Happy Holidays!

This year, I decided to do the annual photo for our Christmas card, although we were a little dubious at how well the photo would turn out with two active kids as the subject matter. We were pleasantly surprised by our photo shoot, in which Kyle very much played up to the camera, and even used his own creative ideas when he decided to pick up Hannah (sitting on the brick steps, uhoh!) which turned out to be the best photos after all.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
Looking forward to seeing everyone in 2009!

Merry Christmas

It's hard to believe that after all of the preparations, the big day is finally here. Kyle's been looking forward to the day all month, despite breaking in to tears at the sight of Santa Claus!

Kyle loved the kitchen that Santa left for him and Hannah, and promptly whipped up some breakfast (carrots) for us,

while Hannah was crawling around on the floor chasing after the salt and pepper shakers.

More of Kyle's favorites were all of the PlanCity toys that he received


and Hannah now has her own baby doll, courtesy of Kyle, so she doesn't to take his all of the time!And of course, the gifts Dave and I enjoyed most were the special moments with both Kyle and Hannah.We were also very lucky to be able to share Christmas Day with Auntie Laura and Uncle Scott who drove down from Washington, as well as Maemo & Granpa, Noni & Papa, Uncle Mike, and Great-Uncle Charlie & Great-Aunt Doni. It was a full table again at our house!

Visiting with Gabby

Our visits with Gabby (Hannah's closest friend age-wise) have unfortunately been too infrequent, so we had to make sure to see her along with Kim and Robert for the holidays. Who would have thought that getting 3 kids together who live an hour apart would be so difficult??

Gabby has super fashion sense, and is always eager to match with Hannah, but unfortunately, trying to get them to look at the camera, smile and NOT hold something in front of their shirts proved too much for our beauties to handle, so this was the best shot of our coordinating girls.

Kyle was very excited by his gift from Gabby, a set of three PlanCity construction trucks, and was far too distracted to sit still for a photo with the girls.


It was so much fun to see Hannah and Gabby interacting, and hopefully it won't be too long before we can get them together again. They are both growing so quickly, and before we know it we will be celebrating their first birthdays!

Train time

We gave Kyle his first BRIO train set for Christmas last year, and the collection has been steadily growing since then. We're not sure it would be wise to get a train table for him, as he wouldn't be able to fit his large track set ups on the small tables, instead they ramble across the entire living room floor. He's great at composing these elaborate tracks himself, which shouldn't be so surprising as he is super with jigsaw puzzles as well.

Unfortunately, Hannah always wants to playing with whatever her brother is playing with, so she tends to turn into Hannah-zilla, tearing apart the long trains or tracks and bridges that Kyle has created! We've had to resort to playing trains while Hannah is napping so there isn't as much controversy, although Kyle does now create a small train for Hannah so that she has her own...

Happy 7 months!

Our little girl is on the move, pulling up all of the time and cruising everywhere. She also seems to be thinking about crawling, and we would be surprised if she isn't crawling by Christmas! It's amazing how much she has accomplished in these past seven months, which have flown by ever so quickly.

Happy Thanksgiving

We have just returned from a week-long vacation to Lake Almanor. The kids mostly survived the 5+ hour drive each way, although definitely more difficult on the way home than it was on the way there! We took the kids to Mt Lassen National Park for the first time, and Kyle was very excited for his first experience with snow there

Unfortunately, there was no snow at the house, but Kyle was quite happy to spend the majority of his week there digging in the sand instead!


Hannah was just happy to cuddle up with Mama or Dada (she did quite a lot of bonding with Dave over the week!) and was happy to be moving around, getting very close to crawling now...




Maemo and Granpa (Fiona's parents) joined us for part of the week, arriving Wednesday evening, in time to help for all of the meal preparations and having a couple of days to relax before we all left for home Saturday morning.

Monarch butterflies

This week we took a trip with our play group to Santa Cruz to see the Monarch butterflies at Natural Bridges State Park. It was amazing to see them hanging off the trees, and fluttering around in the sunshine, and unfortunately I think that most of it was lost to the kids. A few more years and they may appreciate it. Still I greatly enjoyed it, and plan to take a trip to Ardenwood soon to see the butterflies there.

It was difficult to get a decent photo of the butterflies on the trees of flying, but we were lucky to observe a newly "born" butterfly in the milkweed garden, still freshly out of the cocoon and unable to fly. It reminded me of an email forward that has circulated in the past which is also very relevant to the children in our lives and having to know when to let them struggle through things themselves!

The story is told about a man who once found a cocoon. It seems a small opening had just appeared in the cocoon and through this small opening the man watched as the young butterfly struggled to escape the confines of the container that had protected it during its metamorphosis.

After several hours it appeared the butterfly’s progress had stopped completely, prompting the man to take action. He very carefully took the cocoon in hand and used his fingers to pry it apart at the opening begun by the butterfly.

