The Cunningham Life

Gavin's Baby Shower

2009-07-28T22:43:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Gavin's upcoming (and hopefully very soon!) arrival, my mom hosted a baby shower for me at her house.

It was such a fun morning! The decorations were super cute, lots of fantastic women came, we had yummy breakfast food,

and played a couple of fun games.

I was also incredibly spoiled by some great gifts that are going to be perfect for our little bundle of boy! And I had lots of help opening gifts from a few pairs of little hands...

Macy, Savannah, and Lauren had just as much fun playing together as we older girls had, and of course stole the show and often the camera's focus. They also proved how much fun you can have with nothing other than a big blue bow!

And here's some side profile belly shots. Yes, I am getting gigantically big (and I'm even bigger now!) and yes, I am all baby!

I think the only thing I might, and I stress might, miss about being pregnant is my nice little shelf. It's great for resting my arms or for snacks on the couch while watching TV!

Elmo LIVE!

2009-07-28T22:17:00.000-07:00

Months ago, Travis had bought tickets to see Elmo LIVE! in Stockton, and by the time the day of the show came, we had almost forgotten about it. Though her new obsession right now is Disney Princesses and not so much Elmo anymore, she still wants to watch Sesame Street almost every day and was absolutely mesmerized by the show. Travis and I were actually pretty entertained too. It was a cute musical about Elmo's sunflower, "Sunny," and how, while trying to find him a good home in Big Bird's garden, Abby Cadaby accidentally said the wrong spell and made half of the characters as tiny as all the bugs and butterflies living there in the garden.

All of the main characters were part of the story and sang and danced their way through the hour-long show.

Savannah loved getting to eat cotton candy (and I loved getting to share it with her),

and she was really, really into the show. We could only take pictures of her, or even talk to her for that matter, during intermission because while they were actually on stage she wouldn't talk, look at us, or even let us clap or talk to her or each other. All the other kids were super loud and wiggly, but she sat silent and perfectly still in her seat focused on the stage the whole time.

Afterwards, we took a picture with "Sunny" and Travis bought her the soundtrack which we, or should I say I, still have to listen to in the car almost everyday.

It's worth it though to make this adorable girl so happy!

3-D Ultrasound

2009-07-28T21:52:00.000-07:00

In early June, when I was 31 weeks along, we decided to get a 3-D ultrasound. We had done one with Savannah and had thought that it was the coolest thing, and we were even more amazed this time around. It is so crazy how much the technology has improved in less than 3 years! With Savannah, we definitely could see her HUGE cheeks (you know your kid has chubby cheeks when multiple doctors and nurses, who see tons of these pics all day long are making comments about how big they are!) but the pictures we got of her were nowhere near as clear and defined as these. It really makes the fact that there is actually a baby in there seem so much more real!

It also blows my mind how squished they really are - these are his feet right up next to his face! In the 4-D DVD you can watch him trying really hard to get his toes into his mouth!

A cute little ear that I just can't wait to kiss!

He was moving around like crazy and he finally got his little finger into his mouth and was sucking on it while stabbing himself in the eye with this other finger.

We kept trying to figure out whose nose he has - from some angles it looks like mine and from others it looks like Travis'. He doesn't have the cheeks Savannah had though, in fact he doesn't really look like she did as a newborn at all!

He was wide awake with his eyes open the whole time and kept making funny little faces.

Here he's opening and closing his mouth, desperately trying to suck on anything he could - his feet, his fingers, the umbilical cord... If this is any indication, we'll definitely be using lots of binkys just like his sister, who, by the way, is still hopelessly attached to hers, though she can only have it now when she's sleeping. I'm worried that we may catch her trying to sneak a suck or two on his during the day!

Right now I am desperately uncomfortable, and looking at these pictures makes me even more anxious to hold him in my arms instead of just feel him beating me up from the inside out! Come on out, Gavin! We all want to meet you!

Hello! I'm Back!

2009-07-27T22:02:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's been over two months since I've blogged, but did you happen to notice the nice little ticker up there at the top under the header? I haven't taken a break from posting because I have a newborn (trust me, as of today we're still waiting on that...) but because I've been finishing his room and trying to get all of my other projects done before I have to care for a toddler and a newborn every day on only a couple hours of sleep. And now I'm trying to check this off my "To Do" list - catching up on all the pics I've been meaning to post so I'm all ready to start posting adorable baby shots. So the next few posts, unless I miraculously go into labor really soon, are going to be a fly-by, chronological look at our lives over the past couple months starting with...

"Camping" at Ice House Reservoir

For Memorial Day weekend, Travis made plans with his family to go camping and didn't really discuss it with me beforehand. While I grew up going camping all the time and the two of us have gone together several times, we've yet to camp with Savannah and more importantly, camping is not really fun when you're 8 months pregnant. (I know this first-hand -- we went to our church family camp for three days when I was almost 8 months preggo with Savannah.) So, we compromised. We still went up, but instead of sleeping in a tent, we rented a room at the Ice House Reservoir Motel. The expensive tiny room had a funny smell and literally only had a bed, desk, chair, end table, and bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling, but it also had a heater, a flush toilet and a shower. It seemed like a setting out of a horror movie, but it was better than sleeping (or not sleeping) on an air mattress when you already feel like a beached whale!

We spent Friday afternoon out by the lake and Travis parents, aunt, sister and her boyfriend arrived around dinner with their truck, fifth-wheel trailer, small boat, and jet ski. It was quite a set-up with almost all the luxuries of home!

Savannah had a blast - thankfully I brought her many changes of clothes ...

The weather was perfect - sunny and warm for the lake during the day and cooler for the campfire at night.

Here's our little beach babe...

Travis was excited to do some fishing,

and was even more excited that he actually caught something!

Amazingly, Savannah's favorite part of the trip was going out on the jet ski with daddy. I was a little freaked out by it, especially when they started picking up speed - I was convinced that she was terrified but was just frozen with fear (and the wind in her face!) and couldn't make a sound.

We could all tell though by the HUGE smile on her face as they pulled back into shore that she was having the greatest time!

All she could talk about afterwards was how they went fast and went bounce, bounce, bounce [over the waves]. And she still talks about it every time we see a jet ski being towed down the road.

We had a great time and will definitely go again (when Gavin gets older...I don't think I can handle and toddler and a baby in the dirt!)

I think Savannah only took one nap in three days; she was so dead tired that she actually fell asleep in her car seat (which hasn't happened for well over a year) about 5 minutes after leaving there at about 5:30 in the evening. And she went right back to sleep in her bed when we got home!

Pint-Sized Pilot

2009-05-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

While I was away in Tahoe at our church Women’s Retreat a few weeks ago, Travis, Savannah, and another friend alone with his son for the weekend went to McClellan Air Force Base’s Open Cockpit event. Apparently they guys (and baby Evan!) had a good time and Savannah had fun getting to sit and “fly” all the planes and helicopters.

I think interest in the Air Force would increase if these pics were part of their ad campaign, don’t you! :)

Little Ballerina

2009-05-15T15:05:00.000-07:00

Partially in an effort to embrace and encourage Savannah’s love of dancing (well, technically, her love of spinning to music for an incredibly long amount of time before finally getting dizzy and falling over), and partially to re-live my years of dance classes through her, I enrolled Savannah this month in a Parks and Recs Tiny Tots ballet class. Let me tell you how much she loves it! I don’t think many days have gone by when she hasn’t talked about ballet or tried to practice what she’s learned. A lot of the class is hand motions and movement to fun kid songs, but the teacher is also really good about including some basic ballet skills and terms. Savannah loves to practice jumping out and then together and pointing her toes, and is super proud that she can get her feet into “first position” all by herself.

