The Getter Family!!!

Football Frenzy

2012-02-10T19:31:00.000-08:00

Just a few pictures of my babies just for fun! These were taken the day of the Superbowl and if you look carefully, Anara's skirt has footballs on it and then she has the cheerleader megaphone with the letter A on her shirt. Thought it was fun and festive (and it was given to us so it was free!)

The difference a month makes!

2012-01-31T10:31:00.000-08:00

2 Months!

2012-01-30T11:34:00.001-08:00

Lynnea turned two months! You hear from every mother how it goes by so quickly and I agree with them! We had some issues with her being pretty fussy but finally figured out that it was because I was dieting and I wasn't producing enough milk. I started eating more and imagine that, I have a happy baby again! Losing weight will just have to wait because having a happy baby is much more important!

She is definitely more aware of her surroundings and alert which makes her more fun. She has started smiling which is my favorite milestone! I just love those big toothless grins! She has also started cooing but more importantly, she has started grunting. Wow, this kid loves to grunt. It is so cute!

My Sweet Girls!

2012-01-24T14:55:00.001-08:00

I have such sweet girls! It is amazing to me how much Anara has accepted and loves Lynnea. When I pick Anara up from school, she always has to say hello to her sister before I get any recognition. Anara keeps talking about all of the things they will do together when Lynnea gets bigger and seems to have no jealousy towards Lynnea when I am focusing on Lynnea and not Anara. It is so sweet!

As Sweet As A Rose!

2012-01-04T14:41:00.001-08:00

Anara had her first hair cut today! At first she was very apprehensive about it but then she became excited. Since she was a little nervous, I took her to a kid hair place. We walked in and she just stood there and said, "Wow!" It was a huge room full of toys. Every kids dream! When it was her turn she sat on tractor and watched a princess movie. She was a little nervous at first but the movie won her over. When he was finished he asked her if she wanted him to braid her hair like a princess. If you gave any thought to her answer just now, you don't know my daughter! She gave a very big yes! When we were leaving she became a little upset and I asked her what was wrong. She said that she was sad because she had princess hair but he didn't give her a princess crown! Love that kid!

We then went to Michael's to get some things and she just HAD to buy a rose for her Aunt Connie's wedding. She is going to be the flower girl and is very excited. She keeps trying to convince her Aunt Connie that she needs to change the wedding colors from Red to Pink. I don't think her Aunt Connie is listening!

Lynnea's first month!

2011-12-31T16:12:00.000-08:00

Wow! Lynnea is already one month old. Time flies!!! She is a pretty good baby. She can get a little fussy at times but overall she sleeps great so no complaining here! From very early on she was sleeping 6 hours at night. LOVED IT! But then the doctor got worried because she didn't seem to be gaining enough weight so he decided I needed to wake her up every three hours at night to feed her more. Boo!!! She thought so too! She basically boycotted those extra feedings and refused to participate. We tried it for three or four nights and then I gave up. Plus we were watching her weight and it was improving so I just stopped worrying about it. She is now up to 6 1/2 or 7 hours at night. Very nice!

She LOVES movement. She wants to be bounced or swung 90% of her day. If she isn't being moved, she is probably fussy! She is also a lot more mobile than Anara was. Anara didn't want to move at all when you would put her down but Lynnea has already rolled over in both directions. She has only done each once though so it could just be a fluke. Here are some pictures of her first month!

We are going to take monthly pictures so we can watch her
grow month to month. Here is month 1!

Here is her first bath experience. She wasn't a huge fan!
Anara enjoyed helping bathe Lynnea though!

I know this post is about Lynnea but I thought this picture was cute!

All dried off and Happy again!

Pictures in her Christmas and Connie's wedding dress

Lynnea and her daddy!

What is Christmas without Friends?

2011-12-31T13:57:00.001-08:00

We are so blessed with such wonderful friends!!! My friend Valerie is very crafty and she made these fabulous outfits for the girls and their brothers. So of course....we had to take special pictures! Do you know how hard it is to get an organized picture with 7 kids? IMPOSSIBLE! But we are ever optimists and had to try! :)

From Left to Right: Aiden, Maya, Addy, Stephen, Anara, Libby and Maggie

Holding hands walking through Bass Pro!

We tried to get a picture with all of the girls but poor Libby
was afraid of Santa... Here are 4 of them at least!

Valerie holding Stephen and Linnea holding Aiden.
And yes, it was pouring down raining outside!

Best Friends!!!

Anara and Addy were so excited to go see Santa that they took off at a full run!

Again, trying to get all seven to take a decent picture. Impossible but fun!

Christmas Fun!

2011-12-31T06:48:00.000-08:00

Naturally with Anara being three, we had to visit Santa! Three times to be exact! She was so excited this year and had no trouble sitting on his lap. She did get shy and have a hard time talking to him. She had been telling us for months (yes, months!) that she was going to ask Santa for a Diego Sea Turtle. When the time came to actually tell Santa what she wanted, she said a brown teddy bear! She then told us that she wanted a brown Teddy Bear and Lynnea was going to tell Santa that she wanted a white teddy bear. Well....guess what Anara and Lynnea got from Santa!

My precious girls with Santa!

How blessed am I!

I LOVE this onesie that Aunt Betsy gave Lynnea. It says
All Mommy Wants for Christmas is a Silent Night. Love it!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-25T18:20:00.000-08:00

I LOVE my babies! I was able to get some great Christmas pictures of them! It has been a tough Christmas because of Ben's work schedule but I keep reminding myself that hopefully this is the end of his hard work months. Hopefully things will be better from now on and we will really be able to enjoy the holiday in the future.

These pictures remind me that even though things aren't perfect, we have SOOOOOO much to be thankful for!

Introducing Lynnea Faye Getter!!!!

2011-12-09T12:45:00.001-08:00

Lynnea is here! Well, technically today is December 9th and she came on November 25th but give me a break! I have a brand new baby and blogging takes time! She is perfect, the delivery went perfect, I am doing perfect...we are so blessed! So far she has been an excellent baby! She sleeps great, eats great and is a very easy going baby. I am going to look into investing in diapers though because wow, she has to have a clean one at all times so we will spend a fortune on diapers! :)

She is not a big fan of light and was very reluctant to open her eyes at first. She is also already a much more active baby than Anara was. Anara rolled over only once from belly to back and back to belly and did them pretty late. Lynnea rolled over from her back to her belly at a little before 1 week and rolled from her belly to her back before 2 weeks. Other than that she reminds me so much of Anara at this age. They even look amazingly similar! Lynnea, welcome to the family!

A Family of Four!

2011-12-09T11:39:00.001-08:00

We are adjusting well to being a family of four. It has been a little hard due to Ben being on wards this month and his job being very stressful and not a lot of time at home but we are making it work. Anara adores her baby sister and has been a very big helper! Here are some pictures of our first few days together!

Here are some pictures we took of Lynnea in the hospital while we were waiting to leave.

Here is Anara posing for us at the hospital. 'Lynnea' gave Anara a gift the first time they met. It was a baby doll, a car seat that matched Lynnea's car seat as well as a diaper bag filled with cloth diapers, a blanket and bottles. Anara loved her gift!

My babies together!!!!

Here are pictures from when we brought Lynnea home from the hospital. It is hard to tell but Anara is wearing a matching outfit to Lynnea but her shirt says Big Sis on it.

Of course we had to introduce Minnie to the new baby!

Anara has been so sweet to Lynnea. Anara wanted to share her doll with Lynnea while she was sleeping!

Anara thought that it was Lynnea's turn to be princess!

As Anara likes to say, I LOVE my family!

Comparison

2011-11-28T09:51:00.000-08:00

I am going a little out of order but I wanted to see a comparison of Anara and Lynnea at basically the same age (only a few days) so I decided to go ahead and post this! In this picture, Anara seems to have a skinnier face but to me they look exactly alike! Love my girls!

Anara - 2008

Lynnea - 2011

Halloween Party!

2011-10-29T19:33:00.000-07:00

We went to a Halloween party this evening and had a ton of fun! It is great to have all of the kids AND their parents dress up! I was very excited because I won for best female costume and Ben and I won for best couples costume! Yay! Plus Anara makes a pretty cute butterfly if I do say so myself!

Dora the Explorer

2011-10-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

This is Anara's routine for the Dora the Explorer intro.

