Hannah and friends do a little duckpin bowling

We managed to gather a good-sized group of friends at the duckpin bowling alley on Saturday, and we only had to plan it 2 months in advance!  We showed up first so Hannah had a chance to perfect her roll, and I had a chance to partake in a Hannah-centric photo shoot, which is good because when everyone else got there, it turned into an immediate mad house.

These next two photos show her doing her post-roll happy dance which she did shortly after the ball left her hands for the first 50 or so rolls. Someone made a comment about getting those fancy fast feet into a tap dancing class. Don't give me any ideas! I've already been wondering how early is too early to get her into a dance class...So many hobbies, so little time...and money.

Jess and Todd showed up shortly after us, and then Erin and Ryan with Brody and Addison in tow, and after them, Shannon and Atticus with Demetrios coming along not much later. We had two lanes, with me naively thinking the kids would play on one lane and the adults would take turns on the other. Yeah, right! There were only four kids, but it was seriously insane for a good half hour. The kids took up both lanes and kept trying to expand out to our neighbor's lanes. It took all eight of us adults to keep them corralled. Atticus liked to pick up the balls and drop them where he was standing. Brody started off trying to roll the balls from where he picked them up rather than walking up to the line. All of them took to running off to other people's ball shoots anytime their own was empty. That first half hour was totally nuts, in a totally fun way, of course. All the same, I was relieved when a bit of the novelty wore off and a few went to explore the quarter machines.

I'm bummed because I didn't get many pics of the mad house, and those I did get are pretty blurry since no one was standing still. I was hoping this would not be such a Hannah-centric post, but I'm failing. Maybe some of the other parents have some pics I can steal.

In the meantime, here's what I've got: Addy (and daddy) sporting super cute glasses and a necklace that Hannah made for her.

Here's one of the kiddos being relatively tame.

Then we decided we need a group shot of the kids so we stood them all in front of the lane and then snapped like mad in the hopes that someone would get a good one. This first one is my favorite because they're all being such individuals in it. If I ever get around to framing pics, I'm framing this one for her room.

Being the youngest, Atticus had the hardest time with the concept of standing still and posing; he kept toddling off. The older kids have had enough practice by this point, and if you need evidence, check out Brody and Hannah in this one.  These two are true professionals and busted out a serious prom pic pose.   The cameras were shaking from all the laughter.

Hannah included Addison in the love fest in this next one.  Maybe next time Atticus will snuggle in there too.

I seriously love bowling, especially duckpins since they're so much more manageable. I remember there being a place in Hagerstown where you could bowl duckpins upstairs and big balls down, and my dad used to take my brother and me there sometimes.  So fun, and an awesome activity for a freezing cold, super windy winter day like Saturday was.

Hannah speaks Turkish

Hannah (our 2 1/2-year-old) just taught Eric (35 years old and a linguist, mind you) how to count to 5 in Turkish. How sweet is that???  Neslin, Hannah's awesome babysitter, has been teaching Hannah the numbers pretty much since she started, and I've overheard Hannah counting with her before and repeating after her on numerous occasions, but this week she's been counting upon waking, during breakfast, and throughout the day. She's also learning a few Turkish songs and the names of body parts and facial features, but so far she's not waking up and singing the songs--maybe next week.

Who needs Spanish classes when you've got a wonderful Turkish babysitter?? Thank you Neslin!

Hannah ramps up for the runway

Hannah is starting to put together her late winter/early spring fashion collection, and I thought you might like a sneak peek.

Here she's shown donning hot pink sweat pants tucked into pink princess boot slippers, a faded pink pajama shirt with ladybugs, pink fleece mittens, her father's skull and crossbones hat from his last command, and binoculars that came as a free gift with the Wild Animal Baby magazine subscription that Grammy got her. Watch out famous designers (of whom I know none and can therefore not be specific): Hannah's coming for ya, and fashion won't be the same when she's through with the runway.

It sure is a lot of pink for a girl who's favorite color is adamantly and emphatically blue.....

Hannah meets her newest cousin, baby Mason!

My brother and his wife welcomed their second little rug rat into the world last Wednesday morning. On Sunday, we loaded up the car with diapers and a ton of food (chicken pot pie for the new parents and a ton of detox-specific stuff for Eric and I to keep us functioning as well as is possible while attempting to cleanse in close proximity to a delicious chicken pot pie).  It was a half family reunion since my Aunt Pam showed up and my cousin Kim and hubby Jason, but you'd never know it to look at my pics...I have not been my usual mamarazzi self lately. Here's what I ended up with pics of:

Proud big brother, Clay, with his new baby, Mason.

The first of what I'm sure will be many pics of the cousins, now three instead of two.

Isn't he adorable?? Not all newborns are, but Mason is one of the few. At this point, he is looking more like our side of the family, unlike Clay who takes after his mama with his blond hair and fair skin.

Hannah impersonating Gene Simmons (or whoever the drummer is for KISS).

Clay and Eric join in, and the three form a family band. Move over Jackson 5!

Grammy looking positively enthusiastic with her newest grandbaby. (Geesh mom, would it kill you to smile??!)

Hannah took lots of turns holding her new cousin and was very careful and sweet and incredibly enamored with him. 

When I uploaded those pics I realized I had a few on the camera that I forgot about. Clay and Grammy came to visit us while Eric was dog sledding. We ended up taking the munchkins to Port Discovery, but I was totally lazy with the picture taking. I do kind of like this one of the two of them sitting in her bed reading their own separate stories before we left.

Clay and Hannah are so cute together and so fun to watch; it'll be great to see how Mason adds to that dynamic. Maybe someday Hannah will have a baby of her own to bring to the mix....

Hannah's first chapter boook

Hannah picked up one of those free parenting magazines scattered around Baltimore about a month ago and inside, she found a quarter-page advertisement for a local dinner theater performing The Wizard of Oz. It was the silhouette of the witch that attracted her (a few of her favorite books are Room on the Broom and Winnie the Witch). I explained who all the other characters were and outlined a bit of the story, and for the next week, she constantly asked for the magazine with the picture of the "black witch" (I freaked out the first time she said that, but then I realized she was talking about the silhouette). I'm positive the movie will be too scary for her, but I thought the book might work, so I tried, unsuccessfully, to find it the next time we were at the library. A few days later, Neslin and Hannah came downstairs saying "Look what we found!" and holding a copy of The Great Illustrated Classics: The Wizard of Oz in their hands. It had been on our bookshelf the whole time; I'd tucked it up on the top shelf when I, very pregnant, pulled it out of a bag of hand-me-downs. At the time I thought Hannah would be much older before wanting to tackle a chapter book. We started reading it before bed that evening. We read during breakfast and lunch and before naptime and bedtime. We carried it with us most everywhere and Hannah read aloud to me from the back seat. In 3 days, we were turning the last page. The next day, we started over.

I had no idea that her attention span was there! Of course it helps that The Great Illustrated Classics have a picture on every page (black and white sketch, but it was enough for Hannah). When I get another free minute, I'll be scoping out the selection of other Great Illustrated Classics.

If you haven't read it, the book is nothing like the movie though it does have some scary parts that need to be ad libbed out (like when the tin man cut off the head of the scary yellow cat and when the witch tells her bees to go sting Dorothy and friends to death). It's definitely not tailored to the 2-1/2-year-old age group, but we made it work.