Here are some highlights and then a slide show at the end. By the way, how cute is she in her little leotard and ballet shoes (thanks Carly and Macy for letting us borrow them!)

Flying with their “butterfly legs.”

“Tickling” the sky.

Using a hula-hoop to learn to chasse'.

The favorite jumping out and then together.

Trying to point her toes.

I think we’re going to keep her in the class at least until the baby comes, or as long as she is having so much fun, so I’m sure more pics and maybe some video will follow in the future!

I'm Bigger Now!

2009-05-06T16:35:00.001-07:00

Well, it’s official. She’s been making the claim for a long time, but Savannah is now definitely a big girl, or, according to her, she’s “bigger.” Last Saturday she made the move from baby crib to big girl bed!

While she was with Grandma and Grandpa, Travis and one of his students spend half the day moving furniture and boxes out of our third bedroom-turned-everything-room and into a storage space we had rented. We also moved a bunch of boxes out of a storage we were sharing with a friend and along with them came the bed we had been saving just for her. By the end of the exhausting day, we had a 6x12 storage unit pretty well filled, a new big girl room for Savannah, and the beginnings of a nursery for Gavin.

I knew she was excited about getting a big girl bed, but I wasn’t sure how she’d take all the changes when she really saw them. I mean, just moving her toys to a different part of the living room was pretty darn traumatic! I really think I was more worried about this transition than I am about bringing home a new baby…

I could not have asked though for a better reaction; she walked in and was just amazed and then immediately started jumping on the bed. Great. She never said a word about the missing crib and glider or the rearranged furniture, she just kept walking back and forth and around in circles looking at everything, even things that had been in there since the day she was born. It’s honestly like a completely new room to her.

The one downside was that it was almost bedtime and she was pretty hyped up about the whole thing. She went down though that night in her big girl bed without any problems. It took her quite a while to settle down and fall asleep, but she didn’t get up out of bed one time or wake up at all during the night, and even slept until I had to wake her up for church at 7:30 the next morning.

(She may be covered by the sheet in this picture I took before she went to bed, but that didn’t last long. Within a half hour she was crying because she wanted me to spread out her purple blankie like usual and wanted to be covered with her pink blankie and not the sheet. That did the trick, and now every time she sleeps I get her bed ready like this:

Since then, she wakes up every day excited to be in her big girl bed, runs upstairs often just to “look at it,” and even spends more time playing in there by herself than she used to. It’s been over a week and a half since the transition and she still hasn’t gotten out of bed at night, a nap time, or even in the morning after she’s awake. Apparently my stern “once I turn the light off and close the door you’re not allowed to get out of bed” rule has really been taken to heart – every morning or naptime that I don’t have to wake her up she either calls or cries for me to get her or she just sits on her bed and plays with her stuffed animals until I come in. I’m waiting for the day when she figures out that she can get out of bed and play probably without me knowing, but so far she’s stuck to her rules and routine. Let’s hope it lasts!

And a little tour of the rest of her big girl room…

San Francisco

2009-05-06T15:51:00.001-07:00

My timeline is a little out of order her, but I just had to put up these pics anyway…

The weekend before Easter marked the beginning of Spring Break, and as teachers, Travis and I are lucky to be among the ranks of those who get a week off (paid too, for him!) to relax and vacation. Since we hadn’t seen my sister Ashley’s house since she moved to San Francisco in the fall to work for Jews for Jesus, we decided to take a little trip down there to visit. The super cute, big house (especially by San Fran standards) she rents with 3 other roommates is only minutes from the Zoo and beach, so after we arrived on Saturday that’s where we headed.

We spent several hours at the Zoo, and saw more animals up close and active than in many trips to the good ol’ zoo here at home.

Though we brought the stroller, I think Savannah ran for almost the entire time we were there. She loved looking at all the animals and talking to all of the other little kids (isn’t it amazing how kids somehow become instant friends just by standing next to each other!), and really loved the big petting zoo. Unlike this petting zoo experience when she was afraid to get too close to the animals, she wanted to pet every animal there and was super excited when we bought some food for her to feed them. She fed those fat goats like a pro and showed absolutely no fear when they pestered her for more.

The cute little mallard duck though was a different story… I don’t know what happened, maybe the ducks weren’t used to being fed by little hands, but when Savannah handed him a pellet he grabbed it and Savannah’s finger too. The huge frown on her face before the tears came was so sad; you could just see her thinking “why did you just do that to me?” and then she started wailing. I’m sure it hurt, but I think it was more the surprise. After feeding large goats and llamas, what child expects to be bitten by a duck?! Before she could develop an irrational fear of all water birds, we quickly explained that the duck didn’t mean to get her hand, it was an accident, and he was very, very sorry. Fortunately, the crying didn’t last long and apparently she forgave the duck since she wanted to pet some other ones we later saw swimming in a pond. “Those ones won’t bite me,” she said, and luckily we were too far away for her test that out.

I won’t bore you with pictures of the animals we saw, but here are a few cute ones of us humans.

After leaving the zoo, we walked down the street to the beach. And again, Savannah proved how much she’s changed in the last year. Unlike our last sandy beach experience, she had no problem with taking off her shoes and walking barefoot in the sand. She loved walking out to the water with Daddy and Auntie Ashley while I kept my shoes on and happily took pictures bundled up in my jacket far from the freezing water (yes, I was cold even though it was a sunny 63 degrees - a “nice” day for San Francisco!). It was too bad we didn’t have any beach toys or towels – Savannah could have stayed out there for a long time.

After an entire day of walking and playing, I was sure she’d conk out for a late nap, but no, the magic hour had apparently passed and so, after a short rest at Ashley’s house, we headed out to Chinatown for dinner. The food was great, but after a day of walking around the zoo, the walking several blocks to the underground Metro station and riding for a short time only to get off and walk to the bus stop just to ride for a short time and then walk some more to the restaurant (and then doing it all again on the way back after window shopping around Chinatown …) was a bit much on my pregnant body. I thought my hips were both going to break, and the next morning, after hardly sleeping, I almost fell over after getting out of bed. Those 20 extra pounds hanging off the front of me really take their toll!

That morning we went to church with Ashley and walked, oh yes, walked a couple of blocks to a lunch place afterwards. (How do pregnant women, especially those with a toddler who often insists on being carried, survive in that city? It is possible I’m just an out-of-shape wimp, but seriously, I thought I was going to die.) The rest of the day was pretty low key and after Savannah’s nap and an early dinner we headed for home.

I really did enjoy the trip and we’re actually going back on Friday/Saturday for a family Mother’s Day outing, but I seriously appreciate my car so much more now than I ever did before. And yes, I understand parking is expensive and horribly hard to find, but it just gives me yet another reason why I never want to live in a big walking city.

Easter

2009-05-04T21:35:00.000-07:00

Easter was busy this year, as it seems always to be. On Saturday, after helping to decorate the kids rooms at church for our special Easter service, we went to lunch with Travis’ parents who came up from Riverbank and his Great Aunt Esther and Uncle Ray who were up from the LA area visiting his family.

Aren’t they cute! They’re in their 80’s and still go out dancing every week!

After lunch we hung out at your house and Savannah got spoiled with a giant Easter basket filled with toys, a puzzle, candy, and even a movie!

