Resourceful

Hannah found a key on the floor today.

She was so excited.

She yelled out from her room, " I found it, the key!"

Then she went running into the bathroom to lock the door.

I walk in to see this...

What an imagination!

(a little something extra)

Hannah has been cracking Brian and I up lately.

She does this thing where she talks out of the side of her mouth.

Usually when she makes this voice she is saying something that if I were writing it it would be the part that I would put into parenthesis  (you know, the 'extra' things that you want to say).

Ready or not, here I come

Ready or not, here I come!

New favorite game, Hide and Seek.

"Mom, I be the seeker and you be the hider.  Sound like a good idea?"

This day I got to sit back and watch her play hide and seek with her aunties.  I am much better at watching this game with an almost 8 month old sitting on my lap then playing this game with a 20 lb tumor attached to my hip :-)  Thanks girls!

Scent of spring

We spent the afternoon at Grandma's today to celebrate Kim and Kristin's Birthday. It was a gorgeous day outside and after we ate supper we went out to enjoy it.

Grandma's whole yard is bordered with lilacs. They smelled so good and when you first walk outside you can smell them right away.   Hannah had so much fun picking them out of the tree and tossing them like confetti up into the air.  They would fall down on top of her head and she would just giggle.

 

A cuter version of Bozo

Hannah:  "Look at me mom, I'm a clown."                      

What you don't see is that she has a tiny corner of Dankie pushed up her nose.

I could not stop giggling the whole rest of the drive in the car.  The more I would giggle the more Hannah would giggle and then the more Dankie would find himself up her nostril.

I love these moments in the car that we have together.  I love her little personality and it makes me so proud as a mother to see her grow and develop this sense of humor. 

How does she do that?

Here she goes again.  Hailey the human pretzel.

Seriously, she was sitting up in the stroller and all of a sudden she lifts her legs and bends in half.

Truly amazing!

Peek-a-Boo

Trying to get a picture of this girl is truly difficult.  I reallly hope that this has something to do with her age and not due to the fact that I have meet my quota. 

A present....for me?

I foud these shoes on sale at Target.  I brought them home and gave them to Hannah.
Hannah:  "Mom, is this a present for me?"
She opened the box.
Hannah:  "These new shoes for me?  Thank you mom.  I really like these sparkling shoes!"
It is so fun to buy her things when she gets excited about them.
Of course these shoes were the hit of the day and for a minute I thought maybe the black 'loud' shoes would be retired.

Nope.  She likes these sparkling shoes but they do not stand a chance next to her 'dancing' shoes.

Quack, Quack

The other night I pulled into the driveway to find these ducks hanging out on the lawn.   This time of year you can see ducks everywhere around here.  It is something that I am still not used to yet.  Growing up in St Paul this is not something that you would see in someone's front yard.  I had to snap some pictures to show Hannah when she gets home.

Too much help?

The other day I walked into the bathroom to find this.

Hannah followed me into the bathroom with a very proud look on her face.

"Look mom, I got a new one!"

Guess the extra rolls of paper towels need to find their own waiting place.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to you!

Each Mother's Day I have to take time to appreciate Brian. 

Without him I wouldn't have any reason to celebrate Mother's Day. 

He has given me the best gifts that I could have ever dreamed of

• the chance to be called mommy by the cutest voice you will ever hear
• the chance to be slimed by a toothless little one who thinks that she is kissing you
• the chance to come home from work everyday greeted by the happiest little girls who are so excited that I am home
• the chance to show them how much a human being can love another

(Brian keeps talking to me so I am so distracted blogging tonight, better just call it a night)

Silly side

Hannah found her Thank You card from her 2nd birthday.

This picture is on the inside of the card.

Hannah opened the card and said "Look mom, it's my silly side."

Bucket 'o Fun

Recently we have been putting Hailey on the floor next to this bucket of toys.  She pulls each toy out, carefully inspects it, tastes it, then tosses it aside to get out the next one and repeat.  Hailey is at the age where she likes to 'play' more.  She isn't so content just sitting on your lap, she wants to be stimulated.    I love the age that she is now, full of wonder, interested in everything.   I can feel myself starting to miss the 'baby'.

The look of love

Remember those shoes you saw in a post earlier this year?

The ones that were in a bag of clothes from Chloe that Tammy was letting us borrow?

Looks like we bought ourselves some shoes.

I was not kidding when I said that Hannah wears these everyday.  Most of the time she doesn't get out of the house with them on but as soon as we are home these shoes are on her feet.

By the way Tammy, how much do I owe you?

AUGH

Traffic.

Somedays I love my time in the car. 

