Legos

Last weekend we went out and bought Hannah some Duplos (the big legos). Caleb decided we could not wait any longer...she needed to have something she could build with. Anyhow, so we bought the duplos and she really likes them. She carries the lego box around the house and wants you to open them. The other day one of our students stopped by and started playing legos with Hannah in the hall. The next day she stopped by again to chat and Hannah immediately brought out the box of legos for them to play with again.

Tonight Caleb and Hannah were playing with the duplos and here is what they (Caleb) built.


There is a hole in the middle that they were putting blocks thru the middle. Hannah was having a great time (and so was Caleb). I still haven't figured out which of the two likes the legos more...

Snugly Day

Today was a close call. It rained all morning and I thought we would have to spend the whole day inside, a first for us. Normally rain is not a problem. Hannah has a snowsuit, Iris has a fuzzy stroller bag she sits in, and we have a stroller cover (for rain, snow and wind). The problem was I hadn't brought my rain coat, or any coat for that matter. I had assumed it would be a sunny day, like yesterday. We all know what assume makes out of u and me.

At one point in the morning, Hannah got into the stroller and refused to get out...so we strolled around the house (exciting, I know). Anyhow, it cleared up in the afternoon, so we went out to the park. Everyone was super warm, except for me who was only in her fleece...but it was much better than being in the house with two cranky** babies who wanted to be outside (**Note: Neither of them were actually cranky, they just were 100 time more enjoyable as soon as we went outside)

So here are some pictures of the two girls all snugly snugly:

It's hard to actually get a picture of Hannah on my phone that isn't all blury. She doesn't really like to be still, so this is the best I have. Isn't she a wonder in pink?


Here's Iris chillin' in her fleece bag in the stroller with her super warm hat. She was definitely the warmest of the 3.

36 rolls

How long does it take your family to eat a bag of 36 rolls? It takes ours only 1 week. That's right folks, 1 week! We were at Costco last Sunday and we bought one of those big bags of tasty rolls...and come this Sunday they were all gone. So let's see here; 36 rolls, 3 people, that's 12 rolls per person. However, as much as Hannah liked the rolls, I don't think she ate her 12. This means that either Caleb or I went alittle overboard on our roll consumption. I'll leave you wonder who it was...

1.5 years

So Hannah had her year and a half doctor's appointment yesterday. And I must say, she is growing nicely. Her head size is still off the charts (aka in the 99% for her age), and her weight is slowly catching up (23.7 lbs). But considering the fact that she is by far the fastest baby at the playground for her age (and more often than not is just as fast or faster than babies several months older than she is) I'm not concerned. We just keep feeding her non stop. (for those interested, she is 32.5 inches long)

So let's see, what are Hannah's new "tricks"

Hannah has figured out that it is fun to go down the slide backwards

Hannah can also get into the stroller by herself. Here you can see she is ready to go. And since Iris was sleeping, she put Ug in the empty seat.


Hannah also likes to sit in the bumbo. Normally she's pretty good at getting in, but apparently this day she was having a couple of issues. Sorry for the poor quality of photo...I took the picture with my phone.


And sometimes Hannah gets jealous of the fact that Iris is in the bumbo...and so she immediately wants to sit in it. Iris or no Iris, she doesn't seem to mind. I love Iris's face in this photo...she's like, "what's going on here? I was here first!" (note: Hannah is not sitting on Iris, I would never let that happen. Hannah is actually sitting on one of the high parts of the bumbo)

Hannah still loves the every thing that rolls, whether pushing something, or riding it

Here's a really cute picture of Hannah and Noah in their PJ's. Note that Hannah's wearing a purple outfit and has a purple water cup, and Noah has a blue outfit and a blue water cup. I swear I did not plan that. :-D

Hannah now can pull her pants down, and she does it often. It's alittle counter-productive because she can't pull them all the way off because of her shoes and she has trouble pulling them back up. Thus she ends up taking baby-baby steps everywhere. Good thing we own overalls.

