Loyal readers will think Hannah's birthday hat is familiar. To date she has worn the same hat (that Momma made) for five birthday "seasons" (there is always more than one party per year). This year was the first year the hat had to be repaired, however it was a minor repair. To our surprise, Hannah wore that hat the entire party... for the first time.

 
 
 
 

Momma did a great job with the party, and especially with all the treats for the kids. Reilly and Hannah could hardly control themselves after the party... There were no naps taken after the injection of pure sugar.

Guess how old?

 

I bet you can't guess how old she is now?

Hannah's 5th birthday party

 

Hannah had her in-town birthday party two weekends ago. She had a blast at a local "Clay-Ground" store that lets kids make clay sculptures. Here she is before the guests and the messes appear.

Reilly's short attention span

 

Reilly was thrilled to hold his cousin Charlie for a brief moment in time. He then got distracted by a toy truck on the floor and wanted nothing to do with the other boy in the house. Go figure.

Birthday girl, for the ??rd year!

 

Hannah and Reilly helped Mom blow out the candles on her birthday cake this past weekend. Happy birthday from all of us. Thanks to Bebe for coming to town and helping make Stpehanie's birthday special (and taking the kids off our hands for a night or two). -Daddy

 
 
 

While Hannah did experience some stage fright during the "art show", she was able to get up and show off her work to the crowd. -Daddy

Hannah gets stage fright... in front of 8 people.

Throw back!

While I was loading some new pictures into the Chambers Photography Computer (CPC-2000), I ran across this old picture of Reilly. If memory serves, he was waiting in line to see Santa at the Mall. I don't recall sharing this one, but his eyes really shine and still do today.

Hannah's 5 Year Stats

Weight - 38.25 lbs (37%)

Height - 40.75" (14%)

Blood Pressure - 90/62

Hb - 12.0

She passed the vision & hearing tests! She was quite pleased that there were no shots today!

Brooke

This week, we were fortunate enough to have Brooke, our 13 year old niece from Philadelphia, come to stay with us for a week! I have now been completely spoiled by having a second set of hands to help out! I'm so proud of the young lady Brooke is becoming. She was absolutely delightful! I hope her good manners and positive attitude have rubbed off on my children!

While she was here we toured the town!!

We went to the "Sprayground"!

We went to the ice cream shoppe!

We went to the Aquarium!

Down the whale slide at the aquarium!

Never too big for a whale slide!

Hannah and Brooke posing with "Deepo", the Aquarium's mascot. [sidenote - we think Hannah has gotten over her fear of "characters"! Woo Hoo!]

We went to the park!

We had such a great time with Brooke. We decided while she was here that she's going to come back every summer for the next 15 years. WooHoo!!

Soccer Camp

Hannah had a great time at her soccer camp this week. She attended the same one as last year and actually had the same coach. We arrived on Monday for Coach "Waggy" to say in his oh-so-cute British accent... "Well, Hello, Hannah, how are you? You're in my group!" He then told me that he had used the picture we took of them last year on a brochure that he hands out. Huh! Hannah is famous!

Hannah and Reilly at the airport on the way the Philadelphia

Reilly rides a Harley!

Pirates and Princesses birthday party

Hannah ran around "The Hangout" with the pirates and princesses (Tinker-Bell) before she took this picture, so please forgive the lack of bows in her hair.

Mom and Dad are very proud of our "big" girl. She has great manners, loves her brother very much, shares well with her brother and others well, I could go on and on. She gives us a little too much lip every once in a while, but we could not be more proud of her. Hannah and Reilly make us want to have another kid around the house.

The Cake

This is the cake that Momma made for the "Princesses and Pirates" birthday breakfast for Hannah. (The doll's hair is in a wrap for transport). Hannah loved her cake and her brithday party with many of her cousins.

Big Treat

What birthday would be complete without a HUGE Ice Cream Cone?

Cecilia gets into the act

Hannah's cousin Cecilia got into the act too.

Accessories!

And here they are... Not shown are her new high heel shoes.

Hannah turns 5 years old!

So "Princess" Hannah turned five years old on July 1st. As usual, she spent her holiday weekend in Orange Beach, AL stimulating the newly decimated economy. Here, Hannah tried on her new princess dress, what isn't shown is all the other accessories that came with it. Wow. -Daddy

Funny Funny Children!

This past Saturday, we traveled to Auburn for my cousin Landon's wedding. On Saturday afternoon, it was VERY important that Reilly get a nap prior to the 6pm wedding. So, I put him down in his pack-n-play, sang "E-I-O" and put him in his bed. As I was leaving the room, he screamed out...."Dis Hotel. Dis not my bed, Momma.". After about a 15 minute battle, I convinced him that regardless of what bed he was in, he needed to take a nap. I sure am glad he got a nap because he was up until 11pm dancing the night away!

Before the bride and groom arrived at the reception, Hannah looked up at me and asked me where the "pretty pretty princess" was. I giggled and said that she wasn't there yet, but that she would be there soon! She was completely mesmerized by the beautiful bride. She was thrilled when she got to dance with her!

Busy Summer Already!

I LOVE my new tractor from BB & Papa!!



At the children's museum! Painting on the walls! Can't do this at home!

Riding a "REAL" tractor at the Children's Museum


We have had a busy summer already. We've gone to Mobile (crawfish party), to Madison, GA (Mommy's triathlon), Orange Beach (to savor the clean beach one last time), to Auburn, AL (for Landon's wedding). We managed to squeeze in a trip to the Atlanta Children's Museum in between packing & unpacking :-)

tri-ART-thon

H - When I grow up I want to do a triathlon too daddy.
D - Oh yeah? Great!
H - Yeah, but I want mine to be swimming, soccer, and art!

Congrats to Momma!

Congratulations to my beautiful wife and mother of two for completing her first triathlon this morning. She has been working very hard training for this event, and did not sleep much last night thinking about it. However, she completed her first triathlon in 2 hours 15 minutes and 11 seconds, and the most important thing to her was that she did not finish last!

Now if you could just find a triathlon that allows you to bring the kids along, Daddy wouldn't be so frazzled at the finish line when you cross it.

-Daddy, Hannah, and Reilly are proud of you (even if they don't know it yet).

Reilly 2 Year Stats

Weight - 30 lbs 7 oz 77%
Height - 331/2 in 25%
Head - 49.8 cm 78 %

E-I-O Cake

As I've blogged about before, Reilly's favorite song is "E-I-O". He requests E-I-O every night before going to bed. He will sometimes say "E-I-O - PIG mommy". I proceed to sing Old McDonald had a farm.... and on his farm he had a pig....

What better cake to have for his birthday than a farm with pigs, cows, and chicks! So much fun to make.

A friend took some pictures of Reilly with the cake, but until then....

Happy Birthday Reilly!!

We can't believe our little boy is 2!! We love you so so much, Reilly! You are a happy, healthy, funny, gentle, caring little boy. We are enjoying watching you grow, but could you slow down a little bit??