Anna

Annalise Rose is our bohemian, dramatic, hippy, little pint-sized actress. She's a mama's girl, and even at the age of almost 8, gets teary if I so much as go to the grocery store without her. She used to be the most antisocial little critter you ever saw; she was famous for her "stink eye" which she would turn on people at the drop of a hat. Now she's the most gregarious and social thing in our house (and don't forget, Mike lives here too). Here is Anna in a nutshell:

She loves old movies and musicals. If it's got songs, pretty dresses, a Jane Austen plot, or stars Shirley Temple, she's all over it. She was the only 3 year old I knew who would play Christine and Raul from The Phantom of the Opera, instead of something more child friendly, like Barbi and the magical singing unicorn.

She spent approximately one year of her life in fluffy costume dresses and a pair of moon boots.

She is the Queen of Random Thoughts and will share them frequently throughout the day. All our best and funniest kid stories are based on the things Anna says. A particular favorite: Anna at swim lessons at the age of 4, surfacing with a plastic ring on her head and announcing solemnly to everyone, "I am the angel of fear...!" Random and quite frankly, bizarre.

She is my picky eater. There are healthy options she likes - meatloaf, salsa, chili, spaghetti, a handful of veg - but her tastes change as quickly as the Wyoming weather. She is allowed 3 foods that I won't make her eat (and no, she doesn't get to change them daily).

She is extremely talkative. Especially if there are no other children to interrupt her, that kid can chat for days without coming up for air. She even talks in her sleep.

You cannot make her do anything she doesn't want to do. End of story. Period. The end. You could threaten her with a good tar and feathering and even follow through, but she still isn't going to eat that mushroom.

She has a totally goofy and screwball sense of humor. She also likes the creepy side of life, like Harry Potter and/or Nightmare Before Christmas and things of that nature. It's cute until she's standing over your bed like a vulture in the dead of the night because she can't sleep for fear of ghosts/monsters/spooktacular things.

She loves Taylor Swift and the soundtracks to Mamma Mia, Phantom, and Hairspray, and sings along loudly to them (but only when she doesn't know you're listening).

She is easily embarrassed and doesn't like trying anything new for fear of failing or being teased.

She likes to sew and paint and create. And everything she does she finds perfectly beautiful. She is also easily awed by anyone elses creations. And I don't think she is just being polite - she just sees things through artistic eyes.

She spent the first five years of life refusing to participate in story times, ballet classes, birthday parties, Sunday school, and now we can't get her out of those things.

She likes her role as Little Sister to Cora and never tries to usurp her. She's not a fan of responsibility. In fact, she'd probably like to hire someone to have responsibility for her.

She spoke in full sentences at 15 months old. She had no hair and was quite undersized for her age, so she used to terrify strangers by what came out of her mouth. She was like the feminine version of that talking baby on the E-trade commercials. I think it's E-trade. You know the ones.

She is very messy, klutzy, and has a tendency to walk into walls and furniture. Or fall off things. Or trip. Or suddenly fall over. Most of the time she shakes it off, but if she really does get hurt and there's blood involved, she'll start running around in frantic circles and it is REALLY hard to catch her. She's built low to the ground for speed.

In spite of being the girly one, we have a surprising amount of photos like the one above of her covered in dirt.

She has a blanket named Buttery. It used to be named Butterfly Blanket, but it got shortened over the years. Once I took it away as a punishment and she sat sobbing on her bed calling it, "Buttery! Come to me, Buttery!" She fully expected it to come flying through the air like Aladdin's magic carpet.

She is highly sentimental. She loves photos and photo albums and reminiscing. She saves everything because everything is "special" to her. This is why I periodically have to clean out her room when she's not at home, in order to rid it of gift bags, tags, envelopes, papers, rocks, feathers, and other treasures she can't part with. "But Mom, this was given to me by that one friend I had that one time in that one place, and it will always and forever remind me of that!"

Another Anna-ism for you: Cora informed her that she couldn't "grow up to be a princess." "Fine," she answered crossly, "Then I'll go with my other choice. I'll be a monkey."

She is highly suspicious. Unless you're a kid, you're going to have to prove yourself to her. Even then, she'll take everything you say with a grain of salt. And she can hold a grudge. Case in point; she once told her Papa (Grandpa Dave) that she "would ignore him forever!!!!" Most children would have forgotten the promise in a mere few moments, but not Anna. It was quite a long time before she spoke to him again (several months).

And that's why life with the Roosky is never dull!