Snack Time

Hannah loves raisins!

Swinging Good Times

Hannah seems to enjoy watching Lauren more than Lauren is enjoying the swing....

Hannah's 3rd Birthday Party

We celebrated Hannah's 3rd birthday with a small family pizza party.  We had a good time, and enjoyed each other's company and some good food.

Cake made by babysitter, Lisa

Opening presents

Uncle Daniel always spoils his nieces and nephew......the following two pictures are presents from him (plus a Thomas the Train).

Scooby Doo lunchbox!

Hungry Caterpillar picnic set!
(Hannah LOVES picnics at the park)

The pile of loot....and this is just family!!!
Lots of clothes, puzzles, books, games, and a Buzz Lightyear

Opening the box of dress-up clothes

Uncle Josh likes to dress up!

Hannah, all dressed up!

Time for cake!

She wasn't too sure about the singing...

We had a great party.  We're so thankful to have such a great group of extended family who dotes on our little girl(s).  Hannah enjoyed her party, but was definitely tired at the end of the night -- she didn't even finish her cake.

Happy Birthday, Hannah

Dear Hannah,

Happy 3rd Birthday, sweetie.  It is hard to believe that three years have already passed since you were born.  What is even harder to believe is how much you have grown up in these first three years.  From the tiny, tiny baby that we first met in the hospital to the big girl that announced "I'm UUUUPPPP" this morning. 

You are such a delightful little girl.  You are a TON of fun.  You have a real sense of humor and will play "lions" on the floor with Daddy, you make fun of Daddy's stinky feet (and ask him to smell your stinky feet), and have a contagious laugh.  You have a great imagination and tell all sorts of stories.  You love to look at books and your favorite story is David & Goliath.You really enjoy bubble baths and are constantly trying to talk us into giving you one.  In fact, you like the water - you're always up for a shower, a trip to the splash park, or a trip to the pool.  You enjoy the frog slide at the pool, so long as someone is at the bottom to catch you so you don't go under!

Your favorite foods are macaroni and cheese, corndogs, fruit snacks, bananas, grapes, blueberries, yogurt, applesauce, ham (the only meat you really like besides hotdogs, but those might not be meat), green beans, peas, and WATER.  When you get hurt, you'll often take a sip of water and say "it's okay now - the water made it better."  (You also really like band-aids....and a well-placed Dora band-aid will cure just about anything.)  You request a "special treat" every now and then after dinner and definitely have a sweet tooth, but a special treat can be a cup of fruit and you're just as happy as if it is a piece of cake.  Speaking of cake -- you are your Daddy's daughter -- you prefer the icing to the cake!

You're a very active kid - you love to dance (wearing your tutu or nothing at all), jump on the bed with Daddy, run, climb, and play with Abby.  Thankfully, you're also a great sleeper (although you have started to sneak out of bed at night) and sleep for 10-12 hours at night and take about a 2-hour nap every day.  You have also become quite the chatterbox and have a vocabulary that is out of this world.  The top question asked in this house is "why" -- you want to know how everything works, who everyone is, and what everyone is doing.  You are very inquisitve, which is fun to watch, but sometimes tiring to respond to!

I love how loving you are -- both to Lauren and to us.  You tell us that you love us, and give the best hugs and kisses.  You're also very loving toward your cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents.  I know they enjoy your loving heart and your fun spirit.  I love to listen to you say your prayers at night, as you thank God for everyone and everything in your life.  I hope you keep that thankful, gracious spirit as you grow up.  We love you sweetie, and are so glad that you're ours!

Love, Mommy & Daddy

The Limit?!?!?

So apparently you only get 1 GB of picture storage through Blogger for free (but you get 7GB of email storage!), so the fact that I routinely put 10-20 pictures on my blog for some bigger posts is apparently a problem (and I'm guessing my new camera from Christmas 2009 is putting "bigger" (i.e., higher quality) pictures up).  I attempted to upload a few pictures today and was told I'd reached my limit!!!  Unreal.  I've only been blogging for 3 years!

