2008 12 Beach Day with Cathi and Rex

2008 Bethlehem Inn

2008 12 Hannah Sings "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"

2008 12 Disneyland on the 16th

2008 12 Caught Red-handed!

Hannah was caught red-handed with something that she knew she shouldn't have... red colored sugar. Hannah had been "quietly" playing doctor in the tv room while Mommy was getting ready for an evening out with Daddy. Alyssa was wandering around the house going to see Hannah and then back to mommy again. When Hannah ran into the kitchen upon the arrival of her Gramma, Mommy gasped. There Hannah stood with her red clown mouth and the little bottle of red sugar held tightly in her little hand, without much thought to any possible wrongdoing. When questioned about what she did, poker-faced, Hannah simply denied that anything could be amiss or otherwise... COMPLETE DENIAL, even after being held up to a mirror to be shown that there was evidence! Only when given the threat of standing in the "Thinking Corner" did she sing... and then she tried to divert the blame when she said that it was her sister who "brought the bottle into the TV room" from the kitchen.

2008 Ava's Pippi Longstocking Party

Ava, Hannah's friend since before birth, had one of the most creative birthday party's we've been to in a while... and we've been to a few! It was almost more fun for the parents who grew up watching Pippi!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pippi_Longstocking

2008 12 December

2008 Christmas Tree Outing

The day after Thanksgiving we went on an outing to find our perfect Christmas tree. Before we left our house, Hannah was ready with a backpack full of things to do "on the train" (our adventure last year was to Fillmore for a train ride to cut down our own tree), but thankfully, she was ok with the new experience we had planned this year. We began by having lunch with Gramma, Grampop, and Uncle Eric and Northwoods Inn. After lunch, we went to get our tree... the first tree stand we passed was empty, however, there are many street corners with tree stands, so it wasn't hard to find one full of trees from Oregon! Mommy enjoyed decorating the tree with Hannah. She's so grown up now and can handle even the most delicate of ornaments... Alyssa on the other hand... delicate ornaments were hung high!

2008 Preschool Thanksgiving

Hannah's preschool has a fun little Thanksgiving "feast" for all the kiddos to enjoy together. When I asked Hannah about the table centerpiece and why she was thankful for her cousins, she talked about visiting her girl cousins in Tampa and how her boys cousins came out to see her this summer. She has found a special bond with Kirsten, Taylor, Nicole, Ryan, Zach, Alex, Emily, Abby and Noah and talks about them often. We wish we lived closer!

2008 11 A Day at Daddy's work

The girls spent the afternoon checking out daddy's new office...

2008 11 El Monte Airport

Alyssa's Golf Ball Magic

2008 11 Mom's Day at Preschool

It was time for mommy to spend the day at preschool with Hannah. It's the one time of year I let her paint my fingernails... eight nails were red, two were purple. We had a wonderful time. Hannah did have a hard time leaving that day. She insisted that there was another circle time even though we checked with her teacher, Mrs. Cheryl, before leaving. She also didn't want to leave without the picture they took of us together. They were behind in the printing and it was promised that we would have it that following Monday. You gotta love her outfit too... it was a hot day and she insisted on wearing heavy RED tights with her blue-green sun dress!

2008 11 Descanso Gardens w/ Gramma

Gramma had Veterans Day off, so we went to Descanso Gardens together.

2008 11 Pankratz Family Visit

2008 11 MOPS Zoo Day

2008 November Election Day

I took Hannah with me to vote on this very special election day. What made is even more special was having our dear friends, the Virzi's step in line behind us as we checked in. It was Aisha's first time voting as a US citizen as she only recently became a citizen.

2008 11 November

2008 Halloween

The girls went Trick-or-treating down Old Town Monrovia and later went to the Harvest Festival at our church. The pictures speak for themselves...

How did she do that????

Hannah and I were going to make cookies to take to the Harvest Festival at our church Halloween night. I put Hannah in charge of finding the sugar cookie recipe in my "found recipe" binder while I took care of a couple things.

When I returned I saw Hannah turning past the sugar cookie recipe at the same time I realized that there were no eggs in our refrigerator. Upon telling Hannah that we would have to wait until we could go to the store for eggs, she says, "but we have toddler eggs!" Not sure what she meant, we took a look in the refrigerator... where there was a bowl of hard boiled eggs and a container of scrambled eggs. I explained to Hannah that we needed uncooked eggs and that all we had were cooked eggs, so we couldn't make the cookies, because you need uncooked eggs to make cookies. "No mommy, there are cookies that don't need eggs." So I asked her to show me the recipe.