Later on Saturday, Savannah and I had fun dying Easter eggs. She got to color on the eggs with a white crayon and then direct the color combos. We ended up with some beautiful eggs and no spills or stained clothes - yeah! I am sure thankful though for non-toxic dye; I dropped one of the tablets as I was putting them into the vinegar solution, and when Savannah saw Bailey going for it, she grabbed it off the floor and stuck it in her mouth (trying, I’m sure, to beat him to it) before I could even react. She was a little surprised when it didn’t taste like the candy I’m sure she thought it was and I had to clean neon yellow drool off of her face and hands after she decided to spit it out…

On Sunday, we had a furry family member come to church with us, much to Savannah’s absolute joy. Spaz got volunteered to be a part of the “petting zoo” at the early childhood program’s “Rise and Shine Farm.” Savannah couldn’t be happier – how often does your rabbit get to come to church with you!

After a crazy morning of Children’s Ministry, we headed home to eat lunch and let Savannah open her Easter basket.

I skipped the candy this year (I wonder how much longer we can get away with doing candy-free holidays?) and instead got her some little toys and other do-dads. She loved each of the fuzzy animal figures and showed them all off to the camera,

and the flower window gel clings have since provided lots of daily re-arranging fun.

Of course she also had to pose a little for the camera in her beautiful Easter dress.

She is definitely a girly girl and loves wearing pretty things!

After Savannah and Travis took their naps (while I cooked – not fair!) we headed over to the Proctor’s house for dinner. Since the MOPS egg hunt had been rained-out, Savannah did her own hunt in their backyard for the unused mini M&M-filled eggs. Too bad I didn’t fill my dozen eggs with a better variety of candy – we (and by that I mean “I”) are still eating little packages of mini M&M’s a month later!

It was a beautiful day, and Auntie Ashley, who was up visiting from San Francisco, her boyfriend Bill, who came down from Medford, Oregon, and I all enjoyed the weather while we watched Savannah look for the eggs with only a little direction from Daddy.

And finally, our traditional sitting-at-the-table group picture.

Check out this one of Savannah’s first Easter:

Just think, next year we’ll have another little one thrown into all the craziness!

Face Painting

2009-04-29T17:12:00.000-07:00

In addition to the fashion show at “Babies and Bumps” there was also rooms full of vendors including a lady doing face painting. Savannah waited very patiently in line for her turn and then very seriously climbed up into the chair. She kept changing her mind on the design but was adamant that it needed to be purple. No surprise there. She took the order to “sit still” to heart and barely budged an inch the whole time. In the end she got a horse with a purple mane and was thrilled with the result. I was a little worried about what was going to happen when bath time rolled around, but surprisingly enough, she wanted me to wipe it off before she took her nap. Apparently the blur of colors on the wipe was him “sleeping.” Okay…fine with me!

Babies and Bumps

2009-04-29T17:04:00.001-07:00

This post is a little out of order, but contrary to how I swore things were going to be different this time around, I’ve realized that I have very few shots of my growing belly. Just like with Savannah, somehow the weeks just keep moving along and I keep forgetting to take the traditional monthly belly pictures.

So about a month ago, when I was around 20 weeks, I participated in a fun little fashion show that was part of the “Babies and Bumps” event at the Maidu Community Center in Roseville. My friend Katie co-owns Bellybou’, a fantastic, super cute maternity/infant/toddler boutique in the Fountains shopping center across from the Galleria. They were one of the sponsors of the event and were participating in the fashion show. She needed some pregnant girls to model the clothes and I happily obliged.

Here I am with Katie (who is about 2 months behind me but is pregnant with twins) walking down the “runway” in our matching skirt/shirt combo. I don’t even look pregnant you say? Well, check out the following side shot…

And compare that to this picture when I was 5 months pregnant with Savannah.

If this trend keeps up, I may not even be able to stand at the end of this all without tipping over! I offer the following picture (where, I might add, I am 3 days overdue!) as proof:

And no, that’s a baby, not a basketball under my shirt.

Unicorn Curl

2009-04-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

So Savannah has this strange self-soothing habit of twirling her hair when she’s tired, falling asleep, and even it seems while she’s sleeping. I guess it’s not so strange considering that she could be banging her head against the wall like I’ve heard about other kids doing, but with her already super curly hair, the piece that she twirls always turns into one big curl in the middle of her forehead. Every time she wakes up either in the morning or from a nap, her hair is crazy everywhere except for this one perfect curl.

Sometimes it sticks out from her head, hence its name, “unicorn curl”!

She is very proud of it and often admirers it in the mirror and points it out to us as she “boings” it. She sometimes even gets upset when it disappears after I spray her hair with water and brush it out.

And it’s also part of the reason why she almost never lets me put her hair in a ponytail or pigtails. If I do, I sometimes even leave that piece of hair out so she can twirl it without any problems!

Thankfully, with a boy coming along next I won’t have to deal with any of this hair drama. I thought I had enough issues with my own hair, but no, I had to have a curly-headed child to deal with also!

It's a BOY!

2009-04-29T16:01:00.000-07:00

Since it’s been six weeks since we found out, I’m sure this isn’t a surprise to most of you, but yes, we are having a boy! Travis and I went to the ultrasound fully knowing that we had a 50/50 chance of having one or the other, but I think we both fully assumed that we were having another girl. So much for my maternal instinct. I was just as shocked as anyone, and I found out later that apparently Travis was so surprised and happy he almost started crying.

Here’s the traditional profile shot,

and in this one he’s sucking his thumb. (Great…it looks like we may have another orally fixated child – Savannah is still seriously attached to her binky and at 2 ½ has yet to stop putting everything in her mouth…)

In this pic he has his mouth open, which Travis says makes him look like a dog. Nice. I remember him saying he thought Savannah looked like an alien, so I guess a dog is an improvement…?

And finally, his little boy parts.

He is definitely getting bigger and subsequently, so am I.

And yes, he does have a name, and in hopefully only 14 more weeks we will welcome Gavin Ames Cunningham into the world.

The Sacramento Zoo...Again

2009-04-02T17:48:00.000-07:00

I think I’ve been to this zoo more in the 2 ½ years since Savannah’s been born than in all of my previous 22 years of living in this area! She seems to love it though, and so this time we tagged along with Travis and his class on their school field trip.

And we finally took a picture in front of the “Savannah Snacks” snack bar sign!

This is the second zoo we’ve been to with a “Savannah” themed area. Here we are at the San Diego Wild Animal Park when she was 6 months old. That was a fun trip (we also went to the San Diego Zoo and Sea World), but somehow I don’t think she appreciated it as much then as she would now…

After walking around the Sac Zoo, we ended the day with a late lunch in the park.

Tiny Chef

2009-04-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

As a Valentine’s gift for Savannah, Travis read my mind and came home with a little chef outfit complete with an apron, chef’s hat, dish towel, oven mitts, and pot holder. Now, whenever she cooks her famous potato and lemon dish (which thankfully now has widened to a variety of other food choices), she has all the accessories!

This is her evil, crazed cook impression – she’s definitely got the wild hair and expression down pat!

V-Day

2009-04-01T15:01:00.000-07:00

We planned a pretty low-key Valentine’s Day this year and it turned out to be pretty fun. Because of the time and location of the dinner reservations Travis had made, we decided to take Savannah with us instead of driving far out of our way to drop her off and pick her up at my parent’s or a friend’s house. She loves to eat and always does really well at restaurants where food is involved, and that night was no exception.

We stuffed ourselves with a 3 course meal at Black Angus and of course still had plenty of leftovers (which of course Travis finished off for lunch the next day!)

Other than the huge piece of mud pie she got to share with us for dessert, Savannah’s favorite part of the night may have been tapping around in her fancy black shoes. Hmmm, do I foresee her following in mommy’s tap dancing footsteps?

More Dress-up Fun

2009-03-26T17:05:00.000-07:00

Thought I’d share a little of the silliness and quick wardrobe changes that is our life.

