Happy birthday, Anna!

Anna did a lot of special things today to celebrate her first birthday. Bryan took the day off from work so he could spend the day with us. First we took her to Sears to have her picture taken.

We got there before the store opened, so we spent a little time looking around the mall...

... and checking out some neat toys.

Once we got home Anna got to open a couple of presents from Mommy and Daddy.

Anna read the instruction manual aloud while Daddy assembled. What a team!

Checking out a new toy!

At lunch Anna got to have a cupcake for dessert. We've discovered that Anna is much more receptive to the idea of cupcakes if we scrape off the icing. This is definitely fine by me!

She doesn't like to have sticky fingers.

After Anna had a nap we took her to a mall to see a monkey. The monkey was wearing clothes and was walking around on a leash. If you gave it a nickel it would take the nickel from you, put it in his pocket, and tip his hat. Anna thought this was pretty interesting. We don't have any photos to show you, though, because you were not allowed to take pictures.

After seeing the monkey we went to Chuck E. Cheese where we met Grandma and Grandpa Van Hal and Uncle Mike for dinner.

If you click on this photo you can see Anna's new tooth on top.

Whew! It was a fun and busy day. Happy birthday, sweet Anna! We love you!