A look back...Colorado in May

We took a trip to Colorado in mid May to celebrate Great-Grandma Dorothy's (or Dorfy as Hannah calls her :)) 95th Birthday. We had a fabulous time and Abby enjoyed her first plane ride, despite the 30-40 minutes we spent waiting on a mechanical problem before we were able to take off. We took a day trip up to Breckenridge and found snow! Hannah loved the snow and kept throwing little snowballs into the creek. We even scored a couple deals from some ski shops on apparel for next year as the shops were closed and very quiet for 'mud season.' Here are some pics from our trip to Colorado.

Hannah enjoying the ice cream

Daddy holding Abby with Dot

Carole and Abby

Hannah decorated a sign for Dot's b-day

It was a full room of people there to celebrate!

Singing songs with Mary Ann

Tickling Abby's toes most likely...

Grandma and her granddaughters

4 Generations of Zabells

Abby did a great job in the van up into the mountains

Mary Ann and Carole in some nice hats...

Mommy and Abby enjoying Breckenridge

The Zabells family pic in Breck

Daddy and Hanny on the bridge over the creek in Breck

She looks a little mischievous here...loved the snow!

Hannah loved playing in the sand and on the slide

Throwing the snow over the bridge into the creek down below

Some things I want to remember...

There are certain things that just make me laugh about our girls. I will start with the almost 3 year old...Hanny girl.

Hannah is at such a fun stage right now, minus the whole listening thing. She loves to put things in her pickets...seriously loves it! She is growing like crazy and starting to wear size 4 and 4T clothes. I bought her some new hooded zip-up sweatshirts and they don't have pockets...so she can't put her 'treasures' in there. Here is a list of things I have found in her pockets (we have to be extra careful when doing laundry now): chapstick, chocolates, laffy taffy (her favorite candy), bottle, rocks, headbands...and the list goes on. She is really into Pinkalicious and likes to read the stories to us (mind you she holds the story up like a teacher and pretends to put the 'DVDV' (CD) in and asks us to put our 'listening ears on'). If you don't think Joe and I broke out into a laughter the first time Hannah told us to put our listening ears on, you would be kidding yourself. She just started preschool at the end of February and is really catching on well. She loves the teachers and is apparently a little shy in answering questions, but thriving. The other night she surprised Joe and I when she counted her grapes (1-10) in Spanish. Hannah is also into layers and wearing bras (tank-tops). She will go to preschool wearing 4 layers sometimes.

Abby is a joy, except when she gets crabby and fussy in the evenings. She does really well when I put her in the Moby wrap though. She has the cutest little whine and sad face before she starts to cry, it's heartbreaking really. Abby is starting to give us some emotion and smile at us on occasion, it's very nice. She is waking up once or twice in the night. She did great on her first plane ride this past weekend and even splashed in a pool for the first time.

My girls are great and offer up so much entertainment.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. I know that I am sure blessed by an amazing mom who has always helped me and is always putting other people first ahead of herself. Thank you mom for all that you do and all the help you give me (especially over the past couple months)!

As a present to myself, I decided that I wanted some professional pics of the girls taken and so we went to Target and got a few taken. I didn't think we got any good ones from the fact that Abby was fussy and wanting to nurse the whole time and Hannah didn't put her listening ears on that morning...but I think we got a few cute ones and I absolutely love my girls! I love being a mom, even though it means that I haven't had a full night of rest in over 7 weeks... :)

Abby

Mommy and Abby

Hanny Girl

Abby and Hannah

Bottle time!

Hannah did a fantastic job giving her sister a bottle today. It is such a amazing to watch these sisters interact together and see the care and compassion that Hannah has for Abby. Abby continues to grow as you can see and she will be a month old tomorrow!

Big Sister Hannah

Hannah is an incredible big sister. I am amazed by the amount of affection she shows to her baby sister, Abby. She is already fairly protective of her baby sister and says some of the sweetest and cutest things. Here are a few quotes of Hannah's (from my recollection)

(Abby's crying in her car seat as we're driving) "Mommy, you need to take care of my baby sister, she's crying."

"Mommy, I love my baby sister. She came from your tummy and I'm so proud of her. I'm so proud."

"This is my little sister. She is so tiny. She has little tiny fingers, little tiny fingers and she's so little."

 "Abby's hungry, mommy she needs to drink milk (pronounced 'mwuk') from your chest."

"Mommy you come help me get Abby out of her crib."

(Abby crying again) "You're ok, you're ok, you're ok, she will come and feed you, you're ok, shhhh."

We keep telling Hannah when she hold Abby she needs to support her head but Hannah keeps talking about 'reporting' her head. It's too cute.

Hannah, your dad and I are so proud of you and are amazed (and thrilled) at what a caring and affectionate big sister you are. Thank you and we love you so much!

Abigail Grace

Abigail Grace Zabell joined our family on 3/23/12 at 10:17pm. She weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and measured 21 inches long.

Happy Birthday, daddy!

We celebrated Joe's birthday over the weekend and I braided Hannah's hair for dinner Sunday night. Here is a cute pic of the birthday boy and his girl.

Children's Museum

Joe and I took Hannah to the MN Children's Museum on President's Day to get out and have some fun! Hannah had a blast and played with the water tables, climbing wall, bus, toddler play area and lots more. It was a little crowded but it was great to get out and have some fun as a family. Here is a collage from our day.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hannah sure enjoyed candy from her friends at daycare for Valentine's Day. Here is a picture of our little peanut (who is growing up so quickly!). In case you want to see what I looked like at her age...look below for a picture of me :). For the record her favorite candy is strawberry Laffy Taffy (or Taffy Taffy as she calls it).

San Diego 2012

San Diego - Day 1

San Diego - Day 2: Disneyland

San Diego - Day 3: SeaWorld

San Diego - Day 4: San Diego Zoo

San Diego - Day 5: Pacific Beach

Christmas with the Zabells

Here are pictures from Christmas Eve with the Zabell side:

 

Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year...except for Joe was on home-call, which turned into pages interrupting any family dinner and present opening. We made it through and had a great New Years weekend when he was not on call, which was nice. Hannah got spoiled by her grandparents, aunt and uncles (and us maybe a little too). She had a great time and here are some pictures from the holidays. 

Jessie & Bryan making Lefse

Quick Learner

Somebody liked her Elmo

Fun apron from Bryan & Jessie

Hannah's Bitty Baby - she was hungry

A 'quiet' present from Bryan & Jessie...

Hannah made a Christmas Plate for Grandma & Grandpa

Opening more presents

Ring from my Grandma Levonne's collection

Reading the note about my Grandma's ring

Before the Timberwolves home opener at Rock Bottom

Hannah hanging out with mommy at the game

Being silly...

Pre-dinner snack

Hannah helping Bryan make pizza dough...she's a good helper :)

Quick stop at Brianna's house to say hi!