Snow!

It snowed a zillion feet today!!!

Holiday Ramp Up!

We went to the Gallery's Holiday Party last night and Siena got her cute on. She visited with Santa and is rumored to have asked him for a reindeer (her stock answers to "What do you want for Christmas?" have been: 1. toys, then later more sophisticated: 2. presents (and when prodded for more detail: 3. blue presents), 4. reindeer has stuck for about a week now with an occasional teddy bear thrown in).
She played games and decorated cookies--I mean, ate sprinkles, as seen above!

Stagefright

Siena rocked out at her daycare's annual Holiday Show. She sang and danced and rang her jingle bells. Unfortunately, she also reprised last year's concert where she cried until Mommy joined her on the stage (see far left).

Christmas Decorating

Siena's been a Super Decorator again this year!

Siena's Third Birthday!!!

Siena turned 3 on Nov 21st, but we had her party before we went away for Thanksgiving. We had a pool party at the place where she takes swim classes. All the kids had a blast (and the big kids too). Siena loved it--except for all the attention when we sang to her!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Florida with Hans's family. Siena had a blast. Our camera broke, so we only have few shots. Thanks Nick for taking some pictures and yay for cell phone cameras! Siena got to go on a real boat ride and LOVED playing with the fish that they caught.

We went to the Naples Zoo--complete with Monkey Boat Tour!

But the highlight of Siena's trip was any moment she was able to spend with Mango, her furry buddy. She especially loved taking him on walks inside or outside. He was a great sport.

Happy Halloween!

Siena went Trick or Treating for the first time this year. She dressed as a Star-Bellied Sneech (from Dr. Seuss' The Sneeches--if you don't know it, read it!) (plus, note mom's first homemade costume!). She had the time of her life with the girls next door and some of their friends who showed her how it's done.

Enjoying the spoils.

First pixie stick, you write your own caption here. Does look a bit like a Cheech n Chong Halloween. :) Mom was out of town, afterall.

Big Girl Bed!

This morning Hans converted Siena's crib into a toddler bed! She was pretty excited about it, then a bit apprehensive at nap time, but went down pretty easily. I believe she's asleep in it right now. Go girl!!

Grandma & Pigtails.

Hans's mom came up for the weekend and despite crazy cold and rain, she and Siena had a great time playing. JoJo and Grandpa even came over to make pumpkins.
Notice Siena's new doo - pigtails!!

Level One Grad!

Last week Siena completed Level One of her swim classes with a report card full of check pluses! Today she started Level Two. What a big girl!

Nonstop fun!

I don't know where the time goes... This month we have done lots of visiting to our old favorite haunts: the zoo, Clark's farm and the beach, of course. Siena has somehow been transformed into a little girl full of energy and always a comment about everything. Our baby, and now the toddler are gone! She's a riot and we're having a blast.
She's almost potty trained(!) and has slept in the "big bed" at the trailer and we're planning to soon break down her crib and turn it into a toddler bed.
One new development which is really fun is that she is beginning to discover her imagination. She makes up songs and has whole interactions with her stuffed animals (which she barely paid any attention to before). This morning in the car there was a whole potty training conversation being had between her and her stuffed doggie. The good doggie went poop in Siena's cup holder. Lovely. :)

Good friends

Two of Siena's favorite folks, Brian and Sarah came to visit this weekend. Yay!

Girls Week!

Siena and I had a great time in the Outer Banks with all the Henley ladies, my mom, Grannie Ruth, Aunt Diane (DiDi) & cousin Dinelle (Nelle). I even got to relax a bit with so many hands to help!


Siena is a big fan of Nelle. They had a blast together. Since then, Dinelle got engaged(!) and Siena has taken to randomly telling people about it. She's looking forward to that party!

Grannie proved to be quite the castle builder!

Yay!!

Vacation from Mom & Dad

Siena spent a fun weekend with my folks while Hans and I went to a concert in PA. She loves to play in the pool, help in the kitchen & get away with as much as she can!

Ride the Bike!

Siena is beginning to understand how silly Grandpa can be.

Buddies

Just had to post this cuz it's so darn cute.

Grandma!

Hans's mom came up for a long weekend after we got back from the beach. She brought Siena a giant pile of seashells that they played with together for hours. Siena loves to match up the mommies and babies.


Siena took her to the zoo and we got to ride a camel. Cool!



We had a great visit and Siena loved spending so much time with Grandma--come back soon!

Beach Week

We opted for low key vacation this year and spent a week down at the beach the first week of June. As usual we had lots of fun in the sand and surf! Some highlights... Here's Siena modeling a nice new horseshoe-crab shell!

We bought a "new" (to us) bike trailer on Craig's List and Siena loved going for a ride!
And crabs! Siena's becoming a pro. And check out this awesome seat Hans made so Siena can sit at the picnic table!!

Hold my hand, Harrison!

By happy coincidence, our friends Beth & Tim happened to come down to the beach while we were there, so we got together one night. Siena was quite enamored with their son, Harrison, and insisted that he hold her hand while we walked. Harrison didn't quite know what to think of this pushy broad.


For more shots of this cuteness, click here.

Funland!!

Hand holding aside, the real excitement was Siena and Harrison's first (of many I am sure) visit to Funland, an awesome mini-amusement park on the boardwalk. Poor Harrison didn't have a nap that day so he was a bit shell-shocked, but Siena was psyched!


The boats were very popular, until Siena spied these cars that went around in circles and then backwards, VERY FAST. Hans agreed to take her.


She, of course loved it--Hans nearly lost his fish n chips. :)

Momentous Day

Anyone that knows Hans knows that he loves to fish. The day I found out I was pregnant, he was outside working on his new boat (only days old to him) when I took the test (he didn't know I was testing). I went outside and asked him if he was going to take his kid fishing--that's how I told him. Well, this weekend he finally did. Not in the boat, but at a local lake with Siena's rod that was given to her before she could walk. All three of us had an awesome time. And caught lots of little sunfish for Siena to reel in!