Summer Happenings...

One of the days last week that Mr. Hass didn't have to be at work until 3pm, we took the girls to the Santa Anna Zoo.  We bought a family pass for $60.  It's good for the year, and you can use it at the Big Bear Zoo, and several other zoos and attractions near us.  I'm sure we will get our money's worth. 

The last time Claire was there she was about 2 months old.  She had so much fun running around with Hannah.  She loved all of the animals.  It's so fun to see her enjoy herself so much. 

I posted a couple other pictures from the zoo on my other blog.

I was pretty excited to get this picture of Hannah.  Because, like I've said before, she is so hard for me to photograph.  I never get a real smile.  This one though, was completely real.  She was laughing while climbing up the toy slide in our yard.  Her and Claire were having so much fun together.

I've been enjoying how well my girls have been playing together lately.  They giggle and chase each other and have so much fun.  I am enjoying it now because I know that it comes in moments.  A good moment here, a bad moment there.

I started my editing class this week.  It's called Good to Great Workflow.  It is very detail oriented and I think I am going to learn a lot.  It's just all so new to me that everything is like a foreign language.  I am trying not to get overwhelmed.  I just have to tackle a little at a time, and there is only so much nap time to go around. 

Most of the pictures in this post I did edit, but I used picnik, not my new photo shop elements.  I'm still figuring it out.  Hopefully soon.

The hat Claire is wearing came from the $1 bins at Target.  I bought two of them, and the girls have played and played and played with those things.  Plus they protect their heads and faces from the sun.  What a great buy right?

This morning before the girls and I left the house to run our errands, I tried my luck at getting a picture of them together since I thought they looked so cute in their new fourth of July dresses.

I guess I just need to accept the fact that you simply can not pose a 3 and a half year old and a 1 and a half year old. 

This one of Hannah makes me laugh.  Does a smile get any more fake than that? 

Ah well.  I tried.  I also tried my luck and took both girls into Victoria's Secret.  I desperately needed a few things, so I gave them each some reese's pieces and I got my shopping done.

I don't know why I love this picture so much but I do.  I think it's somethin' bout the bare feet, hanging out on the front porch, the summer dress, the light in the green foilage... I guess that's why I like it.  I wish I had focused on her feet instead of the top of the picture.  Oh well.  I actually tried to do that, and then she hopped away.  Of course.

Have you tried these mini mint ice cream sandwhiches from Trader Joe's?  A client told me about them so we picked some up today.  They're great for the kids because they are the size of an oreo, so one is perfect. 

Yesterday while Claire was napping, Hannah and I were soaking up some sun in the backyard.  Abbey was quite occupied with one of our rosebushes for some reason, but I didn't think much of it.  Then I noticed a couple birds on our fence that were being extremely vocal.  Hannah and I couldn't believe how loud these birds were, and then suddenly I realized why.  The birds jumped off the fence and onto Abbey's back bouncing up and down.  I jumped up out of my chair and saw a bird in Abbey's mouth.  Gross.  I yelled at her to drop it, but she proceeded to shake her head back and forth growling, ever so proud of her accomplishment.  Finally she dropped the bird and I knew it was dead.  Then Abbey ran off to the other side of the yard and picked up another bird in her mouth!  That is when I saw the blood all over the concrete, and feathers, and a bird head, and bird legs, etc. Seriously.  Disgusting. 

I called Mr. Hass and said why does this have to happen when you are not here.  I finally summoned up the courage to scoop those dead birds up with the pooper scooper and toss them into bags and threw em  in the trash.   And poor birds.  They were just babies.  Before I got the two birds all cleaned up, Abbey had another one in her mouth.  I could not believe it.  Where did they come from?  This one was also dead so I cleaned it up, came back in the yard, and she had another one in her mouth!  I got her to leave it alone but it wasn't dead.  Ugh ugh ugh ugh.  I could not kill it.  I could not.  So I called my Mom and said Abbey caught baby birds but one isn't dead, what do I doooooo?  And she said, "Smash it with a shovel."  What?!  No way. I could not do it.  UUUUUUGgggggggghhhhhh.  (Now if you know my Mom, you know that she is a bird lover.  We call her a bird nerd.  She has bird houses all over her yard, she watches them with binoculars, she knows their species name, she's a fan.  So she did not mean to sound horrible when she said smash it, but she said that is obviously better than letting the bird suffer.) When I went to look at the bird again, I was pretty sure it was dead.  So one more trash bag, four dead birds, and thank God it was trash day.  What a huntress of a labrador we have right?  I hope that doesn't happen again soon.

