Photo Shoot (Outside)

2 posts in one day....that's pretty good! I took some pictures of Annika outside today (kind of a mini photo shoot since we have yet to have professional pictures), but I may not need them there are some really cute ones here! My only disappointment is that she won't look at the camera and smile (not sure that a photographer could get her to do it either). Enjoy the pictures!

Annika's New Table and Chairs

Annika got a new table and chair set from some people from our church. Here are a few pictures!

Here is a picture of her after church yesterday when the people gave it to us.


And here is a picture of her playing with it today (she sat there for probably a half hour while I was blogging). :)

Busy at the Stertz Household

The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy. I expected it to somewhat slow down since VBS but that has not happened. I have been watching kids galore! This week on Monday Annika and I rode with David to drop the teens off at Camp Chetek. On Tuesday Annika had some friends come over (David, Matthew, Joshua, and Timothy) there mom had to run someplace so they came to play for a bit with her. On Wednesday some more friends came over (Elizabeth, Avery, and Alexander). On Thursday we went to see Mrs. Christine (or has Annika affectionately calls her "Teen"). :) All of her daycare kids were there plus another family from our church. They loves to play with other kids and got her fair share this week! When we were at Camp on Monday Pastor Randy invited us to come back a day early and just hang out. Today we are headed to Camp and we will bring the teens home tomorrow for their week at Camp.

I also hit a few garage sales on Thursday and did pretty good. My Garage Sale Buys:

4 yards of a lightweight cotton fabric for $1 (I'm hoping to make Annika a dress with this as I love her in yellow).

I got another 2 yards of white fabric with large pink polka dots also 69 cents (this will also be turned into a dress for Annika).

A bicycle (you know those cute tiny ones that have training wheels, not a trike). I figured by the end of next summer she will be riding this. It's in pretty good shape (could use a seat although the one on it is fine it just doesn't look all that grand) and the rubber handle bar grippies at the end of the handle bars. I paid a whopping $1 for the bike....Not to bad!

I also got baby monitors (this was my original reason for going to garage sales) and long and behold I found some that have only been used twice for $5 (now if I could figure out how to use them). :)

I also stopped at the thrift store in my town (it's not been open for to long, but it's pretty nice). While I was there I found a very pretty red velvet dress in a size 24 month. That is what Annika will be in at Christmas time so I figured I'd buy it for $3 (not bad) so I took it up to the counter and noticed when I got up there that there were some faint white marks on it (maybe paint) not completely sure. I was still going to buy it b/c it looks like I could get it off and the lady said, "Oh why don't I sell it to you for 50 cents) well that was a done deal! I'll have to post some pictures later of all the things I got.

Videos

Annika seems to love her swimming pool lately! She went in it today and I took a short video of her, she loved it even more because the puppy was in it with her (much to Lincoln's dismay...he doesn't care for water much). :)

Next up is a video of Annika in her highchair she was actually falling asleep and I wanted to get a video but she decided to wake up and talk. We have been working on the alphabet so far we gotten to the letter "h" but she won't go that far on the video. She can also point out the letters, "a,b, and c".

Don't feed the Baby!

So as I mentioned it was VBS this past week and with VBS comes LOTS of cookies! I made over 12 dozen cookies for VBS. To say Annika loves cookies is a gross understatement! She was able to con cookies off of just about anybody. She would go look at the person and in her very cute way say "more."Here she is both saying and signing "moooore"

Well with her cuteness and little voice many people have a hard time telling the baby "no" so a cookie she gets...and another...and another...

By this time baby has had enough (look at that belly)

And yet she still thinks she needs more....so after 7 cookies on Tuesday evening (3 before VBS even started). Much to Annika's dismay she wore a sign that said this on Wednesday Evening!

She did get some cookies that night, just not 7 of them. And all in all it ended up being a good night! She went home with no problems (no fits for more cookies)...

... and was perfectly satisfied! :)

(notice the goldfish in the pictures....I gave permission for her to have those since she had only 1 and 1/2 cookies that night).

VBS Week (finally over)

Well, I mentioned earlier that we had our Vacation Bible School this week. The theme was DINO DETECTIVE: DIGGING FOR GOD'S TRUTH. Our VBS is quite unique as we run an All Family VBS. There is an opening with everyone together, then when the kids split up for their classes (by school grade) the adults stay in with our senior pastor, and then everyone meets again for the closing (David does a magic trick and shares the Gospel) and sing some silly songs, adds up the points and then we all go and eat cookies and everyone leaves when they want. It has been a tremendous outreach for our church as we have seen many families come to know the Lord (last year a husband was saved and throughout the year his son also. David was able to baptize the couple this past spring. What a blessing that was)!

I had a lot of help from the teen girls with painting and tracing the posters (people and dinosaurs). Here are some pictures of what the church looked like during this week of Bible Study.



All in all it was a GREAT week. Our highest total number of kids in attendance was 67 on Tuesday Evening. We were able to raise over $1,560 for our missionaries (this was done with pennies). We have what is called a penny offering. Kids bring in their dollar bills and they can exchange them for penny rolls then they have a race to see who can collect the offering the fastest (girls against boys) we use 5 gal buckets for this since the buckets can weigh up to 100-120 lbs each (not a joke)!

We are both exhausted but it was a good week! I wish I had the chance to take a few more pictures, but I just didn't have the time.

I also have to say what a blessing it is to go to a church that the people are sooo willing and able to help with things. We can't thank many of the people in our church enough for the help that they gave us this week for VBS.

*note: I apologize for any gramatical and spelling errors as it is 11:40 at night and my brain is fried from the VBS carnival and everything we had to do to get it ready for tonight.*

A Few Random

Last week and this week have been very busy so far (and it's only Monday)! :) We have Vacation Bible School this week and most of last week was taken up by decorating for VBS (I'll share pictures at the end of th week). But here are a few random pictures of Annika from the last couple of days.



And for those Grandma's!!






















...and just in case a close up...

4th of July

WOW....I just wanted to share a comparison picture.....

Annika last year on the 4th...




... and Annika this year on the 4th!





And two more photos....

Strawberry Picking

We have been very busy here at the Stertz household! As you can tell by all the posts. Today Annika and I went to pick strawberries (as you can tell she had a good time)...okay so she sat in her stroller until I picked all I wanted and then I took her out to take pictures. Don't worry Timmy was in the stroller next to her so she had someone to play with while we picked. :)

Potty Learning Annika and Talking Annika

First the potty learning pictures: (we have been working on this since we got back from vacation). I'm sure she will be thrilled when she gets older that I took these pictures, but she looks so stinking (no pun intended) cute! She just woke up from a good nights sleep (as seen by the wild hair). :)



Up Next is the talking Annika:

We've Got Ponies!

Yep Annika's hair is now long enough for ponies! I will try and get some better pics of her with them in at the beach today (we are going with some ladies from our church). Annika now has this aversion to the camera...if I have it she won't look!