Oh, we bought Hannah some new "big kid" shoes. She now has tennis shoes, keds, and boots (the boots are a size too big because I got them for free, but they are super warm and Hannah has no problem walking in them)

She also likes the teeder-todder.

showing bear the ropes

So Iris got this new bear in the mail. It didn't take Hannah long to realize that there was a new stuffed animal in the house. She started right off showing bear everything.

Here's bear enjoying the exersaucer. Unfortunately bear has alittle bit of a cookie belly and doesn't really fit.

Here's Hannah showing bear how to play on the mat. She even tried to feed bear some crackers and water. It was really cute


Hannah also likes to make sure that Ug, the stuffed dog, has some fun too. Here Hannah is helping Ug go down the side. She is so caring. :-D

Driving an SUV

So today I took the babies out to the grocery store. Unlike Costco, Shaw's carts only have room for one baby...unless you take the car. Observe what I was driving at the supermarket.





I felt like I was driving an SUV. As hard as it is to maneuver the beast around the isles, I would probably do it again since Hannah was having tons of fun in the little car.

Swimming

I went swimming the other night and it was awesome! I love swimming, but somehow I seem to forget this because it's been about 2 months since I got in the pool. For most of the summer I had a swimming buddy, and we went twice a week to the pool. And then, wouldn't cha know it, she got up and moved to Sweden. The nerve! And since then I just haven't made it back...until Monday, and it felt great. My goal is to swim again on Friday. We'll see if it happens...

Reading

I know, you're thinking, "where does she find the time to read? Doesn't she take care of two children, one husband, and 32 students?" Yes...yes I do, but I've been reading this book called "48 Liberal Lies About History." It's great because each chapter is independent of the previous one. And the chapters are about 3-6 pages long. So if you don't feel like reading alot, you pick a short chapter...and you can skip the boring chapters. Not only that, the book was pretty interesting. It was published in 2008 so it has more recent information than alot of other history books. It had some interesting facts about the cold war, that have recently come into light now that the cold war is over and has been for a while. Some of the lies that were more surprising were, "women had no rights in Early America", "Muslim terrorists are poor and uneducation and hate us because we support Israel", and "Prohibition was unpopular from the beginning and failed in all its objectives." There were also some pretty silly lies, like "FDR knew about pearl harbor," "Columbus was responsible for killing millions of Indians," and "9/11 was a government conspiracy." I wouldn't have even believed that text books would include such unsubstancial material, but at the beginning of each chapter the author quotes 2 or 3 common used text books on the subject. It's interesting. So I read 32 of the 48 chapters...2/3 of the book, I think that's pretty good for 2 kids, 1 husband and 32 students. :-D

Mosquito bites suck

Yes, I really hate mosquito bites...and mosquitoes for that matter. I can't figure out why God created them? Any ideas? My best guess is that they are the result of some random mutation or something. A fruit fly that's gone bad and now likes to hover around flesh instead of fruit.

Anyhow, I think the worst place to get a mosquito bite is right underneath your eye, in the soft spot. Not only is it a really tender spot, but anytime you rub your eye you inadvertently scratch it, thus making it itch more and swell more. Then your eye swells and your husband makes some sort of stupid comment on how it looks like you have a black eye (hypothetically speaking, of course).

Anyhow, I suppose it is all worth it if you received this previously mentioned mosquito bite while apple picking. And thus you tasted several scrumptious apples, had a great time with family and friends, and managed to bring the two right people along: one who carried the 20+ lb baby, and the other who carried the 20 lb bag of apples. Thanks guys!!

Here are some pictures from our apple picking experience.

Notice all the apples on the tree.

Andrew, Caleb, and Hannah

BTW, no one tell Mrs. Wright about this post, as she will inevitably remind me that nothing sucks, it's all just a difference in pressure. :-D