party girl and shop-a-holic

Hannah has been to 2 birthday parties in the past 2 days... Aunt Becca's was last night. She was so excited about seeing cousin Juliana. And she practiced singing "Happy birthday to YA!" on the way to GranWendy and Grandaddy's house. She loved the pumpkin-shaped chocolate cake and strawberry ice cream... and talked Grandaddy into giving her a 3rd helpingof ice cream. (They were small portions for her, but still....)

Tonight we went to her friend Isabella's 2nd birthday party. Isabella's Mom and I were pregnant with our first daughters at the same time. Several months had past since we last saw them, and once again, Hannah practiced singing "Happy Birthday to YA!" on the way there. She is also pronouncing Juliana and Isabella's names better and better.

Hannah seemed most interested in Isabella's toy fruits (lemon, watermelon, orange) from her toy grocery basket set. And Care Bears. And the Doctor Kit... which is a good thing because we bought one for her when I bought Isabella's. Oh, and we can't forget the mooing cow flashlight. Hannah has a flashlight obsession already, and to combine it with one of her favorite animals... well, she loved it. Oh, just before Isabella opened gifts, Hannah tugged at my leg and asked, "potty practice?" We had to wait for someone else to get out of the bathroom, but she tried to go. She also asked for a book to read while she was trying. I think that break in the routine threw her off a bit, because she did not actually do anything in the potty.

We drove the hour home and Hannah was still awake, so we stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few things. She sat in the little car compartment in front of the cart, almost at ground level. As we walked toward the milk, Joel asked if I had put "that" in the car next to Hannah. "That" was a big bottle of purex laundry soap. I hadn't. Apparently our little one had pulled it off the shelf, over her la, and set it in the seat next to her. I walked it back to the end-of-aisle display, and sure enough, there was an empty spot right at toddler level. I'm going to have to be extra careful to make sure she does not shoplift in the future!

pics from cousin's fiesta

a hannah-bear hug for juliana

kissin' cousins

yummy cake!

opening presents

Juliana's birthday party

cousin juliana turns one year old tomorrow, and we celebrated today. the party was at her gramma liz and poppa's house. i met her friends luke, gracie, and her other cousins, except for her cousin emily, who had to work. (she has a cousin emily and an aunt emily and i have a cousin emily. talk about confusing!)

she got a lot of fun gifts. i got to color with crayons for my first time. her cake was so pretty. she loved the orange frosting... picked it off her smash cake symmetrically.


granwendy and grandaddy were there, too. i was shy around the strangers at first, but by the end of the night i was tackling my younger cousin with kisses. mommy is trying to teach me to be gentle. i also tried to yank my cousin's arm off and steal her new elmo doll at the same time.