I'm going to have to figure out what to do.  I don't want to get rid of the old stuff.....maybe I'll just use my "junk mail" e-mail account to do some posts for a while..... I don't use Picasa web albums, but apparently they are linked through Blogger somehow.  I will have to figure all of this out and find a work-around.

So frustrating!!!

Sorry to all of the family out there that uses this as their connection to us and what is going on!!!

Bowling!

Hmmmm..... How can we torture ourselves on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with no school and no work?  I know!!  We can take the kids bowling!  Yes, that's right.  5 adults took 5 kids bowling.  Even with a 1:1 ratio, there weren't enough adults!  Curtis & Sheri, Jon & me, and Rachel took all of the kids to the bowling alley (with the "no smoking indoors" laws in Ohio, it's actually family-friendly!).  We had Hannah (3), Jake (2), Gavin (2), Megan (1), and Lauren (2 months).  

We used the bumpers, which helped somewhat.  We did have a lightweight kids ball, but without a ramp to roll it (which we discovered only handicapped kids could use), the kids really struggled with getting the ball to the end of the lane.  On a number of occasions, the ball would ever so slowly roll past the sensor near the end of the lane and the bar would come down to sweep the pins before the ball actually made it to the pins.  The guys in the lane next to us found it amusing, I'm sure.  We walked down to retrieve balls, used other balls in an attempt to knock balls that stopped rolling in, and had VERY low scores.

Despite the guys thinking it was absolutely ridiculous to take such young kids bowling, the kids had a great time.  Plus, I like exposing Hannah to new things whenever I can.  So, enjoy the pictures.  After bowling, we treated the kids to McDonald's, which was also a highlight of the day!

Jon helping Hannah

Jake bowling

Jake wanted absolutely NO HELP from anyone.  He'd yell at his parents if they tried to help.  As a result, many of the "slow rollers" were his, but he had a good time anyways!

Waiting for his ball to come back

Uncle Jon, corralling Gavin

As the youngest of the 3 older kids who actually bowled, Gavin was probably the least interested in bowling.  I'm not entirely sure he had a good time, as he just wanted to run around and eat snacks, but I'm sure he liked playing with the other kids, even if he really didn't like the "bowling" part of bowling.  Our biggest challenge was keeping him safe with the other bowlers around, since we couldn't quite explain "stay in your lane"!

Gavin with his ball

All smiles!

Super Dads!

Jon, Jake & Hannah

 

Pile on Curtis!

Chuck E Cheese

So we took Hannah to Chuck E Cheese .... her first trip with us, but she'd made one previous trip with her Grandma and Grandpa Woolley when she was spending a week with them while Jon & I were on vacation.  Hannah mentions it to us every time she sees the advertisement that comes with the newspaper, and we finally gave in. 

Jon thinks Chuck E Cheese is like a casino for kids....they don't use money, there are no clocks, and lights and bells and whistles go off all of the time.  It was insane.  Jon, Sheri and I took the four kids for a late morning/lunchtime play date -- and we felt like we just didn't have enough hands or eyes to watch all of the kids.  We had Lauren sleeping in the carrier, Megan trying to walk all over but being too little, and Hannah and Jake running around like crazy.  Jake wanted to be with Jon the whole time, and Miss Independent didn't care who was around her!

Here are a few pictures we took of our morning adventure.  I didn't get any pictures of one of Hannah's favorite things.....the mouse tube to climb in up over top of everything.  She loved that thing.

Jon disappeared with some tokens for a while when Sheri and I were feeding the kids lunch.  He came back to our table with a big grin and said "no kid is ever going to beat the 64 that I just scored in the pop a shot [basketball game]."  At least he found something fun to do....and it will be interesting to see if that score sticks.  He did does have a nice shot : )

Jake

Hannah driving the school bus

So serious

Jake's adoring audience

Hannah with her monster truck -- this was a favorite ride.

For as little as she is, she was dead serious about driving the giant truck!

And she's off!

