running naked...

The kids love to run around naked. They love to be free. They do all sorts of things naked that they would also do with clothes on! They garden with the shovels and dirt, water, play with their babies and strollers, hammer on the house, kick balls or play volleyball, watch the butterflies fly in and out of the garden, listen to the birds sing... They don't notice that they are naked until we remind them that they should put some clothes on before they go out front or to the garage.

Hannah's party

Today we celebrated Hannah's second birthday at home with our family and friends! We got everything ready, put up decorations together and Nanny brought balloons. She was so happy to have everyone over for HER birthday, and she knew that everyone was there for her! She had fun running around with Benjamin, , cousins Marissa and Levi, her friend Connor, and neighbor Ryan. Grandpa brought them a motorized Jeep and they cruised around in it all afternoon. She got lots of presents too~lots and lots of clothes! Perfect for a little girl. As she opened each gift, she would dance around the patio and say what she got. So cute!

Hannah is 2

Today is Hannah's birthday. Now she is 2. She is so happy to be 2. We went to the zoo today and saw lots of animals. We went to the petting zoo and she was terrified of the goats just walking around freely. Benjamin was pretty comfortable until the last one head-butted his hand and scared him half to death. He was pretty crushed after that. We found the snakes and then everything was OK again. We went on the sky ride...boy that is a hit! They would've gone on it over and over again if there weren't any animals to distract them! Corey met us there for lunch and a little animal viewing. Next time we have to see the monkeys, 'cause we missed them today!

This afternoon Granny came to visit with a present...Silly Parts Elmo, she loves it! She wanted to sleep with it but he is too hard, so we put him in another bed. After dinner we went to Cold Stone for a little birthday ice cream with sprinkles, yum!

Her birthday party will be celebrated on Saturday with most of her family and friends.

the alligator...

We went to Kaiser to visit Grandpa in the hospital today. He had surgery on his foot today so we were going for a visit to see how he was doing. We were walking around looking for the right elevator (hospitals always have several of them taking you to different parts of the hospital), and Benjamin and Hannah were looking for it also. As we walked down the corridor Hannah said "Mommy, there's no alligator around here!" We thought it was cute!

Markers...

This morning I got busy in the kitchen for a few minutes while the kids watched one of their favorite shows on TV. They are usually glued to the TV in the morning, maybe it helps them ease into the morning and wake up. Well this morning was a little different. We were going to go to a playgroup at the park at 10 so we had to eat breakfast and get dressed to go.

So when I was done in the kitchen I found that they weren't watching TV anymore (it had only been 10 minutes) so I went looking for them. I found them on our bed with 2 markers...marking up the bed sheets, pillowcases, walls and themselves! The markers (purple and brown) was all over the place! Benjamin was saying "Hannah this is a triangle and it's for you. This is a rectangle and that's for me." In the 10 minutes they decided not only to re-decorate the bedroom, but themselves as well! They had drawn all over their faces (like indian-warrior paint) and arms, legs, hand and even the bottoms of their feet! Even though I freaked out...everything came out in the wash!

Bike trailer...

Yesterday we got a bike trailer. We have been talking about getting one for a long time and we finally got one. It is really easy to hook up to my bike and go. Until we got it, Hannah would not let us get one foot close to her with a bike helmet...but now she knows that she needs to wear one if she wants a ride! Since yesterday, life has been all about the bike trailer. They want to take a ride in it all the time! We are so happy because if they hated it...what a bad investment it would've been! But they do like it and now we can all go for a ride together!

Video...

Hannah and Benjamin like to watch TV. They have a small collection of musical videos that they watch. When they get their video time they have to take turns picking one out and they always remember who's turn it is to pick one out. When Hannah feels like watching something she says "I want to watch a movie-o" (a combination of video and movie!) Funny, I thought I share!

Tent...

Yesterday Nanny gave Benjamin and Hannah a tent for our house so we had to put it together today. They had fun jumping in and out of it while we worked in the back yard. Benjamin wasn't interested in putting his sleeping bag or any other stuffed animals in it though. They just jumped in and out for a long time. We're thinking that it would be fun to camp out in the back yard some day!

Swimming...

Today Benjamin and Hannah went to Nanny's house for a couple of hours. They LOVE to go over there and play with her. Today they went swimming at her pool. Benjamin is a fish at heart and just jumps right in. He is actually diving in and landing on his belly...only a matter of a couple months and he'll be swimming! Hannah was not into it today. She was much more interested in picking leaves up and throwing them into the pool. Then Nanny would have to fish them out for her. I think she'll like it better as it gets warmer and we go swimming more often.

Pirates...

