another memphis moment

a coffee-making lesson with Gramma
(she doesn't typically sit on the counter at home OR
experience making coffee from grinding to brewing, either)

favorites at the zoo

The water "mountains" were an instant favorite just after we entered the zoo... and she was equally excited to watch them before we left for the day.

Only one of the pandas was outside today, but he or she seemed content.

This mona monkey scurried down from its tree to visit with us.

Amazed by the gorilla.

First bite ever of Hawaiian Shaved ice... "Tiger's Blood" flavor.. (strawberry coconut... YUM!)

Hannah was amazed by the totem poles, even though she could not say their name very well.

Getting closer to the sea lions...

The sea lion thought the cup was a toy, and Hannah loved its attention.

Hannah, Gramma Debbie & Mommy spent a good portion of the day at the zoo while Daddy worked. Hannah loved all the animals, but she and one of the sea lions ended up playing a game of chase. After Gramma prompted her to offer her sippy cup to the sea lion (with the glass in between), the sea lion must have thought the cup was a toy and really seemed to want to take it from Hannah. At one point, it even followed Hannah the length of the under-water window.


Video of playing with the sea lion

photos of the week

Past attempts to put a ponytail in Hannah's hair have been futile. She has pulled them out almost immediately, after minutes of struggle to get them in. I had stopped trying. She barely keeps bows in her hair, so who was I to think ponytails would survive?

Never underestimate the power of marketing to kids. Or Grandmas. Grandma had sent a Valentine's package home with Daddy a few weeks ago, and the package included a set of "Sesame Street" ponytail holders. They are in the bright colors of some favorite SS characters and have little eyes shaped like the characters eyes on them.

Yesterday, Hannah insisted that I "put a tail in her hair". She handed me the package of scrunchies and picked out the green set with Oscar the grouch eyes. As you can see from the pics above, she liked cookie monster's eyes, too. She didn't care about the cowlick of curls that would not stay back, as you can tell from her cheesy smile turned Elvis impersonation shot.


Here's the raincoat grandma found at our favorite consignment store in Cordova. Plenty of room to grow.

grandparent time

no pics, unless grandaddy got some today. while mommy was at her doctor's appointment making sure her boo-boo is all better (actually, hearing baby's heartbeat, but the first thing hannah said when i walked in the door was "mommy's boo-boo all better!"), granwendy and grandaddy came to see me. i was so excited about them coming! i talked about it all day. and i didn't cry when mommy and daddy left this time! we played outside a little, i tried to talk granwendy into giving me lots of milk and juice, but we were almost completely out. she told me mommy would be bringing some more when she came home, and she was right!

they stayed for dinner. i loved the 5-grain italian bread from publix- mommy thinks i hate 3 or 4 pieces. i was also very excited about eating mommy's homemade beef and veggie soup. i wore one of her old t-shirts instead of a bib; she says there are some battles that aren't worth fighting. but i was on my best behavior and did a pretty good job of using my spoon.

toward the end of the meal, i got a kick out of continuously calling my parents by their first names.

"that's war-en!"
"that's joel!"

i was doing pretty well with grandma wendy and grandpa tom's first name's, too... then i pointed to grandaddy/grandpa tom and said, "that's grandpa thomas!" it might get a little confusing when both grandpa's are in the same room, since one's first name and one's last name sound the same.

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.

visitors

Cousin Jonathan was in town again, so GranWendy, Grandaddy, cousin Juliana and Aunt Becca came over for a potluck dinner. Here are some photos of the fun! Cousin Juliana & Aunt Becca spent the night, so the girls were able to play together some more this morning. Right after her cousin left, Hannah said, "More Yana".

"soft, soft!"

"praise the Lord!"
(teaching Hannah motions to a song on the CD they brought from their VBS)

Juliana shows Hannah how big girls use the potty

Telling GranWendy a story

The girls get reacquainted

After dinner bubble-time
They wanted to do them all by theirselves.

Hugs!

Reading my favorite bedtime book with GranWendy and Grandaddy!

gramma's influence

Last night, I made a couple of pots of Folgers. The first was to see if I could mke a homemade Caramel Frappucino instead of forking out $4 at the chain coffee place down the street. Stale Folgers is not a substitute for Starbucks, just as Starbucks is no substitute for my mother-in-law's coffee. (or brother-in-law's for that matter).

As soon as she noticed what I was doing, Hannah began chanting her version for "coffee" (coincidentally, it's a Spanish swear word, so we have to work on that). Then she said, "More!"

This morning as I cut up canteloupe for Breakfast, she pointed toward the coffee grinder and pot and did the same thing. We were only at her Gramma's a week in May but the daily coffee ritual apparently made a big impact on her. Gramma must have slipped her a sip when I wasn't looking!