Anara's Three Year Pictures

2011-10-08T18:32:00.000-07:00

Each year close to Anara's birthday we have taken her to a park here in Tulsa and taken pictures. This year I made her a petty skirt and a matching shirt for the pictures. She looked so cute and Ben has become a fabulous photographer. Of course it is easy when your subject is just so darn cute! :)

Crazy Cousins!

2011-10-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

Ben had a week off so we decided to do something we have been wanting to do for a long time and go visit Ben's Uncle RM and Aunt Julie and cousin Elizabeth in Arkansas. Elizabeth has three kids and wow, Anara LOVED playing with her cousins. She had a great time and Ben and I really loved catching up with everyone!

This is Anara and Annie riding around in Annie's jeep!

Annie coming down the slide

Anara coming down the slide

Rhett on the swing

Me with baby Cole!

Anara LOVED the trampoline!

Rhett is just too cute!

Field Trip to the Zoo!!!

2011-10-06T16:33:00.000-07:00

Anara's school took a field trip to the zoo. We had a lot of fun!

A picture towards the end of the day when she was

getting tired but still so cute!

I just loved this pose that she is doing while looking at the penguins!

Here is Anara trying to climb the big rock

Anara's friends all made it to the top! (With lots of help!)

Petting the goats with Libby

Brushing the goat with Addy

Monkeying around!

The three amigos!

The princesses getting the princess treatment.

It's a Relaxing Kind of Day!

2011-10-02T05:41:00.001-07:00

Ben and I are finally getting to enjoy my parents lake house for a few days. My parents are keeping the little one so it is just Ben and I (well, plus the dogs and Lynnea making her presence known in my huge belly!).

Of course since we don't have Anara to wake us up early and we are planning on sleeping in, we end up waking up early anyway. Boo! Oh well, we were able to sit on the back porch and watch the sun rise over the lake. It is a little chilly so Ben and I are snuggled up in warm robes but the poor dogs wanted to be with us but they were too cold. Ben scooped up Minnie, put her in his robe and she was as happy as could be. She loved it and I thought it was a picture worthy moment!

Playing Putt Putt!

2011-09-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

We decided to take Anara today for her first putt putt experience. It was great!!!! She loved it! One thing is for sure, we certainly don't have a future pro golfer on our hands but that didn't stop any of our enjoyment.

First off, she HAD to have a pink ball. No other color
was acceptable and was a little upset that her
putter couldn't be pink too.

She did feel that she understood the game enough to give mom
and dad tips! Each time she had to point out the hole to us to make
sure we didn't miss it and help us retrieve the ball after each turn.

She was a little bunny and kept hopping around
everywhere. Ben managed to get a picture of her
levitating in the air!

Here are some pictures of her being cute! I love this first
one when she looked through the hole and saw her daddy!

And like I said, not the next Tiger Woods. (Which is
probably a very good thing!) Here are a few pictures
of her "attempts" to putt the ball.

I thought this next grouping of pictures was funny. She was
doing a queen of the mountain and was so happy and then took
a step forward on to the incline and all of a sudden was
unsure of herself and unsteady on her feet.

1st Day of School!

2011-09-06T18:37:00.000-07:00

Today was Anara's first day of pre-school at Broken Arrow Kids Kare. She has a new teacher and was very excited! Of course I had to dress her up and take pictures! Before looking at the pictures, a reminder of what she looked like this time last year. It is amazing how grown up she has become in the last year!

Now here she is this year!

LOVE HER!!!!!

Anara is 3!!!

2011-08-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

I know that everyone always says "I can't believe my baby is..."but I completely understand it. I can't believe that Anara is three. She has brought so much joy into our lives and I can't imagine life without her. This post is extremely long and simply for me so that I can dedicate a little blurb on what she is doing now in this stage of her life. It is mostly for Ben and I to be able to refer back to in the future and remember this fun, entertaining, yet trying stage!

She certainly keeps us on our toes! For instance, she talks....ALL THE TIME!!! We like to describe it as 'Anara narrates her life'. EVERY thought that goes through her head has to be mentioned. And she wants confirmation that you heard her or feedback on what we think. It can be very entertaining and interesting to hear what she has to say but exhausting too! For instance, her current thought process on getting the baby out is to get some stairs and put them by my belly and the baby can walk down the stairs. Hilarious!

We don't let her watch much tv but when we do, all she wants to watch is Dora and Diego. She LOVES them! I swear my child knows more Spanish then I do. The other day she was eating and all of a sudden starts yelling out Ayudeme, Ayudeme. I had no clue what that meant until I asked her and she said, help me! She had dropped her spoon. Then later we were talking about Minnie (or dog) taking dance classes with Anara (Anara was very disappointed that Minnie would not get to come) and I said she couldn't dance because she didn't have legs. Anara said, "Yes she does, see...Uno, Dos, Tres, Quatro. Mom, she has four legs! I only have two legs." Like I said, she cracks me up!

She has also turned very affectionate. I was worried when she was a baby because she wasn't very loving. Never wanted to snuggle or get close. I never rocked her to sleep when she was little because she would never rest her head on my shoulder. She had to be up looking around at all times. Now, she has become very affectionate and I love it! She tells us how much she loves us all the time and loves giving and getting hugs and kisses. They are so sweet and make my heart melt every time!

And, boy! This girl can be outgoing! It is all about her comfort level though. If a situation is new or unfamiliar to her, in the mouth goes her thumb and she shuts down completely. (Don't get me started on that thumb and her constant companion the blanket!) On the flip side though, if she is comfortable in her environment, she is very outgoing and certainly not shy! She will talk to anyone and everyone and tell them the most random things. Her current favorite thing to tell strangers is that Ursula is a bad lady and she is very mean to Ariel. (We are also going through a Disney princess phase where she likes to dress up and read about them. Ariel is her favorite) I admit it is very funny watching people's reactions to Anara. Luckily she is cute about it so people are nice.

So far Anara seems to be a very big rule follower and doesn't want to make mommy and daddy upset. That has helped with discipline. Time out doesn't really work for her (she started making a game out of it) but counting to three does. We rarely have to worry about what happens if we get to three and she has not complied. For the most part she is accepting of the fact when I say no or tell her she can only have one of something. She has this great way of saying ok that is hilarious. Anytime Ben or I have a soft drink, she also has this cute way of tilting her head and saying "one sip?" And she is very good about taking one sip and gladly giving the drink back. Sometimes the sips can be......long.....but for the most part they are just regular short little sips and she is happy as can be about getting it.

Anara is VERY excited about being a big sister. She asks me almost everyday if the baby has come yet. She has no idea that there will be no way for her to miss that event! I told her that the baby had to grow big and strong first and that she wouldn't come until it was close to time for Santa to come. Now she tries to convince me everyday that it is winter and cold outside and that Santa will be coming soon. So sweet. She also talks all the time about what she wants to do with the baby. What she wants to feed her, give her, how she wants to show her around Playtime, and she wants to share everything with her. She will come and put things on my belly and say she is sharing them with her sister. I hope this sharing continues when the baby is actually here! That is another thing she likes to share with strangers, how her mommy is having a baby and she is going to be a big sister!

She is very big into learning and scares me with how smart she seems to be. She loves playing Apple (Starfall.com) so much so that we got her her own computer for her to play on. It is an incredibly educational website and has taught her so much. She knew all of her letters (uppercase and lowercase) by 18 months, could tell you what sound each letter made by 2 years and could sound out words by 2 and a half. She doesn't really like to sound out words yet though because it takes too much time and she would much rather we do it for her so I am not pushing it. She can also recite books pretty much word for word that we read on a regular basis.

Overall we are so in love with her and thank God everyday for this perfect angel he has put into our lives. Anara, we love you so much!

Flower Girl!

2011-08-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

Connie is getting married! We are so excited for Connie and Will! Thankfully the wedding date isn't until January so I won't be pregnant but it will be one month after giving birth.... Connie, can you rethink the date to give me a little more time to lose weight???

Anyway, even though it is still several months away, I picked up Anara's rehearsal dinner and flower girl dress. We had our fall Just Between Friends sale yesterday (if you are a parent and don't know what this is, look it up! Greatest thing ever!!!) I picked up her rehearsal dress for $8 (brand new still with tags reading $40) and her flower girl dress for $10. We are probably going to change the bow to red to match Connie's wedding colors but couldn't pass up on the deal!

