Sunday, January 30, 2011

Let's Play Ball!


YAY!!! It's T-ball time!
Yes, there are outdoor sports bedsides football in the winter here in Arizona :) We don't have to wait for the warm weather.


FIRST PRACTICE
All dressed up in my Red Sox gear! We didn't have our team uniforms yet, so I wanted to let everyone know who the best baseball team is ;)




Jumping jacks. . .don't let the perfect form depicted here fool you. There is absolutely no coordination involved in her jumping jacks (see cute video below) ;)
FIRST GAME!!!

Daddy sharing a few pointers in the outfield
I got it!
Getting ready to bat
OK, ready to hit the ball!
Nice hit!!!
"Hmmm. Did I get my shoes dirty?"
Based on experience, Mama imagines Hannah's commentary is going something like this: "Are you sure I don't run to the pitcher's mound next? How about back to 1st base? Can I catch the next ball? But I like catching the ball! Running the bases is more fun when you get to run ALL of them at once and run them out of order! OK, Dad. I'll run to 3rd base next. But that's not as fun. . ."

I get to hit the ball again? Yay!
Running home with Mama
After another good hit, Granny and Papa get a turn to run the bases with me, too :)
running after the ball (I tried to run after ALL the balls)
Another nice hit!

Excuse me? Where is this boy's father? He's checking out my behind!


Yay team! Good game, everybody :)


Practicing hitting the ball before her 1st practice :)

Jumping Jacks. . .well, sort of ;)

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Christmas Tookies with Mountains of Frinkles!

Every year, Mama and I make Christmas Tookies together :) Mama does not make tookies from scratch often, so it is a treat for us all! No really! They are super yummy :) (usually she bakes the ready-to-bake cookie dough) Her favorites are the snowball tookies. But, my favorite are. . .well, pretty much anything made with sugar that I can pile high with frinkles! See for yourselves in the video below. I think I did a pretty good job! Not many people are talented enough to pile THAT much frinkles on cookie after cookie, and have them stay intact. . .well, until we ate them of course.

Ready!
What? Who me? Nah, I wasn't sampling the frinkles! Why do you ask?
Frinkle sampling
Frinkle piling
Confetti fingers!
Beautiful frinkle loaded tookies!!!


VIDEO: Um, Hannah? Perhaps you would like some cookies with your sprinkles? :)


Well, it is all about the decorations and how much "frinkles" you can pile on top of the Christmas tookies, ya know! So, Mama gave me free reign of my creative cookie decorating juices, and let me use as much frinkles as I wanted to make my tookies pretty!

We had such a good time :) I can't wait until next year! Mama better start stocking up on more bottles of frinkles. I have big plans. BIG PLANS! (Is it possible to make a cookie as big as my dining room table? Hmmmm. . .wonder how many frinkles that cookie would need?)

*Mama's note: Take out stock in frinkle manufacturing companies!


Monday, January 10, 2011

Christmas 2010

I always have grand plans for my blog entries! But alas, I don't always have the time to do everything I want to :( (I think I have more posts in EDIT than I have actually posted! It's sad!) Then, I put it off until I find more time. . .but the time never seems to come! Then before I know it, it is 3, 4, 5, 6 months past the cool event or holiday I wanted to blog about! SO, I made a New Years resolution to not be so anal about writing the perfect blog, and just do what I can when time allows.

Sooooo, for the sake of me not falling incredibly behind (which I already am!). . .here's an unedited (not even spell check!) compilation of little things I want to remember about Hannah on Christmas Eve and Christmas:

When Hannah tells the story about baby Jesus, she insists he was born on a table. (instead of in a stable)

Asked her to pick out carrots for the reindeer, and she looked up at me and said "Santa has 8 reindeer" then counted out 8 carrots. . .paused, then picked a 9th for Rudolph :)

She was such a good girl at church. Santa made an appearance when church was over, and she was SOOOOO excited! Stayed in her seat, but waved like crazy to him and yelled his name over and over again! :) She could barely contain herself! But she was too shy to walk up to him outside :)

Santa dropped off some presents at the back door while Papa was "away getting Granny's camera." When he returned, she ran full speed towards him screaming and squealing because she so excited to tell him all about what happened.