I have no idea how she knew that the recipe she found had no eggs... she wouldn't tell me... but there it was... Oatmeal Lace cookies. We only made those cookies once, and that was in May for her preschool Open House. It's an easy recipe and it contains NO eggs! Look for it on our recipes link...

Happy Anniversary!

Ryan surprised me with a return to the Magic Castle to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the night he proposed. We had never celebrated this date before, so I was surprised when I was given a card Sun morning that read, "Happy Anniversary". Ryan replaced the message inside to read, "One magical night ten years ago, you said yes..." It was a wonderfully, unexpected night out WITHOUT our girls. Later, Hannah wistfully said that she planned to go to the Magic Castle when she is grown up.

Pumpkin Patch at Sante Fe Dam

2008 10 Alyssa at the Pumpkin Patch

No one was at the pumpkin patch on Huntington Dr. this Friday morning, so Alyssa and mommy went to play in the pumpkins. It was a cooler morning, so it was easy to get into the fall spirit.

2008 Oct 4 - Elle's Birthday Party

2008 10 Bridgette B-day party

2008 10 October

2008 San Onofre Day

2008 Jen & Brett Garden Party

2008 Hannah's 1st Mani-Pedi

To celebrate the start of school this year, Mommy took Hannah to have her first manicure and pedicure. She was quite patient through the whole process (as was Alyssa!), however, we didn't make it out the door before she rubbed the polish off of nearly all her toes! It may be quite some time before she gets her next mani-pedi...

2008 09 Megan's B-day

2008 09 September

2008 08 Newquist BBQ

2008 08 Huntington Beach

Dalton Park and Two Birthday Parties

On Friday, August 22, we went to Dalton Park with Ella and Emersyn in the morning and then to Frederick's birthday party later that afternoon. The next day we went to Ethan's birthday party. It was a fun couple of days.

Here's Hannah doing things "the princess way" at Frederick's Birthday.


Click here for pictures

Playing with friends at Jump N Jammin

2008 08 20 Uncle Eric's Disneyland Birthday

When asked what we should do for Uncle Eric's birthday, Hannah replied, "Let's take him to Disneyland!" So we did.

2008 08 16 Uncle Brett & Aunt Jen's Wedding

Wedding 3

Rehearsal 2

Wedding Album 2

2008 08 Brett's Bachelor Party

2008-08 August

Naomi's brother and nephews visit from PA

We had a whirlwind visit from a few of our Pennsylvania clan this weekend. They packed in a tour at Warner Bros Studios, Hollywood (Ryan's work, The Dark Knight vehicles at the Arc Light, the walk of Stars, Chinese Theater and the Hollywood sign), Santa Monica Pier and the beach, a Dodgers game, Universal City Walk, church, lunch at In-N-Out, and the Dallas Cowboys Summer Training Camp in Oxnard all in three days! Hannah and Alyssa loved seeing their cousins. After they left, Hannah asked if mommy could teach her to play the game that her cousins were playing in the backyard. They were playing baseball with a small plastic ball and empty paper towel rolls any downtime they had. Hannah is already looking forward to their next "sleep over" at her house!

2008-7 Leonis Adobe Museum

We went to the Leonis Adobe Museum in Calabasas today. It's a historical site where you can experience California ranch life of the 1800s. Hannah and Alyssa enjoyed spending the morning with their friends, Ava and Olivia Kappelman. The weather was perfect for a relaxing time roaming the ranch.

Alyssa's First Birthday Party

Alyssa's Birthday Party Pictures Album 2

If you didn't get enough the first time, here are a few more!

Alyssa's First Birthday - Disneyland

For Alyssa's first birthday we spent the day at Disneyland. She had so much fun as did her sister. She really enjoyed the the Pooh ride, carousel (very excited about the horses!), and Buzz Lightyear, but wasn't so sure about Pirates. Hannah talked about riding Pirates of the Carribean with much excitement, but covered her eyes up for the beginning of the ride again! Hannah's biggest thrill was seeing the Princess for the first time... and riding the roller coaster in Toon Town. Alyssa got a big birthday kiss from Minnie Mouse too!

Hannah Selected as Reader of the Week

Hannah is the featured "Reader of the Week" next week for the Summer Reading Club at the Monrovia Library. Although she was selected randomly from all participants we are so proud of her! In her interview she was asked to provide interesting facts about herself... her favorite thing to do is to play with her baby sister, her favorite movie is Ariel, her favorite thing to eat is peanut butter and jelly and also bean and cheese burritos, her favorite book is A Bargain for Francis, and her best friend is Ariel (from the movie). To know Hannah is to know how much she loves books. This honor suits her well!

Happy Independence Day!

