The Magic of Santa

Hannah, like every other kid in the world is starting to hone in that Christmas (Santa) is right around the corner. On Sunday, we took her to the mall. As we strolled through, she saw Santa and said "Santa!". I said that we would come back another day for her to sit in Santa's lap and tell him what she wanted for Christmas. She was ok with that.

Fast forward to tonight. After Hannah woke up from her nap, I told her that we needed to write a letter to Santa to tell him what she wants for Christmas and also to let him know where she will be on Christmas, so he'll deliver her toys to the right house. I explained to her that Santa was at the North Pole working with his elves making toys for all the boys and girls. She looked at me and said, "Momma, he's at the mall. I'll go get my shoes."

I laughed inside and said you're right, Santa is at the mall. Let's go see him.

Mystery Revealed

For those of you who haven't figured out the "hidden" message of the blog, Hannah will be a big sister around May 17th. Here's a picture of her meeting her new brother or sister. I heard her tell him/her that she's the boss and not to mess with her things. We'll see how that works out.

And just like that, the night was over. Hannah a great time, and was tired when we got home. She found some time to eat a couple treats, but when distracted, her bag of candy disappeared into some cabinet... Somewhere. "Hey look over there." Still works really well.

Another door, more candy, and still the doorbell was too high. Hannah opted for knocking on the door this time.

Hannah's visited one of her favorite babysitters on Halloween. Lauren and Hannah had a quality moment, the M&Ms helped.

Hannah is still short... Maybe next year she will be able to press all the door bells. Hannah runs to our front door and says, "Hannah make ding dong." You get the idea. Aunt Jillian is now pulling the wagon with a very tired and sleeping cousin Cecilia.

As you know already, Hannah trick or treated (is that how you say it?) as a Chef this year. Hannah walked the whole way, mostly holding hands with a neighborhood friend. As you can probably tell, she was the cutest child in the neighborhood. Momma did a great job finding a unique costume again this year. Good job Momma.

Last year Hannah had a sweet ride in "Daddy's" red wagon. It is Daddy's wagon, because he got it for his birthday. Anyway, this year Hannah's cousin Cecilia got to ride, and Hannah got to walk. Cecilia went as a caterpillar this year, the most colorful caterpillar ever. She looks like she is thrilled.

Hannah wanted to thank G and Pop again for her new Auburn Sippy Cups!

This is pretty much the finished product. Hannah did a great job, but Pop on the other hand... Everyone wanted to know how his was going to come out. I have to say, not as good as Hannah's. -Daddy

Sometimes the photographer feels the daggers coming through the camera viewfinder. -Management

Orange pumpkin, Orange colors, of course.

What do you do when your 2 year old wants to carve a pumpkin that is too small? You give her some colors and let her go crazy. Hannah got to color her pumpkin with G and Pop the day before Halloween. She got to do it without her shirt off because, while advanced, the concept of being clean has not yet been conveyed properly.

Hidden Messages

It seems that many people are missing the "hidden" messages in the last two posts...
Read the last two messages with an eye for detail.

Hannah had a great time on Halloween (last night). See got tons of candy, lost a shoe, found it again (3 houses later), got some really big news, stayed up late, and she got to see these broke down pumpkins along the way.

Hannah and Evan are looking forward to another big Halloween next year!

Hannah will be a big sister on May 18th, 2008.

Hannah seemed a little disappointed in the "shocking" news. She was shocked that Evan came over, but she felt like there was going to be more news. Judging by the email generated by her "Shocking New Post" a lot of people were expecting more and different news. Sorry to disappoint, mislead, or trick anyone out there reading her posts. Stephanie is pregnant, Hannah is going to be a big sister!

As predicted, Hannah was "shocked" when her friend Evan "The Pirate" showed up to go trick or treating with her.

Stephanie and Andrew gave Hannah some big news recently. So big that she was shocked! More to come soon...

Thoughts from a 2 Year Old

"Momma....Momma.....Momma....Hey Momma....Don't take my sunshine away. Don't turn it off."

One Lady and a Camry

Who needs "2 Men and a Truck" when you can have "One Lady and a Camry"?

Well, that is it from (name withheld) city dance class. Hannah had a great time, as always, and here she is getting her stamp! Of all the activities, I think this one was the most well disciplined one. All the girls ran over and sat next to the instructor to get that stamp. Hannah will talk about those stamps all day!

The last "dance" the girls participated in was one where they crawled through a dog tunnel. Ok, it was not really a dog tunnel, but I think I have seen dogs run through ones exactly like this one. -Management

The "dancers" were supposed to roll the hula-hoop around, but Hannah slide hers around the room. She likes to do her own thing.

No, they could not do the hula-hoop very well, but they tried!

Another time that the girls did what the instructor asked them to do. It is actually pretty amazing to see so many girls that age (approximately 2) to do what the teacher asked them to do.

Occasionally Hannah needed her space away from the other girls.

Not all of the girls are happy to be there, but Hannah is. She does not seem all that disappointed to leave her parents outside the classroom.

This was one of the rare times in the class where all the girls seemed to be on the same page. It was early in the class.

Calling it dance class might be a stretch. Calling it "Organized chaios" might be a better description. The instructor gets stuff out of this closet, then the girls go wild with that toy for about 5 minutes.

This was the scene on Monday morning at Hannah's dance class! The kids are inside, and the mothers (and one photographer) were relegated to watching through a window. Not much of a chance to get good pictures of Hannah dancing, but I gave it the good ole college try. -Management

There was almost an "incident" with another kid at the pumpkin patch. Cooler heads prevailed and the "incident" was avoided.

Hannah was very proud of her pumpkin.

Check out the correct form... Hannah is lifting with her legs not her back. She is amazing.

The good thing about leaving the corn maze, is there are pumpkins outside the maze! Hannah cruised around the piles of pumpkins, however we did not find any truly good ones there.

Hannah is starting to wear down. It is time to find our way out of the maze.

Just a random picture of Hannah's mother in the maze. She might look like she knows where we are in the maze, because she is holding the map of the maze, but looks are frequently deceiving.

We have been in the maze a little while now, and you might be able to see a little less happy look on Hannah's face now. The day was hot, at least 90 degrees in the sun, and Hannah was sweaty at this point. She wanted to be carried, but not by Daddy. Hannah's parents might have made a tactical error in bringing her to the maze at nap time.

And we are off!

Her she is ready to conquer the corn maze, all 2'6" tall of her. Not that Daddy could had much more of an advantage at 5'4". We let her run free and asked her to follow us into the maze.

Does this look like the face of a loving, adorable child who is breathlessly waiting to run around in a corn maze? Or does it look more like a child waiting to have a meltdown in the 90 degree heat, in the middle of a corn maze? You can take your pick, but I will never tell (until a later post).