The future is looking so bright...

In preparation for our upcoming trip to Lake Almanor, the last couple of weeks have been filled with errands, running around trying to get the last few essentials. One of my main concerns was finding sunglasses for Kyle (and Hannah) since we would be outside most of the time. I haven't had much luck with sunglasses on Kyle before, but this time I let him pick them out and try them on in the store and they have been a hit ever since!




Hannah's not sure what to think about her sunglasses, but I'm hoping the more she wears them now, the easier it will be to get her to wear them when she is older and we can protect those beautiful blue eyes on both kids!

My friend Maddie

We just returned from a weekend visiting our Santa Rosa friends Sarah, Michael, Madison and Juila. Kyle always loves playing with other kids, but it seems that he has a special fondness for Maddie, even though we aren't able to see them as often as we'd like. Now that 14-month old Julia is now fully mobile, it's a blast to see all three of the kids interacting. It won't be long before Hannah is able to join them too!

Although the weekend was mostly dominated by play time and nap schedules, we were able to squeeze in an adult activity, going wine tasting at Bella Vineyards and Wine Caves, followed by a picnic on their grounds. The weather was perfect and the kids all enjoyed running around on the grass while we enjoyed the view. Needless to say, by the time we got back home to Menlo Park this afternoon, Kyle was exhausted and ready for an early bedtime!

We're all looking forward to our next visit!

Birthday Boy

Kyle's been singing "Happy Birthday" for the past three weeks, with the celebration stretched out, receiving gifts every few days. It finally culminated with his birthday party today, shared with his "best friend" Ben (who's actual birthday happens to be today) We had family and friends join both birthday boys for some playtime at the local park, followed by pizza and cupcakes. I had my hands full making sure we had everything out, holding Hannah, or keeping an eye on my birthday boy, so we were very lucky that Granpa was there to take photos.The breeze wouldn't cooperate for the lighting of the candles, so we sang without, but the boys didn't seem to miss them and dove right in to all of the frosting. With no frosting left on top, Kyle was generous enough to share some of his cake with me too.


Kyle was exhausted after all of the excitement, and was very glad to get home for nap time. While he was snoozing, we enjoyed a visit with Kim, Robert and Baby Gabby (9 days older than Hannah) Luckily we had both girls awake at the start of the visit, so we were able to get some photos together before each drifted off to sleep!

My New Ride

I've discovered that with two kids in tow, I need to rethink my stroller options! The single stroller that we have for Kyle isn't going to get us by anymore, and the Snap-n-Go that I use with Hannah's car seat isn't great when I need to try to contain Kyle. So I decided that having a lightweight umbrella stroller that would work for either of them would be good when we have two pairs of hands, or while Hannah is still happy in the sling, and I will get a Sit-n-Stand type stroller for when I need to have something for both of them. Dave has now accused me of being a stroller addict, but he hasn't yet ventured out of the house by himself with both of them, so he doesn't quite know what it is like!


The first of my new purchases arrived while Kyle was napping, but I left it for him to open when he woke up, he loves any boxes. He was thrilled to jump in a get a feel and then promptly decided to drag Hannah out of her bouncy chair to put her in for a test spin around the house! Hannah didn't put up with it for long, so Kyle had to resort to strapping "Baby" in after that.


Another big event for the week was 2-year and 2-month doctor visits for Kyle and Hannah. Kyle is now weighing in at 27 1/2 pounds and is 34 1/2" tall. He was a brave boy, receiving one shot and promptly recovered from the tears once he opened a present of a new Caterpillar tractor. Hannah is now 12 pounds 0.8 ounces and 23 1/2" long. Both she and I had a rough time with her 4 shots (it didn't help that she had fallen asleep during the long wait for the nurse, not very pleasant to wake up to that!) and Hannah slept much more than normal during the next 24 hours. Hopefully the next shots at 4 months aren't as traumatically for either of us.

Fun Photo Shoot

I fell behind on taking photos over the long holiday weekend, so Miss Hannah and I just did a quick photo shoot, while Kyle is sleeping. Here is one of my favorite progressions, thank goodness for the rapid shooting on the camera so that I could catch her expressions!







Sitting pretty...

...just a little smile...

...Uhoh, Mom, I fell over!

Little Miss Hannah

I've been neglecting the photos of Hannah lately, as she is usually snug in my pouch when I am taking photos of Kyle! Here is one from last week, when we were having some play time during Kyle's nap.

Happy two-month birthday, today!