Sometimes I think I just might go crazy.

Now that I have kids I tend to hate this commute.

I especially hate the days that I have left work early to beat this traffic and come to find that everyone had the same idea I did.

 

Green rejects

For some reason Hannah is not a fan of green fruit snacks.  She eats every other color in every pack that she opens but always hands me the green ones to either eat or throw away.

Gotta love teenage neighbors!

Dylan, age 12, lives next door. 
Ally, age 15, lives across the street.

Earlier this spring Hannah heard these two playing basketball in Dylan's driveway. 
H:  "Here that mommy, it's kids"
We ended up going outside to watch the kids play basketball.  
Now each time she hears them outside she wants to go out there to see her 'friends'.

Yesterday Hannah and I were outside.  Ally came out of her house and came over.  Within minutes Dylan came running over too.  For the next 90 minutes I got to sit in the yard and watch Hannah play with her 'friends'.
They played Mr. Fox, blew bubbles, rode bikes, went for a walk, played on the slide, went for a bounce, and more.

These two are so good with her and she has so much fun with them.  Someday maybe Brian and I will actually hire a babysitter and these two could get paid for the time they spend with her.

A day in the life of Soda Part III

Soda update:

Soda is still doing well. 

Today Hannah went for a bounce and Soda joined her.

Not quite big enough yet

Hannah found these shoes in her closet. 

They are a size or two too big (obviously) but she had to wear them once she saw them.

Something about this girl and shoes. 

Signs

I came home today to find Hannah sitting on the steps, waiting for me to get home.  She had her bucket of chalk next to her and she had decorated the steps and surrounding driveway.

Another little sign that there is a child living in this house.

It's those little things each day that make me so grateful for the life I have.

Not gonna happen

Q:

What do you get when you cross a 2 year old that has had over 2000 pictures taken of her?

A:

This.  A girl who is not going to pose and smile for nothin!

Do you see that spot?

right there on Hailey's left cheek.  Right below her eye and right above her cheek...see it?  It is perfect.  You can see it here as a profile, the sun is hitting it just right to call attention to the perfect curve of her face.  Another perfectly kissable spot.  And you'd better believe that it gets kissed a lot!

Yep, I am a mom

The girls and I were sitting outside today after I got home from work. 

Brian was mowing the lawn, Hannah was eating Skittles (her new favorite snack), and Hailey was sitting on my lap.  I felt something warm on my leg and looked down to see that she had puked on me. 

Most people would NOT appreciate this.   I found myself not even phased.

Yep, that pretty much screams mom, doesn't it?

Mission Impossible

I am so jealous whenever I see a picture that someone has taken of two younger kids together and they are both looking at the camera.  How do they do that?

I try and try and try and each time I get things that look like this.

Don't get me wrong.  This is adorable.

It is sweet and it really captures the relationship that these two girls have for each other. 

But just once, can they both be looking and can the lighting be perfect?

Please?

Distractions

Hannah wanted to go outside today.  She was in her PJs when she asked me so I told her that if she got dressed we could go outside.  A few minutes later I found her like this.  Distracted.  I asked her why she wasn't getting dressed and told her that she needed to get dressed if she wanted to play outside.  About 5 minutes later she came out of her room still wearing only her 'shake your body underwear', her Dora backpack, and pushing a stroller.  Needless to say, we never made it outside.

Daddy's little helper

Hannah loves to help.  Have I mentioned that before?

Brian said that he was going to get the mail and Hannah went running after him to help.  I hope that she is like this forever.  I think the key is to make helping out just something we do and not something that is forced.  So far so good.

Brody

Brody's grandparents live next door. 

They watch him a lot on the weekends and it works out great for us because then Hannah has someone to play with.  As soon as she sees movement next door she starts calling his name hoping that he will be there.

Criss Cross

Criss Cross

Applesauce

Spider crawling up your back

Break an egg

No idea where Kari and I got this from but we used to play this little game when we were little. 

Hannah loves it!

First bounce of the season

Last weekend we got in the first bounce of the season.  Up until today neither Brian nor I mentioned the bouncer to Hannah.  I wasn't even sure she would remember about it.

Today Brian asked Hannah if she wanted to bounce.  She looked a little confused and then daddy reminded her that it was blue and yellow and that she jumped in it last year with her friends and cousins.  Then it happened...Hannah's face lit up and she went crazy!  Brian could not get the bouncer set up fast enough.

Looking forward to a summer filled with bouncing!

Here boy duck

We have some ducks that have made their home in our neighborhood.  These two have been perched out in our neighbor's yard for a few days and tonight Hannah got brave enough to feed them some bread.

