dreamin’

well, at least I think this is what she was doing…

Puppy fun!

This morning I wanted to do something special and fun for breakfast for Hannah Gray. I had found this recipe for peanut butter pancakes shaped like puppies, so I decided to give it a try.

Success!

Dinner out

Tonight, Mommy needed a break. So the girls and I walked to town to enjoy some great Chinese food at our local go to spot. Hannah Gray definitely enjoyed the chop sticks-

 

I also forgot to post these pictures before. But Hannah Gray and I made apricot cookies for Ethan to take with him in a goodie bag we put together for his trip. Hannah Gray helped pour things into the mixer and then “placed” the cookies on the sheets for me. The funny part was, I would hand her a heap of the dough and she would either try to immediately put it in her mouth, or put it on the tray and then look at me, then look back at the dough mound and try to sneak a taste (or half the mound). It was so cute and she’s like her mama- we love our cookie dough! :)

Her perfect placement (I carried the tray back into the kitchen and tried to do a really quick rearrangement before she would see, then toss it in the oven)

Memorial Day Weekend

Ethan was away this weekend as  he participated in a really cool race out in Seattle. So the girls and I had had a girls only weekend (plus Tanner, but does he count as a boy anymore?). We have some wonderful friends that invited us to their parents’ house down at the shore. It was cold and rainy to start with, but ended up being a beautiful day. Hannah Gray had so much fun and our friends were so terrific; they jumped in and helped with both girls and Hannah Gray loved it! It was like having an aunt and an uncle around and another set of grandparents. She was so worn out by the time we got home- a sign of a day well spent!

Hannah Gray making sand turtles with Laura.

Here’s Hannah Gray chasing Bob. Notice the distance of the water? Hannah Gray as afraid of the ocean as it was really loud yesterday, so Bob graciously took her sandpail down to fill it with water. Which HG immediately emptied and said, “moah?” (more). And Bob would walk the good 75 yds and go get her more! Finally after the third trip, HG was convinced that it was enough. :)

Being silly and a helper

I had Hannah Gray play in her room so I could shower the other day and when I came out of the bathroom, she was sitting in her emptied toy basket, snuggled in with her big fleece “nigh-night”. Too cute.

Then we went grocery shopping and I had one more bag than I could handle. Luckily, Hannah Gray being the willing helper that she is, carried the last bag for me. Two cereal boxes that were probably 3/4 the size of her. She dragged the bag from the car and up the sidewalk and porch. I SO wish I had the side view picture, but by the time I got my phone out and the camera loaded up, she was up the porch. Let’s just say there wasn’t a bottom to the bag anymore, and I had one happy and proud helper! :)

I’m willing to wager…

I know supposedly all babies start out with blue (or greyish) eyes. However, Hannah Gray’s were always dark, dark dark to begin with. Tenley’s on the other hand are as bright as a Colorado blue sky and I truly believe they’re going to stay that way (as a stranger at dinner agreed with me tonight). Here’s some proof…

We have a smile!!

So a couple weeks ago, I could have sworn Tenley had smiled. It just felt like there was some type of eye connection as opposed to those somewhat blank baby stares. Moms, you know what I’m talking about… but then there it was, a big cheeky smile with a dimple! And it wasn’t the twitchy smile that comes with gas either… but I didn’t get it on film (or disc now I guess it is). Anyway, this week she was doing it a ton and I finally got a picture! Funny thing was, that the flash on my phone was bright enough and would go off before the picture that it made her squint or close her eyes all together. So all of my pictures started out with her smiling with her eyes open, but all ended up with them closed. Oh well! :)

Picnic!

Okay, so this probably wasn’t the grandest idea in the world, but it was definitely well intentioned. I figured we’d get to the park, Hannah Gray could play awhile and then we’d have lunch and go home. But by the time we got to the park, it was lunch time. So I thought, no big deal, we’ll eat lunch first, then play. Yeah right. Hannah Gray would try and take a bite and then bolt for the playground. Which wasn’t that big of deal, but to get Tenley situated in the stroller, then get her out to go the playground and then repeat was rough. Plus, by the time we’d hit the slide, Hannah Gray wanted to eat. But the problem was, when we went back to the blanket, she didn’t want to eat, but go play. Now we’re into naptime and the inevitable meltdown. But I did learn a valuable lesson. 1, arrive earlier OR 2. Put the blanket and food far enough away from the playground that it’s not as accessible until it’s time to go play. We live and learn! And we’ll try it again sometime soon I’m sure… :)

Enjoying the bite of peach

Girls’ Day Out

I knew before Tenley arrived that Hannah Gray and I just have to get out of the house sometime in the morning, or else it can just become a difficult day. Since Tenley has arrived, it’s been a little harder to get out- HG and I used to just go to they gym, but I can’t take Tenley with me until she’s 12 weeks old. So to avoid the Wicked Witch (me that is) showing up at our house, I’ve tried to have activity ideas to do during the week. So last week we took some returns back to the mall (which this is a big outing as it’s 30 minutes away and probably the LEAST kid friendly place you’ve ever been to). We did our returns, went into several stores to browse and then finished the afternoon with a treat from Starbucks. It felt so great to get out and have a bit of normalcy as it’s becoming a little easier to figure things out with 2 kiddos now. Here’s Hannah Gray enjoying her treat.