On a lighter note, this morning my cousin Don's wife Kaylen and I were both on ticketmaster at 10am trying to get tickets for the four of us to see Lady Antebellum.  Yes I know we just saw them, but they only opened for Tim McGraw and did not play very long.  They are touring in the fall and playing at the Nokia Theater at LA Live on October 30th.  At first we thought we weren't going to get tickets, because Kaylen was coming up with none available.  After a couple attempts I got through, and guess what?!  I scored us 4 tickets in the orchestra section on the floor level and I'm pretty sure it's the 8th row!!!  EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!  I can't wait.  Hopefully I can convince Don & Kaylen to eat at ROCK N FISH in LA Live too.  I can't wait.

There you have it.  A few of the summer happenings around here.

Happy Friday.  Enjoy your weekend all.

Can You Handle This?

So...

Who saw Toy Story 3 last weekend?
We didn't.  But we want to take Hannah soon.  We just gotta figure out what to do with the little one.  She'd never make it through.
Speaking of movies though, we've been getting through a few of our netflixes lately.  Here's what we've seen...

• Nine- SO disappointed.  The rumors I'd heard about this one were true.  We actually did not even finish it.  We never do that.
• Leap Year- Cute.  Not great acting, but cute.  I made Mr. Hass watch that one with me first before I would sit down and watch Avatar.
• Inglorious Basterds- I was so pleasantly suprised that I thought this one was really good.  I was afraid it would be too gory and I am not much of a Quentin Tarentino fan.  But... it was a great movie.  Excellent acting. I even liked Brad Pitt's character.  But I especially liked the bad guy's acting (can't remember his name) but he was impressive.
• Avatar- It took us three nights, but we just finished it and...  I liked it.  A lot.  I  was pleasantly suprised by how much I enjoyed this one too.  I really liked the whole spiritual message throughout the movie, and about being aware of the energy of all things around you.  Two thumbs up.

Okay moving on.  This is gonna be a long one folks.  I was a little picture happy with this post.  You might want to go pop some popcorn and get yourself something cool to sip on while you scroll through this one.  Or something hot, whatever floats your boat. 

Mr. Hass had to work bright and early on Father's Day so the girls wanted to give him his gifts the night before.

I got this nifty idea from mrs. dunbar.  The girls had fun painting their feet.  Claire had too much fun.

We got Daddy his own video camera.  It's like the trendy new flip camera but this one has unlimited memory space and can take still pictures too. He was happy to discover that the actual color was black and not fuschia like the one on the box.

Once Mr. Hass got home from work we packed up the family and made the long trek (not really) over to Gamma and Geeps house.

It was nice to see my Dad feeling a bit better.  You never know if he's telling the truth or not when he says "Yea I'm much better. Better everyday."

My baby bro playing with Dad's new itouch. 

My Mom recently got an ipad too.  The girls and I were playing Legos out back the other day and Hannah said, "Look Mom I made an ipad."

Claire helped Gamma water her garden.  We ate delicous zuchini and squash that came from her garden with dinner.

Drew got a new instrument.  It has a really cool sound.  I wish I got a picture of the whole drum but it's about 4 feet tall.

Claire started tapping her toes to the beat of the drums and grabbed Geeps to dance.  Hannah grabbed her Daddy and they were full of giggles and wiggles.

An island lager, a salmon burger with avocado, and veggies straight from the garden to the grill.  Does it get much better than that?

My children are coming up with ways to hide from my camera. ha.

I love this one.

And this one.

You still there?

Come on, stay with me now.

Just a few more.

Proof that I was there.

Time for Geeps to open his gifts.

River (Nickname given to my Dad by my brother...River...short for Old Man River) got a bit misty eyed after reading his cards.

He says there was just dust in the air.

We sure do love this guy.

You made it through my picture happy post!

Good for you.

I'm not done yet though.

So go get some more popcorn, and refill your beverage.

I've got a few ramblings to add...

• 
  
  Annie Lebowitz said "When I say I want to photograph someone, what it really means is that I'd like to know them.  Anyone I know, I photograph."  I am beginning to feel the same way.  I want to photograph everyone I know.
• 
  
  The instructor of my class recommended Photo Shop Elements 8 for anyone who is a beginner with PS and editing.  One of my photog classmates told me that she has the full version of PSE7 if I want it for free.  She mailed it to me today! I can't wait to play with it. 
• 
  
  I signed up for another class.  This one is an editing class though, to learn how in the heck I am supposed to use this PSE7 stuff.
• 
  
  I've got a mountain of laundry on my bed so I better call it good here.

Thanks for hanging in there with me.

You've been a trooper.

If you leave me a comment I'll know you've been a real trooper.

