Hanging Out

 

I love this picture of Lydia. Brian must have taken this picture a couple of nights ago! She is already in her jammies and is hanging out with all of her favorite pals - Hamley, Max, and her babies! We have had a crazy week, but we enjoyed some relaxation time today at Deanna Rose Farmstead. Lydia is still in love with the cows, goats, and ducks. Maybe at some point, she will realize that there are other animals in the world. :)

 

This is a picture of Hannah from last night. In the evenings, we usually just let her sleep from 8:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. (when I feed her again) in the living room with us. Sometimes, Brian and I take turns holding her as we realize how quickly the time passes from the baby phase until they are little girls. Anyway, Hannah is completely at peace in this picture. She also enjoyed the farm today - she was actually awake for most of the time this morning! She has such a sweet personality!

What A Day

 

This week has been pretty crazy for us already. I went into work yesterday and will go in again tomorrow to clean up all of my files before my official last day on September 30, 2008. Yeah! This morning, we had Lydia's Kindermusik class and her first visit to her "school." She is going to attend a Children's Day Out program on Thursdays at Lenexa United Methodist Church. Lydia was already having a rough morning before we even started our activities, but we all survived. So, after our visit to school, I stopped by Taco Bell to grab lunch for us. As you can see from the picture, she was a disaster! She even had rice in her diaper! :)

Another funny story that Lydia blessed me with today. As I was carrying her up for her nap, Lydia pointed to me and said "Brooke." She stayed at Aunt Brooke's house yesterday while I was at work so Brooke has definitely been on her mind. I told her that my name wasn't Brooke and asked her what my name was. She told me my name was "Howell" since she has learned to say her last name and is quite proud of it! I told her that my last name was Howell and asked her what my first name was. To which she quickly replied, "Happy"! Well - it could have been worse. As I put her into her crib for her nap, she smiled up at me and said "Happy Howell"! Gotta love being a Mom!

Happy Birthday

 

Today, I wanted to post an entry in honor of my mom's birthday! I know that this is a favorite picture of hers - can you tell which girl this is? It is actually Lydia - although her blonde hair isn't as obvious in this picture. Mom - I hope that you have had a wonderful day, and we are looking forward to celebrating with you tonight!

Swingset Surprise

Last night, I went out for "girls night out." It was a great time for some "me" time with my girlfriends! :) But while I was gone, Brian's dad (Craig) and his wife, Nancy, came over to help Brian move a swingset into our backyard. Our neighbor, Megan, is a freshman in high school, and she watches Lydia for us. Lydia is quite attached to Megan. Megan had a swing set in her backyard that she couldn't use anymore so she and her parents were nice enough to let us have the swing set for our backyard. They have heard stories about how attached Lydia is to the park because of the swings!

Brian decided that last night was the night to make the official move. So, he gathered up several of our friends and they brought it up the street using Grandpa Craig's truck. Grandma Nancy was inside with the girls as the swing set was moved in. She related this story to me about Lydia. When the guys brought the fort part of the swingset into the backyard, Lydia didn't seem too impressed. She thought that it was something for Daddy. But once they brought the boom part of the swingset in with the three swings, Nancy said that Lydia (who was standing on the couch in the living room peering out the window) covered her mouth with her hand and then looked at Nancy with her big blue eyes and said "Swing"! Nancy said it was adorable!

I will post pictures of the swingset once we get it all finished!

Stylish Gals

 

The gals (from l-r): Ellie, Lydia, and Leigha

Last week, Susan, our neighbor, invited Lydia, Hannah, and myself over to her house after Lydia's nap so that all of the girls could play. Susan has a little girl named Ellie who is 4 years old. She also invited our other neighbor, Stacy, and her girls over as well. Stacy has two girls - Leigha who is 5 years old and just started kindergarten yesterday and Ella who is 3 years old. We always joke that we have girls that stairstep from 5 (Leigha), 4 (Ellie), 3 (Ella), almost 2 (Lydia), and Hannah.

When we got to Susan's, Leigha asked if she could take Lydia upstairs. I agreed - little did I know what Lydia was going to come back downstairs looking like! As you can see from the picture, they dolled Lydia all up in Ellie's play clothes. Aren't they adorable? Lydia insisted on wearing the sunglasses the entire time! Anyway, it was a fun time for all of us, and I thought I would share the picture! Enjoy!