Here are pictures of the rehearsal dinner dress. Anara was very disappointed that she doesn't get to wear pink for her flower girl dress so we promised her a pink dress for the rehearsal. She decided this was an acceptable plan as long as she got a pink dress out of it! (Oh and I still have to get shoes for both dresses so we just left her in the shoes she had on. Use your imagination!)

At first Anara was very sad about the flower girl dress (refer to the comment about it not being pink) but then she tried it on and all of a sudden she is in love with it and keeps calling it her wedding dress. She told me she was a true princess in it. She went around the house saying Princess Anara! It is a little on the big side so we might need to take it in a little but then again, it is several months away so she might grow before then! There is also really fancy embroidery on the front that is hard to see in the pictures unless you look carefully. Beautiful work, just hard to see because of the lighting.

First Dance Class!

2011-08-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

Anara had her very first dance class this week! I am not sure who was more excited, me or her! I promised I wouldn't be one of those moms, but she was just so cute about the whole dance class thing! Wearing her tap shoes around the house...

Well, I would say it was a huge success! She loved it! She did very well considering it was her first class. She had trouble staying on her assigned X and never really got 1st position down but other than that, she followed directions well and participated fully. No better than the other kids in her class but I was am still a proud little momma!

After the class, she talked all day long about it and didn't want to take her dance clothes off for the entire day. Am I a bad parent that I didn't make her??? We will see if she continues to enjoy it this much!

Car Seat Recover

2011-08-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

I was scared to death to try this project but I really wanted to do it! I decided to recover Anara's old car seat for Linnea (or Lynnea, still working on spelling). The great thing was that if it worked, I was going to get a new car seat for only $20. The bad was that if it didn't work, it was going to cost around $80 for a new cover. I was scared but determined. And guess what....couldn't be happier with the outcome!

Here is what it originally looked like when we took Anara home from the hospital. I always liked it but never really loved it. I decided this time around I wanted to love it!

I even had enough fabric left over to make a matching travel size blanket for her! Really happy with how it turned out and is the perfect size.

Tell the Dr. Rope is needed!

2011-07-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

Had to share a funny story! Anara was looking at my belly and told me that the baby was in my belly button. I asked her how the baby was going to get out of my belly just to see what she would say. She got a very pensive look on her face and then said, "I have some rope in my backpack and we can use that to pull the baby out." Wow! So funny! She cracks me up!

For those that don't know, Anara is OBSESSED with Dora. Obsessed isn't a strong enough word actually for how she feels about Dora. For those that are lucky enough not to be familiar with Dora, she has a backpack that she keeps supplies like rope and other things in. So that is where part of her thought process comes from at least. I just thought this was funny and wanted to share!

All grown up!

2011-06-05T16:56:00.001-07:00

It has been awhile since I have posted on the blog. So sorry! Life has been busy! For those that don't know, I am expecting Getter Rugrat #2 due sometime around Dec. 1st. We are very excited but this baby hasn't been as nice to me as Anara was. A little bit of morning sickness and very tired. I am finally in my second trimester so things are getting better!

This morning we were getting ready for church and Anara decided she liked my shoes better than hers. It was just too cute, we had to get out the camera! She is growing up so fast and is such a big girl! She talks NON-STOP and is figuring out her way in the world. I love watching her even though she wears me out!

She is such a big girl!!! All grown up!

Please excuse the mess. Our weekend project was to try and
start cleaning out the new babies room and so we are getting
ready to put things on craigslist.

Ben was trying to get a serious picture.

Fun Time With Granddaddy!

2011-06-05T16:39:00.000-07:00

My dad came up for a quick visit (I think it is just an excuse to spend time with Anara) and we got some great pictures of her and her granddaddy!

I have no idea why only half of her hair is done but I thought these pictures were so cute I just had to post.

Granddaddy is so funny!

Especially when he is tickling!

I thought this was just a perfect picture of my
stoic daughter. Very pensive, thumb in her mouth,
holding her blanket. Love those blue eyes!

Anara loves her bike from Uncle Mike and so she had to
show Granddaddy how she could ride her bike!

It was hard riding in her dress but that didn't stop her!

Beach Babe!

2011-06-05T16:18:00.000-07:00

We went on a big family trip to the Cayman Islands with Ben, Anara, and me, as well as my mom and dad and my sister and her fiance Will. We had a GREAT time! My parents have a time share there and so we had a huge two bedroom place with a loft room upstairs, a living room and a kitchen. Not to mention a fabulous view of the ocean!!!!

Anara having fun at one of the beaches we went to and
snorkled. Anara obviously couldn't snorkle so she had
a good time hanging out on the beach.

This is Connie and Will

Ben being a good daddy and taking care of Anara's
friends while she put on sunscreen.

Anara having fun on the elevator. Normally as a family we try to take
the stairs for exercise but it would take Anara 10 years to go up or
down because she was too busy talking and wouldn't move very fast
so we gave up and just took the elevator most of the time.

Anara building sand castles on the beach. She even built the Great Wall of China!

This is a picture of our resort behind Anara while she is on the beach.

Funny Story!

2011-04-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

Ben and I took Anara to a FABULOUS donut shop in Tulsa this morning. They have great tasting donuts but what made them really special is that they are shaped and decorated. They had flowers, hello kitty's, ladybugs, aliens, sports items....you name it. They were so cute! So with all of these really great donuts, what does my daughter choose? A football! She never wavered. As soon as she saw the football, that is what she wanted! She knew her daddy would be proud!

Thank goodness warm weather is back!

2011-03-21T12:00:00.001-07:00

Oh I am so thankful that it is warm weather again and we can get out and play with our friends. (For both Mommy and Anara!) We had a wonderful day at the zoo today with friends. Perfect weather!

A picture of the 3 musketeers riding in the wagon together!

They had so much fun getting to actually pet the turle!

I never really stood a chance of all four of the kids looking at the
camera at the same time but at least here I managed to get all
four of them in the shot! Libby, Addy, Drew and Anara!

This is Anara and Addy brushing the goats hair.

The girls are trying to get the brushes out of the bucket.

Colorful Fun!

2011-02-20T16:46:00.001-08:00

Being snowed in for two weeks created a need to entertain a certain two year old! We decided to finger paint and Anara loved it! I decided it was best to go ahead and take off anything that I didn't want paint on and we did it right next to the bathtub so when finished I just picked her up and put her straight in the water.

She thought it was great having
paint all over her hands!

Showing off her picture that she painted!

Showing off the picture that Mommy painted.

Record Breaking Snow!

2011-02-02T18:01:00.001-08:00

Holy Moley do we have a lot of snow! Tulsa has had a record breaking blizzard and we received a ton of snow. Not really sure how much but we guess 13 to 14 inches. Let's just say we see snow....everywhere!

I am sooooo thankful that Ben is on clinic this month because they have canceled for the past two days and for tomorrow as well. Some of the poor people that are working at the hospital are having to sleep there because you have to be at work no matter what! It has been so nice having Ben home with the family, especially after January being such a tough month with him on ICU!

This year Anara is very excited about the snow and loves going out and playing in it. The only way we can get her back inside is to promise hot chocolate which she loves!

This is of Anara when we went outside and it was still snowing.
We didn't stay out too long because it was too cold
and the snow made your face freeze!

This gives you an idea of how much snow we received!!!

The dogs can't even go outside in the backyard because of the wall of snow!

Ben had to dig a trench for us to be able to get to the
road so that we could sled down the hill.

Anara and her mommy!

Anara and her daddy!

My grandfather gave us a really old sled when we moved up "north"
to a place that might get snow. I did not expect that we would have
such wonderful opportunities to use it both last year and this year!
At first Anara was very afraid and not sure that she liked it.

I then took a turn and all of a sudden she LOVED it and wanted to ride
on it. She then couldn't get enough and had a ton of fun!

A Snowy Good Time!

2011-01-21T10:02:00.000-08:00

We have snow! Not a ton but enough to have a little fun. Anara really likes the snow this year compared to last year where she was really scared of it!

I tell you, it might be a lot of fun to play in but it takes a ton of work to get ready to just go outside! We bundled all up and then I tried to put gloves and mittens on her. Now that was an interesting task!

Here she is ready to go outside!

She is so bundled up she had a hard time moving around!