Marissa introduced a pirate game to the kids the last time she was at our house. They went around hiding from pirates and imagining that they were in the back yard (coming to get them). They would peek outside and jump when they 'saw' them and race inside to get away and hide. So now that is their game to play! They love to pretend that I am the pirate and (as I walk around the house picking up things) run away as I get near! Aaahh the screams and screaches I get when I get close!

Marissa...

I guess we owed Marissa a sleep-over from a few weeks ago, so we took her home last night and she spent the night. Benjamin and Hannah LOVE it when she comes to play with them! She finds all kinds of different activities for them to do. When she is not here, then they have 'new' games to play! This time it was all about "Kids Fun Town" where they take all of the pillows in the house and lay them on the floor by the bed. All of the sheets and covers come off the bed too. There is now padding on the floor so they can slide off the bed and into the big pillows and do it over and over again! What fun to be a kid!

Easter...

Happy Easter! We went to my parents today for our traditional Moroccan feast and Easter egg hunt. Benjamin, Hannah and Levi were the only kids in their age category so they had lots of eggs to find! They had so much fun running around finding their eggs in the pots and plants. Everyone got prizes for the eggs they found. Marissa found the golden egg, so she got a special prize! No one fell into the pool but almost everyone ended up in the jacuzzi for some swimming!

Egg dyeing...

We went to the Barnabes house to dye eggs today! We took Marissa too. The kids sat at the table and got right to work. Hannah loved to drop her eggs in the blue dye and then grab them out with her hands (not with the spoon). So she ended up with blue hands and blue speckles all over her face, hair and shirt! Benjamin was on a mission to get all of his eggs the same color. He couldn't wait for the next mug of color to come his way so he ended up with a lot of light pink egss! It was a true test of patience! No one could wait better than Eddie though, all of his eggs were bright and dark (perfect like the pictures)! Afterwards we were treated to lunch and lots of play time!

Biking...

Benjamin has really been into biking lately. I think it is because we got him a new helmet and it fits better. Well, today he decided that he wanted to go for a bike ride while Corey was doing yard work. By the time Corey realized that Benjamin was taking a bike ride, Benjamin had almost made it to the corner. Corey ran down the street after him and finally caught up with him. Luckily he had a bright orange shirt on that (hopefully) people could see. We got him back safe and sound...no harm done...except for a few missing heart beats!

Eggs...

We went to Granny and GranDad's house today to help get ready for Easter. They had a bunch of plastic eggs that needed to be stuffed with candies for the egg hunt on Sunday. Benjamin and Hannah went wild with the candy! Benjamin ate so much chocolate and Hannah dove into the jelly beans (she loves them!) They had fun putting the candies in the eggs too.

GranDad took all of the kids and Corey for a hike to "look for rabbits". They hiked all over the property and even took a net to catch one if they found one. They found lots of holes but no rabbits. Maybe next time!

the car...

Benjamin and Hannah have turned the space underneath the kitchen sink into a car. They take it all over town. They get in and tuck their stuffed animals inside with them and go for a drive. Many times they take a trip to Parkway Plaza to go to Play Town! They go shopping at JCPenney or go to Starbucks...so funny!

Easter egg hunt...

Today we went to the Bread Basket restaurant in Alpine for an Easter egg hunt and some fun! We joined Andrew, Emily and their two children and Heather and Marissa. It was raining and the restaurant had a power outage so it wasn't very busy. Benjamin and Hannah were so excited about it but they stayed in line to wait for the hunt to start! When we finally got the "go ahead" we ran around looking for eggs, they found a lot of them and didn't want to stop. They looked on the grass, in the bushes, on the fence railings, in trees...there were eggs everywhere! As a prize for finding eggs the restaurant gave out cookies to everyone. Like I said it wasn't busy and they had plenty of eggs and cookies! There was also face painting and hair coloring and a raffle where everyone who was present won! All in all everyone had a good time!

Mast park...

This is a new park for us. It is in Santee. We went and met up with some other friends. Today was the first time that all of the children played together! Benjamin and Hannah usually just play together and hang on me but today it seemed that they were into doing the same things as the other kids. They built sandcastles and had "tea" in teacups, they ran around on the play structure and rode their bikes around the walkways together. Most of the kids brought their tricyles or their push cars so they were all on the same "wave length" today! Kinda cool when that happens!

Library...

Today we went to the library story time. Hannah likes songs and stories and was excited about going today. She sat on a carpet square and got right into it, they started out with a familiar story "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. Then they sang some songs and did some felt stories, she loved it. No, I didn't leave Benjamin behind...he was with Corey looking at books.

Painting...

Today Benjamin and Hannah did some painting. This activity never seems to lose their interest. They always get a couple of colors on their palette but they always mix the colors up and end up with brown. We have lots of paintings around the house and they are all a different shade of brown or orange. It really doesn't matter because it is the process not the product that matters!