When the butterfly emerged the man noted its strange appearance. Instead of a beautiful butterfly he saw a swollen body and shriveled wings. He watched to see if it would continue to develop into the graceful beauty that adorns gardens but nothing changed. The butterfly just sat there unable to fly.

The man then began to realize that the butterfly would never fly. For it is through the struggle to escape the cocoon that the butterfly completes their transformation as the effort to break through causes the bodily fluid to flow to the new wings and gives them the strength they need for flight.

Happy 6-month birthday!

It is hard to believe that our little girl was six months old on Saturday. The time has truly flown by, and we are enjoying every moment of it (except for when Hannah has trouble sleeping!) Kyle helped Daddy to pick out a chocolate birthday cake for Hannah, which unfortunately Hannah wasn't able to taste yet. Just 6 more months to go until she can have some for the first time.

Hannah had her check-up today and weighed in at 15 pounds 3 ounces and is 26.25" tall. She was very brave through 3 shots, and stopped crying as soon as I picked her up. I think Kyle gets more upset for her shots than she does!

She's been sitting up by herself for 2 months now, and very rarely topples over these days. Her rolling has increased a lot lately, and she now loves to pull herself up wherever she can - including an upturned laundry basket. This was always a favorite "walker" for Kyle, and I can see that Hannah will be pushing it around the house before we know it.


Kyle has his own use for the hamper these days!

October photos

I've been delayed on updating the blog lately, busy with both kids, and just having far too many photos to wade through. Here are a few more of my favorites from this month.

Hannah started solid foods more "seriously" just before she turned 6 months. She's still not too wild about it, and it is much more play time for her than eating. She loves to grab for the bowl, getting a good handful of whatever is inside to squish, then trying to eat the bowl as well as playing with as many spoons as she can get her hands on. Most of the time whatever I manage to get in to her mouth just comes squirting out again, but at least she is getting a taste for it and we are beginning to practice table skills.

Sometimes when Kyle wakes up from his nap, we have some play time in his crib, including some cuddles under the blanket, or playing with toys. Hannah's face always lights up when we walk in to Kyle's room and she sees her brother, it will be great to see them playing together once she is more mobile!

One of Kyle's newest activities is "art supply time" which has recently branched out in to decorating his sister with stickers. It often extends in to attacking me with stickers as well as his toys or teddy bears. Especially fun was decorating Hannah for Halloween...

Happy Halloween

We have yet to take Kyle (or Hannah) trick-or-treating. It's just around their bedtime, and as they don't yet know what they are missing it is easier to skip it than to try to wrestle candy out of Kyle's hands! Still, we had our fill of costume time, with 2 Halloween parties and wearing the costumes to Tiny Treks this week too. Kyle has gotten into the spirit, with making sure that his Jack-o-Lantern has a candle in it every night as soon as it starts to get dark, and Hannah just loves trying to get the pumpkins into her mouth!

Here's a favorite one of our little ladybug who was a true sport and never seemed to mind the multiple times she was put in to her costume, even with the hood on - Guess that's what having an older brother around will do to you!






Here's our little curious girl, who carefully studies everything that she comes across...













...before trying to put it in to her mouth!

Pumpkins, pumpkins, more pumpkins

October wouldn't be complete without attending Abby and Tony's annual Pumpkin Carving Party. This was of course the first year that Kyle could actually participate in the carving, and he had a great time poking holes all over the face, as well as honing his skills with enlarging the eye holes.
Also this week we attended our friends Ben and Katie's Halloween party. Hannah enjoyed watching all of the activity around her, while Kyle had a great time checking out every one's costumes, making masks and enjoying snacks.

Below is Handyman Kyle with his best friend Farmer Ben, enjoying their Halloween treats.

A Visit to Auntie Laura and Uncle Scott

Kyle had a wonderful time with his Auntie Laura here when she came for a visit just after Hannah was born, but he had a hard time remembering his Uncle Scott. So it was long overdue that we made a trip to Washington for a visit. We had a very non-eventful flight on the way up, with a very brief wait in the terminal and Kyle sleeping as soon as we were in the air, so it went much more smoothly than we had planned.

Our visit was unfortunately quite short, only 4 days when we didn't count the travel time, so it was pretty low key, with just enjoying time with Laura and Scott. We made a trip to the Tacoma Children's Museum which kept Kyle occupied for a few hours.

We also made a trip to the Tacoma Zoo, as well as a trip to the beach at Point Defiance for some play time with Bailey, as well as a family photo shoot with our favorite photographer! The four days flew by far too quickly, and Kyle was sad to leave it all behind.

Our trip on the way back was "fan-tas-tic" as far as Kyle was concerned, and that was in regards to our Mickey Mouse airplane. He has seen it out the car window as we approached the airport, but we of course couldn't promise him that we would be flying on one. Imagine his surprise when he looked out the window at our gate! Hopefully he doesn't expect Mickey Mouse to be on our airplane every time that we fly now.