She tried to play in her playhouse but again, had trouble moving her body!
I finally conceded a little and changed her out of her warm
gloves into mittens that weren't as warm but easier to move around in!

Playing on her swing set!

She was very upset that there was snow on her slide and had to have
me remove it before she would climb up.

Going down the slide!

We couldn't stay out long because while she was bundled up tight, mom
wasn't and I thought my hands were going to fall off from pushing the
snow off of her swing set. We had to go inside but still had a lot of fun!

Cute Anara Story

2011-01-17T13:23:00.000-08:00

I am using this blog as a way to document some of the cute things Anara does or says so here goes!

Anara asked me where all of the snow went. I tried to explain that when the sun hits the snow, the snow melts. She thought for awhile, and then told me that the sun needed to go to timeout for hitting the snow. Too cute!

My little Diva!

2011-01-15T06:15:00.000-08:00

Oh dear! I am afraid I am going to have a handful when she gets older. She is all girl and can be very dramatic. Here is her playing dress up before Christmas.

Waiving to her royal subjects!

Christmas with the fam!

2011-01-15T05:55:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Christmas in high style this year since Anara finally understood what was going on and LOVED IT! Here are some pictures from our wonderful Christmas!

Here is Anara and Grace in Grace's Christmas gift.

A pink Barbie Jeep!

Anara had two favorite Christmas gifts this year. One was a 50 cent old style barbie camera that she takes everywhere and says, "Say Cheese" and clicks the button. I wonder if we put film in it if it would actually work but we haven't bothered. Her other favorite was a vacuum cleaner from her Nana. She is obsessed with vacuuming our house. Not that I am complaining because while it doesn't pick up a lot, it does pick up some dirt!

Here is Hunter and Aunt Sarah!

This obviously isn't her Barbie camera but she loves cameras!

Anara got to play dress up in her Aunt Connie's pilot uniform on Christmas morning. She is also obsessed with airplanes so maybe we have another future pilot in the family. I would love that because I don't want to lose my passes!

There is nothing better than being snuggled up with some of my favorites!

We love Mimi!

2010-12-25T08:36:00.001-08:00

Ode to Mimi from Ben Getter on Vimeo.

Holiday Fun!

2010-12-24T10:42:00.001-08:00

This year I decided to throw a small holiday dinner party and we had so much fun!!! Everyone had to cook two things (either main course, a side or a dessert) and bring to the party. They also had to send me a copy of the recipes before the party. We then set everything out and you could sample from several different recipes! Then when everyone left, I gave them copies of all the recipes that they had tried that night.

We had a ton of fun, laughed a lot and ate a lot of really great food! A special thanks to my grandmother for giving me beautiful Christmas dishes that we could use! We will definitely be doing this again!

Christmas Love!

2010-12-14T18:18:00.000-08:00

We decided to take some pictures of Anara with the Christmas tree. There are a bunch of pictures but I couldn't decide which ones were my favorite! The older she gets, the harder it gets to keep her still and focused for picture time. :)

Family Love!

2010-12-07T19:03:00.001-08:00

The family that I love! I am blessed beyond belief and this picture sums it up. This was just a lazy Saturday morning spending time with the family. Anara still looks sleepy in this picture!

It takes awhile for Anara to wake up in the morning but once she does she is all smiles!

Anara is riding on a tricycle that was mine when I was her age. My parents tell me that I put miles and miles on that thing. Anara has started liking it as well! Unfortunately I have tripped over it many times because it seems to find itself in random places.

You will have to excuse the mess of the playroom! Once upon a time I would try and clean it up all the time but she would have it messed up by the time I finished cleaning it so I finally gave up.

Such a cutie!

Christmas Tree

2010-11-26T19:23:00.001-08:00

We decorated our Christmas Tree tonight. Anara was so excited!!! She has been obsessed the past couple of days with Christmas and Christmas trees and she was so excited about it! I had an ornament with a picture of Anara from last year at Christmas and I was so amazed at the difference one year can make. I can't help but think of what our lives will be like next year!

Here is a picture from Dec. 09!

Football Fun!

2010-11-25T13:06:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago our church had a father/son football game. Ben played. Yes, we know he doesn't have a son but the old guys needed more people and it was fun! Anara and I went to cheer him on! (Oh and the old guys won 62-7 by the way!)

Anara playing with the dogs.

Ben and Derek

Libby and Anara didn't understand why they couldn't run out on the field!

Here is an action shot. Can you spot Ben?

Anara and Libby had a great time!

"I'm Raining!"

2010-10-14T18:08:00.000-07:00

A very wise person told me that I should use this blog to record all of the funny things Anara does so I can remember them when she is older. So here it goes!

I was giving Anara a bath and it was time to get out so she stood up and shook herself a little bit. Her eyes got really big, she got a very pensive look on her face and sat back down in the water. She then stood back up and shook the water off again and starting yelling "I'm Raining!!!" It was toooooooo cute!!!! Love that little girl!

Zoo Trip #1

2010-10-07T18:37:00.001-07:00

As the title of the post implies, we had two fabulous trips to the zoo two weeks in a row. Anara's school had a field trip to the zoo. On the day of the trip, there was a huge water main break and all school was canceled. Well, a bunch of us decided to go anyway! This was trip #1! We had a great time with friends and the weather was perfect. Loved it!!!

I love these next two pictures of the three musketeers.
They are sooooo cute together!

Say Cheese!!!

Anara playing Peek-A-Boo with me

Here is Anara trying to "give some pound" to Drew.

Anara was sweet and gave Drew a hug but he wasn't too sure about it. He couldn't hurt his chances with the other ladies. He had his pick! Three ladies for only one boy!

A huge climbing rock

Thanks Josh for putting Anara up on the huge rock. She loved it!

Zoo Trip #2!

2010-10-07T18:26:00.001-07:00

Here are pictures from the second zoo trip that we took. This was actually with Anara's class making up for the day we missed because of canceling school. Luckily we didn't do a single repeat thing on this second trip and of course Anara loved it. Problem now is that she thinks anytime we are going to school that means going to the zoo!

Here is a picture of Addy and Anara playing together at the park.

It was so sweet watching the girls hold hands together!

Everyone enjoyed the Penguins!

We attempted to take a picture of the whole class looking at
the camera but that was just about impossible.
This is the best I could get!

Roma!!!

2010-09-19T13:52:00.001-07:00

Ahhhh.....Rome. It was wonderful. We had such a great time! First off, I want to thank my parents for letting us come with them and share their 3 bedroom apartment. It was wonderful! We had a living room, a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen and a small balcony on the first floor. Then we had two bedrooms, a bathroom, a wonderful balcony and a very small living area in the upstairs. It was perfect!

I wanted to give just a short detailed description of our trip for anyone that is interested.

Day 1: Ostia Antica

We were REALLY jet lagged so we had a pretty easy day and just went to Ostia Antica. It used to be the port town for Rome but was abandoned when the river changed course. It was nice because there weren't a lot of people there and we could do a leisurely tour on our own. The town must have been HUGE because we didn't even see a good portion of it and spent several hours there. The mosaic floors were amazing and it is interesting to see just how advanced they were back around the time of Christ.

Day 2: Colosseum and Roman Forum

We got up early and were at the Colosseum right when it opened. The Colosseum reminds me of the movie Gladiator and they actually did a good representation of it in the movie. The size is just overwhelming and what really surprises me is that as soon as you start walking out of the subway station, it just seems to rise up with how large it is. I am saddened to think of the massacres that took place there but marvel at the construction of it.

We then walked over to the Roman Forum where the government of Rome was. There is so much that has been destroyed but you can just imagine what it must have been like.

Day 3: Pompeii

All I can say is WOW. It was one of my favorite things we did last time in Rome and it was one of my favorites again. The preservation of the city is just amazing. It is a city frozen in time. We were amazed at how much more they have uncovered since we were there last. A good portion of what we looked at while there was new to us. It is so neat to see their houses, how their rich and poor used to live, the paintings on the walls, and then to see the aftermath of the volcano and the bodies that they found.