My mom got Savannah this Christmas dress that has a matching dress for her dolls (though I think her pink froggy wears it more than the babies do!) and even though Christmas is months past, it often makes an appearance as one of her many “dancing dresses.”

How cute is that!

Best Friends

2009-03-06T16:18:00.001-08:00

Savannah and her best bud.

These two are inseparable, probably more on her end than on his -- I have a feeling that the only reason he's so nice to her is because she feeds him from her highchair and is easy to steal crackers from! He is very tolerant though; Savannah steps on him, sits on him, pokes at his eyes, grabs his head and forces him to look a things, and last night she even stuck her finger up his nose. For all of his many, many issues, I guess Bailey does have that to his credit. And he does actually play with her too. They chase each other around, play fetch, wrestle, and play "keep away" with Savannah's stuffed animals (sometimes she gets mad at him when he grabs her stuff and sometimes she thinks it's the funniest game; with all the mixed messages, it's no wonder he has behavior issues!).

Boy is he lucky though that Savannah loves him so much. No one else feels quite the same way and unfortunately (well, fortunately for him...) she'd be pretty devastated if he just disappeared one day. Since he's only 3 (yes, we got him at 6 weeks and got pregnant a month later), I guess that unless he runs off on his own (a likely possibility with him!) Bailey will be a part of the family for awhile.

He's not always terribly happy when she climbs into his bed - and neither am I - yuck!

They're Not Real Snowmen

2009-03-04T17:00:00.000-08:00

Savannah has seen snow several times (at least once a year since she’s been born), but since she had never been sledding or spent any significant amount of time playing in it, we decided to take a little day trip with grandma and grandpa up to the Donner Lake area. Unfortunately, because this was during our dry streak of weather back in the beginning of January, there was some snow, but it was pretty icy and rock hard. Nevertheless, we bundled up and set off down a trail in search of a little hill Savannah could slide down on the snow disc.

She was a little unsure of the whole thing, especially because she was so bungled up that she couldn’t move without some help; once she went from a sitting to a lying down position on the disc, there was no getting up. She went for it though, and after the first time she was asking to do it again.

She had fun making snow angels with Daddy, and what day in the snow is complete without a little unflavored snow cone snack!

We even saw a couple of snowmen that someone had built, but for some reason Savannah was scared of them and wouldn’t go anywhere in that direction. The only way we could convince her to walk by them was by telling her that they weren’t real snowmen. Apparently to her, real snowmen (like Frosty I suppose) walk and talk and dance and sing, and she wasn’t getting near any of that! It made such an impression on her that even now, weeks later, whenever the topic of snow comes up she has to remind me that they weren’t real snowmen. No Savannah, of course there aren’t any real snowmen up in the snow…

On the Fourth Day of Christmas...

2009-03-04T16:27:00.000-08:00

I’ve finally done it. I’ve reached the end of my catch-up holiday-related posts. Aren’t you glad! I know I could have just skipped them all, but that would have really gone against my strong (or anal, as some would label it…) sense of organization and completion. Still hearing about Christmas has probably been driving you crazy, but not posting about it would have driven me crazy, and it’s my blog, so I win! Sorry :) Even though it doesn’t feel like spring out there, it is right around the corner and I am ready to move away from Christmas (it is March for goodness sakes!) and on towards Easter and then (yay!) summer! So here it is, our final day of Christmas…Christmas Day!

We spend the night at Travis’ parents on Christmas Eve and had opened most of the presents that night. His aunt and sister weren’t able to be there though, so they came over early on Christmas morning and we opened more gifts with them.

After breakfast, we said good-bye and left for LA with a very sad Savannah in the backseat. Apparently she though Bailey was going to continue on with us and was horribly upset when we left without him (we weren’t too sad though). We made good time and arrived at my aunt and uncle’s house in time for dinner. All of the close extended family on my mom’s side was there – mom, dad, sister, sister’s boyfriend, two aunts and uncles, four cousins, cousin’s husband, and grandma. Even my grandma on my dad’s side came over and my uncle’s sister was there with her husband and kids. It was a full house, but luckily my aunt and uncle live in a large house and there was plenty of room for everyone, even with ten of those people were sleeping there for a few days, while five of them stayed at my grandma’s.

For fun, we took some generational pictures…

Here’s four generations of women starting with Eleanor, my mom’s mom.

And four generations starting with Ruth, my dad’s stepmom (the only grandma I’ve ever know on his side.)

And finally with the men added in.

As you can see, we’re a little estrogen heavy in my family. My dad has one sister who has a daughter, and of my grandma Eleanor’s three daughters (my mom and her two sisters), only one of their six children is a boy. (Nick’s definitely outnumbered, but luckily for him, in recent years we’ve added Travis and Seth to the family, and this year my sister Ashley brought her boyfriend Bill.) Apparently Savannah is continued proof of this long lineage of women and I have a feeling that baby#2 may follow in that way too. Let me tell you, there will be definite shock from all parties if it’s a boy!

That night, we opened the last of our presents and again, Savannah got more than anybody. I know it’s normal for a two-year-old, but after this holiday season, she has a pretty good reason for thinking every present is for her.

We stayed for two more days and had a great time just relaxing and hanging out with the family. And we even did a little family baking. All the women were going to make Syrian bread (pita bread) from my grandma’s family recipe, but after buying the ingredients and making the dough, some people dispersed (which ensued in a little sisterly drama :) and somehow my dad and Travis got dragged into the kitchen. Travis was soon a pro at properly rolling balls of dough, and looked pretty cute in his apron too!

My cousins Julia and Nicole helped out also, and Savannah had fun stabbing the dough with various utensils.

They came out delicious, even the one Savannah mutilated a bit, and we all worked hard (I think we filled two big paper grocery bags with them after they were all cooked) and had fun while we were at it.

After a great visit, we headed home with a stop back at Travis’ parents to pick up Bailey and all the opened gifts we had left there. Luckily we only had an hour and a half left to drive at that point; the car was so packed with luggage and presents that poor Savannah and Bailey only had a little bubble of open space around each of them. We made it home very tired and very glad that Christmas only comes around once a year (or four times successively if you’re us…) and I’m sure Savannah woke the next morning and looked around thinking “I don’t understand. Where are all the presents for me to open?”

Four Christmases: Part 3

2009-02-25T16:46:00.001-08:00

hAfter two days in a row of opening presents, I don't think Savannah was surprised at all when we packed up the car with luggage and more presents (and I mean literally packed the car) and headed to Travis' parent's house in Riverbank which is just outside of Modesto. Savannah was thrilled that Bailey came with us since he was going to stay at Travis' parents while we were in LA. We weren't so thrilled though - it's only less than an hour and a half away, but we were ready to throw him out the window (or let him jump like he has before...) by the time we arrived. He gets so excited to go places that he can't contain himself and whines with every breath, not to mention the fact that although we leash him in the back, he doesn't sit still for second. Okay, enough venting...we did all arrive together and in one piece though with a little less sanity.

After dinner we got dressed up and went to a local church for their Christmas Eve service.

After we got back it was time for Presents Round 3. We all got nice things, but of course our little Santa got spoiled most of all. And trust me, but this time, she was a pro at ripping off that paper!

A final fun one of Savannah "showing us her teeth." We did get some cute smiles!

Four Christmases: Part 2

2009-02-25T16:03:00.000-08:00

No matter what we did on Christmas day, I grew up always opening presents at home with just our family on Christmas morning. Every year that I remember, we would then pack up the car and drive to my Aunt and Uncle’s house in the Bay Area for another round of presents and dinner with the extended family on my mom’s side. For the past five Christmases that we’ve been married (with the exception of the Christmas Travis celebrated in Afghanistan!) we’ve tried to keep that same tradition of family presents at home on Christmas morning. This year though, since we were going to be at Travis’ parent’s on Christmas Eve and then driving straight to LA on Christmas morning, we had to do our “Christmas morning” a few days early.

