Thursday, October 7, 2010

a giraffe, a chihuahua, & a maltese

What do a giraffe, a chihuahua and a Maltese (no, not the falcon) have in common?

My sister!
aka: Aunt "Ooh-p"


She came to visit a few weeks ago and we went to the Sacramento Zoo to see the giraffes...

And feed the giraffes! Did you know that giraffes have long, blue tongues?

Along with Hope came her little chihuahua, "Sami" - or as Hannah likes to say, "ah-mee-ssss"

and her Maltese puppy, "Max".

We had a very lively house that week!

Sunday, September 26, 2010

a poem


Hannah (and daddy) wrote me this poem after a long day of potty training.


It made me smile.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

my BIG girl!

Hannah is becoming such a big girl.
Not in size or stature, like her brother, but this past month she has made giant leaps in her development.
She started being able to say her own name "me, ah-nuh". And of course uses it to tell me that she wants to do things by herself - "no mommy, ah-nuh".

Her hair is even long enough to wear in a ponytail now!

Her coordination is getting better with each day and she takes every opportunity to dance with daddy or practice her yoga poses (here she is with Aunt Hope).



She's gotten very comfortable in the pool and loves kicking her little legs and trying to float. (Thank goodness both grandmas have pools we can swim in and practice.)



Sand never fails to attract her attention.



Every time I take out a piece of fruit (which still remains at the top of her list of favorite food items) she reminds me "no cut mommy".

She loves baby "Peetee" and even shares her special red couch with him.


And in my book the greatest thing of all (with which she totally surprised me) -
She found a great love for using the potty and delightfully delivered all her diapers to Peter this week.

At 28 months she is a growing girl!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

one last tidbit

(one last tidbit from our road trip)

The last stop of our road trip was Fresno to visit our friends the Jones'!

We have a lot in common with these guys:

Cameron & Matt were fraternity brothers and traveled to Egypt together.

JR & I were college roommates and traveled to West Africa together.

Addy & Hannah were born 8 days apart and look fairly identical with their blonde, curly hair!



We stopped just long enough to have dinner and dance party with them!
To see the girls doing flips with their daddys' check out the Jones' blog:

http://teamjones.tumblr.com/post/1001928185/we-had-the-extreme-pleasure-of-hosting-the-robbins#comment-75161133

Thursday, September 9, 2010

more from LA

(this is more from our first trip to LA. part of that 1,800 mile vacation with two children)


In addition to a playful bath with Grammie (see previous posts), Peter got to meet his Aunt Hope for the first time. He's already decided he loves her and like to snuggle with her.
We got a brief but fun visit with Aunt Liz and Uncle Craig!

And we celebrated my mom's big birthday!
I won't tell you which one it is - but she's 30 years older than me!


To celebrate, we enjoyed a fancy lunch party in downtown LA at the California Club.


(okay, so the noisemakers weren't the fancy part of it, but they were fun)



Thanks to Aunt Lucinda for planning the whole thing!

Incidentally, Hope and I wore matching dresses without even trying - can you tell we're sisters?



best part of mom's "many" years = her family!



Saturday, September 4, 2010

a morning hike

Matt had to work this weekend so I flew to LA with both kids by myself (crazy, yes!) and I am extremely grateful for everyone who helped (or rather took pity on me) along the journey.

This morning, Hannah & I joined my sister, Hope, on a hike in Griffith Park.
(Peter & Grammie stayed at home to get some rest!)

We could see the tall buildings of LA and the smog surrounding them but aptly enjoyed the mountain escape.


Hannah was an all-star hiker and held the leash for Sami (one of Hope's dogs) most of the way!

(As you can see in this picture, I didn't come prepared for hiking, so we were both wearing sandals, but did fine just the same.)


We hiked about 1 1/2 miles in the hot sun and took lots of water/shade breaks.

I am pretty proud that Hannah's little two year old legs carried her all that way!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

bathtime!


(After Matt returned from Yosemite, we all jumped back in the car and drove to LA to visit more family & friends.)

Aah, bathtime at Grammie's new house!



Hannah always liked it and so does Peter!



Can you see what a chunk he is?



Big smile of approval!




P.S. Just for comparison here is Hannah at the same age in Grammie's baby bath tub: