gramps

for some reason, selma is not too fond of grandpa. if he gets too close, or God forbid try to hold her, immediately her bottom lip goes out, her arms go out to the sides of her face and she is reduced to a crying mess.
but last saturday was gramps' birthday. and i think selma gave him the best gift of all.

bubble bath!

i think ellie's got the right idea!

no piggies on the table

grandpa hansbauer likes to play a game called, "no piggies on the table". the kids think this is hilarious. after one extended stay at grandpa and grandma's, it took us about 3 months to convince the kids that this game was fun to play with grandpa, but that we don't play it anywhere else. poor otto had his chair pushed away from the table many a night because he kept sneaking his little toes onto the table.
anyway, here is proof of that little game. gross, i know. but that old grandpa....he's just one big kid with an extra big heart for these kids. so piggies or no piggies on the table, he's pretty great.

happy new year!

left to right: hannah, otto, cassie, ellie, greta, jacob

while joe and i were in new orleans for the sugar bowl, greta and otto spent a few days at grandma and grandpa hansbauers. they were there for four nights, and on new year's eve were joined for the night by the ford cousins. yes, you read that right. joe's parents had a spend the night with ALL SIX OF THEIR GRANDKIDS on new year's eve. the celebrations included a bubble baths, chocolate cake, and lots of noisemakers. sounds fun!! we are so very thankful to joe's parents for taking such good care of our kids while we were gone....

cupcake? what cupcake??!!

falloween

after the morning fun at sawyer point and only a 20 minute nap for greta, we headed to coney island for their 'falloween' extravaganza. it was tons of fun. we met up with grandma and grandpa hansbauer, and the ford cousins. there were tons of fun activities....greta painted her own pumpkin, rode rides, trick or treated, made an apple pie, and, most importantly, played in a giant patch of gravel. greta's favorite part of the evening was probably either the gravel or riding the tilt a whirl with papa and jacob. she LOVED it, and was laughing hysterically the whole time while mama waited nervously. otto had a great time too. his favorite part of the event was playing with the zipper on his bundle me. what a fun fall evening!

scooter ride

Cousins, Corn and Slides

We made a quick post-nap trip up to Grandma and Grandpa's house this afternoon to go swimming, play on the swing set, and eat some dinner...

Greta is a pretty cautious kid, and is usually pretty unsure about slides...but she was having a great time climbing up and going down the slide with Hannah.

Greta has been loving corn lately, and today we found out she can chow it down straight off the cob.

Otto Gets Visits from the Grandparents

Grandma and Grandpa Tumblison visited on Friday night.  

  

On Saturday, Grandma and Grandpa Hansbauer came by... 

  

greta and friends at grandma and grandpa's

playing at grandma and grandpa's

here are some pictures from greta's recent visit to grandma and grandpa hansbauer's. greta usually hangs out there about once a week while i take a few hours to work on stuff for xavier. i know greta has a great time and i think it's fun for the grandparents too. not to mention it's probably a good break for mommy. as you can see, greta was busy practicing piano. when i got there to pick her up she was eager to show me how she can bang on the keys. the other picture is greta doing what she does best, which is chewing on her toys. and as you can see, there were plenty of toys to choose from!

happy anniversary grandma and grandpa!

this past wednesday marked the 25th wedding anniversary for my mom and my stepdad, bill. to celebrate the occasion, all the kids and grandkids decided to get a picture taken of all of us for our parents. there were 18 of us total, and it was quite the production. then we went back to my mom's for a party. the picture turned out great and i think my mom and bill were pretty excited about it. here's a picture of greta with her cousin shamus and a pic of my parents opening their gift. happy anniversary!

How Do Spell over-stimulation?

G.r.a.n.d.p.a.r.e.n.t.s



You see, Greta pretty much only has her little play yard.. she doesn't spend much time in walkers, bouncers, or the like... so when she ends up at Grandparents she gets a little of this:









But it's much better to get the full picture of what happens via video:

Grandpa Lessons

I'm not sure if Greta will be able to go back and visit Grandpa Hansbauer without supervision in the future.... we dropped Greta off for babysitting two weeks ago, and you'll see from the images below that she's picked up some bad habits...


First you'll see the picture from her visit to Grandpa's and then notice the shot from her 2-month pictures that she had taken on Wednesday... pay close attention to Greta's hands... and she's getting less subtle about it!

First Night Out

Greta had her first Babysitting experience with grandma and grandpa Hansbauer on Saturday night. It was actually the first time that Melanie and I have been out together since Greta arrived. We've been out without the baby individually, but not together... so that was exciting.

We made a night of it and went to dinner, then went to our friend Maggie's 30th B-day bash. It was great to get out and see everyone, and also to get to spend some time with Melanie sans baby... Was definitely good to see her again when I picked her up though...

So what did Great do at the grandparents...well, same as usual... eat, poop and sleep... and there was a little play time with a book...