She would take a few steps towards them and then toss the bread into the grass.  They would take a few steps towards her to eat it and she would take a few steps back to keep her distance.

She kept yelling out "here boy duck, eat this, it's good"

B - I - N - G - O

I wish I could have yelled that last night.

Tammy, Bett, Jodi, and I went to dinner at then out to play Bingo.

It was Tammy and Jodi's first time.  It was sort of funny to think that after all of those years working in the Bingo Hall that Tammy had never gone to play.  But then again, it all makes perfect sense.  Being in that environment for that long, you do NOT EVER want to be 'a Bingo player'.  (No disrespect to any Bingo players reading this....until you have seen what I have seen, you couldn't understand)

No winners last night from our group but hopefully that won't be the only chance for us :-)

I wonder if Jodi and Bett went back inside after we left.....?

Wet toast

Hannah loves toast.   Her favorite used to be peanut butter but recently she is into just butter.   She has been referring to this new breakfast treat as 'wet toast'.    It was pretty entertaining the other day to see her ask daddy for wet toast and to see the look on Brian's face as he tried to figure out what in the world this little girl was talking about.  I guess speaking 'toddler' is one of those mommy things :-)

It's wake up time!

Hannah came running out of her room this morning pointing to the window saying "Mommy, it's wake up time!  Look!"

This is a girl who wakes up between 5:30 and 6:30 am.  Most of those mornings it is still dark outside. 

This morning she slept in until a little after 7:00 am!

Just another Friday night

We have gotten into a routine of going out to eat on Friday nights.

85% of the time this is where we go. 

It is Hannah's favorite place and it works for us cause mommy and daddy love it too!  It is great food, reasonably priced and loud.  Kids are able to be kids here and it is nice to not have to shush them the whole time.

When I got home from work tonight I asked Hanah if we should eat something at home or go out.  She smiled really big and asked "We go to chicken wild?  Daddy, you come wif us to chicken wild?"

Buffalo Wild Wings

also known as

BW3

Chicken store

Buffalo Wings

Buffalo Chicken

and the newest name

Chicken Wild

As soon as we pulled into the parking lot Hannah yelled from the backseat "Yay, we here!  We did it daddy!"

Cupacke anyone?

Grandma gave me a bag of cake decorations and when I looked inside these little guys were staring back at me.  I couldn't help but smile. 

When we were little, mom and grandma would make cupcakes for all the holidays and on top of the cupcakes would be these plastic figures.  There were different ones for each holiday. 

I especially remember the Halloween ones, there was a black cat and a witch that were my personal favorite. 

Let's take a bath

Tonight I told Hannah that after I washed the dishes and cleaned up, it would be time for her and Hailey to take a bath.  I turned to go into the kitchen.  Before I could even take 3 steps a flash of flesh passed by me and I heard "one naked booty comin' right up!".

I turned around to see the evidence that yes indeed the ball of flesh that ran past me yelling was Hannah.

Inside this building

I had a meeting at St John's Hospital yesterday.

As I was walking from the parking lot into the hospital I had to stop and take this picture from my phone.  

Tears filled my eyes and memories started pooring into my mind.

First of all, this building has so many memories for me.  I used to work in the professional building attached to the hospital.  It was my first 'real job' out of college at Peds for Health and now here I am 12 1/2 years later, still with HealthEast.  This company has given me so much opportunity and I am so grateful.

Secondly, both of my children were born here.

When you are in labor and driving up to this entrance, there is NOTHING you want to do more than to get out of the car and into that building were someone can help you!

Then you get inside and your life begins.  You hold that little baby and look at your husband and you have never felt so calm and together.

This building gives me a sense of peace. 

Inside of that building I have found myself both personally and professionally.

I see you

  I absolutely love when Hailey sits on my lap and bends in half backwards to look at me.  She has the cutest chin and in this position it is very kissable!

I put this away for you

Brian had bought some toilet paper at the store.  When he got home Hannah carried the toilet paper into the house.  When we got into the house she took off down the hall (with the toliet paper in hand).

I found her in the hallway, the wrapping from the toilet paper empty on the ground.

"Hannah, what are you doing?"

"Putting this away for you" she says.

She even threw away the almost-empty roll in the bathroom and replaced it with a fresh new one :-)

Thanks Cub Foods

Walked into Cub Foods today and this beauty of a cart was staring Hannah in the face.  It is the cadillac of carts- twice as long as a normal cart, does not steer well, and equiped with not one but TWO steering wheels and sets of buckles.  I can never decide if I am really grateful that they make carts so fun for kids so that they sit in them and let you shop or annoyed by the fact that I can't steer this thing and will spend the whole shopping trip knocking things off the shelves.

