lol I told her to pick another pose after I shot this! lol

 To Annie's joy, I had made my bouquet so I had it around still for her to pose with. :) 

 I figured by the time she actually gets married she may wear contacts so I had her do some pics sans glasses. :)

  

These flower pics make me giggle because they were all her idea, yet you would assume I posed her since this is a classic bridal pose! lol

Since she is playing dress up and is 5, we had her wear her 5 crown as well. :)

 Dumbo*had* to join in, as always...

And for your viewing pleasure, a 3 year old Annie in my dress. :) She wasn't her smiley self that day, but at least I got something! :)

 I got her to play for these, but sadly they are out of focus. :(

SLOW DOWN TIME! It is fun playing dress up, but I know her wedding day will get her before we know it. I *can* wait for that day to come. ;)

Pictures with the Bunny

 Mommy has fallen behind with blogging- there are a ton of posts to come. For now, here are pics of Annie with the bunny. 

We don't "do" Santa or the bunny. However, after visiting Disney, Annie became accustomed to meeting characters. So much so that she insisted on meeting Santa and the bunny! That is fine with me...to her, they are just characters at the mall. They do not come to our house and bring gifts. They are just characters. So, just like the characters at Disney, I am fine with her taking pictures with them. :)

Our local bunny wasn't the cutest, so when we went into town we saw another bunny. I'm glad we did! You'll see below how pricey our mall was with the Santa pics...for the bunny at the other mall, we paid $35 for 1 5x7, 2 4x6, 8 wallets, and ALL of the images could be later downloaded! THAT is a deal! We got ripped off with the Santa pics! He was a great Santa, but I will be looking around for deals like we got with the bunny! 

 In true Annie fashion, the photog pulled out the camera and she started posing! :)

The bunny seemed weirded out with Annie- couldn't figure out how to hold her. :/ Just hold her like any other child! Thankfully though, Annie overcame the awkward hold and still took a beautiful picture. :)

And for your enjoyment, here are her Santa pics:

(pics of pics)

I had to get the picture of Santa checking out and commenting on her nails. :) So sweet!

I had to buy both of these images- $40. :/ There were a few others I wanted to, but I was not about to spend more money! That is why the EB pics were such a deal!

That day we went to Club Tabby and she insisted on getting her make up and nails done. Then we walked/wheeled around the mall all day. We kept passing Santa and she kept requesting to take a pic. How could I say no? We then ran around the mall looking for an outfit to buy to wear in the pictures. I found this shirt, "Making spirits bright." It is like it was made just for Annie! :)

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo 2015

Last Wednesday Annie had an appointment downtown and my mom had the great idea to go to the Rodeo after. Plans changed and Paul was able to join us instead. We missed Nana Nell, but we had a fun family day!

I saw this adorable Sheriff Callie costume at Target and really wanted to buy it, but I practiced some restraint. That was until my mom mentioned the rodeo and then I had to perfect excuse to buy it. ;)

 As always, we did a photoshoot prior to the rodeo. :) 

 She loves coming up with poses...

 What did I tell you about those poses? :)

 Annie with Sheriff Callie and her horse Sparky. 

After a not so pleasant doctor's visit, (urology tests are never fun!), we made it to the Rodeo.

 There are those poses again. :) Notice our beloved Astrodome in the background. :) I used to go to multiple rodeos a year, but it has been a few years. So many in fact that I forgot that it wasn't in the Astrodome anymore! 

We let Annie ride the ponies! 

 I convinced Daddy to let her ride alone. She was tied securely, as were the horses. She'd be fine. Surprised that I was so brave? Don't be. The second they started walking I told Paul to grab her when she came around. I couldn't handle it. Here she is after their first round and Daddy is ready to join her in the walk. Womp. Womp. Womp.

Annie and Pearl :)

Next up was the petting zoo- be still Annie's and my animal loving hearts. :)

 Cows are my favorite! I was so excited!

 After I took this pic, the cow started to turn and I saw its tail in the air. "Paul, move her now!" The cow kept turning and ended with its butt right by Annie's head! I yelled, "Paul MOVE!" He got her out of the way barely in time- she was seconds/inches away from being pooped on, on her head!

 Petting zoos have rules, as they should, and they also have workers to watch out- but parents still need to watch their kids, right?!  Anyway, here is a worker holding this cute chicken for Annie to pet- because it is against the rule to hold any of the animals. Well, my heart hurts when I see this sweet chicken. 5 minutes later I was standing by a small fenced in area where they keep the ducks and chickens. A girl, about 8-10, was standing on the fence, (breaking the rules!) and guess where her mom was...standing right beside her! The worst right? Wrong, it gets much worse. The girl jumped off the fence and jumped right on the chicken! ON IT! The mom's reaction? She just made "eyes" at her daughter. That's it. It took all that was in me not to chew them both out, come on people! Poor chicken.

 Petting zoo take two:

 Someone in the zoo offered to take our pic. :)

 What's not to love? :)

 Annie recently got into the movie Babe- she was very excited to pet "Babe." :)

 We saw Miss Moo and I was a little confused as to why she would be stationed here with this terrible lighting. Oh well, Annie didn't care and was ecstatic to see her! Annie got her pic and Miss Moo blew her a kiss. Then she started walking away. Turns out this was not her photo spot and she was on her way to her break. I didn't know and I thought this was her spot! I felt so bad, we had no idea! I'm still thankful that she took a pic with Annie, she was one of the highlights! :)

You could pay to hold a kangaroo and take a picture with it. We had to do it. :)