Exploring the Neighborhood

Hannah loves playing outside, and asks to take her dolly and stroller out every aftyernoon! Lately she has been fascinated with the rocks, and we have to stop at every house to check them out :) She's getting ready to do some serious rock picking at Grandma and Grandpa Fiecke's house!

Sitting on the front porch telling Molly stories (Molly the dolly).
Let me out!!!! Hannah's wild attempt at climbing OVER the porch rail. . . .

She's walking in grass!!! And happy about it!! :) For whatever reason Hannah has refused to walk in the grass so far - she crawled in it last summer, so I know it's not that it feels weird, but maybe it's just the idea of walking on something "lumpy". Anyhow, after many "baby" steps of inching our way out a little more each time, Hannah is now okay with walking in the grass - yay!! :)

Isabella's Third Birthday

Yesterday we helped Isabella celebrate her 3rd birthday! Hannah had lots of fun swinging and playing with Amariah's baby doll :) And of course, the cake was a big hit, too! I left my camara at home, but here are a couple of pictures courtesy of Caitlin (Thanks Caitlin!!)

The birthday girl was all smiles :)

Hannah was a tired girl (that's what happens when you skip a nap!) but she perked right up at the sight of the cake!

It was great party - the kids had so much fun playing at the park (only the parents complained about the drizzling rain) and on the playground (the slide is wet - my pants will wipe it dry!!). :)

Skagit Tulip Festival

This afternoon we drove down to see the tulip fields in Skagit County. Hannah had a blast walking around the fields and pointing to the pretty flowers :)

Hero would have loved to have free rein of the fields, but she settled for an outing on her "long leash" and managed to have fun anyway :)

We stopped for dinner on our way home, and Hannah decided to try the lemons out of our lemonade glasses - after the face she made when I took it away, you wouldn't think she'd want more, but. . . . .

I know these aren't tulip pictures, but I am just so proud of my big girl for finally doing this by herself!! She crawled up on the box, and then sat down without help - we've been practicing sitting on her chair, but she usually just stands on it until I sit her down, so this is big!

Side note: This Costco box has become a favorite "hide-y hole" with both of the kitties :) Hannah also likes to use it as a step up to the couch. Who needs toys when you have boxes :)

Noah's Birthday Party

Yesterday was Noah's 2nd birthday and Hannah was so excited to help her friend celebrate! (It didn't hurt that the party was at the fun toddler play 'n place at McDonald's.) She had a great time running around, going down the slide, and exploring all of the cool little "houses".

The birthday boy!
Hannah loves this slide!
Presents!! Hannah had help from Daddy picking out the perfect "loader" toy - Noah loves his trucks, and made sure to tell us what kind it was and what noises it makes :) He also didn't seem to mind that he got 2 of the same toy. . . .
Yummy Cupcakes!
It was a great party - Happy Birthday Noah!!!!

Weekend in Portland

After the Easter festivities were over, we took a family road trip down to Portland. Hannah did GREAT in the car - she slept most of the way :) and enjoyed exploring the local mall before heading to the hotel for some pooltime and bed (we had to go to the mall - who can resist tax-free shopping?). The next day we met up with Char and Stephen (friends from our Cobber-days) and their two little ones at the Portland Zoo. Hannah had a blast walking around the zoo and looking at the animals - until naptime came, and then she crashed - kind of - she didn't want to sleep since there was so much cool stuff to look at, but she REALLY needed the zzz's!! After the zoo we headed back to the hotel for some more time hanging out with our friends and visiting. We finally said goodbye after dinner out (2 high chairs and a booster seat - the waitstaff LOVED us!) Here are a few pictures we got at the zoo:


It's Meerkat Manor!! (I miss that show!)
A lovely zebra - we also got a charming picture of the zebra's rear end thanks to our friend Tom :)
Asian elephant
Hannah watching a bear from the safety of her stroller :)
It didn't take long for Hannah to ditch the stroller and go for a stroll.

More Easter Fun

I know these aren't exactly timely (sorry!) but we've been on the go and now it's time to play catch-up :) The week after Easter was a fun one - after the play date at our house we had another Easter party at a friend's house. This time Hannah realized there were tasty treats in the eggs and she was all about collecting as many as she could get her hands on! She then proceeded to sit down and go through ALL of them to eat those yummy snacks (Ariel was kind enough to fill all of the eggs with puffs and cheerios).



Last time Hannah just stole the eggs out of other baskets, but this time she decided that taking the whole basket was easier!



Cracking open the loot.



She's usually more of a social butterfly, but the call of the treats was just too strong!

More egg-cracking fun - she examined each egg to make sure there were no goodies left!