Annemarie Caiyue Spiller

Christmas Eve 2009 with the Spiller family

December 25, 2009 – 11:49 pm

First, burning off a little energy in the park!

And then – on to eyeing the presents!

Opa and the grandkids

“Can we open presents yet????”

“I’m a reindeer with a shiny globe! (and balloon on a stick!)”

“What is this globe thing, anyway???”

“Maybe I’ll be the Statue of Liberty instead?”

Annemarie is very generous in sharing her headband with Helga

Annemarie really enjoyed getting to hang out with the bigger girls!

“Yay!!!! Opa let me help take the candy canes out of the tree!!!!”

The annual holiday family photo!

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Happy Holidays!

December 23, 2009 – 4:11 am

2009 was a really rough year – we’re glad that it’s almost over. Oma’s (Mark’s mom) fight with cancer and dementia, Annemarie’s pneumonia and hospital stay, multiple visits to the emergency room, and the tragic loss of Oma were all significant blows. We’re grateful for the support of everyone who helped us along the way; the hardships made us appreciate and cherish the moments we share with loved ones all the more.

We are thankful for the many happy and wonderful moments that we *were* able to spent with Oma, and for all the fun times we had with Annemarie and friends/family. Parenthood, while frustrating sometimes, has been an amazing journey – watching Annemarie grow and develop in so many ways is truly astounding! The past six months have been especially fun, as she grows more interactive, talkative, imaginative, and cheeky! We’re looking forward to watching her grow more (and complete her potty training!) in 2010!

We wish everyone a wonderful holiday season, and a happy new year!

Annemarie’s portrait from daycare – who could have guessed that she could hold a pose for so long??? (how did the teachers DO that????)

Annemarie LOVES Christmas lights, and insists on seeing them every evening!

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Thanksgiving and approaching winter

December 10, 2009 – 3:47 am

The main chefs (Dawn and Simon) showed up early on Thanksgiving Day to get the turkey started… While the turkey was cooking, we all got to help Opa and Shirley decorate Christmas cookies! Annemarie helped too!

“What do you mean, it’s too cold to play outside????”

“How about if I wear my cool mittens?”

“OK, it’s fun to play inside with Shirley too!”

Annemarie’s first reaction to cookie-decorating was to take a bite out of the star! After she got that out of her system, though, she was a diligent and dedicated decorator! We were amazed at her level of concentration and desire to participate! (and also amazed that the cookie lasted for the whole decorating session, until it ran into daddy)

Thanksgiving dessert:

How far we’ve come – last year we were having the hardest time convincing Annemarie to eat solid food, and now she can often feed herself!

Getting an early start on teaching Annemarie how to help with home construction projects!

Annemarie loves music and trains – here Opa is showing her a train-themed musical box he found.

Annemarie wants to be one of the “ten little indian boys”! (that’s one of her favorite songs right now)

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Autumn Fun (+ Halloween)

November 1, 2009 – 3:13 am

We had a lot of fun in Autumn… We spent quite a few evenings in the driveway chasing rocket balloons, or playing in the back yard until the sun went down.

Annemarie the Unicorn!

Cool hairstyles come at a price! (Owwwie!)

“I’m free, I’m free!”

Poofy style!

Annemarie loves opening and reading books (and anything else that looks like books, too!)

Would you believe the whole family fits in Annemarie’s playhouse? (Daddy had to go outside to take the picture, though)

“Rocket balloons are cool!” – Convincing Annemarie that bike helmets are cool took a little longer, though!

“Look, daddy loves to wear his helmet! Don’t you?” – we did make a few trips with the bike before winter hit. Need to get back to that in 2010…

Raking (and jumping in leaves) was a big hit! Short haircut, no more unicorn look…

Annemarie and mommy got to do some fun excursions with friends (while daddy studied for his patent agent exam). Annemarie had a lot of fun at the pumpkin patch (+ maze + petting zoo) with Zev and Maya (and associated assistants)

Halloween at daycare!

And then trick-or-treating in downtown Davis as a strawberry (Thank you so much Tobie for the loan of the cool handmade costume!)

