So, we will be continuing our yearly tradition of protecting Chance from the strange popping noises that occur on New Years Eve and the 4th of July. He hates fireworks and gets so scared that he’s just pitiful and we can’t leave him alone. Although in Vegas most locals don’t bother to do much anyway because they shut the entire strip down starting at 4pm New Years Eve and its just one big, crazy party. I developed lots of crazy photos a few years back when I worked for Kodak of New Years Eve on the strip.
There are new photos up of Anya in her Gallery though so go check them out. Make sure to look closely at the photo of her and Curious George. She’s holding his hand as they watch Elmo together. So Cute!
Happy New Year everyone, have a safe and healthy 2007!
Well, lets see, first of all, last Monday morning we woke up to Snow in Vegas! Although it actually only snowed in Henderson. Vegas and Summerlin has next to no snow! Anya loved it. She had no idea what to make of it though. She liked saying Snow,Snow, Snow though! I’ll be posting some new pics from Christmas and the snow this weekend so check for the new photos on Monday or Tuesday. This past Friday though little Anya came down with a mild fever and a cough. She was a little sick still on Christmas so we went to the doc on Tuesday and she had sinusitis, which is a mild sinus infection. Strangely though she never really had a runny nose, but she’s doing much better now. She has also started sleeping totally through the night. She goes to bed around 9pm and wakes up between 730 and 800am.
Sadly, my Mammaw, my maternal grandmother, passed away Christmas Day in Alabama. She had a stroke a few weeks ago and had a fairly steady decline from there. We thought she was doing better for a while there, but then last week she made the trip to the hospital again for an infection and after she returned to the nursing home this past Thursday she just couldn’t improve. She’s in a better place now and I will miss her a lot. I was unable to attend her funeral this past Wednesday, but I wrote a couple of pages about my grandmother that was read during her service and so I was there in some form at least.
Christmas was still good for us though. We were blessed to have a home and friends and family that sent all of us nice presents, as well as being able to provide some gifts for each other and Anya, so we are very thankful for the many things we have and were given. Anya got a sit n spin which she likes a lot, as well as a Viewmaster and some Incredibles figures. She also got books, clothes, an art set, some new bath toys, a tea set that she really likes and tries to feed Chance tea from, coloring books, an Elmo puppet, a Curious George, and several movies. Thanks to everyone for what they gave her!
Travis gave me a new hair straightener and an Iced Tea Maker. I gave him a Norelco razor and new speakers for his car. His new toy/bonus from work though is a Nintendo Wii. So, he goes Wii, Wii, Wii quite often now! 
Hope all is well with everyone. Happy New Year!
We took Anya this past Wednesday night to this place called The Magical Forest at Opportunity Village. Our expectations were not high, but we thought Anya would like it because she loves to look at Christmas lights and go “Wow!” Needless to say, we all had a great time. Certain things have fallen flat that we have gone to out here, such as the Hot Air Balloon Festival, that had no balloons, the arts and crafts show that is all metal and paintings, and the carnival that is pretty much just a sad attempt at a traditional carnival. The Magical Forest was great though, they had a slide, a carousel, and a train. You also walk through this forest with lots of lights and Christmas displays. Anya also loves to see Santa but only until she realizes that he’s a real person, then she wants nothing to do with him until we leave, then she will give him a high 5 and a bye, bye. New photos are up though of our adventure to the magical forest. It was a lot of fun and we thoroughly enjoyed it!
So, I hope everyone got their Christmas card, but I have posted a few new photos from our adventure of taking photos for the Christmas Card with Anya this past Monday night. I got the tree all decorated Monday morning; then, Travis came home, we ate dinner, vacuumed the carpet, changed into our Incredible shirts and tried to start taking the photos, except Miss Anya thinks when she puts on her Incredible pajamas or T-shirt that she is Dash and begins to run back and forth in our townhouse for about 10 minutes as fast as she could go! So, poor Chance is walking around in his Incredible Dog Costume, that I found on disneystore.com, looking at us like please take this thing off me. So, Anya finally figures out that we are taking pictures and now she’s excited but she can’t decide if she wants to sit with Mommy or Daddy. Needless to say we took about 12 photos and 2 came out really well. The one on the Christmas card is the one we went with, obviously. Her hair is messy and you can’t see my Incredible shirt but we were happy with it in the end.
We rented Superman Returns and it wasn’t as good as watching it on the big screen but still a decent movie. I really liked the actor that played Superman but Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane was not my favorite. I would have chosen someone a bit more like Kate Winslet or Rachel McAdams for the character of Lois Lane. Brandon Routh as Superman was a great choice though and he looked so much like Christopher Reeve which I thought was a nice tribute. Overall I’d give the movie 4 stars because it is a fun flick. I like Batman Begins better though mainly because of Christian Bale. Hope everyone is having a great start to the holiday season. Please keep my Mammaw in Alex City in your prayers, she had a stroke a week or so ago and was not doing well. She is improving slowly and eating again a little, so maybe she’s recovering a bit.