Savannah had fun opening her stocking of full of books, little stuffed animals, stickers, and socks (you gotta love Target and their dollar section!)

We knew that the grandparents and other relatives were going to absolutely spoil her, so we bought a 5-in-1 gift this year for Savannah and not much else. I assembled and wrapped them all separately, so it looked like she had more presents than anybody else!

She loved the new pack & play, bouncy seat, stroller, diaper bag/changing pad, and activity gym she got for her babies (which is actually now uses much more for her other favorite stuffed animals like her pink froggy and Grinch much more than for her dolls – who knew!)

Four Christmases: Part 1

2009-02-18T22:00:00.000-08:00

Like all of you I’m sure, we have to juggle multiple holiday gatherings with multiple families. We switch off Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve and Christmas with Travis’ family; one year we’ll do Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve with one set of parents and Christmas morning and day with the other, and the next year we’ll switch. It sounds pretty easy, but somehow since Christmas involves presents, it gets infinitely more complicated. Add in relatives in Los Angeles, and you somehow get four “Christmases.”

This is Christmas 2008 Part 1 of 4…

This year, everybody on my side of the family was going to be at my aunt and uncle’s house in Beverly Hills, we decided it would be a pointless waste of space to drive all the presents for my parents down to LA, exchange them, open them, and then drive them all the way back home. So, several days before Christmas we went to my parents house for dinner and had our first “Christmas” of the year.

Savannah of course had to “help” everyone open their gifts.

Everyone got great things, but I think Savannah was most thrilled about her new dress-up clothes: a pink fluffy tutu, and a purple princess dress complete with a purple feather boa, and a silver crown, clip-on dangley earrings, and purple “high-heeled” Ariel shoes. Fancy!

Candy Cane Lane

2009-02-18T21:53:00.000-08:00

Keeping to our usual tradition, we headed out to see the lights at Dovewood Court, AKA Candy Cane Lane. (This was in December – yes, I’m still trying to catch up – it will happen eventually…) It was COLD, but Savannah loved it as much as she did last year. The pictures didn’t turn out too well, but you get the idea.

This one looks like we’re on fire – but it’s cute.

This shot of the three of us turned out much better than last year’s…

…which we titled “Why You Should Never Ask a Stranger to Take a Picture for You (And Then Believe Them When They Say it Turned Out Well).”

Tree Search

2009-02-12T16:28:00.000-08:00

Yes, I do know that it is almost Valentine's Day, but I warned you about getting a little Christmas in February! In my effort to catch up on all the blogging I missed while feeling pukey, this is going to be the first of several upcoming posts about the Christmas season - there's no way I can skip the most photo-filled time of year!

This year we decided to resume a tradition that we've skipped since Savannah's been born. I grew up cutting down a tree in Apple Hill every year, and Travis and I have only done it once together since we've been married. We figured Savannah was old enough to really enjoy and participate in the experience, so we headed up the hill in search of the perfect tree. After doing a drive-by of several tree farms, we ended up stopping at one with the commercial draw - pony and train rides.

When I asked Savannah which "horsie" she wanted to ride on, of course she picked the only non-pony of the bunch. I fully expected the girl to ignore her request and put her on the tiny little pony, but no, she swung Savannah up onto the back of the big full-sized horse and off they went, no seat belt or anything. Luckily, Travis and I were able to walk along on either side of her waiting to catch her before she fell the 5 feet to the ground. She hung on tight though and never budged an inch. I think she could have ridden around that little corral 20 times.

After prying her off the horse, we headed off to find our tree.

We had fun despite the fact that we spent quite a while trying to identify the different types of trees in an effort to save $20. Luckily, we picked the right one, though at the end we decided we didn't care, we just wanted to pick a tree...

Though Savannah almost cried when we cut it down and it fell over the reassurance that the tree was coming home with us, and the promise of a train ride, cheered her up. It was a fun day! More Christmas posts to come...

Gingerman Cookies

2009-02-05T20:44:00.001-08:00

My mom got Savannah a copy of the classic gingerbread man book where the gingerbread man jumps out of the oven and spends the entire story running away from people and animals that are trying to eat him. He always yells, “You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!”…that is, until he does gets caught and then eaten at the end of the story. It’s another one of those classic “kid” stories (Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel…) that seems cute and innocent, but is actually pretty gruesome when you really think about it. But of course Savannah loves it, and so my mom decided to make gingerbread cookies one day when Savannah was over.

Apparently it took a little while for her to get over the fact that there was flour on her hands. This girl does not like to get dirty! We haven't been camping with her yet, but somehow I don't think Travis got the little outdoorsy girl he would have liked.

The Sacramento Zoo -- Where the Wild Things Are Not

2009-02-05T20:33:00.000-08:00

We went with Grandma Karen to the Sacramento Zoo for the day and had fun despite the lack of many of the actual animals. Is it just us, or do they always seem to be sleeping or having their habitat remodeled whenever you’re there? Savannah did have fun watching the monkeys and they had an area where kids could touch a snake and a turtle. And of course there’s always the playground area. We probably could have gone to the local park for free and she would have had just as much fun (and we may have seen more animals…)! We really want to go back to the San Diego Zoo, or maybe plan a trip to visit Auntie Ashley in San Francisco and visit the zoo there.

Two Potatoes and a Lemon

2009-02-04T17:36:00.000-08:00

Savannah loves cooking dinner for us in her little kitchen. She delivers it complete with plates, silverware, “tea,” and a sing-songy “Dinner’s ready!” The food is always HOT and must be described as such and blown on so that it’s cool enough to eat. For the longest time, as in weeks and weeks, she cooked the same food every day – two potatoes and a lemon. Yes, you read that right. Please don’t ask me why, out of a entire tub of a wide variety of plastic food, she choose those three items, especially since she hates potatoes. The inner workings of the mind of a two-year-old is a sheer mystery.

Thankfully, my parents gave her a plastic dessert set for Christmas, so lately we’ve been “eating” lots of birthday cake. Amazingly, my birthday seems to happen a lot more frequently than it used to…

Potty Drama

2009-02-04T17:33:00.000-08:00

We’ve kind of started potty training, but not much progress has been made; Savannah just doesn’t want to sit on the potty. She has gone twice and both times was excited to get M&M’s, but lately she refuses to even try. I’m not pushing it – I don’t think she’s quite ready yet anyway since she only tells me when she’s going or after she’s already gone, and never before. I’m sure I’ll be writing more about the potty saga in the future!

Hmmmm, maybe could it be that she has the wrong idea about the purpose of the potty?

I really do have a reason!

2009-02-04T17:28:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, it’s been over two months since I’ve posted anything, and I’m sure that nobody even checks for updates anymore, but I swear I have a good excuse…

Yes, that little blob is what you think it is! #2 is on his or her way. I was seven weeks at the time of that ultrasound, and at this point our little lemon (earlier, the baby’s size was compared to different types of beans, but now we’re finally into the fruits, veggies, and other assorted food items…) is 14 weeks along. I am due August 3rd, a mere 6 months away! Exhaustion and nausea have put blogging on the back burner; I have been existing in bare-minimum mode for a couple of months now. All my extra energy has gone into work, minimal cleaning, laundry, and trying to get something, anything made for dinner. I’ve learned that there’s definitely no comparing pregnancy #1 with pregnancy #2 – with Savannah, I was very predictably nauseous every evening until the day I hit 12 weeks, but this time it’s anything but predictable. I may be sick in the morning, though it’s mostly been in the evening, or I may be sick all day or not at all. I will spare you the glorious details, but let’s just say that I never threw up with Savannah, and that’s been a little different this time around too… And, at 14 weeks, not much has changed. I just keep telling myself that this won’t last forever (and I’m praying that that’s really true!). So, am I forgiven for not blogging? I can share some puking stories if I need to to make my case. We’ve done a lot over the last 2 months, so I’ll do my best to update you with pictures and minimal captions, which I’m sure is what you care most about anyway! This will the the first of several “update” posts until I get all caught up. So just beware, you’re going to be getting a little Christmas in February!
Anyway, here we go...