We had a laid back day... went to a church pool party, then onto fireworks in downtown Monrovia with our friends, the Virzi's. Hannah loved the fireworks, until we were home and one went off. Startled, she said, "I don't want to see fireworks ever again!" Alyssa enjoyed her first fireworks show, too.

2008-07 July

Alyssa's First trip to Huntington Gardens

VBS at Arcadia Friend's Church

Hannah and mommy had fun as part of the "Weaver" family of Samaria.

Hannah's Dance and Gymnastics Show

Hannah had her end of class dance recital and gymnastics show this week. Before they performed their dance routines, the teacher asked them each to say their name and age. Hannah sweetly whispered her name. Then Miss Cheryllyne asked her to say how old she was and Hannah answered in Hannah-speak, making up a word, confusing her poor teacher. She did a wonderful job doing the free dance (where they changed their emotions), ballet and tap routine. During the gymnastics part, Hannah wanted to do the balance beam, but she only wanted to inch worm across. She loves the bar and happily did a few moves there as well.

Tree Trimming on Lovejoy

2008 06 June

2008-05 May

Alyssa Started Walking

Alyssa turned 9 months old on April 16th. She's regularly been taking short walks for over a week now. It started while we were in Tampa at the beginning of the month. Soon there won't be any stopping her.
And I'm such a proud dad!

Hannah's Photography

In reading a friend's blog today about how her son always seems to find her well hidden camera to take a few frames on the sly, I remembered that I was going to post the album I started of all the pictures Hannah has taken. We don't typically find Hannah taking out the camera by herself, but she does ask to take her own from time to time when we do have the camera out. And as often as we take pictures, I'm actually surprised that she doesn't ask more! As you'll see, her first few pictures are truly amateur, but she is getting better each time she holds that camera in her pretty little hands.

2008-04 Hannah's First Haircut

In true Hannah fashion, she sat very quietly and patiently as Enjolie combed, cut and curled her hair. Then, she made herself comfortable on a chair with her new do and a hair style book, throwing a temper tantrum when told it was time to go!

2008 April Trip to Tampa

We sure had a good time in Tampa. The weather was perfect and the company even better. We stayed home the first day and enjoyed listening to the thunderstorm. Monday was spent playing Dominos and Candyland and a quick afternoon trip to the University Mall. Tuesday we went strawberry picking at a nearby field (we ate strawberries for the rest of the week!) and later to Zephyr Park. Wednesday was spent at the Lowry Park Zoo and then we were treated to dinner at Carrabba's by Uncle Russell (Very yummy! Thank you!). On Thursday we drove to Eustis so that the girls could visit with their great-grandmother who whipped up an amazing potato salad that all the girls ate! It was on to Clearwater Beach Friday and Alyssa's first frolic in the sand. Wrapping things up on Saturday was a morning at the mall where the cousins had their pictures taken at Picture People.

Check out our many pictures and come back later to read the captions!

2008-04 April

2008-03 Easter

Our first Easter event was the Easter Chapel at Hannah's preschool. We look forward to coloring eggs this weekend and spending time with family on Sunday.

2008-03 March

Mr. Ninjanality

Some friends and I made this comic spoof a few years ago. I just came across a low-rez version on an old hard drive so I thought it would be fun to share. It debuts here on YouTube.

-Ryan

2008 "Uncle Eric Father/Daughter Dance"

Every February, Hannah and Daddy go on a special date. It's Malibu Presbyterian Church's Father and Daughter Dance. This year it was a double date, with another little girl to take out on the town, Daddy invited Uncle Eric to join him. Hannah was pretty in pink, in her flowing "Sleeping Beauty" dress. Alyssa wore a sweet little white dress with pink flowers and a big pink bow in front. According to Daddy, Alyssa loved her first dance... she was wide-eyed, all smiles, with her tongue hanging out. Hannah said her favorite part was "dancing with the other princesses."

2008-02 February

Olivia's First Birthday Party

This was a fun party... it was a puppy theme. Hannah was in her element... she loves to pretend to be a puppy (when she's not Tinkerbell, Ariel or Sleeping Beauty) anyway and Alyssa was just too cute!

2008-01 Hannah Makes A Peanut Butter and Jelly Circle

2008-01 Alyssa Nods Her Head

2008-01 Sandahl Visit

2008-01 Ice Skating at Pershing Square

On Saturday, January 18th, we went to downtown LA and met our friends, the Mertzels, to go ice skating at Pershing Square

Hannah Thanks Brett and Jen for the Birthday outfit

2008-01 Hannah's 3rd Birthday Album 1

2008-01 Hannah's 3rd Birthday Album 2

2008-01 January