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Annemarie’s Favorite Songs

September 30, 2009 – 2:51 am

“Happy Birthday to You” and candles are DEFINITELY Annemarie’s favorite! From September to December she perfected her singing and candle-blowing skills! For a while, every time she saw a candle of any sort (or anything that LOOKED like a candle of any sort), she would start singing the birthday song…

First, Daddy’s birthday:

(Daddy gained LOTS of years in 2009, thanks to all the times we had to re-light the candles to blow them out again!)

More candles post-birthday, when Shirley and Opa were visiting:

Annemarie also fits in some other songs occasionally, like London Bridge (is falling down)

and Row Row Row your boat

More birthday practice (for Dawn’s birthday)

and then later in front of the webcam for Aunt Mooi Choo’s birthday!

Blowing out candles is even more important than cake! For Yueyue’s birthday, Annemarie willingly went to bed after blowing out the candle (“who cares about the cake…”)

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Playdates!

September 10, 2009 – 2:34 am

Playdates are a wonderful way to burn off energy and give mommies and daddies time to bond and compare notes!

Enjoying the pasta (thank you Florence!)

Hanging out with Zev in the playhouse!

“Are they after our crackers???”

“Have cracker, will travel!”

Zev looking smug in Annemarie’s improved MOVING castle! (castle version 3, with wheels!)

Playing ball with Nutty!

Cake is universally loved…

Hanging out with Massimo

Maya is another favorite playmate!

The best playdate for moms and dads is when the kids are having so much fun chasing each other around that no additional effort is needed!

And then, even better – the playdate ends, and they still keep running! (Annemarie slept really soundly that night!)

Annemarie also loves to hang out with neighbors Erika and Josh

Josh is SO funny!

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Annemarie’s Colorful Castle

September 1, 2009 – 2:29 am

Our civil engineering friends were put to good use to help daddy build Annemarie a cool castle! Thank you Valerie for the cool blocks!

“Wow!”

The trick is building faster than Annemarie can destroy! Luckily we outnumbered her in this case!

Built with enough room for Annemarie AND a guest!

The later square version was, alas, not as spacious or comfortable, and didn’t last long.

“Hmmm, being a princess in a castle is a lot of work!”

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Late Summer Pastimes

August 31, 2009 – 2:04 am

We stayed busy through the summer. Besides playing in the pool, Annemarie also enjoyed a lot of other activities… including:

playing with hand puppets when it was too hot to go outside:

Helping mommy celebrate her birthday:

Playing music with Opa:

Eating Cake! (her specialty! “more please!”)

Rocking & Reading:

Enjoying the cool fish and zebras at the academy of sciences:

Hanging out with Shirley, Opa and various plants:

Riding on the Tilden Steam Trains with Mommy, Daddy, and Opa:

Visiting the Zoo!:

And playing in the back yard:

We’d like to point out that Annemarie DOES take time to stop and smell the roses in our backyard! At least briefly. Sometimes falling into them. We’re not sure if she’s actually getting the smell, though, or just mimicking us

Annemarie’s energy can’t be contained – give her music, and she WILL dance!

She also likes to do random mischief, but is so cute that she can get away with it…

Annemarie also loves to host (and play with!) guests from all over! For instance,

Aunt Mooi Choo

Melissa (and her mom Michelle):

Luca:

and Ingrid:

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Summer Pool Fun

August 20, 2009 – 1:56 am

Summer in Davis is a great time to be splashing in the pool. After her swim class Annemarie was VERY enthusiastic (sometimes TOO enthusiastic) about the water, and took every opportunity to splash.

Playing in the sprinklers is also great fun (watch for the part where Annemarie bends over and gets her face sprayed!)

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Goodbye Dear Oma (April 24, 1932 – July 24, 2009)

August 13, 2009 – 3:40 pm

Friday, July 24, 2009 was a very sad day – Annemarie lost Grandma Spiller (Oma), her beloved namesake. Oma, we really miss you…

We saw Oma for the last time on Saturday, July 18th, in Kensington – we’re so glad that we got a chance to stop by there and spend some time. Here is a wonderful shot that Opa took of the two Annemaries on that Saturday – Oma loved her grandchildren so much, and it really showed…