Fast Food

2008-11-15T22:08:00.000-08:00

A few friends of mine currently or used to post favorite recipes on their blogs and I have found myself looking forward to them. I like to read recipes and cookbooks, but the actual cooking of the food itself is not my favorite thing in the world (I takes me what, 45 minutes, an hour, to cook dinner and about 6 bites for Travis to finish it. I know he appreciates it, but still...). I'm trying to be better about doing it more on a regular basis, and have decided to share some of my favorites with you. I like variety, and I like to cook things that are quick and easy, and use simple ingredients and a minimum of pots and pans. I don't promise that I'll add them in any sort of scheduled fashion, but whenever I make something we particularly like I'll post the recipe.

So, here's the first one:

FAST CHICKEN FAJITAS

(courtesy of "Everyday Food" magazine - yes, I subscribe to this. See, I told you I like to read about cooking!)

Maybe you already have this in your recipe file, but I liked how everything is broiled, which means that if you line your baking sheets with foil you have almost no dishes to wash!

Serves: 4

What You'll Need:
> 1 1/2 lbs. chicken cutlets, about 8 (these need to be thin)
> 2 Tbl. vegetable oil
> 1 tsp. chili powder
> salt and ground pepper
> 3 bell peppers, ribs and seeds removed and thinly sliced
> 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
> 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (I love Trader Joe's jarred, minced garlic - I use it instead of garlic cloves in every recipe I make)
> 8 flour tortillas

What to do:

Heat broiler, with rack set 4 inches from heat. Arrange chicken on a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil and rub with 1 Tbl. of oil. Sprinkle with chili powder and season with salt and pepper. Broil, without turning, until chicken is cooked through, 5-7 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

On another rimmed baking sheet lined with foil, toss peppers, onion, garlic with 1 Tbl. oil and season with salt and pepper. Broil, tossing occasionally, until veggies are crisp-tender and slightly charred, 6-8 minutes.

Meanwhile, thinly slice chicken crosswise. Stack and wrap tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave on high until warm, about 1 minute.

Serve fajitas with with fresh cilantro leaves, sour cream, and lime wedges.

Enjoy!

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11, Yeah!

2008-11-15T21:38:00.000-08:00

Savannah was sitting in her stroller a couple of weeks ago and totally blew us away when she counted from 1-15 completely out of the blue. Neither Travis nor I had heard her count any higher than 3 without each number being prompted by us first. That night she counted over and over and over, but since then, she almost always refuses to do it for us or anyone else. I did it though - after a good dinner and lots of singing (by me) of her favorite songs, Jesus Loves Me, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and the ABC's, she was full and happy and started counting.

Remember, she just turned 2. I think we may have a genius on our hands.(Okay, I might be a tad bit biased.)

A visit from BIG ELMO!

2008-11-13T16:38:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday Savannah got to go to her friend Ethan's 2nd birthday party. The kids had tons of fun running around; Ethan had gotten two inflatable ball pits that were a huge hit and Rachel and Mike did a great job with the decorations and food.

The absolute highlight of the day for Savannah though was a surprise visit from "Big Elmo!" (Isn't it amazing how he only travels out from Sesame Street when there's a birthday...)

Ethan was a little unsure of him, but hey, if you had a giant, furry red guy from TV appear in your living room, you wouldn't want to get too close either!

Then there was Savannah, who was ecstatic! She has been talking almost daily about Big Elmo since he came to her birthday back in September. As soon as he came into the room, she started waving excitedly and saying "Hi, Big Elmo!" (I have a feeling that this costume is going to get a lot of use! Thanks Mona!!)

Ethan got lots of fun toys, and the kids did a good job of not "helping" him open them.

What a fun day! Happy birthday Ethan!

Halloween - only 2 weeks late...

2008-11-12T16:41:00.000-08:00

Yes, this is little late...oh well...!

Like last year, on Halloween night we went down the street to Christ Community Church and visited their Halloween Fun Fest. It's a large church and a GIANT carnival event - 30 decked out trunk-or-treat cars, five bounce houses, three huge rooms full of carnival games for different ages, food, etc. This year was just as crowded, but oh what a difference a year made for Savannah! It's really days like these that it hits me how much she's grown and changed in such a short amount of time.

What a cute little ballerina/princess/50's girl! (We got it all - apparently her costume's identity was a little unclear this year!)

She got a load of candy and wasn't giving it up for anything even when her basket got so full she could barely lift it and had to drag it on the ground. We tried twice to empty some of it out into the basket of her stroller while she was distracted, but both times she noticed right away. At one point she was crawling on her knees trying to get it out while the stroller was moving. The strangest part is that fact that all that candy is almost gone (hmmm, I think Halloween may be one of my new favorite holidays, at least until next year when she is old enough to realize that mommy eats her candy every night!)

You know she was having fun playing the carnival games when she was willing to wait patiently for each one in a line five or six kids long. Again though, I think the candy at the end of each game was a bit of a motivator! Just like Bailey who will do anything for food, Savannah will behave perfectly for candy. Is it wrong to bribe your toddler like you do your dog?

This was a perfect apple throw - maybe Travis' dream of a softball star isn't too far fetched. (I'd say she is destined to play basketball if not for the fact that she's in the 40th percentile for height!)

Travis came up with our costumes (could you have guessed?) and I was a good sport and went along with it.

We got a few comments about the state of our marriage during the playoffs, or whatever it was that just finished up a few weeks ago. I just nodded and pretended like I actually knew what they were talking about...Needless to say, I'm not the baseball fan in the family.

Luckily, we made it through most of the night with no rain, but about 15 minutes before we left it started coming down. We didn't get too soaked, but it was enough to make Savannah's hair look like something from the back of a poodle. At that point I was thankful I agreed to wear the baseball gear, or we would have had matching hairdos. Ah, the joys of curly hair!

American Idol, here she comes!

2008-10-31T15:56:00.000-07:00

The ants go marching one by one...

2008-10-28T15:08:00.000-07:00

or in our case, fifty by fifty!

Our annual winter visitors are here, but this year they decided to bring the whole colony and apparently our living room happens to be in their way. Instead of going around it on their trip to who-knows-where, they have decided to march a path right through it. I have swept, scrubbed, and searched for every hidden Cheerio and drop of spilled juice and have found nothing! They are coming in from under the baseboard at one end of the room, crossing over to the the area rug and following the edge all the way around to the other side where they cut across to the baseboard at the other end of the room and then disappear under it. It's quite a trek!

I kill them all at least three times a day, have sprayed poison and put stakes outside and even put poison out inside when we're not home and yet, they still march on. Savannah has made friends with them all and is at this moment trying to kiss them on the computer screen. I've taught her how to say "Die ants!" but I don't think she really understands what that means.

I might be able to just give up and accept their presence if not for the fact that I keep feeling like they're crawling on me - and sometimes they are! YUCK! Any tips on getting rid of unwelcome house guests of the insect kind?

