Happy 4th!

We spent the 4th of July in Cayucos again with the Vanoli/Cagle family. Lots of fun for the cousins! I just noticed that as I was making the slideshow, all my pictures are of the kids and none of the adults. Oops!

Little Mama

Mothering is definitely built in to little girls. I didn't teach her to do this.

Chatterbox

We have recently discovered that Hannah talks in her sleep. The first thing we heard about a month ago was "Hi!" about an hour after she had been in bed. Our guess is she was dreaming about being at the grocery store, where she says hi to everyone. A couple weeks ago, when we checked on her before we went to bed, she rolled over and said, "oh, wow!" And the other night, she said, "Dada." Sweet.

A Random Sampling

Elmo!

This is Hannah attempting to take off her diaper while wearing pj's. Fortunately she only tried this one night and it has not become a habit.

Nothin' but love for Dinkey

Stellan, Jenna and Hannah playing Nona's piano

Slumber party with Ali

Daddy save me from the waves!

A new favorite pastime...watching the garbage trucks go by on Wednesday mornings

The Wiggle Worm

I just wanted to show how difficult it is to take a picture with Hannah. The child never sits still. Chris and I make a point to tell each other if we got a few minutes of cuddle time with Hannah during the day. I'm sure we're not the only parents with a wiggly child, it just seems excessive with her. But I wouldn't change her for the world. I love her enthusiasm for life.

See how she's trying to get away from me so she can play with the water

Now trying to wiggle away from Mimi

Finally a quick snapshot sitting...but her eyes are closed

Horseback Riding and a Happy Birthday

Rewind to the beginning of May...Mother's Day weekend is always an eventful weekend for my family. My mom and sister have back to back birthdays that usually overlap with mother's day. So the great part is we were able to be together for all three events. For a birthday present this year, my sister chose horseback riding in Ojai and I got to tag along. Way fun! I don't think I had been on a horse in at least 15 years. Happy birthday sis!

This is the ice cream cake I made for Megan.

Big Mimi and Mimi shared some cake with Hannah.

Travels with Hannah

I apologize for the delay in posting. Here's what we've been up to.

The first weekend of May we traveled to Cayucos and San Luis Obispo for a Campus Crusade for Christ reunion (the college club we were involved in during our time at Cal Poly). Chris even got to lead worship with the same band members he played with in college, a real treat for him. 

On the way up, we stopped at the park between Pismo and Shell Beach for a little play time. I mostly sat around and look what hatched! 

Then it was off to Cayucos for some family time at the beach house. And you can't go to Cayucos without going to the Candy Counter for some gelato.

The next day was spent in San Luis Obispo catching up with old friends. My good friend Jill and her husband Jim drove down from San Jose and spent a night with us at the beach house. Jill was the maid of honor in our wedding and had not even met Hannah before this. That's what you get for moving across country!  Hannah and Jill had some good bonding time, we'll definitely have to get together again soon.

So what to do you do when it's too cold to play on the beach? You play with beach toys in the gravel driveway. From a mom point of view, it's much easier to clean up a toddler who's been playing in gravel than one who has been playing in sand.

After play time, it was time to help Nono clean up the yard. Hannah is quite the helper these days.

So what do you do after yard work? You play some more, of course!