Hannah's Buddy, Jake

Hannah has a special buddy, Jake. She loves to play with Jake, and they have such a good time together. Today, Hannah spent the better part of the day asking for Jake, so I called to see if we could come and pick him up for an afternoon play date. Sheri and Curtis ended up bringing him over while they ran errands and then we all had dinner together.

Hannah and Jake had so much fun playing together - they read books, played with wooden fruit, had a tea party, rolled on an exercise ball, dumped blocks, played with the popper, played in the cozy car.....they were non-stop action! We also ended up coloring, using play-dough, and finger-painting. It is actually easier when they're together because they wear each other out!

Jake's favorite toy at our house is the popper....which Curtis so lovingly picked out as a gift for Hannah's first birthday. I think he spent 20 minutes popping and running back and through the house with the popper.
Hannah reading while Jake brings her ever piece of wooden fruit that we have!

Feed the Baby

Hannah is going to make such a good big sister.....someday......

Pittsburgh Children's Museum - Part 2

Hannah really had a BLAST at the Children's Museum. She played and played all morning. It's so nice to have a place for young kids to play that is close to family. We plan on going back!

Playing the piano with Aunt DChecking out the alphabet cubbies in Mister Rogers' Neighborhood My tactile child who loves to lick things.... checking out the 2-sided push "thingie" with her tounge. It's a good thing I'm not a germ-obsessed mom....
Playing the xylophone in the "nursery" area

Watching balls roll down a ramp

Water!! Splash, splash! The first raincoat we got for Hannah was so big it went way down past her feet...once we got a shorter one she was good to go and loved playing in the (fairly cold!) water

Going down the big slide with Aunt D!

Checking out the Mini-Cooper with cousin Gavin

Pittsburgh Children's Museum - Part 1

Before we headed home from our New Year's in Pittsburgh Danila took Rachel, Gavin, Hannah and I to the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. It was FANTASTIC!!!! I wish we lived closer, but at least we know we have a fun place to visit when we're in Pittsburgh. It is one of those places that is great for little kids as well as slightly older kids. I was amazed that there was so much for Hannah to do -- we went in the morning and Hannah was so excited to be there from the minute we walked through the door - we had to tear her away to go home for lunch and her nap.

We had such a good time that I had to break our visit up into two separate posts. This post is just pictures of Gavin....who had a great time playing in the water....so much that his clothes got totally soaked and he spent 1/2 of our time at the museum in just his onesie! Gavin played in the "nursery" area where they had a padded floor with crawling obstacles and a plastic horse to ride. He also enjoyed some of the tactile exhibits where he got to touch things. But, he spent the bulk of his day playing in the water. He also got to sit in a car and "drive" and go on a slide with his mom, but I'm not sure if he enjoyed anything as much as his time in the water area.

Stay tuned for pictures of Hannah's day.

Cheese!Splish, Splash!
Gavin & Rachel on the slide

Christmas with the Woolley's

We went to Pittsburgh for New Year's to celebrate Christmas with Jon's side of the family. We showed up on New Year's Eve just in time for dinner (we like to drive during "afternoon nap time") and hung out with Josh & Danila and Jon's parents on New Year's Eve. We got to break out Jon's new Christmas present - Killer Bunnies - and play games with everyone. Unfortunately for the rest of us, Jon actually won two games in a row.... It was a lot of fun. Josh actually had to work the night shift on New Year's Eve, so he left the house a little after 11pm and left Danila, Jon and I to ring in 2010 together. Not to be left out, Hannah decided to get up about 5 minutes before 12am to celebrate with us : ) Fortunately, we got her back to bed relatively quickly!

On New Year's Day, Rachel, Ryan and Gavin showed up just in time for our big meal at lunchtime (and just before Josh got home from work!). The plan was to eat lunch, put the kids (and Josh?) down for naps, and then open presents before the Rose Bowl. Naps didn't go exactly as planned, but we were done with presents before OSU football started - which was a requirement for the guys : )

Jon with Hannah and Gavin

Rachel & Gavin

Hannah really likes to pass out presents to people. We had to get her to focus on opening them! She was interested in what everyone else was getting!

Gavin enjoyed opening presents too!

Jon and Hannah try out one of Gavin's presents Josh with his Christmas PeepsDanila models her new jersey

We actually don't have pictures of any of the other adults with their presents - I guess the kids are just a lot more fun to take pictures of when they open gifts! But, rest assured, we all got some very nice things and enjoyed each other's company.

The big present of the day was Hannah's Cozy Coupe from Grandma & Grandpa Woolley.

Did you know that more Little Tikes Cozy Coupes are sold in the USA than any other vehicle? They sell 20,000 MORE COZY COUPES than the Toyota Camry each year. This amazes me for one reason -- I PUT THE THING TOGETHER!!! Dania and I went to get the box out of the basement and figured we could spend some of nap time putting it together so Hannah could ride in it right away. Little did we know that we'd spend ALL of nap time putting the thing together -- 31 separate instruction steps and an on-line video. We thought the video wouldn't be necessary, as we're two pretty smart ladies who can follow instructions -- WE WERE WRONG. Danila told me about mid-way through the assembly that if I ever got one of these for her children in the future that she's take it as a sign that I hate her. Of course, Sally didn't realize how hard it would be to put together when she purchased it -- and neither did I when I put it on Hannah's list....I just knew she liked them when other kids had them.

However, the assembly was worth it when you saw Hannah's eyes LIGHT UP when Jon brought it out of the back room -- she hopped off the couch as fast as she could and ran over to it, got in....and didn't want to get out the rest of the evening!
Hannah climbing in her car

(no child except mine gets into the car every possible way, EXCEPT through the door that actually opens)

We put Hannah in her OSU cheerleader outfit for the Rose Bowl and she actually did take some turns with Gavin playing in the car. Gavin liked her car too : )

We really enjoyed our New Year's celebration with our extended family. We hope you all have a Happy New Year and many blessings in 2010!!! We're already blessed beyond belief, and excited to see what 2010 has in store for our family.