Merry Christmas!

We had a quiet Christmas at home this year, which may sound impossible when you have a one year old running around the house. We spent the day relaxing at home, watching movies, and the had my grandma and her husband over for dinner. I wasn't sure how Hannah would react to all the presents, would she dive right in and start tearing paper? We had to get her going and then she would tear the paper off the package and try to eat it. After a few gifts she just wanted to play with her new toys, or eat more paper, and lost interest in opening more gifts. We also hopped on the web cam with my family so Hannah got to open her gifts from Mimi and Papa while they watched. Not quite as good as being there with them, but a good alternative.
We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well and were able to take time to remember the greatest gift we have all received, that Christ came into the world to pay our debt and give us the gift of eternal life with him!

Hannah helped me wrap some gifts before Christmas

Opening her stocking made by Mimi

I did LOTS of baking this year

Hannah met Santa this year, on the neighbor's porch

Thanksgiving

I am desperately trying to catch up on my posting, at least I'll get this one up before Christmas. We had a good time on Thanksgiving at Anne and Bruno's house with a bunch of family. LOTS of food and lots of fun for Hannah and her cousins. We are thankful for our wonderful families, great friends, and beautiful daughter.

Hannah and her cousin Jenna, and Zio AA below

Stellan and Hannah playing outsideShe's not eating a giant cookie, she's eating a coaster

Hannah and Stellan wrapped up the evening with a diaper dance party on the table

Happy First Birthday Hannah!

I know this is extremely late, my apologies. Hannah's birthday was a lot of fun, we had lots of family and friends come to celebrate. She even got to dig into her own cake. It was almost hard to believe that Hannah was already having her first birthday. I spent a lot of time around that day thinking back to a year ago, thinking I was starting labor, timing contractions, false alarm trip to the hospital. Then being in labor, seeing her for the first time, and realizing how much she's changed in a year. In some ways it's hard to believe she is the same child as that tiny 7 lb. 7 oz. baby we were given a year ago. She is a treasure and a gift.

And I must mention that Dinkey was returned to us at Hannah's party. He mysteriously showed up in a small gift bag with her presents...

Hunting Trip

For those of you who don't know, Chris is a hunter. Now don't be shocked, he doesn't do it just for sport. Anything he shoots (or harvests, as some like to say) becomes food. We traveled Oregon at the end of October for an elk hunting trip at Grandpa Dow's ranch. Let me tell you, it is a LONG drive to Prineville, Oregon with a baby in the car. Hannah actually traveled very well, we just took two days to travel each way and did a lot of singing in the car.
The ranch is beautiful. We had lots of fun up there with Chris' parents, Doc, Auntie Rita and Chris' cousin Ryan. The extra blessing was getting to see my grandparents on my dad's side. They live in the same town as Chris' grandpa, and had never met Chris or Hannah. We spent an afternoon visiting at their house and catching up.
It was a successful hunting trip, we now have a freezer full of meat in the garage. Be warned that there is one dead animal picture in the slideshow.

Our Crazy Family

Pumpkins!

Sorry for the delay in posting, we have been VERY busy the last couple weeks, including a trip to Oregon (post soon to come). We took Hannah to Big Wave Dave's Pumpkin Patch in mid October. She wasn't really sure what to do with pumpkins, but now that we have two at home she tries to chew on the stems. We also stopped at the Avila Valley Barn to enjoy the pumpkins, food and animals, but we picked the wrong day for it. I don't recommend visiting the Sunday before Halloween, it was a mad house! And my camera stopped working so we don't have any pictures from there. Maybe next year. I still got to enjoy pumpkin filled pastry.

Dinkey is a Hostage

These photos were left on our porch, do you recognize the background? Poor Dinkey, at least he's trying to smile and stay positive through this ordeal. Hang in there Dinkey! We'll find you!

Have you seen Dinkey?

Our beloved Dinkey was kidnapped from our home the evening of Saturday, October 18, 2008. Not only have we grown fond of Dinkey but Hannah has taken a liking to him also. He was adopted into our family last year when we went camping at Dinkey Creek with the Kiners, Pecks and Hawkins. He was hitch hiking outside of a Sonic restaurant so we decided to take him along with us. We found the following ransom note today and are hoping he will come home to us soon. We can't find a picture of Dinkey, but we had the detective do a sketch for us. Have you seen him?

Stay strong Dinkey!

Hannah is 11 Months

So here's what Hannah is up to these days:
Walking everywhere! She especially loves to walk outside and go to the park (see swing picture below). If we're home she will follow me all around the house.
She waves to anyone and everyone, any place we go, a total extrovert.
Her favorite snacks are Cheerios and Gerber fruit puffs, and she can tell the difference between them. If we give her both she will eat the puffs first and then the Cheerios.
She says "mama" and sometimes "uh-oh," which usually comes out only as "uh." When we say "uh-oh" she will put her hands on her cheeks.
We play "How big is Hannah?" and she raises her arms straight up and we say "so big!"
Hannah gives kisses, which is a big open mouth on your cheek.She initiates games of peek-a-boo when she's on the changing table with her bear blanket by pulling it over her face.
She is teething like mad and has 4 top teeth making their debut.

Walking with Mimi

Feeding herself avocado (it gets everywhere!)

Hannah love swings!

Cake #3

This is the third (and final, thankfully!) cake I decorated in my class. This one went to my office to share. I call the class my therapy, it was so nice to get away for 2 hours a week and do something for myself that I enjoy. I love that I am able to spend so much time at home with Hannah, but I desperately need my "mommy time." My next cake decorating venture will be Hannah's birthday cake.

Cake #2

Here is the second cake I made in my cake decorating class, not the greatest creation but I'm learning still. CCO is for Calvary Chapel Oxnard, I made Chris take the cake to work so we wouldn't eat the whole thing at home.

Are we teaching our daughter bad habits? I think she has her mommy's taste buds for whipped cream.

Zoo Fun

We took a trip to the Santa Barbara Zoo a couple weeks ago with Amy and Ali. We had a lot of fun, Hannah was most entertained by the flamingos and the playground. The attention span of a 10 month old at a zoo is 2 hours max. By the time we got to the elephants she was more interested in the plants surrounding the enclosure than the elephants.

Happy Birthday to Daddy

We celebrated Chris' birthday Friday the 19th. My mom was in town so Chris and I got a WHOLE night away. I mean out to dinner, spending the night at the Bella Maggiore Inn, breakfast in the morning, and then going back home. Thank you Mom! And since I am in the middle of a cake decorating class, I was able to decorate a birthday cake as well.

Football Frenzy

Hannah attended her first college football game on Labor Day. We went to the Rose Bowl for the UCLA-Tennessee game. Chris' parents, Bruno and Anne, came down to celebrate their anniversary, visit with Hannah and go to the game with us. It was a fun experience, after Hannah took a nap during the second quarter, and overall a very exciting game. UCLA won 27-24 in overtime. Hannah was a champ and even clapped enthusiastically during most of the game.