parade of flowers

so here in san antonio, they get the day off for the parade of flowers.  grana can tell you the whole story, all i know is that it involves a legit parade, floats, bands, and girls wearing VERY sparkley dresses and fancy shoes!  when the floats with the girls go by you're supposed to yell 'show me your shoes' and they lift their dresses and show them off.  pretty fun!

and even though it was pretty darn hot outside, we all managed to have a very fun time!

cascades park crew

the germans are in town, so we had to get the cascades park crew back together.  it was so good to see everyone, enjoy some food...and some homemade caramel schnapps brought all the way from germany!  ;)

heading home

3 nights and 4 days in the hospital, and as much as i loved my doctor and all my nurses, i am so glad to be heading home.  it will feel good to sleep in my own bed and eat some good home cooked food (thanks grana!).  

we were greeted with an exuberant welcome from mojo who rushed our car, and graham helped daddy carry baby hannah into the house.  

to say graham was excited to have his baby home is an understatement.  he was also happy that her homecoming also meant he would be able to eat cake with dinner!!  well and i would be lying if i said i wasn't a little worried about the jealousy that's about to come, but so far he has nothing but love for her and hasn't acted out.

the sanner 4, home at last!

welcome to the world baby hannah!

introducing our new little wee one....hannah!!

it was a very early morning for all.  we had to be at the hospital by 5:30 (yes that's AM) as i would be going back to the OR at 7:30.  as i was in triage getting ready for our little one's arrival i found it odd that both the nurses and my doctor were asking me if i was in pain.  i knew i was having contractions, but they didn't hurt, so no...no pain.  then my doctor said "this is just what i would have liked to have happen!"  so i'm guessing that means our little hannah was making plans to make an appearance on her own in the near future.  

7:30 and i walk back to the OR.  i get prepped and get the epidural and am ready for go time.  i felt like it took an eternity for grady to get back to the room, but i was so glad when he got there.  my stomach didn't do well with the anesthesia at first, but once they got the dosage right everything felt much better.  

but man o man...this little girl DID NOT want to come out!  they were pushing and pulling her out for what felt like 10 minutes!  again, something tells me she was engaged and ready to come out on her own.  we had other plans for her!  then at 8:07 am our little miss was born!!

we love you more than words can describe!

a little sprinkle!

all i can say is WOW!  so much love and pampering for this little miss!

thank you SO MUCH to colleen for hosting a very special sprinkle for hannah.  it was perfect and i loved everything about it.  so creative too!  scrapbooking pages made by guests so all i have to do is print out photos!  and cookie favors which were delicious!  i LOVED it all!

and OMG, this girl is going to be a fashionista for sure. so many cute things, i'm so excited for her to get here so i can dress her up in everything!  and some awesome mom helping accessories that i've been dying to try out since they came out after graham was born.  

thank you to everyone!  we love you!

it's christmas!

WOAH, santa ate all the cookies and the reindeer at all the celery!

and santa must have a memory like an elephant.  everything in graham's stocking was.....BATMAN!

someone brought in the loot!  spiderman, batman, ironman, hulk, monsters, and....a view finder!!!  those were some of the hot items this morning as we were unwrapping.  

and then an attempt at some family photos!

we had such a great time. and again, i realized that i didn't snap a photo while grammie and bruce were at our house.  i think we were too busy stuffing our face with sticky buns and hotdog pie!  

merry christmas!

christmas eve

we traditionally have lasagna for dinner on christmas eve, but um yeah, kind of ran out of time.  so we had spaghetti instead.  close enough right!  once we finished up eating dinner, it was time to decorate cookies for santa!

wow...so we figured out that the sprinkles come out REALLY fast!  :)  after that disaster we stuck to frosting in a can and getting the reindeer's celery and peanut butter made.  on christmas eve, wink's elf magic can be lifted and graham was able to hold him, give him a hug and a kiss.  he was SO EXCITED!  all he's wanted to do since thanksgiving was to touch wink! 

so we got our plate of cookies and celery ready.  put out a glass of milk.  and sat wink next to everything so santa would know where to go for a quick snack.  we hung our santa key on the front door so he would be able to get into the house and bring presents, and then headed up to bed.  looks like wink had one last trick up his sleeve!!  a little elf boobie trap!

and a special....

