Playing Around the House

It has been dreary and humid here all week, so we've tried to stay inside. The girls have been playing so well together and some of the things they come up with to play just make me laugh. They played in front of this window for the longest time. Hannah said she was driving the school bus and Alice Anne was her "student"

Hannah telling her "student" to go sit down.


Hannah's favorite thing to do...BAKE!!!

Another one of Hannah's favorite things these days is to tell stories to us and to have mommy or daddy tell her a story. She could listen to stories all day long. She'll say, "tell me a daddy story or tell me an Alice Anne story." Brett or I will lay on the couch and she always sits on our stomach to listen to stories. She was sitting on Brett's stomach when I took this pic...


They spent probably 45 minutes in the balls yesterday. Alice Anne chunks a ball out and says, "Ba" and then Hannah imitates her....while I'm chasing the balls and throwing them back in the pool.

Hannah and daddy have been talking about their "fishing trip" that they're going to go on Saturday. Hannah woke up yesterday morning and said that she was ready to go fishing. Since it was only Tuesday, daddy said he'd take her to get a fishing pole. They have been practicing ever since. It is so cute and Brett is LOVING it!!! Hannah says, "daddy, lets practice casting and reeling."



Hannah is obsessed with laying all of her bracelets out. She plays with her bracelets and purse for hours a day!! She always shares and wants to know which bracelet everyone wants.



Daddy and his girls

Hannah's Waco Trip #2

Hannah went home with Jammy for a couple of days and left her bag at home!!! She got to Waco with her car seat...and that's it!!! They made do and Hannah still had the time of her life!!!

I think they must have spent hours in the green pool!!

Brett and I called to tell her goodnight the 1st night she was there and my dad said that they were going through every t-shirt in the house trying to find one that Hannah would agree to wear. I got Hannah on the phone and told her that I used to wear the red one when I was a little girl and I think that solved the problem.

One of her FAVORITE things to do at my parents house is to look through photo albums. My mom said that when they 1st got there, she went straight to one of the photo albums and wanted to look through it. She asks questions the whole time about what every one's doing. She's looking through an album with my dad here...

Hannah and Jammy after a swim

And my mom said they had to get a picture of this because this is Hannah's favorite place to go when she's in Waco...Jason's Deli!?!?!?!

They went over to see Granny but she wasn't home. Hannah sitting on her front porch watching and hoping that she'll drive up...

Growing Up Too Fast

I have had a lot of alone time with my little baby the past couple of days, since Hannah's in Waco. I miss my little chatter box more than words can explain, but I love getting the chance to spoil Alice Anne with all of my attention every now and then. She has completely blossomed the past week!!! I mean words are popping out of her mouth right and left! I love it!! Last night I was about to take her upstairs and put her to bed and I said, "tell daddy night night." She said, "nigh nigh" So sweet!! And then she said it the whole way upstairs. Last night Brett, Alice Anne and I ran into a store and she was on Brett's shoulders when we walked out of the store. She started saying really loudly, "bir, bir, bir!!" She was looking down on the ground and there was a little baby bird sitting there. But, of all the words, "ball" is her favorite. We can be anywhere and she will see a ball or find something that resembles a ball and she will not stop saying it until you acknowledge that you see it. She loves balls and she's pretty good at sitting on the floor and throwing a big beach ball back and forth. She totally busted out with "ta tu" (thank you) today and she is so proud of herself and wants to hand me something so I'll give it back to her and she'll have a reason to say thank you. So sweet!!! I love this stage because you can really see everything that they are soaking up! It makes me want to not stop reading and talking to her because I know her little brain is working so hard!!!

She saw a ball on the back patio and desperately wanted it!!

What is this cute little face?!?!?!

She saw me eating one of the cookies that I gave her yesterday and she said, "coocoo" over and over and crawled into the kitchen faster than I've ever seen her crawl before!!

3 Stooges

Jammy, Sarah and Carter came and spent a few days in Dallas. It was wild around here, but we had lots of fun! Carter and Alice Anne were really fun to watch. Carter didn't know what to think about his 2 crazy cousins. They would play silly games and he would just look at them like they were crazy!! I know Jammy's WORN OUT!!! She took over with all 3 of them while Sarah and I went and did our own thing. And as if that wasn't enough to wear her out, Hannah said she wanted to go home with her to Waco to see "my Papa", so Hannah went to Waco for a couple of days. About an hour after they left, I noticed that Hannah's bag was sitting on the kitchen table with her blankies in it...that she is VERY attached to! My mom figured something out to make her happy and they had to make a trip to Target for everything else. Alice Anne and I are enjoying a little peace and quiet.

