Hanging Out

Michael and Hannah have enjoyed spending some time just hanging out with Daddy on his days off this week :)



Daddy gave Michael his first taste of ice cream - - too bad it wasn't real!! :)

Hannah and Michael are so sweet together!

Happy Baby!!

Now that Michael has perfected the whole rolling over bit, he's discovered that he can be somewhat mobile and he LOVES it!

2009 Tulip Festival

You know it's spring when the tulip fields are blooming!! :) We made our annual trip down to see the tulips - and for the first time didn't bring any of our pets (we thought the 2 kids would be enough of a challenge this year). It's late in the season, so there weren't a lot of fields still blooming, but we had fun with what was there!

Hannah helped Michael get his first close up view of the tulips :)

Michael enjoyed the walk through the fields . . . .
. . . . and so did Hannah! We have tulips in our front yard and Hannah has been taught to "smell" the flowers rather than pull them up :)

Hannah was meandering through the fields when she noticed a sign - - of course, she thought it made a great surface to color on!! :)

4 Months Old

4 Months old and such a charmer!! Michael is zipping through the milestone and growth charts :) He is now 26 inches and 14 1/2 lbs. He can (and does regularly!) flip himself over onto his tummy from his back, although he still has trouble going the other way, and honestly doesn't seem very motivated to do so - he likes being on his tummy! The cats are very interesting to him now, and he often makes a grab for Jule's tail when she gets too close, which is all the time because she just can't resist snuggling up to people :) Michael still thinks that being held ALL of the time is the way to go, so he spends a large portion of every day in the Moby wrap we've got. He has his moments of content floor time, and we're slowly trying to increase those :) He is a very vocal kid and loves to be talked to and sung to - he also loves reading stories, much like his big sister, and enjoys sharing Mommy's lap with Hannah while reading a good book!

Wild Adventures at the Zoo

We had a fun family day at the zoo this week - yay!! Hannah spent most of the day running from animal to animal, raiding the snacks, and smelling the flowers :) She is enamoured with all animals right now, so she thought spending the day with them was fantastic! Michael had fun riding in the stroller and laughing at Hannah's antics.

Michael didn't have a neighbor for long - Hannah only sat in the stroller on the way to and from the car, and briefly while she was snacking throughout the day. . . . .
. . . . but she made sure to check in on him frequently! Hannah is always very concerned about her baby brother and likes to know that he's being taken care of :)

Sweet baby boy!!!

There were a couple of kangaroos lounging around outside, and then a couple of more inside that Hannah and Daddy had a long talk about :)

"Ssshhhhhh" - Hannah made sure to point out that the monkeys were sleeping.
Calling this bald eagle a "birdy" seems so wrong. . . . . nonetheless, Hannah insisted that this birdy said "tweet, tweet".
This elephant is just her size!

This elephant is MUCH bigger :)
A view from the top - - Hannah watched an elephant getting what she was convinced was a bubble bath!

There were a couple of stray ducks wondering around that Hannah thought she would befriend. . . .

A lone wolf was tempted out of her hiding spot when the keepers put some food out.

Our last stop of the day was to the "family farm" where Hannah was thrilled to see cows, horses, goats, sheep, and pigs to name just a few :)

We had a great day together and were all exhausted by the time we left! Hopefully we'll keep having sunny days and will be able to have more outdoor fun soon :)

More Easter Fun

Hannah had a few friends over the other day for some playtime and an egg hunt. The kids though it was great to run around the back yard cracking open eggs (it didn't take them long to figure out that some of the eggs had little toys and stickers in them - those were not as desirable as the m&m's!!).

Making sure her eggs were more candy than stickers. . . . .

After collecting all of the eggs, it was time for a special treat - -birthday cupcakes for Liam! Some of the kids surprised us by just licking the frosting and calling it good, but Hannah was all about eating the whole thing and wishfully asking for a second (she knew what the answer would be before she asked, but couldn't resist hoping!!)