Wheel of Fortune

We love Wheel of Fortune and make it a point to watch it with Lydia (and now Hannah) if at all possible. It is amazing how much Lydia picks up on. I am sure it is one reason she is so good at her letters! I know four generations of our family have watched Wheel of Fortune, and they are celebrating 25 years. Amazing. Anyway, here is a link to 25 facts about the game. Pretty fun.

25 Things about Wheel

Brian

Ready to Rumble

 

 

Lydia has really developed a love of any type of sports ball. Last night, we had a rousing game of tossing the football from Mommy to Daddy and back to Lydia. She loved it! I guess she is definitely ready for football season to start (as am I). But in the meantime, we have enjoyed watching all of the Olympic coverage. Lydia really enjoys watching diving - each and every time a diver jumps off the springboard and hits the water, Lydia says "Splash" as loud as she can. It is really cute. As you can tell from the second picture, Hannah could care less at this point about football or the Olympics. She is much more comfortable just sleeping through it!

The Zoo Crew

 

 

 

The zoo crew (from l-r): Landon, Liam, Easton, Brayden, Lydia, and Zach

Yesterday, Lydia, Hannah, and I ventured to the Kansas City Zoo for the first time! I have been to the zoo once before, but it was for an Ernst & Young event when Brian and I were dating (a VERY long time ago)! Yesterday, we went with three other gals and their kiddos from our small group. We toured the Australia area of the zoo and had a great time! Lydia's favorite animal was the llama (not my personal favorite but whatever). She kept saying "Hi Llama" to every other animal. It was pretty cute. We ate lunch at the zoo and then came home for a long afternoon nap for all of us! I considered it a successful day! Enjoy the pictures!

Crazy Morning!

 

 

This morning has already started out crazy! Lydia woke up earlier than normal this morning, and I hadn't even gotten into the shower yet. So, I brought her a sippy cup of water and her beloved friends (Hamley and Max - both bears and her baby). Little did I know that while I was getting ready, she went back to sleep! :) I went in to get her up and see was sound asleep again. I managed to snap this picture without waking her up. Then, I went to check on Hannah and found her horizontal in her crib and very happy as you can see from the picture. Hannah just finished her bottle, and we are still waiting for Lydia to wake up. We will have to see how the rest of the day goes!

What a Face!

 

I am learning that it is difficult to post blog entries with both Lydia and Hannah at the same time (since they rarely do the same activities). For example, at the farm today, Hannah spent the entire time in her car seat. At least she is well-mannered enough to sit patiently in the stroller! :) When we got home, I decided to let Hannah have a little tummy time. This is the wonderful smile that she greeted me with - gotta love those gummy grins!

Fields of "Poppy"s!

 

 

The kiddos (l-r): Landon, Hannah, Brayden, Lydia, and Easton

Today, we made an outing to Deanna Rose Farmstead in Overland Park. Lydia absolutely loves "the farm" - she is really into the cows right now. All morning she kept talking about "Poppy" which is her form of the cow's actual name - Pippi. Oh well - it is pretty cute to hear her talk about him. And today, we got to see Pippi's baby, Stormy, which Lydia also enjoyed. She is also very interested in all sorts of babies - her baby dolls, baby Hannah, and now, baby Stormy! As you can tell from the picture, we went to the farm with the Pierce boys as well. We tried to take a picture with all of the kiddos which turned out really well. Oh course, Lydia is sitting next to her favorite boy - Easton!

Pigtails!

 

Lydia is almost two years old! I can hardly believe it. We are currently working on planning her second birthday party - it is going to be kite-themed! She loves the park - especially the swings! I am fairly convinced that if Lydia could spend an entire day anywhere in the world, she would happily choose the park. This is a picture from a couple of weeks ago when we got our hair cut - Lydia will let Rhonda put her hair in pigtails but not me! :)

Smile!

 

Hannah is growing so quickly. She had her four-month appointment on Monday, and here are her statistics:

Weight - 14 pounds 14 ounces - 75% percentile
Height - 25 1/4" - 80% percentile

Her shots did not go so well - she was screaming the entire time that we checked out at our appointment. Love to make a scene at the pediatrician's office! :) Hannah has definitely gotten into her daily routine and is the most even-tempered baby. We are really enjoying seeing Hannah's personality as it continues to develop!