...merry christmas eve from the sanners!!!

a birthday!

happy birthday daddy!!

graham: "look mommy....wink brought daddy's birthday!!!!"

me: "yes, yes he did graham!"

we love you so much daddy and hope that you have a wonderful day.

enjoy the last year of your thirties!  ;)

give thanks

grammie was oh so gracious and hosted thanksgiving at her house this year.  and what a fun time we all had!

we did a little exploring outside with mojo.

attempted some KEY-YUTE finger painted cards with grammie (we only got one done before graham became uninterested).

played a little piano and guitar.

caught up with the fam: grammie, bruce, kim, sam, justina and garrett.

and most importantly.....ATE!  :)

and oh my...for dessert we had three, yes three, different kinds of pies.  so of course i had to try all of them!  they were all delicious, along with dinner of course.

i'm so thankful to have this special time with our family.

little man!

rise and shine birthday boy!!!!

how has it been three years already?!

three wonderful years at that!

every year so far when i wake up on the morning of 10/22 i recount all the events that happened early in the morning into the early afternoon.  it truly is amazing how these little miracles change your life forever.  it's to the point now where i can't remember life without him!  we love you dude!

here's what you've been up to:

height: 35"

weight: 35 lbs

most nights sleeps about 10 hours and a usually takes a 2-3 hour nap

moved into a big boy bed with no rails and has yet to fall out!

fully potty trained during the day (YEAH!!!!) and pull-ups at naptime and bedtime

still totally into dinosaurs and can even say several of the really hard names

is one of the most animated little boys i've met. something tells me you might have a future in comedy!

got strep for the first time

went to the movie theater for the first time

went camping for the first time

is more of a quiet, solo player and will often spend an hour or so playing with play-doh, blocks, dinosaurs, or other action figures

loves watching movies and playing games on 'his' ipad (no...it's really mommy's ipad!)

it's very common for graham to walk into a room with all or part of a costume and want to dress up (usually a superhero costume of sorts)

likes to help vacuum with mommy

likes to help make english muffin pizzas and eat a handful of cheese

Nicknames: dude, buddy, graham-bo
Favorite color: green
Favorite animal: elephant
Favorite book: no no no
Favorite TV show: madagscar
Favorite movie: madagascar
Favorite song: ho hey
Favorite food: chicken nuggets
Favorite drink: milk
Favorite breakfast: didn't answer
Favorite lunch: dinosaur nuggets
Favorite game: sword fighting game (on the wii)
Favorite sport: didn't answer
Favorite toy: captain america
Who is your best friend: grana
What is your favorite thing to do: play
What is your favorite thing to do outside: play cars
What is your favorite holiday: yeah
What do you take to bed with you at night: sully
Where is your favorite place to go: to the park
What is your favorite restaurant: chicken nuggets and the playground (chick-fil-a)
Where do you want to go on vacation: despicable me
What do you want to be when you grow up: i don't want to grow up
What did you do on your birthday: saturday before we went to chuck-e-cheeses with bella, criostoir, miss colleen, mister cormac and grammie.  sunday we went to a puppet show with grammie, mister bruce and garrett.  on your actual birthday you went to school and then we went to chick-fil-a for dinner, played on the playground and had ice cream!

birthday celebration part II

we headed out west this morning to go to grammie's house.  she's scoped out a puppet show that we'll be going to for graham's birthday (part II).  we got there a little early, so we walked around, played a little croquet and got some plain 'ol energy out.

then it was time for us to head to downtown martinsburg to the wonderland puppet show theater.  the show of the day was the three billy goats gruff.  it was a pretty cute place.  puppets everywhere and little ones for the kids to play with.  when the show started graham even got a special birthday serenade from a puppet doggie, he loved it! (again...he's liking the attention his birthday gets him this year so far!)

we were a little squirmy through the show, but once i got him on my lap he seemed to calm down.  we watched the show and then took some photos with the puppeteer himself and two of the billy goats.  we even got grady in on the action (oh how he loved that!).  :)  

first puppet show was a success.  thanks grammie!

birthday celebration part I

today we celebrated the dude's birthday with the murray's and grammie.  we did things a little differently this year and decided to head out to chuck-e-cheeses for the festivities.  the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves and graham LOVED having everyone sing to him for his birthday!  

we ate some pizza, played lots of games and ate some cake.  we picked up a whistle, curvy straw and a bracelet using the tickets won from all the games we played.  

good time had by all!

happy (early) birthday dude!

we're grabbing our hats...

...and wishing grampa a texas-sized birthday!!!

flirty two!

happy birthday to me from my hinges!!

really....32 already??!!  how did that happen?

no big plans for tonight.  just going to have dinner with the boys and enjoy a couple glasses of wine!

new years eve

happy almost new year!!!!

had a great night with great friends, great food and cute pooches!

graham discovered the drums too!  he seems to be a natural too.  

what are we in for?!

christmas is finally here!

wink is such a trickster!!!
the dude LOVED this one!




after breaking through wink's trap, the dude ventured downstairs to see all the goodies santa had left for him.  surprise surprise...guess what he went to first!!

as if the presents weren't a dead giveaway, it looks like santa also filled up our stockings and had a little midnight snack with rudolph!

santa must have known what i used to get as a kid....a toothbrush!  and then some other fun things!