These 2 had a BLAST in the bounce house...

and they really had fun coming down head 1st!! They thought it was so funny!!One afternoon we headed to the pool...
And then we came home and had popsicles and more fun in the water

Alice Anne always crawls into Hannah's bed after nap time, so Carter joined in on the fun and they played in her bed forever!!

Sorry, Carter...this is what happens when you have 2 little girl cousins!!

3 Sweet Kiddos!

Bath Time!!!!

Cuddling with Jammy after bath
Uncle Brett's Home!!!

Fun and Relaxing Weekend

We had such a fun and relaxing weekend! Didn't have any big plans and were able to just play and spend time with friends. We went out to eat breakfast as a family both Saturday and Sunday and it was so much fun!! It wasn't as hot as it has been, so we got in a little park time, too.

Our 2 Sweet Girls!!

Hannah is so funny...she spends a lot of time on this car everyday. She rides the car into the kitchen to get a drink, rides it to the bathroom, to the front door to see if the mailman came, all over the place and she honks the horn the whole time. Alice Anne is usually not far behind her crawling trying to catch her.

Alice Anne LOVES emptying and filling up buckets!

Alice Anne was such a little cuddle bug on Saturday. She just laid here on the couch with daddy and talked for the longest time. It was so sweet! Sunday was a different story...she was a wild woman and would not sit still!

Hannah has started wanting to read independently some. She also loves "reading" to Alice Anne.

She really likes the ABC books that all fit together into a big puzzle.

Baby Ryan was over Saturday night, so we pulled out the bouncy seat. These 2 girls got so much entertainment with that thing today! They were hilarious! And, Hannah is a mommy in training!! I don't think she's been around a little baby much since Alice Anne was born and she loved playing with Ryan! She was so attentive to her all night and wanted to feed her, hold her, give her her paci, give her toys, etc. She really wanted to take a bath with her, but that didn't happen! She didn't leave her side all night! She LOVES babies!!!

They were cracking up in the bouncy seat together!! They just laid there and giggled!

Look how big she looks!!

I love these pictures because it shows how much the girls adore their daddy and how much he adores his girls! They sat on the couch this afternoon for the longest time and made up silly songs about going to get ice cream and going to the park. The girls were both laughing hysterically!
Kisses for Daddy!!!

Funny little story: Brett and I have always done nicknames. Our dogs have always had nicknames (Wally is nicknamed "Boy"), Brett has always had several nicknames that I call him and now it's our girls turn. Alice Anne started out as Allie Bally, then Hannah changed it to Addy Baddy, and now she's usually just called Bally. Hannah started as Hannah Bo, now she's Hanza Bonanza or Hanzie Banzie, but usually she's just Banzie. But, daddy calls her Hanza BOOOOO Nanza.

The last couple of times that anyone has asked her what her name is, her response is, "My name is Hannah, but my daddy calls me Hanza BOOOOO Nanza!" She said it to the check-out lady at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago and then this morning was the funniest! An old man was opening the doors for people at church and he bent down to talk to Hannah and he asked her what her name was and she gave her silly response...as loud as she possibly could! I was a little embarrassed, but it was really funny! She usually won't say it if you ask her to, but she'll say it at the most random times which makes it so funny!

Why Do I Need These Things Anyway?

Yesterday when Alice Anne was in her high chair, she decided that she didn't think she needed diapers anymore and took it off and threw it on the floor. She was so proud of herself! This morning I went to get her up from her nap and there was tee tee all over the place and she was very proudly holding her diaper (yes, that's her diaper in her hand in the picture)...Seriously?!?! Hannah did this same thing around her 1st birthday and I ended up having to put panties over her diaper every time she went to bed. Guess we'll be doing that with Alice Anne!!