Hannah Gray’s apple

Last night as I was making dinner, Hannah Gray asked for a snack (like usual). So I handed her an apple thinking it would keep her busy for awhile and it’s a healthy snack. We usually hand her an entire apple while we’re hiking and/or picnicking and she eats like 1/2 of it. Well, last night she worked on it the whole time I was cooking and she would run between the family room and the kitchen checking up on me. And I literally mean run b/c apples are Tanner’s favorite treat and he was on her heels so she was squealing in excitement! She also learned to fend for herself pretty well apparently because she managed to eat the entire thing. I don’t mean to the core, I’m including the core! The little piece she was left holding onto was an outer part that included a little piece of skin. I SO wish I had a picture of it, but to be honest, I was just too tired and trying to get dinner on the table (that will teach me to take the time to slow down, right?) to grab the camera. And then before you knew it, that little piece was gone too! Good thing I twisted the stem off first, huh?

“hop hops”

Hannah Gray refers to bunnies as “hop hops” and puts her little fingers together, points them downwards and makes them hop. I, for those of you who don’t know, LOVE peeps. And I try to hoard, I mean collect, enough to last me until next Easter. But I do share them with adorable almost 2 year olds that like hop-hops. So this is Hannah Gray doing her thang with a hop hop (her hand closest to the camera is the one hopping although I cut if off…oops).

Just like her momma. Mmmm!

in comparison

Hannah Gray asked to hold Tenley the other morning and I couldn’t help but notice their little feet…

 

offering a booger

sweet Tenley after a failed booger attempt

at the “shore”

So if you’re in NJ, you don’t call the beach the beach. It’s the “shore”. It’s the #1 hint that you’re not from here… We took the kids to the shore on Saturday to check out the boardwalk and let Hannah Gray play in the sand and all the fun stuff.

Hannah Gray LOVED the boats and would squeal in excitement until the boat passed. Then immediately put her two little pointer fingers together and say,  “ moah” (aka more). She loves her “bose” (aka boats). Sidenote: even when we go to REI, she flips out in excitement at seeing the kayaks! She did not want to leave this little bench. I think she takes after her mom with her obsession with boats and being on the water. I taught her to say “please” when a boat would pass by… Ethan thought that as funny, kind of. :)

 

When we found an entrance to the beach that was free, Hannah Gray wanted out of the stroller immediately. I put her down and she scampered down the stairs and this is what she did as soon as she hit the sand. Superman dived into the sand! She just laid there “swimming” in the sand. I literally had to go pick her up and carry her deeper into the beach b/c she would not get up!

This picture is pre-biting it. Not sure what happened, but she ended up belly down in the wet sand as the water was just beginning to retreat. She FLIPPED out. I think it was due to several reasons- 1. Missed nap. 2. SUPER loud waves and 3. Missed nap. But she loved the water right up until this point :).

Tenley’s first time to the beach, er, shore…

hahaha, just noticed that the following picture is “the fall” in action

Tenley is 1 month old!

Already?? I can’t believe it’s been 4 weeks since we came home from the hospital. It’s gone so fast, so I guess that’s a good thing, right? Last night, Tenley ate around 10:30 or so and didn’t wake up until 4:40! Whahooo!!!!!

Here are a few pictures of my girls…

Okay disclaimer… I think the following series of pictures are pretty stinkin’ hilarious. But this is not an indicator of me being a poor parent, I promise.

Ethan taught Hannah Gray how to kiss her foot and she thinks it’s really funny whenever she does it. So as I was playing around with the camera and trying to get enough light, I noticed Hannah Gray was (at least this is what I think) trying to get Tenley to kiss her foot. HOWEVER, Tenley was beginning to wake up because she was hungry and thus…

… Tenley nursing Hannah Gray’s big toe.

There. You have it. I confessed, but shared a glimpse into our day. :)

“Water table”

We’ve been waiting to buy Hannah Gray a water table until we’re in a place where we have a bit more room to spread out (which is hopefully sooner than later).  So this is what we did earlier this week to make up for it-

completely soaking herself

She had a blast until she got a little cold. She looks like she just belly flopped into a pool- she was SOAKED!  I wish I had a picture of her shirts at the end of the day. This one was obviously completely wet and her second shirt of the day had dirt from playing outside and had bubbles all over it. All indicators of a fun day!

Hannah Gray and her Buddy

It was beautiful here yesterday so we took a family trip to the park. Hannah Gray wanted to jump off the end of the picnic table, so with Daddy’s help she did. And immediately did her, “moah, moah” (aka “more”). Then she wanted Tanner to do it too. So he did (see pictures below). Afterwards, Hannah Gray just wanted to sit and let her feet dangle, and Tanner decided to join her in the fun.

(notice her “holding” his paw…)

A Picnic on a Rainy Day

It was just one of those days where it was rainy and cold outside, but we needed a chance of pace. We stayed in our pjs until late and just hung out and played a lot. I thought it would be a good day to have an indoor picnic and Hannah Gray really seemed to enjoy it. She even pulled out her little lawn chair (back in the day, it was actually mine that I used to take to my older brother and sister’s soccer and baseball games).   Here’s to hot turkey and cheese enchiladas on a yucky day to bring a little sunshine indoors…