Day 4: Vatican

Again, I have to say WOW. (I know, I am very verbose!) If you have never been, you could never understand the opulence that is St. Peter's Cathedral. St. Peter's square is massive and so impressive but then to walk into the cathedral is..... beyond breathtaking. I do admit (sorry to any Catholics that are reading this) but I kept thinking of all of the money spent on the cathedral and square that could have gone to people in need.... But then we did the math on approximately how much money they take in a day from tourists and.... we think they take in a little under a million euros a day from entrance fees, audio fees, souvenirs, the post office! No matter if you are Catholic or not, the Vatican is something that everyone should experience at some point. The Sistine chapel is just breathtaking and so intriguing to just sit and look at and they have soooooo much art at the museum. Amazing is just the word to describe everything to do with the Vatican!

Day 5: Trip to the country

I LOVED this day!!! We spent the day driving in the country and visited two hilltop towns. The Italian countryside is so beautiful. It just seems to roll into the horizon and is dotted by vineyards everywhere with small stone houses. The towns are so old but yet preserved and amazing to walk through. The streets barely can fit a car (yet it will be a two way street!).

The first city we stopped at was Civita di Bagnoregio. WOW!!! (I need a new word!) It is a very old city that is almost abandoned but it is situated on a very small hilltop. And when I say situated, it is literally falling into the canyons that surrounds it due to natures erosion. You can only get to it by a very long walkway that goes over the canyon. (No cars can get to the city!) If you are afraid of heights, do not go to this city!!! They views were beyond words and the experience is something I will always treasure. It is really like going back in time.

The second city we went to was Orvietto. It too is a town on top of a hilltop but it was much larger and still very much a well lived in town. We didn't get a good picture from far away but it did have an amazing church that was beautiful. This town is known for their amazing wine and it certainly was!

Day 6: Rome: Mamertine Prison, Fountain of Trevi, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, and the streets of Rome

We went to the prison where Peter was held prior to being crucified upside down on the cross and while it was very powerful, I was disappointed in the commercialism of it. They have now made it a talking tour and they just tried too hard. It took away the magnetic power of what God did through Peter in the prison.

We went to the Pantheon which is the oldest surviving Roman Church.

The Fountain of Trevi is beautiful but a huge tourist attraction and a ton of people were there. The tradition says that if you throw money into the fountain over your shoulder, that you are sure to return someday. It worked for me 9 years ago so we made sure to do it again because I would love to return someday!

Thoughts on Rome:

First off, the traffic was intense to say the least. I am beyond impressed with my father for returning the rent car with no damage to it. They drive like maniacs!!! Literally! A two way street would be divided into 5 lines. Not kidding! You would have two cars side by side in one lane. Then, the line dividing the two lanes is the motorcycle lane. I think about a fourth of the traffic was motorcycles and they would weave in and out of traffic and pass within inches of your car at top speeds. I don't know how any of them leave the house thinking they are going to make it to their destinations alive! There were MANY times that I had to close my eyes from in the back seat because it was just too scary for me to watch! In some of the little country towns, the road would barely be enough for one car but it would be a two lane road. I can't count the number of times that I looked forward and there was a car directly in front of us. Scared me to death!!! Let's just say that you wouldn't find any huge SUV's that we drive here in America over there!

Second, I could have lived without going on their subways. I felt like a sardine trapped among other Sardines that didn't bathe as often as I do and smelled.... Not my favorite experience from our trip! There is A LOT that we can learn from Europeans and how they live a frugal life but one thing they should learn from us is how to bathe!!!!

All in all, we had a great time and are so thankful for my parents that taught me at a young age the importance of knowing about history and other countries cultures.

Video Gamin'

2010-08-26T17:26:00.001-07:00

Sigh.... Ben has already trained Anara in his evil ways! One night she was saying her evening prayers and thanked God for football. (Which I am completely ok with!) Then two nights later she thanked God for Dr. Pepper. Now, he has her playing video games. Oh dear! She really likes it and thinks that she is playing the game. Here are a few pictures of her playing with her daddy.

First Day of School!!!!

2010-08-17T14:34:00.001-07:00

Today was Anara's first day of school! She was so excited! (And so was her momma!) I couldn't help myself and dressed her up really cute so that I could take a lot of pictures. (Thanks Sarah for passing on Grace's clothes!)

I love her smile in this picture but I am sorry that she is flashing everyone!

I told her to smile and this is what I got!

She was too excited for me to get a good picture
of her smiling and looking at me!

This is Anara in her new classroom playing with her best friend Addy!

Apparently Addy and Anara had a hard time going down for nap time
because they were too busy talking to each other instead of sleeping!

"I'm ready to learn!!!"

"Or maybe I will just play playdo!"

Anara obviously was exhausted! When Ben and I arrived to pick her
up she was fast asleep and didn't wake up when Ben took her out to the car!

Jump, Jump, Jump!!!!

2010-08-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

Ben had a day off on Friday so we took Anara to a place called the Bouncy Barn. It is a really neat indoor place with several bounce houses. We had great timing because most of the time we were there, no one else was there! Anara had a BLAST!!! Sorry for the amount of pictures but I just love them all!!!

Church Bounce Night!

2010-07-24T15:21:00.000-07:00

To continue on with our fabulous week, the church had a bounce night! They had several huge bounce houses for all of the kids and then food for all. Anara had a blast! She is very uncoordinated but that didn't stop her from having fun!

This is a friend that was helping Anara to go down a big slide.

Ben would put Anara high up on this slide and let her slide down.
She had so much FUN!!!

Here is Anara and Addy playing together!

Some of the dad's got into the bounce house with the kids!
Here is Ben with Anara.

Give me some pound!

Water Park Part 2!!!

2010-07-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

We have had an amazing week! Ben didn't have to work much at all this week (his doctor was on vacation!) and I actually had this week off so we have spent a lot of family time together. Anara loves water parks so of course we decided to go together as a family! Anara is so cautious around water but she certainly does love it! We had a great time!

Anara's Sophomore Effort

2010-07-23T15:28:00.000-07:00

Sophomore Effort from Ben Getter on Vimeo.

2nd Birthday Party!!!

2010-07-19T17:03:00.001-07:00

My baby is turning 2!!! I can't believe it! Her birthday isn't until Aug. 4th but between everyone's crazy schedules and the fact that we had family in from Arkansas, we decided to do a last minute party in Fort Worth. Ben and I decided to do a jungle theme because she really loves jungle animals and the noises that they make. I attempted to get creative and decorate the cupcakes and Anara's big cupcake myself. For a first attempt it wasn't too bad but I certainly learned a lot and will do better next time! : )

Here is a picture of her birthday table

I made four different kinds of cupcakes. Lions, Tigers, Zebras and Monkeys!

This was her cake! The monkey and tiger are candles.

The girls loved playing tea party!

Anara had fun unwrapping the gifts!

Here she is feeding her daddy some cake!

She is supposed to be blowing out the candles but sneaking

little bites of the icing was more fun!

I think her face here is hilarious! I am not sure what she is doing!

Grace liked Anaras guitar!

Here is Anara in her cool shades that came with her cool new guitar!

She had to do a little working out because of all the cake she ate!

Here she is bossing everyone around in the kitchen

We had Lion and Monkey temporary tattoos for the kids and

they loved them! I think Grace would have had them all

over her body if we would have let her!

Family Fun!

2010-07-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

We were all in Fort Worth this weekend for two wonderful events. Baby Hunter (as Anara calls him) had his baby blessing at church and then we celebrated Anara's 2nd birthday (even though it isn't for another three weeks!) Ben's Arkansas family was able to come down and it was so nice to watch all of the kids playing together! Here are a few pictures of some of that fun!

This is Hunter!

We set up a wading pool for the kids in the backyard.

All of the other kids got wet all over but not my child! I think she sat down

once and immediately stood back up. She had a BLAST though!

This is Grace!

This is a little fountain where we went for dinner one night.
I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!

Water Park!!!

2010-06-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

What a day! We had so much fun going to the water park with some friends! They had a great kids area and a wonderful lazy river. I was really careful about applying lots of sunscreen on Anara but apparently didn't do such a great job on myself. Oops! My back is a little sunburned!

This first picture is Anara pointing at the water and telling me it is time to go! I made the mistake of telling her this morning that we were going to a water park and she was so excited! At one point I couldn't find her and finally found her by the garage door. I asked her what she was doing and she pointed to the door and said "Ready to go water park!"

Here is Anara's friend Addy pouring water on her.

This was so sweet! Anara and Addy were walking back towards the water
and they held hands the whole way!

It was almost comical trying to get these two to take a picture together. There were birds nearby so one would look at the camera and the other would be off looking at the birds and they would flip flop back and forth. This was the best picture I was able to get!

