photos of the week

Balancing Act

This is where I crashed after church.

Surf's Up!!

The Scarlet Ridge Tea Party of 2007: the specks on the floor came out of a tea bag which Hannah opened

Imaginary tea tastes great!

Here, Bear, try some!

Gramma's trained me well!

Mommy went into Starbucks to see if they had any coffee grounds for her to add to her tomato pot. She says her cherry "toe-toes" have been the best she's ever grown, and attributes it to her great coffee-ground experiment.

As she got back in the car, I exclaimed, "Coffee! Yum! Yum" I continued my proclamation as she spread grounds around some of her plants and then dumped the remaining grounds into the toe-toe pot.

heavyweight

Our bundle of energy weighs around 28 or 29 lbs. She was bouncing on our home scale, so it was hard to get a good reading. I'm not surprised.

shoe fettish?

so, we went to target to pick up some things for our upcoming trip. while j tried on a shirt, hannah and i went to the sandal section to see what they had left. i tried on their imitation crocs... hah. i'd rather pay $30 for the real thing than break my ankle in the ones they had for sale. anyway, hannah was walking right next to me, until she saw the yellow flip flops. bright yellow, in big kid and adult sizes. she pulled a way-too-big pair out of the rack, sat in the aisle, and proceeded to take off her sandals and try to put on the yellow flip-flops. i guided her to the pink beach socks which were only $5, and we found a pair that fit her perfectly. "comfy, comfy!" she exclaimed. so now she is ready to walk on the beach without burning her little bottoms of her feet on the hot sand. in "stylish" comfy beach socks.

our little daredevil

we went to the playground today, and this time we were able to stay and play a while. yesterday, our efforts were thwarted by rain, thunder, and even some lightening in the distance.

hannah's confidence in her physical abilities is growing, which scares me a little. she ran straight to the slide, and looked like she wanted to run down it, but she slid. once she actually sits down, she still hesitates a tad, but then she wants to do it again. she is a pro at climbing up the steps on the play gym. and today, she showed that she is capable of climbing up 7 or 8 rungs on the ladder before needing mommy's help. mommy stayed right there, of course. when her leg slipped at the point where the ladder curves toward the top, she just exclaimed "almost!" and kept trying. she would have fallen through if i had not been there. she also wants to hang from bars, but doesn't quite have the grip.

21 months

Can it be that our little girl is almost 2 years old? She is becoming more communicative every day. She will repeat just about anything we say, like a parrot, so we are REALLY trying to watch what comes out even more than usual. It's bad enough that she sounds like a sailor when she's just trying to say everyday words, but to have her copy her parents' slips-of-tongue? Ouch!

She likes climbing. Today she climbed onto the back of the grocery cart for the first time. I didn't let her stay there, and it wasn't moving. She can get into almost any chair or couch, but still likes help when she climbs down. She's made it up the 3-rug ladder at the playground, with just a little help from me to keep her from slipping.

Her chuckles and giggles will brighten anyone's glum mood.

She's taking after her Mommy- she has a long torso. even some 2T tops are a little small. The pants fit perfectly. It's so frustrating to dig into the hand-me-downs from Emmy and Maddie and realize some are already too small. She loves to eat fruits and veggies.

She also takes after her Daddy. She loves bread and meat. Last night she must have eaten 3 or 4 ounces of chicken for dinner.

She has not climbed out of her crib, and still sleeps well in it, so we're keeping it up.

She recognizes when she needs to go potty or has already gone, but 9 times out of ten will not sit on it voluntarily. She does like identifying the pictures on her cushy seat insert, though. And maybe when she sees her older cousins don't wear diapers anymore during our week together, she will want to be like the big kids. She will tear of TP and give it to me after I'm done.

She still takes a nap... usually just one.

She loves her evening routine of dinner-bath-stroll. In fact, she likes to go for a ride in her stroller just about any time.

She loves catching bubbles, and dipping the wand, though she has yet to successfully blow the bubbles herself.

While we were at Wal-mart today, she was counting all sorts of things. She skipped numbers here and there, but she pretty much as 1-10 memorized. She doesn't really count for the sake of saying the numbers, though, she usually counts objects.

She likes to help by putting scoops of sugar into the pitcher for sweet tea, stepping on the step ladder to throw dirty laundry into the washer, shoving wet laundry into the dryer, putting silverware in the drawer, putting pop cans in the fridge drawer, sweeping, vacuuming, putting her books away, wiping her tray when she's done eating. I really gotta take advantage of this interest in cleaning and keeping things neat before it goes away!

She likes to brush her teeth by herself... or while Mommy or Daddy brush theirs. But do not try to help her, she's a big girl and can do it herself, thank you!

Height? Weight? Stats- what are THOSE?

