Playing Catch Up

I guess I've been in a non-blogging mood lately? We've been busy busy busy though!

Let's see, at the end of last week, I landed a case of Strep Throat. Fun. The next morning, I pulled up my boot straps, packed my antibiotics and headed out on a Harley ride with my hubby to Prescott. It was just an overnighter and it was fun...until we got a flat tire. Again. And Again. And Again. Just a thought...don't get a flat tire on a motorcycle on a Sunday. There was NO PLACE open to help us! Thank God for the invention of fix-a-flat. It got us home. Safely? Probably not...but it got us home.

On Monday, Jim left on his Harley again...this time to San Francisco! Our "new boat" lives there and he needed to take a trip to verify it's condition is as good as it appears online. We are VERY excited to get back on the lake now that the kids are older. After talking to him tonight, the report: "the boat looks AWESOME but it needs a new fuel pump and the trailer is a piece of junk". Soooooo, we may or may not buy this one. :( Dang, I thought the search was over!

Since Jim was out of town, last night I decided to take the kids to see their very first movie. I figured the dollar theatre would be safe enough since the odds of them making it THRU the movie would be slim to none. So, we load up into the Hummer and....we don't go. Dead battery. And no hubby to rescue me. But I called up dear-ole-Dad who walked me thru the steps of how to jump a battery. I actually DO feel smarter now! LOL It was a frustrating night and we never made it to the movies. :(

Well, I think that pretty much sums up the last week of my non-blogging life! I'm posting some pictures that I took on Monday of my friend Alley's beautiful girls, Camryn and Cassidy. It was nice to get more practice. While I was shooting the girls next to a beautiful garden of flowers, Mason decided the garden would make a good place to plop down. What a goofball...and of course, with a sucker in his mouth!

Here's Hannah...so proud she peeled an orange!

Mason was just chillin'...waiting for Mom.

Camryn

Such cute little sisters!

I couldn't resist a funny Easter shot of Cassidy!

Happy Birthday Bella!

This afternoon, we went to Hannah's friend Bella's 3rd birthday party! I can't even tell you how much fun the kids had...because Bella's mom went ALL OUT for a Tuesday afternoon celebration! Hannah and Mason got to go on Pony rides, jump in a bounce house, have "animal" balloons AND get their face painted! Hannah looked like a fairy princess and Mason was a puppy (sort of). Besides all that, there was the usual singing happy birthday, presents and goody bags! What a fun afternoon we all had...especially for the middle of the week!

Happy 3rd birthday Princess Bella!

Time flies

I just got to thinking today about how much my little Hannah Banana has grown up. At times that gives me a sense of relief because she's so much more self-sufficient than just a year ago. But at times that also makes me painfully sad. Tonight in the car, we had just left from having sushi and ice cream with Daddy before he headed off to work again. We had all the windows rolled down and the tunes turned up. Hannah said, "Mommy! Somebody has a fire in their fireplace in their back yard!" I laughed and said, "How do you know THAT, smarty pants?" She said, "Cuz I smell it!" I know it's just the mommy in me coming out...but is she brilliant, or what? I mean, at 3 years old, did she really just point something out, site unseen, by the smell of it? Wow.

Right now, Hannah's favorite thing in the world is stickers. She loves putting on mascara and does an impecable job. She's right handed and talks about "staying in the lines" when she colors. Strangely, she has a very tight bond with our little schnoodle dog, Yazi. Strange because Hannah spent the first two years of her life hitting Yazi and pulling any part of Yazi's body she could get her chubby little fingers to grasp. Her favorite cartoons are Wow Wow Wubbzy, Dora the Explorer, and Little Bill. She likes to go to sleep watching one of these cartoons while holding on to her "bunny" and her "soft blankie" (aka Mason's blue baby blanket). She has a love/hate relationship with her little brother...but loves to check his diaper for poo poo. If there IS no poo poo, then she likes to change his diaper (and he lets her!). Hannah wants to go to Kindergarten like Tessa. And even though this won't happen for another year and a half, I'm sure the time will fly by way too quickly.

My "baby" girl. :(

1 year old


2 weeks ago

Baby Jax

A couple weeks ago, I got to take some newborn pictures of my friend Cari's little guy, Jax. He was only 2 weeks old at the time so I thought he would be in a milk coma while I snapped away. He was a little sleep fighter! We managed to get a couple cute shots...but shooting a newborn was way harder than I thought. Cari's gonna let me practice on him again soon! What a cutie!

I Left My Heart.....

Well, I'm back from my vacation to San Francisco with my mom. We had a wonderful weekend together with great weather, lots of shopping, good eats and WAY too much wine!