Otherwise, I'll assume you couldn't hang with this long and picture happy post.

The Men in My Life

My Dad...

My Dad is one of the most amazing men I know.

When I was little I thought he hung the moon. I still do.

I always had a million questions for him, because to me, he knew everything, and I knew he would have an answer for them.

Recently my Dad was over at my house one night after work. 

He stopped by to bring me something special for my birthday that he ordered for me.

We were talking about his experience at the medical clinic in Mexico recently.

I asked him a question about something and he said, "I don't know but Jake would probably know that."

It dawned on me, that just like I used to ask my Daddy a million and one questions when I was a little girl,

I often ask my husband a million and one questions.

Because like my Dad, I also think he has the answers for most of them.

Although Mr. Hass will often laugh at me and say, "Why do you think I always know this stuff."

I guess my answer would be, "because my Dad knows."

I am lucky to have these amazing men in my life.

Happy Father's Day to my Dad and to Mr. Hass.

My Dad is the only one who gets his haircut at home.

He paid for my education, so I figure that's fair.

Wait... scratch that.  Mr. Hass gets his haircut at home too, but most of the time he shaves it himself and I clean him up round the edges. 

On a side note- Mr. Hass has seen our doctor, had a stress test with the cardiologist, and an echocardiogram done yesterday.  He sees the cardiologist for his appointment on July 2.  So far it sounds like although what he's been experiencing is not "normal", it isn't harmful  as long as he doesn't experience certain other things along with it.  I'm sure he'll know more after the 2nd, but he went for a run yesterday and didn't feel as funny as he has the past week after exercising.  Thank you for all your nice comments and prayers for him. 

I love you Dad.

I love you Jake.

Happy Father's Day!

Hannah's Last Day of Preschool

This is Hannah on her first day of school in September 2009.

And this is Hannah today, on our way to her last day of preschool picnic.

I am happy to report that she never needed to use that emergency underwear and outfit seen in the plastic bag in the first picture. 

It's hard to believe that when she started preschool we had just begun the potty training and were so nervous about whether or not she would be able to go to school and not have an accident.  Now she's a pro.  (One kid down and one to go!)

I tried to get a little photo shoot in this morning before we went to Hannah's last day of school picnic, but as always, I didn't have much cooperation.

Hannah is so hard for me to photograph.  I can not ever ever ever ask her to look at the camera, or to smile, because then I get the cheesiest fakest smile ever.  Or I just get an annoyed look, or squinty eyes, or staring down at the ground.  I try everything to just get a good picture of her making eye contact with me and it is so hard.  Here's a few that I did get.

We were told to bring her favorite stuffed animal (she doesn't really have a favorite, but she picked this one) and a blanket to sit on.

Here's that fake smile I get when I say "Hannah look at me.  Hannah can you please give me a smile?"

I was at least happy with this one.  This was the most natural face that I could get.

We sure are proud of our big girl.

She has grown up a lot since she started school. 

Oh yeah, I have to add this cute one of Claire.  It is so much easier for me to get her eyes in a picture than it is to get Hannah's.  And of course she's got food in her mouth.  And a stuffed animal of her own to bring to the big kid picnic.

This is Hannah's friend Maryanne.  They became buddies early on in the year.

I dressed the girls the same on purpose today.  I knew there would be a lot of kids and I thought it might make it easier to spot mine.  I'm glad I did because while I was chatting with some of the other moms, and trying to keep one eye on each girl, I looked around for a minute and could not see Claire.  Maryanne's Mom said, where's Claire?  I don't see Claire.  I did a quick scan among the crowd and couldn't see her anywhere.  My heart started to race and I started to have that sick to my stomach panic feeling ...    and then I saw her.  She was inside one of the gazebos where the food was, getting a cookie.  aaaaahhhh.  That girl.

We only stayed for an hour and I was exhausted.

We made our rounds to say goodbye to all the teachers and Hannah refused to look up and say goodbye to Mrs. Angells.  She was mad that we were leaving, and no matter what I said she would not tell her goodbye.  I was so embarrassed.  Hopefully my child is not  the only one who refused to smile at their teacher and say goobye upon leaving.  Hopefully.

Claire was also pissy about leaving. 

They both threw themselves on the ground in the parking lot and threw fits while I was hot and sweaty and trying to pack up the car and the beach blanket, and Hannah's picnic basket she made, and squeeze children into car seats in the tiny parking lot with cars crammed in on either side.

Then we came home and I threw a fit.

Seriously. I did.

I feel a little better now.

Because I ordered these cute new shoes for myself...

Aren't they cute?

Yes, I definitely feel better now.