'A Ha' Moments

Hannah spent the night on Wednesday. She has outgrown the portable crib.

'A Ha' Moment #1.  After weeks of fretting about where she would sleep when she was here for her much-anticipated overnight visit, the purchase of an inflatable mattress (still in the box), a cottage-like tent to make it fun to sleep on (still in the box) and a couple of travel locks for the doors to keep her from wandering into the building hallway or onto the patio in the middle of the night (easily removed by her in record time), the simple solution was sleeping with her on the sofa bed in the den. I made up the bed while she was busy playing office at my desk. When she came into the den, her jaw dropped. She had no idea that her favorite sofa could be transformed into a sofa bed. She hopped right in clothes and all! 

'A Ha' Moment #2.  The next morning, while she was putting her pajamas back on (having decided that she would be a sofa bed potato all morning), I turned on "Bubble Guppies" in the living room because it was playing in the den in an effort to coax her into some breakfast. When she came out to get back in bed to watch, she stood in the doorway between the den and the living room looking from one television to the other. She looked like she was watching a tennis match. Then I heard "Nana, Nana, look." as she excitedly pointed to each TV. The smile on her face was priceless as she realized that the sets could play the same show at the same time! And then, she had breakfast in bed - the sofa bed.

Snow and resolutions

Snow in January cleans up the landscape, muffles noises, encourages fresh starts.

So, here are my snow day resolutions for 2014, 15, 16 or however long it takes.

• Smile
• Give
• Help out
• Repeat the above every day

Other stuff from other years seems mostly done.  Or maybe it has paled, shrunk to those things most important.

PS:  The holidays were WONDERFUL. :-)

Halloween 2013

Halloween was so much fun this year. :)
Judy asked for help decorating her car for Grace's school "Trunk or Treat."  Rob suggested a ghost because her car is white.  Here is the concept that I developed.  Judy and I put it together in 1/2 hour!

If you ever have to decorate a car trunk for Halloween, this ghost is EASY, simple and elegant.

1. Use binder clips to hang a white sheet from the trunk lid.
2. Place a couple of battery powered lanterns inside the trunk and turn them on.
3. From poster board, use a box cutter to carve out two oval eyes and a quirky mouth.
4. Use large safety pins (I strung two big ones together above each eye) to attach the eyes to the sheet.
5. Suspend the mouth from the eyes with fishing line. 

It was a bit like a mobile. The weight of the sheet and a gently breeze made it move.
We used ghost face plastic treat bags lined up under the bumper to hold the candy.  I found them in the grocery store.  It was unique!

Here are my favorite pictures from the day.

Hannah's First Overnight Visit...

...was a blast.  A little thinker, she processes information and takes things in stride.  She is like her Dad and Uncle Rob in that way.  She is also an investigator like her Dad.  Able to focus on objects and cause/effect processes, Miss Hannah has remarkable concentration.

Examples: 

• Putting the dollhouse garage on the floor permits a better focus on moving the car in and out, and examining the people and furniture on the rooftop patio.
• The bucket of little animals contains two of each animal. She can hold one in each hand, put that pair down and find two more that match.
• The small set of blocks is magnetic.  Hannah found that they stick to the dominoes tin.

While her Mom and Dad enjoyed the local AMC Dine-In Theatre, Hannah and I had dinner.  Then she had her bath, a story, play, and to bed.  She slept until 6 a.m. or so, then looked for her Mom a bit, no tears though.  Assuring her that Mom and Dad would  come to Nana's, we looked at their pictures in my Nexus for a while, and another while, and then went on with our morning.  Mom and Dad were here when she woke from her nap after lunch. :)  They got an animated welcome from their little angel. :)

I think that Miss Hannah may be a Friday night guest often.  I love this whole grandchild business.

Tonight, I am having dinner with Kathryn and CJ. (Rob's busy season at work, he is traveling now.)  So, I will see what Mr. CJ is up to.  When I saw him on Wednesday, he showed me airplanes when he heard them overhead.  And, of course we played ball. :)

Pool Party

The Reeves cooked out last weekend and invited the Carneys and me.  The little ones "christened" the kiddie pool.  Kudos to Adam and Jackie for hosting a wonderful summer afternoon.  Enjoy the video. :)

Grace's Sixth Birthday Party

Another photo slideshow by Smilebox

Hannah's First Easter Egg Hunt

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CJ's First Easter

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Hannah's First Birthday

Little Miss Hannah celebrated her first birthday with a Luau Birthday Party on March 16, 2013.

It was a snowy day for a luau.

Jackie's house was very welcoming.

Leis, Hawaiian print table linens and paper goods, beach towels on the floor beach balls, and resort casual wear were everywhere.

Adam made Blue Hawaiians for the adults.  We all snacked on finger sandwiches of peanut butter and jelly/ham and cheese, fruit salad, rainbow-colored goldfish crackers, chips, Sugarush cookies, Hershey Kisses...

The guest of honor.

...and, of course cake! d caption

PRESENTS!!!

Hannah's first birthday cake.

CJ with Aunt Jackie

The favors were coconut drinking cups with straws (for toddlers) filled with Hawaiian-shirted little rubber ducks and packages of colored tablets to dissolve in bath water to create various colored baths.  FUN!

Blowing out the candles

It was a very good afternoon.