Anara had a wonderful time and so did her mommy! (Although I
didn't shout it to the whole world like Anara did!)

Here are all of the kids eating lunch together. Again, it is not easy to try to get kids to stay still and focus on the camera. I have no idea what kind of face Anara is making!

Here is Anara eating lunch.

Fun in the Sun!

2010-06-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

Each Thursday this summer we are doing play dates with some of the moms and kids from church. It has been so much fun! One time we went bowling, another we went to the Corn Popper and watched pop corn being made, and this week was story time in the park. There were a ton of people so I am not sure how much Anara actually got out of the reading of the stories but she enjoyed eating Vivian's fruit loops and she REALLY enjoyed the water play area that we did after story time!

This first picture is of Anara trying to feed Vivian a fruit loop.

I told Anara not to feed Vivian so she turned and tried to feed me!

I am pretty sure that Anara is trying to figure out what other food she can find. Sigh....

Anara thought it was hilarious to try and drink the water. Mom didn't agree!

Anara playing with friends.

I am pretty sure that this was Anara pushing Addy away so she could play with the water by herself. Sorry Addy! We are still working on sharing!

All to herself!

Mimi And Papa!!!

2010-06-17T05:08:00.000-07:00

My grandfather has been very sick so we have taken every opportunity we can find to go visit him and my grandmother. This time I actually remembered my camera to take some pictures.

Oh and Anara is in love! She is fascinated with Connie's boyfriend Will. The last time we visited my grandparents, Will came with us. When we picked my sister up from the airport this time, she saw Connie and said, "There's my Connie!....Where's Will?" Too funny!

We also asked Anara the other day who Connie's boyfriend was and she said Papa. Not sure if that is sweet because she loves Papa or if it is Anara trying to weasel in to steal Connie's real boyfriend!

Dog Gone Fun!

2010-06-05T19:28:00.001-07:00

Wow! We had a very busy day today! Anara and I went to a birthday party for one of her friends this afternoon (hopefully pictures to come soon) and then when Ben got off of work we went to a party that one of his co-workers had. She had the cutest puppies and Anara LOVES dogs! They even let her hold one of the puppies and she kept petting the puppy and saying "hi dog" and "good dog". Too cute!

The funny thing was, there were actually two dogs but Anara was really only interested in one of them. They tried to get her to hold the male and she kept saying no and asking to hold the girl dog.

This is Anara on the way to the party playing with Mommy's glasses.

They had a swimming pool at the party so Ben and Anara went swimming.

Anara thought it was hilarious when Ben would go under the water.

Lazy Summer Days!

2010-06-04T08:19:00.000-07:00

Summer is definitely here. It is HOT!!! We decided to turn on the sprinkler and run through it with Anara. In her typical fashion, she was unsure about what was going on and very cautious. Ben ended up carrying her through the water. We thought it was fun, she wasn't so sure!

We are keeping my parent's dog Dixie while they are out of town. Anara LOVES Dixie but after the tail pulling indecent the other day, I am not sure that is reciprocated! We made it up to Dixie though with the sprinkler. She had more fun then Anara and I think Anara had more fun just watching Dixie play in the water!

Fun Pictures of our Princess!

2010-05-12T14:05:00.001-07:00

Here are just some fun pictures of Anara playing around the house. We have an indoor slide and swing that has saved my life on these rainy days. Thanks Nana!

This first picture is for Aunt Connie.
Anara loves to look at her Purdue book while she swings!

Pretty in Pink!

2010-05-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

It has been rainy and nasty outside the last couple of days in Tulsa so Anara and I have been stuck inside. She has been teething so it has been even harder! She has become interested in the camera so we have had fun taking pictures. She especially likes helping to take pictures of Little Bit and Minnie so they are featured on our blog as well!

My Personal Gardner

2010-05-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

We have been busy painting the outside of our house (still not finished....) and Anara has loved spending time outside. I bought her a little water jug and she loves watering my yard. (Or watering the rocks, or her feet, or the sidewalk, basically she has a different idea of what needs watered then I do!) I managed to get a few really cute pictures!

This is her carefully watering the yard.

This is her watering her shoes.

This is more of dumping the water then delicately pouring it out!

"Oh-oh! I am out of water, what should I do?"

"Momma, more water please!"

Hmmm...Wonder If My Child Will Be Moody?

2010-04-19T17:56:00.001-07:00

Oh the many expressions of a child. These pictures were taken in very close succession and I just love her different expressions. Too funny! We were trying to take pictures of the mess that she had made as well as her playing with her bowls but instead we got this hilarious row of photos!

Happy Face

Curious Face

I don't even know what to call this face!

I'm Sleepy Face

Hmmmm....Face

Let's Eat Face

New Project

2010-04-04T18:17:00.000-07:00

I figured it was finally time to do something with the outside of the house before the neighbors really started hating us! At the end of the fall we had to pull up most of the landscape because it was growing out of control and was terrible. Now it is time to paint. I went through 5 different colors and I am not 100% convinced I like the color we went with. Oh well. It is definitely better than what it was. I think once everything is painted it will look great but now it looks funny because of the different colors.

Plus we are going to do something with the two small windows in the front. Right now I think I am just going to frame around them and paint that the burgundy but I have also thought about adding shutters. Not sure yet!

So you can get an idea of what the house looked like before, I have
included a before picture below.

Here is a picture of the front of the house. Please remember that it isn't finished yet! The dormer windows will be painted in the light tan color and you can see the two small windows I have to do something with. I am going to wait until I do something with them to decide if the poles should be the dark color or the tan.

Here is a closer view of the new paint.

This is a picture of the side of our house and how high we have to be able to paint. It is hard to tell but we have painted the top area with a VERY long pole. This side of the house gets all of the sun so we had to scrape off some of the paint, fix some of the boards and caulk some of the holes to prepare it for painting. Hopefully we will get this painted the tan color tomorrow! I think I am going to do the garage door in the burgundy.

A closer look at the top where my dad painted.

Check One More Off The List!!!

2010-03-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

Another room completed! This is the hall bath but Ben and I really use it as our main bathroom because the master bath is so small. I included a before picture. And yes, that wallpaper was velvet and 3-D!

We tiled over the existing tile floor and took off the tile on the cabinet and tiled there. We took out the old sink and put in the bowl sink which I am so in love with! I used the same cabinets, just painted them a dark brown. I wanted a new mirror but it was too expensive so I just used molding to attach around the mirror to make it look framed. It was too expensive to do anything with the tub tile so I used curtains to hide it.

Love, Love, Love the end result and as always I have to give a shout out to my wonderful parents for helping me out. I am a little scared though because I have two more bathrooms to do but my parents just bought their own fixer-upper! I might be losing my help! : )

St. Patrick's Day Cheer!

2010-03-17T16:05:00.000-07:00

Anara wants to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Spring, where are you? We need you!

2010-03-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts! Ben and I have both been working like crazy the last two months. Ben has been on ICU and then on Wards (basically Wards means he works in the regular part of the hospital on patients that need an internal medicine doctor) so his hours have been ridiculous. It was contest season for Crowd Pleasers so I had to be in Texas for 5 weekends in a row not to mention the hours that I had to put in during the week to help plan them.

Poor Anara had to be shuffled from place to place so that people could take care of her. I am not sure she was all that upset though because she got to spend a lot of time with her Granny and Granddaddy as well as her Aunt Connie, Aunt Sarah and Cousin Grace. My parents have ducks that wander around and Anara has fallen in love with them! I think they had to feed the ducks at least three or four times a day!

The weather is thinking about warming up (oh please oh please warm up!) and Anara is now old enough to enjoy the playground at parks so Ben and I took her. It was still really too cold but we couldn't help it. We are hoping that it will encourage spring to hurry up and join us!

Snow, Snow Baby!

2010-01-31T19:16:00.000-08:00

We have been quarantined in the house because of the six inches of snow and we have made the most of it! My grandfather gave us a sled and we took it out to the hill on the side of our house. I would like to say Anara loved it but... she seemed afraid of the snow. She froze. Literally! We put her on the sled and she didn't move. It was so cute. When I moved the sled she finally moved a little, only enough to smile though! She didn't move anything else, just her lips!

I love this picture of her and her daddy.

This is a picture of the only real movement we got from her. A smile!