Hannah read us her book about the Christmas story and baby Jesus being born. So proud of her! She did such a wonderful job. Her version was so darn cute! It is nice to know she listens to me when I read to her and retains at least some of what I say :)

She stayed up 'til midnight. . .good thing "Santa" assembled that kitchen a couple days earlier!

She made up an ornament song while staring at the tree Christmas Eve morning. Then she sang it again for all of us Christmas Eve night.

After church, we took a little drive through the neighborhood to see the neighbors' decorations and lights. She was in awe. We kept hearing "WOW!" "So gorgeous!" "Pretty lights!" "Look at THOSE lights!" On drive through neighborhood after mass. When we passed houses without lights she exclaimed with a huff "What's THEIR problem?" We couldn't help but laugh.

Told us she was hungry at church. Told her she had to wait a little longer because there was so much good food waiting for us at home, including cheese and crackers. For some reason, she became fixated on the crackers and cheese we mentioned. . . She was seriously so excited, that we were having crackers and cheese after mass! She kept repeating it over and over again in the car. As I got Matt secured in the van, she was reciting everyone who was going to eat the cheese and crackers. Then, as soon as she got in the door at home, she ran to pantry and was fumbling around with something. Moments later, she emerged with FIVE packets of her Ritz Handi-Snacks cheese and crackers packets and promptly declared it was time for everybody to have cheese and crackers! :) SOOO thoughtful! Never mind the fancy cheese and crackers we had ready for the evening :) Her treat seemed SO much better! And I'm impressed she counted out the right number for everyone. She wanted to be sure we all got one until she sat down to eat hers. She was clueless to the fact that we had fancy crackers and cheese all set and ready to eat :) It was adorable.

Christmas morning, she woke up excited! I reminded her we had to check to see of Santa ate his cookies? and see whether the reindeer ate their carrots! She was confused as to why the reindeer were so messy, but didn't want me to clean up their mess right away :) She was pleased Santa ate the cookies she made for him :)

Then she went for the presents! She walked right past that kitchen! Did not see it. How could she MISS it???? Matt and I were in total disbelief, and praying it was not that she didn't like it or care about it! But, after grabbing one gift, she looked to the side and suddenly noticed the giant kitchen sitting right next to her, and she was so HAPPY! Thank goodness!

She was excited to open everything, and was pleased with her loot. When she was done opening the gifts, she said "I'll have to call santa to tell him thank you." Awwww! Melt my heart! I told him I didn't have his number, but we could write him a thank you note and it would mean a lot to him :)

And now, what you were really looking for. . .PHOTOS!!!

Singing "Happy Birthday" to baby Jesus after Christmas dinner at Granny and Papa's house :)

Twins? Ugh! It is so hard to take care of twins! What was I thinking?
Better text my husband for some help. These kids are getting restless! Where IS he, anyway?
Hungry?
Better text husband to buy more formula and diapers! These kids can EAT. . .and. . .well, ya know!!!
OK, that's enough fussing. Close your eyes and go to sleep! PLEASE!
Now that the twins are finally sleeping, I gotta clean up this place! A woman's work is NEVER done. . . (good thing I got this nifty cleaning cart from Granny and Papa!)
Hey! What'cha doin' in there, guys? Any presents for me???
Trying out my new camera accessories (tripod, remote control, and new lens!) Too bad my camera can't change my face! ;)
opening her loot :)
After opening all those gifts, we were all hungry. Hannah was kind enough to make us a snack, including her special cupcakes :)
Even baby Cinderella got one! (how do you like her hair-do? I bet you never thought of accessorizing with band-aids before? I bet you're wishing you thought if it sooner after seeing baby Cinderella's stylish do!)
Want one?
Taking after her mommy. . .talking on the phone while doing a hundred other things! Multi-tasking is very important.
Being silly on Christmas Eve :)
Great dinner conversation :)
Is there really CLAMS in this clam chowder?
Messy reindeer left a few morsals of food behind. . .
Santa, on the other hand, left a thank you note :)
Here's what the treats looked like before we went to bed ;)
All ready for Hannah!
After church. . .before she stripped her dress off and begged to put her jammies on :)

Headed to Christmas Even mass :)