this year opening presents was much more entertaining.  although instead of ripping the paper wildly, the dude took little tears and then threw the paper on the floor.  it was like a paper shredder exploded on our carpet!  he definitely enjoyed himself though.

later in the afternoon grammie, bruce, sam, justina and david come over to have some christmas ribs with us!  everyone showed off their new toys and did a little relaxing too. we also started a new tradition this year....the peppermint pig!

such a nice christmas.  it definitely seemed too short, but don't they always!  

i can't believe the holidays are over.  no snow this christmas, but we were definitely showered with love!

happy birthday daddy!!!

happy birthday to you!
happy birthday to you!

happy birthday dear daddy......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!

we love you!!

happy halloween!

as Yo Gabba Gabba is one of our favorite shows, it was fitting for the dude to be Brobee (the little green one)!  thank you mandy for letting us borrow brody's costume...it was perfect!

last year the dude didn't quite know what to do, but this year he was all about dressing up, trick-or-treating and handing out our candy to fellow trick-or-treaters!  even miss mojo dressed up again this year (i think she may have outgrown her mermaid costume...what do you think?)!  

our back-up costume was going to be elmo, but brobee was a hit.  so thanks to miss lisa, we had a sesame themed pumpkin.  although, i thought i was doing everything right with the pumpkin carving marker tool...only to take the stencil off and have nothing marked.  argh!  so this is my freehand cookie monster and cookie pumpkins while looking at the stencil.  not too bad!  the dude loved it!

halloween 2012......success!!!

happy birthday!

so what was supposed to be an 'outside, let the kids run around at frying pan park' birthday party...turned into a 'what weather is sandy going to bring, i guess we should move the party inside to our house' party!  luckily no one seemed to mind!!!

and what doesn't say birthday party like pizza and cake!!!

yes, the cake went over MUCH better this year!  the dude was actually excited before the candles were lit, smiling ear to ear while everyone was singing to him, helped blow the candles out and ate his piece like a champ!

graham is what is known as a 'kinder baby!'  he LOVES school, LOVES his teachers.....and they LOVE him! so much, that some of them braved the elements to  come to his party! and i should also mention that we love them too!  he never wants to leave in the afternoons and most mornings he runs and gives his teachers hugs.  lately i'll help him take his jacket off at school and by the time i put his jacket in his cubby he's already saying 'bye bye mommy!'  so long are the days where he would cry hysterically by the mere sight of me walking away from him.  my lil dude is getting so big!!

of course because we moved the party indoors the weather held out.  but you know if we had kept it at the park it the heavens would have opened.  so towards the end of the afternoon we let the kids go outside and play with some chalk.  (just like last year!)  well and then graham went exploring in the backyard quick and we ran into risolli (our new doggie neighbor!).  they were too cute!

all in all it was a huge success.  thank you to all of our friends and family who made graham's day so special!

TWO!!!

my little dude is becoming a big TWO YEAR OLD DUDE!!!

after we picked him up from school we headed over to chick-fil-a where we had his birthday dinner and played on the playground.  once we got home we had cupcakes on stand-by!!!!  they were much more of a success this year than last year!!  he probably could have eaten all four of them actually.

thank you uncle tim, aunt andrea, cousin olivia and cousin mason for a brown box full of goodies that the dude could open (we were saving ours for after his birthday party).  ANIMALS!!!  :)  the dude didn't know what to do with himself.  he wouldn't put them down and even brought them to bed with him.  and yes, we had to take them out of his bed when we went to sleep!! 

here's how well he's doing with repeating things!  he's getting great with names too.  he only has to say them a few times before he knows who the person is

and the moment you've all been waiting for.....stats!!!

weight: 29 lbs 13 oz (73%)

height: 33" (16%)

head circ: 20.25 (98%)

 - we're not overly concerned about the height/weight ratio.  his percentages have been steady and there's no rapid growth or decrease of either one.

 - spouting out words left and right these days.  it's almost like he has a new vocabulary everyday!

 - loves to hang on the bars at the playground and go down the big boy spiral slide

 - LOVES animals!!!  especially monkeys, cows and lions.

 - gets two stories before bedtime and then sleeps from about 8pm until 645am or so

 - still takes one, three hour nap a day

 - not too big on vegetables, unless they're green bean or mushroom crunchtables

 - LOVES fruit

 - when he would only eat my turkey nuggets and not the frozen chicken nuggets...that's all changed.  now he won't eat my nuggets and only frozen chicken nuggets, frozen popcorn shrimp

 - favorite food is probably a toss up between pasta and pizza

 - can sit through 75% of an animated movie

 - is a redskins fan!!!

 - mommy is definitely #1, although daddy is coming back strong in the dude's book and almost overtaking the 'favorite' lead

 - knows most animal sounds, most colors, a ton of songs from school, and is starting on his numbers