Family fun

We had our niece and nephew here on Sunday while their parents went skiing. We were returning the favor - gotta love having family close! Andy's sister, Claire, was running a half-marathon in Ft. Collins that morning, so we packed the kids up and drove up there to cheer her on. The kiddos made signs and loved seeing Aunt Claire run by with her friend. (Aunt Claire rocked the really hilly race, by the way!)

Hannah, Elliot, and Juliet

On Monday morning, Hannah asked to draw with her new markers. Despite the fact that they're washable (for those of you non-parents out there who don't know such miracles - these things are amazing!), I had her take off her white shirt so we could keep it relatively clean before meeting Daddy at lunch. After about 5 minutes of quiet coloring time, I looked up to discover...

She had a yellow marker in her belly button when I looked over. The armpits were a bonus I discovered when I asked her to lift up her arms. Awesome!

ABCs

One of Hannah's favorite things to do right now. I'm really frustrated that the only video editing software on this computer won't save in a standard format, so I can't post a rotated version. With any luck, you're on a laptop and you can just pick the thing up and look sideways!

Photos

Finally, some photos...

A gorgeous hike we took a couple of weeks ago. Having trails like this less than 20 minutes from our house is amazing.

This morning, playing with her shadow.

Because she spilled red juice on her shirt before we left home. Check out that toddler bod!

At the Butterfly Pavillion in a nearby town. Hannah and I spent my birthday morning there on Monday.

Cockroaches - lots of 'em. Didn't get a photo of the bird-eating tarantula that's as big as Hannah's head. Ooh.

Pretty girl.

I was trying to get a good photo of Hannah and a passing dad was nice enough to point out to me, and to her, that I had a butterfly sitting on my head.

Big girl

Sigh - my baby girl is starting to potty train and doesn't suck her thumb any more. She tells me what she wants, "reads" books, notices and describes the world around her, remembers people and events, and has an opinion on nearly everything. Where did our baby go? Photos soon, I promise.

Little bit

I'm sorry that I didn't get a photo of this - really sorry. My mom's here right now and she made a cake on Saturday to celebrate my birthday early. It was supposed to be a major snow day, so were all prepared to spend the day inside baking and occupying Hannah with empty boxes from the garage. It turned out to be a bust of a snow storm, and skiing conditions at Copper, where we had originally planned on spending the day, were "epic." Sigh...

But I digress - back to the cake. Hannah was helping/hindering mom's efforts, but had at this point settled into a kitchen table chair and was quietly eating cake crumbs as the two newly-baked cake layers sat cooling. This is a very yummy chocolate cake (thanks again for the recipe, Nikki!) and the crumbs are a treat. For a while, at least.

As we were getting ready to walk out the door with our realtor to go see houses, Hannah says "little bit." Kind of an odd comment, so we of course asked her to repeat/explain/elaborate/whatever a two year old can do. So she pointed to the cake and said "little bit" - as in the little bit she had broken off the edge to get a bigger sample. I'm not sure what's funnier - that she got up the nerve to take a piece, that she waited that long before doing it, or that she felt the need to confess after doing it! Honestly, I think she was pretty proud of herself and wanted to show off her quick thinking on how to score more cake without getting in huge trouble. Just a little bit.