Jacob

Hannah

4-wheeling

As a side note, we discovered after our trip that not all parents are good about keeping their kids home when their kids are sick.  A few days after our adventure, Hannah and I both came down with a nasty case of the flu.  Hannah spent most of the week home from the babysitter's with a high fever, and my fever even got up to 103.  We ended up together on the couch bed in the family room watching PBS Kids one day because neither of us could move!  Thankfully, Lauren stayed healthy, even though she was around me for feedings throughout the day (and night).  We've since learned that winter probably isn't the best place to go to a germ-filled indoor play place : )  Rookie parent mistake!

Gifts from Great Aunt Rose

Jon's Aunt Rose (from California) sent us a few things for Lauren...and to make sure Hannah didn't feel left out, included a bunch of goodies for her too.  Hannah was OH SO EXCITED to get the purse, jewelry, tiara, and wand from her Great Aunt Rose.  She is wearing/holding everything she received in the pictures below!

Hannah loves to wave the wand and make it make noise and "turn us into a princess."  It is so funny.  She'll also wave the wand at Lauren and tell her to stop crying and wave it at Abby and tell her to sit or go to her mat.  She's got the right idea; now if Lauren and Abby would cooperate she'd be on to something!

Thanks so much Aunt Rose!  We hope we get to see you soon so you can meet the girls in person.

Sleeping Babe

Gymnastics

We enrolled Hannah in a gymnastics program that her "Help Me Grow" therapists recommended.  It's called Kidnetic Energy, and what is great about this program is that each child has a "helper" who goes around with them for the entire class.  The "helpers" are high school students who want community service hours, or college students enrolled in the pediatric therapy programs at OSU.  It's great for a kid like Hannah (or any 3-year old) who needs a little help staying on task.  Unfortunately, it is only for special-needs kids, so once Hannah is out of Help Me Grow (when she turns 3),  she won't be able to take the next session.  But for now, she's really enjoying it and it's nice to let her try something new.

During her hour-long class, the kids all warm up together with exercises designed by a pediatric therapist.  They do stretches and play with a parachute.  Then, the littler kids (us) head to the toddler gym for "circuits."  An instructor shows how each activity is to be done and the kids divide up into groups.  They rotate among trampoline, balance beam, bars, rings, basic tumbling (logs rolls, etc.), and other gross motor activities. 

For as small as she is, Hannah is really strong - she can hang on the bar all day!

See that rock wall behind Hannah?  Well, she just tried to climb OVER it.  The kids were climbing up and touching the top, but our Hannah attempted to go over.  She was so high up her helper only had a hand on her butt, so she was trying to coax her back down.... Only my child....

Walking on the bubbles

Rings!  More hanging for my monkey.

Darting to and fro .... the real reason a "helper" is great for Hannah.  Hannah had to be re-directed a number of times, both to stay on only the approved activities, and to stay in the "toddler" area.  She would just run anywhere (and all over) if we let her!

 

The trampoline - her favorite.  Hannah needs to be reminded to let others take a turn when she is on the trampoline.  There is also a "cheese pit" of foam blocks in the netted-off trampoline area that she especially loves.  Hannah has gotten really good at bear-crawling on two "crayons" and I think this is good for her to help learn how her body moves (and where her limbs are - she tends to just flail them about).

At the end of class, a kid-favorite - STAMPS.  The kids can even get them on their feet, which Hannah especially enjoys.  We may go back to swimming when gymnastics is done (it wore her out more), but we'll probably let her try something similar if she is still interested.  We just know we don't want to over-do it with activities.

Hannah's Concert

Hannah's Grandma Folger got her a xylophone for Christmas last year....gotta love a noise-making present with no batteries!!! (Thanks, mom!)

Hannah absolutely LOVES playing music on it and decided to give us a concert.  She was singing songs (although we weren't entirely sure what she was singing) while she pounded away....while standing on top of her toybox.  What a kid.

 

After the concert, Hannah spent her night pants-less.  Which, isn't entirely uncommon around here these days.  I'm also not sure what she was trying to get from the top of the bookcase when I caught her climbing.  Thankfully, they've been bolted to the wall since they were installed....