I am writing this because we were so proud of Hannah and I want to document how sweet and polite she is all the time. Last night we had a guy over for dinner. Alice Anne was already in bed when he got here and Hannah was such a sweet little girl and sat on the couch and read books and watched Elmo while we chatted. When it was time for her to go to bed, she obviously went and gave daddy a big hug and kiss and then without being prompted she walked over to Kevin and so sweetly said, "It's so nice to meet you Mr. Kevin." Brett and I just looked at each other and grinned and when I came back down stairs, Kevin said, "She is the most sweet and polite little 2 year old I have ever met." That makes a mommy proud!! Brett thought I told her to say that, but I didn't say a word to her...she did it all on her own! Way to go Hannah!! You make us so proud!!

Belf Updates

It has been SOOO hot here lately that I don't want to take the girls anywhere unless it's to the pool. I feel bad running errands with the girls because it is so hot when we get back in the car and those little car seat buckles get hot really fast!! If we even walk outside, Hannah says, "Mommy it is too hot out here...we need to get inside!" Yesterday I made myself get them out to go to the grocery store and the car said 107 when we were on our way home! Ridiculous!! Anyway, here's some of what we've been doing to stay busy inside.

This little sweet pea is all over the place and into everything! She loves taking things out of buckets and dropping them back in. I think she is trying to cut several teeth. Her 3rd bottom tooth came through last week, but we still don't have any on the top. I think she's working on a few because she has been very clingy and that usually means her little gums hurt. I have learned to do everything with just one hand because she is usually in my arms. And I think she's probably the heaviest baby I've EVER held! My arm muscles will be ready for the UFC Championships by her 1st birthday!! She is soaking everything up and is really starting to "talk" quite a bit. Her "words" right now are: mama (mommy and elmo), dada, ssss (Hannah or sister), wawa followed by woof (Wally), baba (bottle), bebe (baby) ba (bath), boo (book),

hhh (hi), baa (ball), mmmm (cow), mo (more), nene (necklace), aga (again), aba (abracadabra)

Hannah is really into building castles and making sure that her baby sister doesn't knock them over which often causes problems!! She is still so sweet to Alice Anne! Alice Anne has started really wanting to play and interact with Hannah and be wherever Hannah is. Sometimes Hannah wants her space and wants to just play big girl play, and she's getting creative with how she tells Alice Anne to leave her alone. If Alice Anne tries to come in the playhouse when Hannah is trying to "cook," Hannah says, "Alice Anne, you can't come in here. The oven is too hot and it will burn you!" Or if Alice Anne tries to take a toy that Hannah wants, Hannah will say, "Alice Anne, you can't play with that, you're just a baby and you might choke on it!" It's really funny because it's usually something that's bigger than Alice Anne's head! I've told Hannah several times that if there's a special toy that she doesn't want Alice Anne to play with that she needs to put it away where Alice Anne can't see it, otherwise, all of the toys out are for both girls. Hannah takes this rule to the extreme...she will find any sort of cubby and hide every single toy that will fit in there. It's really funny. And the funniest part is that she does it all as if she's doing it for Alice Anne's own good!!

I took the girls over to Uncle Les' house last week for a swim. They both had a blast and Hannah is still talking about swimming with Uncle Les!



Alice Anne wants to be big SO bad!! Every time the big kids get in the bounce house, Alice Anne really wants to join them!


Hannah sitting in the study making her "grocery list"

She said it was so hot outside that she needed to bring some of her herbs inside to cool off. She picked a bunch of her herbs, "planted" them in a bucket, "watered" them with a water bottle and then put them on the window sill.
This is what you look like when daddy gets you "dressed." It's hard to see in this picture, but her panties are on wrong side out and one of the leg holes is around her waist and the tag is in the front at the bottom of the left leg. She has 2 different color crocs on, both of them are right foot shoes and the pink one is a tiny one that was too small for her LAST summer!! Of course no real clothes!! She really looked too funny to not get a picture of it!

A couple of pictures of our sea shell projects. We had SO many sea shells from our trip that we didn't know what to do with them. We made a wind chime with a lot of them. Daddy did an awesome job!! He had to drill holes in every single sea shell and of course, since daddy was helping with it, we weren't going to skimp...we were going to make the biggest wind chime EVER! Hannah thinks it's really cool!!

We still had some more left, so we made a little box for "rings"...at Hannah's request.