her name

Many have asked if we have chosen a name for our little girl, so I thought it was about time we announce it. Her full name will be Anna Kathleen Kuper, and she will go by Anna Kate.

Anna is a family name on my side. My sister, aunt, second cousin, and great grandmother are all named Anna. Kathleen is J's grandmother. We wanted to honor all of these amazing women. They are truly women we hope our little girl will emulate!

Anna - Hebrew; Gracious, "Full of Grace"

"The angel went to her and said, 'Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.'"

Luke 1:28

Kathleen - Irish; Pure, "Treasured"

"May you be blessed by the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."

Psalm 115:15

we may have a problem

Trip has discovered our secret.

Monkey, fondly referred to now as "Botey", has multiplied from one to four. Now that Trip knows about all of the "Backup Boteys" he wants to sleep with more than one at a time, which leaves me little time to give the monkeys a bath in the washing machine.

Botey from left to right in the picture above: original monkey, monkey #2, monkey #3, monkey #4. There are also backup monkeys at both grandparents' houses - making a total of 6!

Rediculous.
Adorable.
Necessary.

We may have a Botey addict on our hands, but at least he is sleeping.

Lesson Learned

Don't leave the chair pulled out from under the table.

Or else ...
Trip can climb up onto the desk
Play with his dad's pocket knife
Record a few videos on the Flip camera
and Send a few emails

Pumpkin Patch 2010

"You've Got a Friend in Me"

This is Zachary, Trip's best friend. Every day, Trip asks for "Dattery" and Zach frequently says, "Trip is my best friend."

Here they are sitting on the coffee table watching Toy Story and the song "You've Got a Friend in Me" is playing.

Precious!

one step forward, two steps back

This has been my day.

While attempting to fold laundry and straighten our room, Trip pulled all of the clothes out of my drawers.

[I could lie and tell you that typically my drawers are color coded and organized, but I would not get away with it - so ultimately, dumping everything back into the drawers only took a few seconds.]

Trip also found a box of shotgun shells and was running around with one in his mouth. J would be proud and would probably say, "Safety Second."

Coloring & Trucks

Trip loves to color and to play with his trucks. He makes pretty cute sound effects for trucks and cars. Sometimes he eats the crayons and has colored on both the furniture and walls - Good thing Crayola makes washable crayons!

Lately here are the phrases I hear all day long ...

(Trip Language with translation)

"Di yuu?" - Can we color?
"Woody?" (my response - "No, we're not watching Toy Story right now.") "Buzz?" (me - "No, Trip, I said we're not watching Toy Story right now)
"Dee Dee. And Deyond!" - To Infinity. And Beyond! (from Toy Story)
"Dee Trow Daddy!" - Great throw Daddy! (This is a new phrase, but it is my favorite!)

Baby Sister

That's right - We are having a baby girl and Trip is going to have a little sister!

We are so excited to experience the opposite gender, buy pink frilly things, and watch Trip become the protective older brother. We already have a few items for our baby girl. In this picture, Trip is giving her pink Teddy Bear "love" ... and yes, holding a fly swatter with his opposite hand.