The Beach part 2

We also took a day trip to Wilmington, NC. It is a very cute town - it reminded us of a small Charleston. Hannah confirmed her ham-bone status and just mugged for the camera. Nice necklace, right Audrey?




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We also celebrated Matthew's birthday at the beach. Can you tell he likes the Yankees?

The Beach

I proudly present the long-awaited beach photos. The very first day we went out to the beach, just to see how Hannah would react. She didn't seem to like the texture of the sand between her toes, so she wanted to be held. She liked to watch the waves come in. Overall, Hannah took it a little while to get into the beach-spirit. But once she was in, she was ALL IN. Letting the waves knock her over and everything, with a big smile on her face.




















































The first day, she didn't like the texture of the sand, so she wore her water shoes. As you can see, she is enjoying the sand so much that she is throwing at me. Nice. The next time she took her shoes off, but still clung to us very close in the water. And the third time, she went for it. We got lucky that she is good about closing her eyes, because they didn't seem to burn. She got some sea water in her nose, but if anything maybe it cleared out her sinuses. heh. I even taught Hannah to write her name in the sand. Pretty good, huh?














































































We also had the chance to ride the ferry to the next island to go to the aquarium. I took the first picture on the ferry. Sometimes Hannah looks so much more mature in her photographs - it scares me. She didn't seem to enjoy sitting near the alligator, but she did like the fish.

Hannah in a Nutshell

I figured that it was as a good time as any to keep you updated on all-things-Hannah. Some juicy tidbits about our girl besides the adorable photos, because she is more than a pretty face. She's deep. Or at least as deep as a two year old can get. Here goes:

• Hannah loves stickers. Not only does she love stickers, but she likes to stick them on herself. A cheap alternative to jewelry. Lisa Frank here we come! (anyone, anyone?)

• Hannah loves shoes. She is very particular about her footwear. You can dress her in a cardboard box, but the shoes got to match the outfit.

• Hannah's favorite phrases are: "No" "I don't want it." "Thank you." "Peeeeese." "Uppeeese" (translation: Up, please)

• She says "Bless you" if you sneeze or cough and "Sorry" if she hurts you (steps on your foot, bonks you in the head,etc.)

• She seems to have jumped right over Dora and LOVES Eego (translation: Diego). Leave it to Hannah to go right for the guy.

• She sings her ABCs very well, although she usually likes to sing them by herself. She'll tell you to "Shush" if you try to sing with her.

• She counts to 10 (sort of) and can count in Spanish with you.

• She does not like to be dirty or have her hands be dirty. She will frequently show you her hands during dinner in an attempt to get a napkin from you so she can clean her hands.

• She loves hair bows (hair bows are ANYTHING that can go in her hair - we haven't introduced the word barrette yet.)

• When we take her to bed, she always requests "One Book" complete with index finger, however we end up reading 5-6 per night.

• We lay down with Hannah for a couple of minutes to get her settled and she always tells us to "Lay down" and Close Your Eyes"

• She hasn't mastered her inside voice yet.

• She loves black olives.

• She has added the word "Now" to her vocabulary and adds it to all of her sentences.

• She sucks on her bottom lip to the point of a red welt.

• She is very ticklish around her neck.

• Lately, her baby's name is "Beth" (I don't know where this name came from) the baby's name used to be "Bunny".

• She likes call us "guys" as in "Come on guys" "Wait guys" and "Bye guys."

• She loves group hugs.

Just when we gave up...

We finally got a visit from Billy, Regina & Samantha! Seeing them again (and meeting Samantha for the first time) reminded us of how much we miss them. Since our visit was on Hannah's actual birthday, and Chris missed the original "blowing out of the birthday candles extravaganza", we reinacted it at the restaurant. There are talks of moving here, but if we have proven nothing while waiting for Billy... we have proved that we are patient. heehee

We love you guys - thank you for making time to see us!
:)

CCAI Adoption Reunion

This year, the we took a trip to the Washington DC area for our first adoption reunion. Unfortunately, no one from our travel group was able to attend, but we still had a great time. We met up with another wonderful family that I coincidently had been reading their blog for awhile (Hi Kim, Ron & Madeline!).

The reunion took place in a beautiful, huge park. There were crafts and bouncy houses & slides, a playground and lake, and they held a dragon dance show and a puppet show. Even though it was hot as the dickens and Hannah pooped out before the puppet show - we had a great time!

The highlight was meeting Josh and Lily (the founders of our adoption agency). They both are so genuine and committed to what they do. It was very nice seeing so many happy families. We hope to make going to adoption reunions a tradition.
:)

Who's House... Hannah's House.

Hannah's friend, Abby, was kind enough to hand down her playhouse now that she has grown out of it. Hannah absolutely loves it and goes in it everytime she sees it in the yard. She likes to close the door and windows on us and then "pop" out all smiles. Thank you Abby very very much.

By the way, Hannah is wearing one of my favorite lines from Gymboree. I first found it when we were buying clothes for Riley, and ever since then, every time I see an item either on ebay or at a consignment sale - I just can't resist. I recently found this dress on ebay and won it at the last minute. Whew!

:)

More Birthday pictures

The tastiest, cutest monkey cupcakes you ever did see...

Thank you Grandma!















Surprisingly, Hannah did not mind running through the giant sprinkler ball...























































The banana hunt went over pretty well. Although I think the stars and stripes balls kind of confused the participants. Oh well, at least everyone got a prize!















Mmmmmmm... monkey cupcake....


:)

Parade 2007

I thought I'd post a picture from last year's parade just to see what a difference a year makes.



The morning of Hannah's birthday party was the "Fourth of July" Parade. Hannah enjoyed it much more this year (last year I think the fire trucks scared her and we did not share the candy). She loved to wave to all the people and the floats. And of course the grape lollipop was a hit too!

Hannah's Birthday part one

We held Hannah's birthday party a bit early this year so we could coincide with the fourth of July festivities in our town. I guess having July fourth on a Wednesday really messes things up.

Even though it was as hot as the dickens, we had a really nice turnout for Hannah's party, lots of friends from daycare, friends from far away and family. My Mom made these awesome monkey cupcakes (more pictures later). Our pastor and a friend of mine from work were kind enough to share these pictures with me, so I figured I post them while I am compiling my pictures. Y'all know how long it takes me. At least you have something to enjoy in the meantime.
:)