Visiting folks

A few pictures from our trip to SE TX in early January.

Hannah with Rhonda


Hannah and Kennedy


Me, Hannah, Rhonda, Nicky, and Aunt Matalee


While there we visited my childhood friend, Lisa, and met one of her daughters, Abby. Hannah is not mad about being there, she's mad because we made her stop playing to take a picture!


Hannah and I went to visit Clint and Nicole and to meet Khale and Emily. Hannah was mildly interested in the babies, but very interested in all the baby toys.


Amy and Eric came over as well so of course we needed a group picture. This time Eric was sad to stop playing.


Pete and I went to eat with Stacia and John, and Taryn and a friend of hers. Stacia, Taryn and I took an obscene number of pictures of ourselves. A few of them we even liked!






Drinking our margarita flavored tequila. If you run out of margarita mix you can apparently just reverse the amounts, according to John!




On the way home we stopped at our park again. Hannah tried out the big girl swings.


And the merry-go-round with Nah-ma.


And a really tall slide.


She did not get on the see-saw like last time.

You may have noticed the beads that Hannah is wearing in a lot of the pictures since Christmas. They are kukui nuts from Hawaii. Mom gave them to her for Christmas and Hannah would happily wear them 24 hours a day if she could. Occasionally it seems that she's being nice as she takes them off and offers them to you, but she's a tease. If you reach for them she snatches them back, puts them on, and laughs and laughs.

Playing with the new camera

Pete and I have been having a lot of fun playing with the new camera. So far I don't think we've learned much. Pete has figured out that he can take about a million pictures per second so we have tons of pictures in very, very slightly different positions. And I've learned that I needed this camera a long time ago since the old camera had a lag time and this one doesn't, or not much.

Here are a few from Sunday












And a few from Monday

Busy day

Hannah and I met some friends today at Southpark Meadows. As usual Hannah loved the slide. This time she got to slide with her friend George.


Hannah, Campbell, and George played the drums.

The slides are the very most fun.

Do you know that this is a "tee taw"? Hannah loves to tee taw, especially with her friend Campbell.

Green girl













I absolutely did not expect her to make it up, but I promise these pictures are taken back to back with no one going to help her at all!

Later in the afternoon Hannah, Pete and I went to meet Mom and go to North Pole Village. NPV is a community event that is done near Mom's house. There is a "village" in the community center. You can go to the "petting barn" (puppies from the animal shelter), the "bakery" (decorate cookies), "school house" (make a tree ornament), "library" (get a book to keep), "post office" (write and mail a letter to Santa), "toy shop" (choose a stuffed animal to keep), and several more places including pictures with Santa.

We skipped Santa pictures since facial hair is really scary. We took Hannah to the end of the line, pointed out Santa and asked if she wanted to go see Santa. She shook her head and emphatically said "NO!"

Decorating cookies

Choosing a book with Grandma

Finding the perfect stuffed dog (with a belly button)

After that the camera batteries died, but se had a lot more fun!

Our Great Day

Hannah and I had a fabulous day. First we went and met McGee and Meredith. We were going to help get Meredith's Christmas gift, but those plans were changed. So we went and had lunch, and then to their house to play. Hannah and Meredith were incredible together. They were chasing each other, squealing, sharing toys (and fighting over them) - it was wonderful! I loved it!

While we were there McGee took some pictures of Hannah for our Christmas cards. I have no idea which one to use - Pete will have to help me decide. And I'm not posting any previews so don't even ask!

After we left we met Brian for dinner. Pete had to work late so it was just the three of us. We went to Frank and Angies because how wrong can you go with pizza?










Hannah was not impressed with the giant piece of pizza! She likes nice, manageable pieces.


Uncle Brian loved the big piece!


Mean faces

Happy faces - oh wait! Hannah looks the same in both!

15 month doctor visit

Hannah had her 15 month check up today. It was rescheduled several times because of all our recent illness. She weighs 19lb 13oz (10%), is 30in long (25-50%), and her head is 18 1/2in (75%). She showed no signs of her previous sicknesses and her diaper rash was all gone. And she is meeting all the milestones like she should. Can't get much better than that!

So here's a little run down. Hannah says something like 20 words. The most recent are tee taw (see saw) and yes. She also makes several animal sounds and a few signs. She is climbing these days and is getting a little sneaky with it. For example, she will move the stool in the kitchen and climb on it to reach something on the counter. She is starting to find her body parts. She's known how to find our noses for a while, but now she has figured out that she has one too. Of course, she misses a lot and hits her eye or sticks her finger up her nose. She also has known how to find our belly buttons for a while, but now she knows where hers is and thinks it's hilarious.

For months now Hannah has loved music and she has liked to dance. Now she is starting to ask for music, and even for specific songs. She loves "Ride Cowgirl" (where she bounces on my knees while I sing a song about a cowgirl and at the end she falls off the "horse") and Ring Around the Rosies.

Hannah loves books. She has lots of toys but spends most of her time flipping thru her books. Sometimes she brings them to me, thrusts them in my lap, and stretches her arm up to me, which is her sign to read to her. But most of the time she "reads" to herself. She talks to herself as she stares at the pages. When she turns them she stops and then starts again, so we think she's reading, right?

She's also a big fan of closing doors. No idea what's up with that, but if there is an open door in sight she will try to close it. Same for anything that looks wrong to her - a carpet corner turned up, a bowl or a cup not where she left it. She's a little anal about some things.

I could go on, of course, for quite a bit longer, but I won't. I've bragged about my girl enough for one day!


Meadow and Emily came over this evening to see us. Hannah was so delighted to see them, as always.

Aren't they cute!

Emily took a picture of Hannah and me also.