Beautiful Ballerina

2008-10-27T21:41:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile, but here it is...a new post. We've been a little busy lately and the computer has been in constant use, but for school not for fun. Travis is finally finished with his online class and lucky me, I still have a year and eight months until I finish BTSA (so that will bring my mandatory schooling to 3 1/2 years post-college with no additional degrees with only the possibility of a teacher's salary - what's wrong with this picture?), but at least now my assignments are almost caught up to where they should be. So, all that to say hopefully I'll be posting more frequently, though don't hold me to that - November is looking busy already!

This past Saturday was Creekside's annual Harvest Festival. It was a long day and was the culmination of lots of planning and shopping, but it turned out fantastically. Our ABC umbrellas definitely looked puny next to the 20 foot Cat in the Hat hat but our game was super popular with water-loving toddlers and Travis and Jeremy look stunning with their fancy hair.

Savannah wore her light-up ballerina dress Auntie Ashley gave her for her birthday and spend the afternoon dancing away. We lost track of her for a few minutes at one point (I swear Travis nodded when I told him I was leaving and he needed to keep an eye on her!) and we found her across the park at the bounce houses showing off her twirling moves to everyone over there.

She had fun at the "pumpkin patch" picking a pumpkin to decorate and then helping the ladies line back up the ones that had gotten out of place.

What a cute little pumpkin!

Daddy helped her decorate.

With only the possible exception of the bounce house she threw a fit about getting out of, Savannah's favorite part of the whole day was the CANDY. Someone (besides mommy :) ) has a sweet tooth! It wasn't long before she figured out how to take off the wrappers and every time we turned around she was trying to eat another piece. I tried...

Yummmmm

I think Charlotte wanted a sucker too!

Mini Thrills

2008-10-09T16:06:00.000-07:00

I should have published this with the other post about Savannah's party, but I've been busy and a little behind. Better late than never though!

We wanted to do something on the 29th, Savannah's actual birthday, since her party was on the Saturday before. I knew that she wouldn't know the difference - it would just be a typical Monday for her - but I would know, and I still wanted to celebrate it. So, after convincing Travis that Savannah didn't want to go to Tony Romas for her birthday dinner, he decided her second choice would be John's Incredible Pizza Company.

After a lovely buffet of salad, pasta, and cheap pizza we headed over to the rides where Savannah went into super-hyper overload mode. The last time we were at either John's or Chucky Cheese's, she really was still to little and too scared to go on most of the stuff by herself and we're just a little too big to go with her. Well, what a difference a few months makes! Savannah wanted to go on everything and wanted to do it "myself" (her new favorite word after "no").

After tackling the frogs, rockets, horses, we headed over to the big one - the kiddie roller coaster. I was a little nervous to see how she'd like it; while waiting in line we watched a girl her age crying hysterically during the entire ride, but it turns out we have a little daredevil on our hands. She screamed for most of the ride, but it was out of excitement, and took a turn with both Daddy and Mommy. Little does she know that this is probably the biggest roller coaster Travis will ever take her on - he has sworn his days of petrifying (for him!) amusement park rides are over.

Luckily though, I've found my little roller coaster buddy!

It was a fun night and a birthday to remember...for us anyway, and she can always look back at pictures!

Here's a video so you can share in the fun, but be warned, my lack of computer video editing knowledge means that it's the entire ride. Sit back and enjoy watching us go around and around and around yet again.

Happy Birthday Savannah!

2008-10-01T23:21:00.001-07:00

We now officially have a two year old in our midst! Even though her official birthday was not until the 29th, Savannah had a Sesame Street party on Saturday to celebrate the big day. She was thrilled, though I'm not really sure she knew that everyone was there just for her!

Lots of our friends and family came out the the park in Folsom where we BBQ'd and hung out in the beautiful, if not a little hot, weather (how often is it 95 degrees at the end of September?).

Since Savannah is obsessed with Elmo and Sesame Street, Travis thought it would be super fun to rent an adult-sized Elmo costume for the party...until we found out that it would cost about $300. His mom came to the rescue though and did a fantastic job of making Travis an Elmo costume from scratch.

Savannah loves people in costumes...from a safe distance...but even so I was a little worried about how she'd react to a giant Elmo showing up at her party. Like I expected, she was smiling at first but then freaked out a little when she realized that he was getting closer. With my mom to protect her, she let him stand next to her and even touched his hand. After a couple minutes though, she suddenly decided that it was time for him to go, waved him away with a "bye-bye." Despite her apprehension, he must have made quite an impression; for the rest of the day and anytime anyone has mentioned her birthday since (at church, on the phone with Grandma, after waking up in the morning...) Savannah tells all about "Big Elmo" who was at her party. Get ready kids, Big Elmo might make another visit at Halloween!

Unlike last year when she was pretty indifferent, Savannah was opening presents faster than I could read the card. True to her age, after about five seconds with one new toy she was ready to see what was in the next one.

She blew out the candle like a pro and everyone dove into the Elmo and Abby cupcakes.

We're so thankful for all the awesome gifts and for everyone that was able to come! You couldn't have convinced me last year, but I really understand now how much the first birthday party is really just for the parents. This year though, things were definitely different. Savannah had so much fun playing with all her little friends and actually participated in everything. I have to say, I think this year was mostly for her and only a little bit for us!

Thank goodness for washable markers!

2008-09-23T15:03:00.001-07:00

I think the title says it all...

All dressed up with nowhere to go...

2008-09-17T14:52:00.000-07:00

The other morning Savannah decided to put on all of her dress-up clothes (she had another hat on underneath the white one and a skirt that you can't see) and then picked out shoes for me to put on her. She got very upset when I wouldn't open the door for her to go outside. Don't you just hate it when you've got the perfect wand and 3 purses picked out to match your outfit and don't have anywhere fun to go!

Finger Lickin' Good

2008-09-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

I'm a little bit behind in posting this, but I still wanted you to share in the fun...

Over Labor Day weekend, we spent a couple of days in Reno for their Best in the West Rib Fest (or something like that - I'm not sure that's the official name!). We met up with or friends Anna and Keone and Mike and Rachel and ate, ate, and ate for two days. Thousands and thousands of other people also showed up for this street event where award-winning ribs and sauces were sold from booths along with all of the other typical fair food. We had no choice but to try some from several different vendors in order to pick a favorite, and of course Savannah had to try them all too!

We took a break from the heat and the crowds at the big fountain where Savannah would have gotten completely drenched had I let her. (Next year we'll bring a bathing suit!)

That evening, after afternoon naps and dinner (we ATE for two days...) we went bowling along with Anna and Keone.

Can you believe I broke 100 - my best score ever by far! I'm sure I have my "little" good luck charm to thank for that!

Awww, I love hugs! Anna, Savannah's new favorite friend.

And of course, no trip to Reno is complete without a visit to Circus Circus. At least there, unlike the fair, you actually don't have to spend your child's college fund in order to win them a cheap dollar-store stuffed animal. I guess they figure you've probably handed over enough of your money to them playing the big kid games in the casino.

I think Savannah liked the elephants in the entry better than the game area itself!

Further proof...

2008-09-12T21:28:00.001-07:00

...of the amazing array of hairstyles possible with this fantastic head of hair.

(Bet you didn't know it's that long!)

A Hair-Raising Tale

2008-09-08T22:06:00.000-07:00

This is what I get to wake up to every morning...

It even shocks Savannah when she looks in the mirror.

It's amazingly long when wet...

But with a little brushing and water spritzing (many times a day...), this

turns into this.

What's even more amazing is how in such a short time, this

turns into this.

Here's some just for fun... (yes, that really is her!)

At least now we get "Wow, look at that gorgeous hair!" instead of "Man, look at those cheeks!"

Yum, Dinner!