Our first day in town we did A LOT of walking...all around Fisherman's Wharf, to some of the piers, downtown into China Town and back to our hotel at the Wharf. We had the most amazing Italian food that night in North Beach at an incredible tiny little restaurant called Mona Lisa. YUM!

The entire next day we spent shopping at Union Square. Period. We were so tired that it was all we could manage to have dinner and head off to bed that night! Whew! I'm out of "marathon shopping shape"!

Saturday was my most favorite part of the trip...our tour of the wineries in Napa Valley. It started with a bus ride over the Golden Gate Bridge which was gorgeous. We spent the day at 4 different wineries where I learned much more about wine (other than just how to drink it!). The day ended with a ferry ride under the Bay Bridge back to our hotel. It was so much fun and I definitely want to go back! After dinner that night, Mom and I pretty much passed out early (too much wine I guess)...only to be woken up by the fire alarm being pulled in our hotel. Not pleasant...it was my first experience with a hang over at 10pm at night. Kids do the darndest things!

And finally, after cruising around Ghirardelli Square for the better part of Sunday, we headed off to the airport for our 5pm flight. Right as we were about to board, we were notified that the pilot had become violently ill and was taken off the plane on a stretcher! No pilot means no flight. They flew another pilot in from Vegas and our flight was delayed 4.5 hours! Oh well...the rest of the trip couldn't have been more perfect!

This picture was taken on Pier 39...mmmmmmm, wine tasting!
At the Andretti Winery in Napa Valley...my FAVORITE part of the trip

I couldn't pass up taking this picture in downtown San Fran... On the ferry ride...coming back from Napa

My mom bought these adorable little sourdough turtles for the kids from Boudin Bakery...we ate there TWICE during our stay!


Having lunch on the 8th floor of Macy's in downtown San Fran

Bubbalicious

Is he really old enough to chew gum? Probably not. But he THINKS he is!

Rah-Rah-Rah!

This week, Hannah's school was celebrating Lutheran pre-schools. Tuesday was pajama day and Thursday was "wear your favorite sports shirt day". Those who know us, know that we're not much of a sports loving household...so I ventured out to find Hannah something to wear for the special day. She was so excited to go to school as a Diamondbacks cheerleader! And to make the day even more special, her daddy got to take her AND pick her up! She was in heaven!

Sleeping Beauty

So, the other day I posted something about how Mason was sleeping horribly and getting out of his crib, right? So Jim lowered the crib to it's lowest height...and Mason's STILL climbing out. It looks like our 22 month old son will be in a toddler bed this week. :( I can't believe in the last year I went from having TWO cribs in my house to ZERO.

*wiping my tears away* Well, this afternoon, Mason desperately needed a nap. I put him in his crib and he proceeded to melt down for a few minutes but then it grew silent in his room. I thought FOR SURE he had fallen asleep. But when I walked down the hall, I could see from under the door that his bedroom light was on! That little %$&*!!!! But when I listened at the door, I heard nothing. So I ever-so-gently opened the door, and this is what I found......

www.Slingsmart.com

I wanted to give a "shout out" to my cousin's business that she started. Please visit www.Slingsmart.com to see her beautiful homemade baby slings. They make awesome gifts too!

I'm posting some of the pictures I took recently for her website. The mama's who volunteered also let me take some pictures of their babies too! I had a lot of fun!

Cereal Slurps

This morning was kinda rough in our house. Mason didn't sleep well last night which is very unusual. We tried moving him to our bed...that didn't work. We tried moving him back to his bed...he just screamed. I slept with him in the spare bedroom...and he finally slept. But he tossed and turned all night which left me exhausted by 7am this morning. He recently started crawling out of his crib...so even when I tried to put him down for his nap earlier, he just kept getting out. Arrrrrgh. The beginning of a new era. On top of all this, he peed on our carpet that we just got cleaned YESTERDAY. And before I could grab a diaper and WHILE I was cleaning up the pee mess, he crapped on the patio. Sigh.

ANYWAY, my point in all this grumbling is... none of all this stuff really matters when you come around the corner and find both these little hoodlums finishing off their cereal the same way I used to when I was their age (and still sometimes do when nobody's looking!) They were so stinkin' cute together...that I smiled for the FIRST time today .....and grabbed my camera :)

A Spanier Visit

Last night, we had our friends Sean & Markita over for dinner. They also brought their 3 kids, Joseph (10), and the four year old twins Jacob and Sloan. All the kids had so much fun playing together! It's so much fun to see how they interact with each other now...especially since they've know each other since they were just little baby blobs! No more baby blobs now! Last night it was fort making, couch jumping, playhouse playing, mudpie eating all around fun!