Daddy's shirt

When I pulled this shirt out of Andrew's closet the other day, he right away said "Daddy's shirt." I said "Nope, this is your shirt." He said, "No, Daddy's shirt." So, apparently this looks like a shirt Daddy would wear.
Our little man is growing up so fast. His language skills have really taken off, and it's so nice to be able to communicate with him and understand what he is saying. Can you believe he's already turning 2 this May? Sniff, sniff...my baby is growing up.

He finally is learning how to smile for the camera.

He's got so many different expressions, I wish I could capture all of them.

Here he is showing off "Daddy's shirt." :)

Master Painters

Daddy and Hannah have been busy painting our old bookshelf, and as you can see from their noses, the color will be black. As most of you know, Hannah is definitely a "Daddy's Girl." When she knows Daddy is driving home from work during the week, even though it's a 30-40 minute commute, she will patiently watch for him by the window until he is home.
I love my "goofy" family. These are all memories I will cherish for a lifetime. God has really blessed us abundantly, and I am so grateful for every minute I spend with my family. Even though life can get rough and overwhelming sometimes with two young kids, I know I will look back fondly on those times and remember those snapshots of laughter, giggles and joy that we have shared.

Outdoor Amusement

When the weather is nice, the kids favorite thing is to play in the backyard on their swing set. I finally hooked up the slide, so they have been taking their stuffed animals, and pushing them down the slide.
Hannah has gotten really good at pushing Andrew on the swing. As you can see from his giggles, he LOVES it!

Snuggly Siblings

Hannah and Andrew have been really into snuggling with each other this month. Maybe it's because it's been raining so much around here lately or maybe there's LOVE in the air . :) Either way, I'm glad they love each other so much.
They have also been comforting each other a lot. If Hannah gets hurt or starts crying, Andrew runs and brings her "pink puppy" which is the ultimate comfort for her. If Andrew starts crying, Hannah goes and gets his "blankie"and he quiets down right away.

Our extravagant-glamorous daughter

Hannah lately has been going all-out dressing up. She basically puts on EVERY accessory that she owns, and models it for the family.
She is definitely the princess in the family. She loves anything girly, fancy, and sparkly. Every time we go to a store, she looks for anybody that looks "fancy" and points them out to me. She will say,"Look Mommy, that lady is so pretty. She's wearing high heals." Apparently my frumpy jogging outfit that I usually sport is not fancy enough. :)

Fun in the snow

Travis had last Monday off from work so we thought we would take a trip to the snow. We drove towards Lake Tahoe and just off Highway 50 there was a snow park. We just payed $15 for parking, and had a fun day of sledding down the hills. This was the first time the kiddos had seen the snow and they LOOOVED it. Especially Hannah!

Here are the kiddos and I enjoying the snow.

Andrew didn't like the sledding as much as Hannah, so he mostly stayed with daddy at the bottom of the hill while Hannah and mommy had fun sledding.

This was the first time Hannah and I went down on the sled together. I thought Travis captured this moment perfectly. You can see how much we are enjoying the ride by our "goofy" grins.

Daddy and Andrew going down on the sled.

Hannah eventually got brave enough to go down the hill by herself. Once she did it on her own, there was no turning back! She was awesome!


Hannah couldn't wait to do snow angels. Unfortunately, the snow was kind of hard packed, so they didn't really turn out, but she kept trying!

Our date to Downtown Sacramento

As most of you know who have young children, it's really hard to find time to go on dates as a married couple. So, our New Year's resolution for this year is to go on two date nights a month. Some of you are saying, "WOW, how do you find time for that?" Well...we make time. It is so important for a healthy marriage to be able to spend that quality time together without constantly being interrupted by the kiddos. So, we decided to head to downtown Sacramento and eat lunch at a Cafe, go the the Capitol, and experience for the first time the light rail. The light rail was definitely an "INTERESTING" experience. It was not the romantic train rides of Germany where everybody in the area rides the train. We saw lot's of people who were intoxicated, clothes with holes in them, using foul language, etc. Well, maybe we will use our car next time. :)
The food at the Cafe was amazing. I had a turkey burger, and of course the meat came from a local butcher, the salad was all home-grown out of their garden in the back, etc.
Then we headed over to the Capitol. I had never been on a tour, and we thought we would check it out. It was all very interesting.
At the Capitol they have every tree that is native to California represented. Here are some orange trees bearing their fruit.

A statue in the Capitol building.
Here's Travis in front of Governor Schwarzenegger's office.
We had a great date and we are so blessed to have wonderful friends to watch our kids twice a month. :)

Sprinkles, Sprinkles, EVERYWHERE!

Last weekend, Daddy was in charge of giving Hannah a snack. She decided on yogurt with sprinkles, which is one of her FAVORITE all time snacks. Of course, my husband the creative one couldn't just give her sprinkles, he had to make it pretty. :) I got to say though, that is a LOT of sprinkles.

There's been a lot of dress up time around here...

Brrrr...it sure has been cold and wet in Orangevale. Since the weather has been so horrid, we have had a LOT of dress-up at our house. Poor Andrew. Most days you will find him in some kind of a tu-tu or high heels. Oh, the joys of having an older sister. :)

Hannah picked this outfit all by herself. Nice accessorizing!