Pumpkin Time

It is hard to believe that it is already October and pumpkin season yet again. As part of the Tiny Treks class which we attend each Wednesday, we made a trip to Webb Ranch Pumpkin Patch this week. Appropriately dressed in his overalls, Kyle loved all of the pumpkins, wheelbarrows! and tractors!

Hannah wasn't quite sure what was going on with all of the orange things scattered around, and perhaps she was a little upset with getting mud all over her from Kyle sharing pumpkins.

Block Party

Our neighborhood has an informal parents club which organizes events over the course of each year. Last year we didn't make it to the annual block party, but after realizing we missed the antique fire truck, we knew we couldn't miss it again this year. Kyle was very impressed with seeing all of the fire trucks up close, although he was shy to speak with the firemen. He was more than happy to go for 2 rides on "Old Tom", there are much shorter lines at the block party rather than going to the Menlo Park Easter event which draws huge crowds.


Hannah slept through both of Kyle's rides on Old Tom, so we stayed behind to wave. Hopefully she'll enjoy it next time. Needless to say, Kyle's excited to see all of the firetrucks again at next year's block party!

Sitting pretty

Although I have been talking about Hannah sitting up for a couple of weeks now, all of the photos I have shared have shown her sitting against something, so I am finally getting around to posting some of her sitting on her own, and even a video of her moving. It's amazing how much strength she has gained in the past 2 weeks since she started sitting and she loves reaching for things (I keep reminding Kyle not to leave things too close to her!) Every now and then she'll forget that she is sitting and will plop backwards, but she is also getting good about catching herself sometimes when that happens and somehow manages to stay upright. Kyle wasn't sitting this well until past his 6-month birthday, so it looks like we may have an early crawler and walker on our hands, not surprising as she has a lot of keep up with her brother (and staying out of his way) to do. Kyle is still very concerned and protective of his baby sister, and if I sit her down on the floor somewhere, he will sometimes run over with the Boppy pillow, telling me that Hannah needs it so she doesn't fall over!

Here are Hannah and Kyle on the 15th,
just moments before Hannah reached over
to try to take a handful of Kyle's snack.

This is from last Tuesday (16th),
playing with one of Kyle's many hats.

Here's Hannah today, enjoying some quiet time

away from her rambunctious brother.

Here's Hannah today, doing some "talking" (and
complaining, she isn't happy when I take things
away from her)

California Academy of Sciences

Kyle was very excited that Daddy took the day off from work on Friday to make a special trip to the new Academy of Sciences building. The official opening day for the building isn't until September 27th, but as members, we were allowed in for one of their preview days. There are a lot of little things still left to be done, but we were still able to see a lot of it, and were very impressed. Kyle just didn't know where to look, and was running every which way saying "oh, oh, oh!" and pointing at something before he was off again in another direction. Hannah's favorite part was watching the large fish swim by in one of the aquarium tanks, much more impressive than the little ones we have at home! I don't think Kyle could decide which part was his favorite (he liked the moving image of elephants walking on the back wall of one of the African dioramas) but he definitely enjoyed playing on board the ship in the tot's room.The review of the Academy from a parent's view: we both thought it was well worth paying $7 to park in the garage underneath and have the elevator take us right up to the Academy's front door. Not everything is open yet (planetarium and cafe/restaurant) but from what we saw, we would recommend starting in the Rainforest and then the Aquarium, because that is where you exit from the Rainforest. We only had a quick trip into the Rainforest, but look forward to more time there next time, it was impressive in scale. The Aquarium has a lot to offer, but of course not as much as the one in Monterey, we still enjoyed it though, and it is a shorter drive! The African Hall was very well done with all of the dioramas, it's amazing to see the animals that close, and the penguin exhibit is fun (although the feeding was a little bit of a letdown, too much talk and not much action)

The rest of the weekend was rather low key, after attending a birthday party Saturday morning, as Kyle and I both came down with colds. We're hoping that it isn't passed on to the rest of the family, but not sure how likely that is! For the most part, Kyle doesn't seem very bothered by it, although he did wake up one morning saying "My nose hurts" and he tries to run away every time I try to wipe it for him! We had a little outside time this afternoon, with Daddy trying to keep up with the yard work and Kyle sometimes helping, sometimes playing. Kyle left his "Billy Beeper" car parked next to Hannah, and she made a big lunge for it, thinking that it was her turn for a ride too. She can sit on it very securely, but isn't quite ready to drive it around yet!

"Breaking" news

Close on the heels of Hannah's first tooth on Friday, her second tooth is just making an appearance today. I was very lucky to be able to get a photo of them both peeking out from her funny "what-is-that-big-black-thing-doing-in-my-face-again" smirk (look closely, you may have to click on the photo to see it enlarged!) She is becoming such a little girl already, trying to leave her baby days behind, and constantly struggles to sit up or escape from her bouncy chair, rather than to recline in it.
In other news, Kyle is considering becoming a fireman, so that he can pose for a calendar!