"What in the world is going on?" Says Anara? She looks so pudgy with all of her
thousands of layers of clothes that I made her wear!

Photo Shoot!

2010-01-29T18:22:00.000-08:00

Our little girl is a little model! We had a photo shoot this evening and she loved it! The weather has us cooped up in the house and so we were looking for fun things to do. A photo shoot was exactly what we needed! Here are pictures of Anara in her new outfit that her Mimi and Papa sent her. Too cute!!!

Anara presents.....

2010-01-29T14:42:00.000-08:00

My First Music Video from Ben Getter on Vimeo.

Weird, Wacky and Wild!

2010-01-24T18:50:00.000-08:00

So I am just always amused when I go check on my sleeping baby and see what weird position she is sleeping in. Her new one is to sleep with her butt against the side and her legs straight up in the air propped up on the sides of the crib. Haven't managed to get a picture of that one yet but we did get a picture of her sleeping on her side in what looks like a very uncomfortable position. It is hard to tell but she is semi propped up and her booty is up in air.

Part of me is very proud that my daughter is starting to have enough hair that it can be wacky and wild after taking a bath but I would still like more hair so people would stop calling her a boy! We just had to get a picture of this lovely hairdo. I was tempted to let it dry like this but I decided not to! : )

We Love Our Family!

2010-01-24T18:39:00.000-08:00

Anara was so excited because her cousin Grace came up to Tulsa to visit! Grace is 10 months older and Anara was just fascinated with everything that Grace did. It was really cute. Grace would do something and then Anara would try to do it. We were able to get some really cute pictures of Anara and Grace together. It was WAY past Anara's bedtime but she was just having too much fun!

They had a lot of fun on Anara's slide but we weren't able to get a good picture of the two of them together on it.

Toys, Toys and More Toys!

2010-01-14T18:09:00.000-08:00

Anara received a new play gym for Christmas from her Granny and Papaw. She loves it and we were able to take some pictures of her on it!

She says "weee" every time she goes down the slide!

She loves spinning the Captain's Wheel!

Peek-a-boo

She loves to swing!

Nothing better than holding a bear while you swing!
Especially if it is a Purdue Bear! She certainly loves her Aunt Nonnie!

My Litte Movie Star!

2010-01-08T13:35:00.001-08:00

Anara has these sunglasses that she loves to wear and especially loves for us to wear. (I will spare you any pictures of that!) She just looks like a little Diva with them on. I LOVE it! (As long as she doesn't start behaving like a little diva!)

"Check Me Out!"

She was telling us her list of demands.

Just check out those blue eyes!

"It is so hard being a movie star!"

"I am done with this!"

Just for Aunt Nonnie!

2010-01-06T18:39:00.000-08:00

This post is just for Aunt Nonnie! Anara was so excited about seeing you for Christmas that she wanted to wear her Purdue outfit for when you arrived. She was very sad when you weren't able to come because of the weather but wanted to show you just how cute she looked in her Purdue gear! (And Will, you better not say she looks like a boy!)

And....

2010-01-02T16:47:00.001-08:00

A new video of Anara on her rocking horse.

Wee from Ben Getter on Vimeo.

Dreaming of a White Christmas!

2010-01-02T16:23:00.000-08:00

I was so upset because the DFW area had gotten snow twice and Tulsa hadn't gotten anything. I am definitely not sad anymore! It started snowing Christmas Eve at around 4:00 and didn't stop until 2:00am. We had about 6 inches of snow. It was great....except for it kept Mom, Connie and Will from being able to come for Christmas. Missed y'all! It is now Jan 2 and we still have a lot of the snow!

We took Anara out in the snow and she wasn't too sure what was going on. She did her typical clam up and glare at everything when she is faced with new things. We had fun taking pictures of her though!

Anara's Granddaddy trying to get her to slide in the snow.

Little Bit was very confused by the white stuff!

Anara trying to figure out what in the world was going on!

An awesome action shot of Little Bit! If you are wondering, Minnie is
tucked away in the house. She wanted nothing to do with
the cold and the snow!

"What is this mom? I am not sure I like it!"

Outsmarting Us!

2010-01-02T16:10:00.000-08:00

Well....our 16 month old daughter has started outsmarting us! She really wants to be able to open doors but just isn't tall enough yet. I found her the other day in our laundry room where she had dragged a stool that I had on the other side of the room over to the garage door and she was turning the handle! She wasn't able to open the door because they are too heavy and her trusty stool was in the way but she sure was trying!!!

Uh-oh! She was caught!

Our Little Christmas Joy!

2009-12-22T18:03:00.000-08:00

The Getter family is really looking forward to Christmas. My side (Susan) of the family is going to come up to Tulsa since Ben has to work Christmas night. We wanted to share some Christmas pictures we took of Anara. Minnie is being so patient with Anara in this first picture. Anara was being really cute and wanted to give Minnie hugs and kisses. Minnie is saying SAVE ME!

We took Anara to see Santa Claus and there was a little play area for kids. She had fun climbing into the plane.

Looking back at her daddy and giving him a smile!
Anara was so excited about seeing Santa. She really doesn't know who he is and what he does but she can say Santa and she is into talking to strangers so it was a great combination. While we were standing in line she kept saying hi Santa and waving at him. She also kept trying to cut in line and tried walking up to Santa before it was our time. Of course when it was her time, she was scared to death! The picture we paid for is actually pretty good but this one you can see her true feelings. : )

New Video

2009-11-26T17:54:00.000-08:00

A little video of Anara and her daddy "dog pile", and some new tricks Anara has learned from her mommy.

Dog Pile and more... from Ben Getter on Vimeo.

Hands to the Face

2009-11-21T18:31:00.000-08:00

I have posted about Anara's crazy sleeping habits before but I just have to do another one. She once again was sleeping on her stomach up on her knees with her butt in the air. We managed to get a picture.

The funny thing though was once she woke up we realized that she must have been sleeping on her hand because she had perfect fingerprint marks on her cheek. They are so perfect in fact that you can make out her fingernails! Kind of creepy actually! I wish the picture was a little better but you can still make out the markings.

Another room bites the dust!

2009-11-20T09:23:00.001-08:00

The living room is now finished!!! Most of the work was done back in the summer but there was still a 2nd coat of paint on a few things that had to be finished.

To get a true feel for how far the room has come, you need to look at the before picture. Yucky wood paneling walls, fireplace with no mantle, spindles on the stair opening, yuck, yuck, yuck!

I textured over the paneling so the lines are gone. I then painted the walls and used a stain over that where I made the texture stand out. In the picture it just looks like funny lines but in person it is accentuating the texture.

Another before picture. This house has awesome storage but the built in bookcase just looked terrible!

Here is a picture looking toward the kitchen area and you can see that the bookcase now stands out. It also amazed me the difference that was made when we added the mantle.

Now we are moving on to the bathrooms! This weekend we are going to tile over the floor in the hall bathroom. This house has four bathrooms which is great but they are all SCARY! Here are a few before pictures so you can get an idea of what I am dealing with. I will make sure and post the after pictures as soon as each one is finished!

Here is the hall bath that we are doing first. Ben and I actually use this the most because it is larger than the master bath.

This is the master bath.

This is the bathroom off of the laundry room. I need to take a better picture of the worst bathroom which is the upstairs guest bath. Just think baby blue tile..... everywhere!

Family Fun!

2009-10-27T18:23:00.000-07:00

Grace's (our niece) birthday party was this weekend! What a fabulous party! Sarah did a great job and Anara and Grace certainly had a wonderful time.

Anara had a blast climbing up the stairs and sliding down!

Grace had to get in on the fun!

We also put the girls in their Halloween costumes so we could take pictures and then we took Anara to our old Church's Trunk or Treats. Aren't they cute!!!

I know I am biased but I just think Anara makes the cutest Scarecrow!

My funny girl!

2009-10-23T20:01:00.000-07:00

My daughter certainly entertains me! First off, she is the funniest sleeper. She likes to sleep on her tummy up on her knees. Basically with her booty straight up in the air. We managed to get a picture and I just had to share it!

The next thing....her hair. Or lack there of. Her hair is at that stage where she has some, but not a lot. Basically, she looks like a boy. I decided to try to make a little pony tail on her head to see if that would help her look more like a girl. Ummmm.....NO! It was really funny looking.