Easter Blessings

Easter blessings to everyone - We hope you had a wonderful weekend filled with love and wonder at what the Lord has done for us! We had a busy week last week, filled with Easter preparations and activities. Our church holds an annual Seder Meal for Passover, so we spent Thursday evening enjoying the meal and conversation, along with the knowledge that Jesus ate a similar feast shortly before His death. Hannah did surprisingly well at this 2 hour meal, and entertained everyone at our table with her toddler antics. Her good behavior was largely due to the wide variety of finger food available, but I'll take that trade any day :)
On Friday we had the service of Darkness, and again, Hannah and Michael both did well. Our youth group was supposed to be responsible for stuffing and hiding eggs for the little kids to find on Easter, but they managed to all be unavailable that night, so Matt and I did their dirty work before the service started.
Easter morning found Hannah up and excited to hunt for her basket. The Easter bunny brought her lots of treats and goodies, and she couldn't wait to dig in! After picking through her basket, it was time to get all of us ready for church. The kids loved the egg hunt, and Hannah found more than her share of eggs!! She managed to open more than I would have liked and eat the candy out of them, but as soon as she put her bag down to eat a hot cross bun, Daddy dove in and saved the day by emptying the rest of her eggs and donating the candy to an older kid whose mother loved us, I'm sure!! Hannah still has the stickers from her eggs, and she has enjoyed putting them on pictures :) After church it was back to the house for naps, and I mean for everyone! :)
Our week was exhausting, but so much fun. And we loved that Daddy had the weekend off to spend with the family - truly an Easter Blessing!!

The Easter Bunny hid Hannah's basket, but she had no trouble finding it! Both kids had a lot of fun stuff in their baskets to destract them from the fact that there was very little candy. . . . . :)
Showing off her stylish headband that she put on all by herself :)

Trying on a new pair of slippers.

Finding an adorable carebear bunny :)

Michael eyed his basket, desperately willing the goodies inside to jump out at him :)

Finding eggs at church was fun, but. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . finding what was inside of the eggs was even better!

She's only 2, but she already knows that the eggs and candy aren't what's important - Hannah stood waiting patiently for the doors to the sanctuary to open so she could get a good seat :)

What a welcoming committee ;) Hannah thought we were taking too long to get in, so she attempted to open the door by herself!

Family Outing

It was unexpectedly nice out this afternoon - yay!! So we packed up the stroller and headed out for a lo-o-ong walk through Birch Bay State Park :) Hannah walked for as much as we would let her (there were a couple of busy roads that required being strapped in the stroller, much to her dismay). We walked through the park and down to the beach, where Hero begged to be able to run after birds and Hannah threw shells into the water. It was Michael's first trip to the beach, but we're looking forward to more as the weather warms up :)

Fashionable Food

Hannah spent some time this morning fashioning a lovely necklace out of Fruit Loops - of course, she ate more than she actually put on the necklace!!
Showing off her handy work

Birthday Fun

Hannah helped her friend Noah celebrate his birthday this week at a fun indoor playland. The kids had a blast running around and exploring.

The slide is always a hit, although this one was a bit larger than Hannah's used to, which meant Mommy went down with her :)
Jungle Playland at a glance - - it's a ton of fun, and I can't wait to bring Hannah back :)

Mmmmmmmm - cupcakes, her favorite!!! She loves them so much that she had trouble waiting until after we sang Happy Birthday. . . . . but who can blame her? They were yummy!!

Monkeying around. . . . . . . :)

Thanks to Lisa for planning a wonderful party - the kids had fun, and the Mommies even got some time to hang out and talk :) And for those of you who noticed the lack of "Michael" pictures, he got to enjoy the playland too, but spent most of the time snuggling in the Moby wrap with Mommy and taking a snooze. He woke up in time to flirt with the ladies as we were getting ready to leave :)

The car ride home was also naptime, so I took my time along Chuckanut Drive and enjoyed the scenery while the kiddos slept all the way home - ahhhh, the joy of a quiet car!!

Exploring the Park

Yesterday we decided to take full advantage of the sunny weather and spend the morning at the park. Hannah took a quick tour of the playground, and then we went for a walk and did some exploring.

After a fun day, and a messy dinner, Hannah was ready to bum around the house in her underclothes ;)

It's just like riding a bike. . . . .

Hannah has been waiting patiently to ride her bike ever since she opened it at Christmas. Since yesterday was both sunny and dry (sometimes hard to come by together in the Pacific Northwest!), Daddy took her out for her first lesson - keeping your feet on the pedals! :)
Rest assured, even though she's looking a little reticent in the pictures, Hannah was indeed having fun! She had some trouble pedaling, but with practice I'm sure she'll be zipping up and down the sidewalk in no time!