• growing like a weed

• healthy weight, with a little belly pooch (ok, big after a good meal)

abc's & 123's

hannah is able to identify at least 2/3 of her capital letters. while we rode back from sc, we began counting stars on the page of her coloring book.
"1, 2, 3..."I began...
"4" she continued, and paused.
"5,6.." I said...
"8..." she continued.
well, close enough. she's not even 2, for pete's sake.

trip to greenville, sc

we went to daddy's cousin kevin's wedding in greenville, sc this weekend.

i was overwhelmed by all the new faces, which made me crabby, even though i napped on the king sized bed in the motel before we went to the wedding. people still thought i was cute, and the ladies who catered the reception told mommy she looks like she is 14, so they didn't think she was old enough to be my mommy. (daddy wants to know what that means they think about him... huh???)

mrs. g and me- i warmed up to mr. & mrs. g pretty quickly, although i was tired.
i liked their fish tank, and they let me feed the fish. i also liked their vintage toys from the basement.

i helped daddy push aunt janet's wheelchair.


i made a new friend, who is 7 years old. we chased eachother around the yard at the mansion where the reception was held. it gave both our mommies breaks, sort of.


i got to see my aunt sara and uncle grant, and meet other cousins and their spouses.

me and aunt sara!

daddy's cousin linda and her husband wesley

mommy and gramma rode in the back of gramma and papa's new car with me. (i liked having servants.)

we walked around the university where daddy went to school for 1 semester, and several other family members have attended.

we took a family picture in front of the flowers.
i was happy picking at my flower and did not care to look at the camera.

Wordless Wednesday

It occurred to me that I didn't have any recent photos of our Sleeping Beauty.
When she fell asleep on the way back from our Starbucks stroll yesterday, and then went straight to sleep in her crib, I had to capture the moment...

mommy's helper

as i tackled a couple of messy areas in our bedroom, bear decided to come "help". first, she decided to wash mommy's hair brushes. all three of them. she went to the tub, turned on the faucet, and stuck the brushed under the water. for about 10 minutes. somewhere in there, she also yanked daddy's towel off the bar on the wall, and said, "uh-oh tow-uh" as it soaked up the water.

after i cleared the old magazines and trash out of the little nook, i cleared off my end table/night stand. i wiped it down with clorox wipes, then began drying it with a paper towel. i gave bear a towel, also, and she helped me dry the dampness so i could put my things back on the end table.

the ceiling fan was covered in dust, so much that it looked like volcanic ash. i grabbed our soft microfiber dust mop, turned off the fan and lights, and used it to wipe the blades. of course, dust bunnies fell onto the carpet. baby bear picked up the dust bunnies and pet them, chanting, "soft, soft" as she tenderly played with them. then she stuck one into her mouth.

next, it was time to vacuum. as i began vacuuming, she grabbed the dust mop and began pushing it across the bedroom carpet. i did mention i had just cleaned the fan with it, right?
i returned it to its home in the utility room, then re-swept the carpet with the vacuum.

too bad i didn't feel like coming upstairs to retrieve my camera. it was adorable, even if it was counterproductive.



i did manage to get these picture later on, as i finished cleaning off my dresser (including organizing my jewelry which was in various piles under all sorts of stuff.) this bag of junk distracted her from the necklaces she really wanted to play with. especially when she got a whiff of the perfume box.

language doesn't matter..

Baby Bear fell in love with Mickey Mouse back in May when we had access to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at Grandma and Grandpa's.

We don't have cable. I do have small collection of kids' videos in Spanish left over from my teaching days. One of these is the old Prince and the Pauper, starring Mickey, Pluto, and pals.

Hannah is carrying on her own little conversation with the TV, as though she understands what the characters are saying. I supposed I should be limiting her exposure to violence (there are lots of sword fights and such), but she is happy. And hysterical to watch.

all in a day's "work"

future physical trainer?

wordless wednesday

Not so WORDLESS WEDNESDAY
potty training "progress"

baby bear knows where the TP goes.
i am actually grateful she is not actually using the potty yet.
(cleanup was much easier)
she was so proud of herself, chanting "potty!" and pointing to her work.

I know this is a sign of not-so-fun cleanups yet to come...

but it still made me laugh!


and here's baby bear hypnotized by elmo!

so, last night we had to go to the grocery store. original plans were for j to go as i am not feeling well and might even be a public health risk. we had a slight mishap with dinner (not-fresh, stinky salmon), so we had to grab a bite to eat. as we left the neighborhood, hannah-bear said something along the lines of,

"out. go out? go out and eat!"

she doesn't miss a thing. we stopped at wal-mart first, but we did indeed stop to eat... mcdonald's. plus, apparently she has made the connection between going out after daddy gets home and dinner.

i made sure the grocery store knew i had to eat a double cheeseburger instead of tasty salmon when i collected my refund for the stinky fish.

photos of the week.....

pigtails- uneven but still sweet

whassup? (do these shoes go with the hat?)

tumbleweed

our new beach towel

The grilled veggie skewers were a hit,

especially the toe-toes (grape tomatoes).
The fireworks were set off by some neighbors...
a little too close for Hannah's liking.
Thankfully, she settled down once inside.

I think it's fair to say that the baby of the family has
her grandparents wrapped around her finger.

quote of the week... so far

"my daddy home!!!" our little chatterbox exclaimed when she heard the garage door open.