Half way through our trip Hannah saw another little girl (she was probably eight years old) walking next to her mom while they shopped.  She turns to me and says "mom, I want to walk like the other kids". 

Thanks Cub, now I get to knock things off your shelves and I don't even have a child in the cart to make it worthwhile...

Courtney, Justin, Adam

Here are Hannah and Hailey with their 'Minnesota Cousins'.

Even though we are less than an hour away from each other we usually only see each other at holidays or weekend BBQs at grandma and grandpa's.

We don't see Courtney, Justin, and Adam enough but when we do the kids have so much fun together.

My sisters and I grew up with tons of cousins and I always think about how I wish we were closer with all of them. I don't want my kids to feel that way when they get older and it is important to me that they have close relationships with their cousins.   When Hailey gets a little older we need to start having more playdates with them and inviting them over and doing things together more often.

I think it is time to stop using the 'we live too far apart' excuse and realize that it could be worse, we could be on different continents- like their other cousins :-(

Hi sister

Hailey was laying on the floor at grandma's house and Hannah comes over to say hi. 

Most moms would get nervous and jumpy if they saw a two year old ball of energy heading towards their baby.  Not me. 

Why?  Because I get to witness moments like this between these two girls every day.  Hannah is so careful around Hailey and we never have to worry about her getting too rough. 

I know that someday these two will be pulling hair and wrestling around but I am confident by the time that happens they both will be big enough to handle it.

Backseat Conversations Take 2

Hannah:  "Nemember when daddy bringed me to see you at the doctor?  He get me at grandma's and bringed me to see baby Hay-dee.  Hay-dee was wearing a hat, silly Hay-dee.  I sat on jew bed."


It amazes me that out of the blue, while driving down the road she remembers things like this.  Even when I think back, I know that I didn't say anything to prompt her to think of this.
I love our little backseat conversations.

A day in the life of Soda Part II

How do you know you've made it?

Hannah puts a diaper on you.

Look real close...

Look real close and you can see Hannah.  Right behind the second cone.  You might not recognize her, it's her back.

When we were at the outlet mall this weekend she saw that they had a few little rides (see them?  way out there).  She asked if she could ride on them and I told her she could after we went into two stores.
While in the second store she asked again if it was time to go on the rides.  I told her as soon as we left the store she could go on the rides.
Now for you moms out there, you know how tricky it can be pushing a stroller with a toddler hanging onto the side and leaving a store.  You do the turn around, back out, and then pull the stroller out quickly- move before the heavy door crunches your child (thank goodness for those strong car seats!).  I told Hannah to wait in the store for me, I wrestled with the door and once I was out I turned back to see Hannah walking backwards out of the store.  She was copying me, it was so cute.  And then, before I knew it, my two year old little angel started walk-running as fast as she could, you know that walk-run where she knows she isn't suppose to be running so she is acting like she is walking.  Long strides, arms by her side, chin down, but moving fast.  Like a woman with a purpose!

Where was she going?  She saw the rides.

That moment made me want to break out in tears.  So many emotions wrapped up in the little moment watching her.  She looked so grown up at that moment, she never even turned around once to see if we were following her, she had a place to be.

Happy Easter!

Who needs chocolate when you can look at these two sweet faces?

Just a few minutes, girls

Today I wanted to run to the outlet mall. 

Once I mention to Hannah that we are going to go somewhere she is 'all in'.  She gets really excited and keeps asking every two minutes "ready to go, mom?".    Brian had left to meet someone to purchase something that he saw on Craigslist so it was just us.  I didn't have any backup keeping them busy while I finished getting ready so that we could leave. 

So, I turned to the next best thing after daddy, the TV.

I set the girls up on our bed, turned on some Caillou and went into the bathroom to finish getting ready.  It got really quiet and by the time I was done getting ready I walk in to find this.  Hailey fast asleep, her hand getting kissed by Hannah, and Hannah cuddling Dankie.

I love these sweet little moments.

Is that a flashlight in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

Hannah has been playing with daddy's flashlight lately.

The other night she was trying to put it in her back pocket.   When she realized that she didn't have pockets, she shoved it in her waistband of her pants.  How creative :-)

Mommy the Princess

Our conversation while on the way to bring Hailey to the doctor the other day-

Mommy:  "Boy Hannah, mommy is sure thirsty"

Hannah:  "You need a drink mommy?  Daddy will get you a drink when we get home.  You sit at the table, I will get you pop, daddy bring your special cup and you get a drink, ok mommy?  Sound like a good idea?"

Yep, sounds like a fabulous idea!