2008-09-04T00:17:00.000-07:00

For his 30th birthday (yes you read that correctly!) Travis wanted to go deep-sea fishing. He loves to fish and since I don't really share that passion I suggested that he ask his dad to go along. So, on his birthday he woke up at 3:30 in the morning, drove to the bay, bundled up against the cold and fog, and spent all day fishing miles out in the middle of the ocean. Now that sounds like a great birthday to me...

He had a blast though and was estatic that he actually caught some fish unlike most of his recent fishing (or sitting and waiting all day and night) attempts. Though the limit was ten per person, they caught about thirty or forty fish between the two of them and shared the extras with guys "fishing" next to them who spent the entire time hanging over the edge of the rolling boat. Luckily, the deckhands filleted the fish before they left the boat...

If not for the cold, the early morning, the fish smell, and the possible vomiting, I would have gone for these views, and for my wonderful husband of course!

Happy birthday, Travis!

Fair Day #2

2008-09-03T23:36:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun at the state fair that we decided to go for another evening, and this time we were joined by my sister Ashley who had just gotten home from 8 weeks in Israel and India, her boyfriend, Bill, who was visiting from Oregon, and Travis' parents and his Aunt Robin. It was a much cooler day, but, being a Saturday versus a weeknight, it was WAY more crowded. We had to do some serious hovering to get this table in the shade at dinnertime.

Savannah loved having Bill and Auntie Ashley around!

Because Travis and his dad were getting up at 3:30 the next morning to go deep-sea fishing for his birthday, we were only able to spend a couple of hours there, but did have time to once again hit the petting zoo and the livestock exhibits. Travis and I also had some fun going down the giant slide which I will post a picture of as soon as I can get it from my sister. So, after fulfilling our quota for corndogs and goats, we waved good-by to the fair for another year...

Just a Little Weird

2008-08-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

I have a strange daughter. I love her. She is amazing. But, she has some very weird quirks. For her, things have to be done a certain way and arranged a certain way. If she sees something tipped over (bikes, shopping carts, etc.) she gets very, very concerned, sometimes to the point of distressed tears; if things are not arranged just right exactly where they go, she gets very upset; if something does not do what she wants it to do, she gets very frustrated. (Yes, many of you, especially my family, are laughing because that kinda sounds like me...) On this particular night, she wanted her bath towel to stay wrapped around her after she was dried off. I kept tucking it in and it kept coming open and she was getting more and more upset that she couldn't get it to stay. She was thrilled though when Travis brilliantly solved the problem by wrapping a belt around her middle. Unfortunately, it worked too well - after taking some pictures we had another fit to deal with when she didn't want to take it off to get ready for bed!

She sort of looks like a little ninja.

Goats, Horses, and Bears, Oh My!

2008-08-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again! The state fair is in town, and along with it came blazing hot weather. (Is late August really the best time of year for a fair in Sacramento??) We decided to go the day it opened, not really thinking through the fact that on a 107 degree day it would still be 99 degrees at 6:00 pm. There were animals there though and people dressed up in costumes (two of her favorite things!) so Savannah didn't seem to mind the heat at all.

Our first stop was the petting zoo where she ran in waving her arms and laughing excitedly. Unfortunately, as soon as she ran in, all of the hungry goats hoping for some food ran excitedly over to her. Our little animal lover freaked out just a little when she was mobbed by six goats towering over her head. After a few minutes of us carrying her around, she got over it and just started treating the goats like Bailey; she has had lots of practice pushing away a goat-sized animal who's trying to get her food. The deer in this picture was a little hungry too - he kept trying to eat our shirts!

I guess when you're under 3 feet tall a mob of goats can be pretty scary!

It didn't take long though before she was down and running...

When we took a break in the shade, Savannah couldn't quite figure out how to get her footsies to reach,

so she got a little help from Daddy.

Another thing about the fair Savannah loved was the fact that there were bears everywhere. She made sure she pointed out every bear on every trash can, flag, ticket, map, sign... So, of course she had to take a ride on the famous golden bears (I'm sure there's many pictures of my sister and I sitting on these bears at fairs past!) She thought it was hilarious that this one was wearing a hat!

Afterwards, she kissed his nose and both his eyes! What love!

Last year, Savannah was barely too young to go on the pony rides, but this year there was no stopping her. She absolutely loved it and probably would have ridden around in a circle for hours!

What a cute little cowgirl! Do I sense summer horse camp in her future?

Throughout the evening, we made several trips to the somewhat cool exhibit buildings where Savannah kicked Travis out of the hammock seat and then had to be dragged kicking and screaming out of it so we could move on.

After dinner and 10 minutes of the half-filled Smashmouth concert (you know you've bottomed out as a band when nobody even goes to see you for free!) the heat had sapped every ounce of our energy and we headed home. Savannah had an absolute blast so we'll probably go back on a cooler day; stay tuned for Fair Day #2!

Lake Tahoe

2008-08-05T22:05:00.000-07:00

The weekend before last we got to spend a couple relaxing days in Tahoe City; my aunt and uncle rented a cabin up there and invited us to come stay with them (thanks Linda and Craig!). My grandma and cousin were there with them and my parents came and stayed the same night we did. Savannah had tons of fun with everyone and claimed everyone’s focus, as she always does.

Travis found these sunglasses for Savannah on the beach - she liked them but she was a little upset, no, that was understatement, she was very upset about the sand getting in her shoes. She refused to walk and just sat in the chair crying inconsolably and desperately saying "Oh no!" "Oh no!" and "Off!" "Off!" So, our time at the lake got off to a rough start but, after we moved up on to the grass away from the sand, things got much better...until Travis came back from the water with sand on his feet..
I can't ever imagine where she got these obsessively clean tendencies...

It turns out that hiking was much more to Savannah's liking than playing in the messy sand, especially when she didn't have to do any of the work! She cried when the hike was over and didn't want to get out of the backpack.

We took lunch break by a stream and Savannah and Grandpa Steve had fun throwing rocks in the water.

Three generation in one picture - Great Grandma Eleanor, Grandma Karen and Grandpa Steve, and Savannah and I.

Awww. How cute!

I wish I was a computer geek

2008-08-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

I officially hate technology. Because I am way too much of a perfectionist just to use Blogger's basic settings, I have spent the last couple days messing with templates, custom colors, and HTML codes, which, by the way, look like complete gibberish. I am very proud of the few things I was able to do, but there were many more attempts that failed than ones that worked and I have stared at this stupid computer in frustration until my eyes went blurry. Travis always tells me that nobody will ever notice the anal things that bother me, but I notice them and they drive me completely insane. I hate the fact that it is so complicated just to center text (which I finally figured out how to do, and amazingly it worked - I was thrilled!) This is probably the first time I've ever had this thought, but I wish I knew more about all this crazy computer stuff. I remember this guy in junior high who was the quiet nerdy type and was really into computers (for the mid-90's, that was a big deal). He wasn't terribly popular, but a couple years ago I heard that he was working for a big tech company making close to six figures. Hmmm, I bet he knows how to change the alignment of pictures...

I give in!

2008-08-01T23:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've finally done it. I've given in to peer pressure and I now have a blog. I held out for quite a while, but finally I got to the point of, "everybody else is doing it. Maybe I should too?" and so here we are... I can't promise any deep thoughts (it's been oh, about 22 months since I've really had time for many of those) and I can't promise I'll post very often. I have a feeling this blog is mostly going to consist of pictures and captions punctuated with a few paragraphs here and there. But it will serve its purpose - letting you have a sneak peak into our life, the exciting, the mundane, and everything in between. Who knows, maybe it'll turn into more, and I'll get a thrill out of riding on this crazy bandwagon I've just jumped onto!