So then after leaving it in for a little bit, I finally decided to take it out. Then she had this really cool mohawk thing going on! Ben and I had fun laughing at her!

I am not too sure that she liked us laughing at her!

Our Baby Pumpkin

2009-10-14T18:39:00.001-07:00

The weather was cold, wet and nasty so the Getter family decides it is the perfect time to go to a pumpkin patch out in the mud!!! Anara had a lot of fun and was very interested in the animals and was an excellent sport about posing for pictures. She is actually wearing her Halloween costume. She is going to be a scarecrow and we thought it was a perfect outfit for her to wear in a pumpkin patch. She only fell in the mud (getting mud everywhere!) once. :)

Her daddy is so good at getting a professional looking picture.
He just saw the barrel sitting on the ground and decided it would make a great prop!

Anara has learned how to stick out her tongue and she thinks it is sooo much fun to do!

I can't begin to tell you how many times I put the hat on her head.
She kept wanting to take it off and play with it!

Such a little farmer!!

The really funny part was when the goat tried to eat her hat!

Now for some video! The first clips are her walking, though they are a little out of date...she is more of a "pro" now. Be sure to watch the "dancing" at the end.

Anara walking and dancing from Ben Getter on Vimeo.

It is complete!!!

2009-10-09T13:39:00.001-07:00

Finally! After weeks and weeks (going into months and months) of living with a war zone kitchen, the kitchen is complete! It was definitely well worth the wait. I have included the before and after pictures so you can truly get a feel for what it looked like when we bought it. Scary! My family and I did all of the work (except install the granite) and I have to give a big thanks to my Dad, Mom, Uncle Robert and Aunt Julie for helping!!!!

The completed kitchen!!!

This is the before picture of the bar area that looks out into the
living room. The living room is almost complete and I will post
pictures soon when it is finished!

You can get a glimpse of the changes to the living room in this picture.

The before picture of the refrigerator area. Take a nice
long look at that yucky floor!

We had to take out the cabinets over the refrigerator
because we were worried that our refrigerator wouldn't fit!

Those drapes were so disgusting to take down! The house is 50 years
old and I bet those drapes were 50 years old!

This is the war zone environment that we were living in.
I thought I was going to go crazy!

Ahhhh....so much better!

Yuck!!!

Yay!!!

The cook top used to be on the island and it had cabinets
above that really blocked the room and made it feel smaller.

Again a picture of our warzone. This was during the demolition phase!

You can see that we removed the cabinets and put pendant lights
as well as moved the cook top over to the rt. I now have the worlds best island!

We took out the cabinets that were above where we moved the cook top
to and added a stainless steel vent. A waste of space but it sure is pretty!

If we were going to be staying here longer than three years I would have liked to have had the cabinet doors replaced. Since we are basically trying to flip this house for a profit, that wasn't really in the budget. So my solution was to paint them. They are so old and beat up though that you could still see all of the dents. I then used a glaze over the paint and that really seemed to hide all of the imperfections in the cabinets.

Football Lovin'

2009-09-08T18:25:00.000-07:00

Football season is here! Ben had to make sure that Anara could say football prior to the season starting. She loves the word now but calls any ball she sees a football. We went to a University of Oklahoma football watching party (yes, we now live in Oklahoma so that is what we have to do!) but we couldn't go without bringing a little of our Aggie spirit. Anara was our representative for the evening and looked so cute we just had to take some pictures!

"Gig 'Em Aggies!"

I just love her blue eyes in this picture. Just like her daddy!

Anara was helping me get ready. She grabbed a blush brush and
was imitating me. It was so cute until she decided it was more fun
to eat it. Then she didn't like it as much!

A little afternoon fun with her daddy!

Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Dress

2009-08-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

We decided to have a little photo shoot with Anara in the park and she was loving it! We have so many great pictures, I had a hard time choosing which to put on the blog. There are even more great pictures but I am already posting a ton so I feel bad adding more. I just think she is so cute! Yes, I know I am biased! I just can't decide which one is my favorite! (I am so proud of Ben for taking these really great pictures!)

Summer Time Fun!

2009-08-15T18:16:00.000-07:00

Anara and I have one more week before we get to finally move to Tulsa for good!!! We are really missing Anara's daddy! I have a bunch of pictures though from our time living with my parents and then when Anara went to go visit her great grandparents. Enjoy!

Trying to keep a baby entertained on an airplane is not an easy task!

My grandmother found this dress that used to be my mom's! Too cute!

We had to borrow a crib at my grandparents house and
Anara kept getting her legs stuck in the bars.

"Is this a worm wiggling around in my mouth?"

"Do you see what I have to put up with?"

"Can I get on Dixie's back and ride around?"

No wonder Dixie is one of her favorite words to say. It is very

obvious how much she loves the dog!

We keep thinking that Anara is going to be a veternarian when

she grows up because she loves animals so much!

Help us choose!

2009-08-11T16:57:00.001-07:00

Time to choose a 1 year picture for Anara's baby book, and we have five finalists. Here are some shots taken by Ben over her birthday weekend. thanks to granny and grandad for their sideyard, and to little bit, for your patient participation. Now vote!

Bath Time = Splash Time

2009-08-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

Anara and I are spending a good portion of the summer with my parents in Fort Worth so I can work for CP. Bath time at their house just works best in the kitchen sink! Anara was having so much fun this evening that I just had to get a camera. It is hard to tell in these pictures but she also has her first real mohawk. Too cute and so much fun, even if I did end up soaking wet!

"What, I can't splash water all over the camera?"

"That camera looks dirty, let me clean it!"

Anara wanted her towel to come join her in the water!

Baby Birthday

2009-08-06T07:10:00.001-07:00

Wow! 1 year has passed already! Hard to imagine, but it has. Anara turned one this past week, and we had a birthday celebration at the Bledsoe's house, with burgers, chips and dip, and cake! Anara had a grand time eating the cake, as you will see, but otherwise she generally had no clue what was going on.

This scrawny cake can't hold me!

Anara's fun lovin' cousin, Grace

This is good! Yeah!

Someone had fun...

Birthday presents! from Ben Getter on Vimeo.

Birthday Cake! from Ben Getter on Vimeo.

Funny Jingle Bell

2009-07-29T18:04:00.000-07:00

It is funny how in the midst of all of Anara's "high tech" toys, with their singing voices and flashing lights, a little ole 5 cent ball with a jingle bell inside could be so....darn.....funny! Check out baby girl below having a good time, or visit the vimeo website here for the high def version.

Funny jingle ball from Ben Getter on Vimeo.

Making Tulsa Home

2009-07-21T18:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long delay in posts, but we have been busy! We have moved to Tulsa, and completed a moderate amount of work on our new house. We bought a house that needed some work, and with the mighty help of some gracious family members, it is starting to feel like home (Grandad Jac has been working his tail off, and Uncle Robert and Aunt Julie spent their vacation working! Thanks to EVERYONE for the help). We could have shown you some transformation pictures of the home....but we thought Anara was cuter.

Anara "Marylin Monroe"

Look at those teeth...

Bath time rocks!

Bath time...in the sink!

Who's takin' my naked picture? Dad!

Ben, covered in sanding dust.

Anara's holding cell..."Let me outta here!"

Indian sound and "Mama"

2009-06-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

Anara shows off her Keller spirit with her rendition of what we crudely refer to as "Indian Sound".

And at the end, she gives her Mama some love. Full version sized here.

Saying Mama and a new trick from Ben Getter on Vimeo.

Last Bite

2009-06-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

In a bit of irony, our food loving baby thinks it is just the FUNNIEST thing when you declare "last bite' of her solid food. Usually, saying "all gone" elicits a similar response, but not in this video; Mom kind of flubbed the routine. Watch the video below or full size here

Last Bite! from Ben Getter on Vimeo.

Birthday Bash

2009-06-14T17:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday my brother in law officially became an old man, turning 30. His birthday coincided with a friend of his, Ryan, so the boys threw together a birthday bash at Ryan's home in Justin. Homemade BBQ, beans, and dessert were served, with entertainment performed by local country music star Ed Burleson.

Check some video here or check out some pics below. The audio on the video is a bit out of sync at the end.

Surveying the food...mmmmmm

Ed singing on the trailer stage, with hay for stools

Shaun and friends kicking back...and kicking back a few cold ones.

Ed playing into the night.

Ryan and Cowgirl Jolie having a fun birthday bash.