Christmas 2009 (29 photos), by Hannah Hammonds

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
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Music Class

Eleanor has been taking a music class on Thursday morning this past fall. She loves all the singing and dancing we do and gets super excited when we sing the same songs at home. Her favorites are "Shake and Stop" and "Walter, Walter Wagtail". Another favorite are shakers - she LOVES them! One of the big concepts Ms. Amy was trying to teach them was "up and down" with their voice. Last week, after music had finished for Christmas break, Eleanor's new thing to do in the car is say "up and down" while raising her arms in the correct direction! YAY for music class!
Here we are with all our music friends.She has now graduated from "Babies Make Music" to "Toddler Tunes" and will start going to music again in February.

Surprise Face

Well, dear blog, you might have thought we had forgotten about you, but we have just been busy and neglectful! Apologies all around!!!!
Hannah got all the photos on one computer and organized and upload to Snapfish today and linked the albums in the side bar. Feel free to click and view and enjoy. Here are a few of our recent favorites of Eleanor making her "surprise" face. Its one of our favorites and very hard to capture on camera!
Along with organizing our photos Andrew and Uncle Sam went for a round of disc golf and this afternoon we took Eleanor to YaYa's Island, an indoor playground. She had a great time and there are photos in the November album. Videos will be posted soon.

Going down the slide (that she can climb up by herself now!) at YaYa's Island



Looking cute around the house

"Oops! I'm not suppose to have this remote!"

July 2009 (18 photos), by Hannah Hammonds

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Entering a Contest

http://themeanestmom.blogspot.com/2009/08/260-portrait-studio-package-giveaway.html

This is a contest we (and in we I mean me) are entering. Hopefully, we will win.

More new pictures soon!

July 2009

Here is Eleanor playing some barrettes and a bowl. She can now put things into a container rather than just take them out! We also got some baby gates and she found the empty boxes in the corner. She likes to crawl over and give the baby kisses. Enjoy!

Swimming Movie

Eleanor shows off her swimming skills. These consist of being cute and splashing Mommy in the face!

June 2009 (12 photos), by Hannah Hammonds

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
http://www2.snapfish.com/fbshareredirect/p=923181245331098442/l=2052065013/g=109505960/redirectURL=share/otsi=SALBBL/AlbumID=1216529013/a=109505960_109505960/usercomments=I_xqd%20like%20to%20share%20my%20Snapfish%20photos%20with%20you.%20Once%20you%20have%20checked%20out%20my%20photos%20you%20can%20order%20prints%20and%20upload%20your%20own%20photos%20to%20share./counttext=12%20photos/COBRAND_NAME=earthlink

Eleanor Turns 1!

Eleanor turned one on June 8th. She has made a lot of changes since last year! For her birthday we grilled out hamburgers and invited the family over. She had a great time playing with her cousin David on the swing and he was also a big help opening presents. She was very tired when it came time to eat cake and so she enjoyed it more when she had it on her real birthday. Here are the birthday clips from the big day.

Eleanor's First Birthday (56 photos), by Hannah Hammonds

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
http://www2.snapfish.com/fbshareredirect/p=830121244826831605/l=1933385013/g=109505960/redirectURL=share/otsi=SALBBL/AlbumID=1136101013/a=109505960_109505960/usercomments=I_xqd%20like%20to%20share%20my%20Snapfish%20photos%20with%20you.%20Once%20you%20have%20checked%20out%20my%20photos%20you%20can%20order%20prints%20and%20upload%20your%20own%20photos%20to%20share./counttext=56%20photos/COBRAND_NAME=earthlink

More May 2009

Watch this to see
* Eleanor playing with an empty bottle
* Eleanor sitting on the roof with Daddy
* What a swinging lion sounds like
* How to play 52 Card Pick Up, Eleanor's favorite card game

p.s. I apologize for some videos being sideways. Rotating video is beyond my editing skills.

Video Retry...

Trying again. Same video as I tried to post last time!

May 2009

Click to Play

Eleanor discovers the cabinet, talks and eats in her high chair, and swings outside in the sun.

Back at Last

OK, I have had good intentions of sitting down and updating, but that's exactly what they have been - intentions!
Since the last post we enjoyed a great visit with Granny Jill and Granddad. Check out the adventures they had with us here, on their travel blog. It was so nice that they could come and visit and we had a great time!
Lately, we have just been working and playing. Here are some links to our snapfish albums for a look at the pictures we have taken the past two months. A video is also included at the bottom of this post of the "best of" takes.
April 2009
Kentucky Derby
March 2009

Eleanor has had a little bit of a cold virus/chest infection, but is already back to feeling her best and brightest. She still prefers the army-camando type crawl and is starting to pull herself up by herself. At the moment she can only do it by herself using the bathtub or our hands, because they are the only thing low enough, but she is learning. Cruising is not far behind and then watch out world. We are finding it hard to believe her first birthday is less than a month away!!!

On the Move

Eleanor has started creeping. She likes the army camando style at the moment. Soon we won't be able to catch her!

Kiss Me I'm Irish

....wait! Eleanor's not Irish, but she is cute so she gets lots of kisses. We celebrated St. Patrick's Day eating steak and potatoes with MarMar and JonJon. Eleanor thought JonJon's necklace was pretty awesome and got to wear it for a little while.

Banana Lover

Eleanor loves eating bananas. Life's especially good when she is allowed to feed herself!

Recent Visit

We love having visitors. Recently Hannah's friend from college, Alison, came to say hello to the family. It was great to catch up and visit. She even helped us make a batch of wine. We are looking forward to Granny Jill and Granddad Jim's visit in early April.

Bookworm

Our little bookworm LOVES to read!

Eleanor and Daddy

Here is a fantastic shot of Eleanor and Daddy at the park.

Shape Sorter

One of Eleanor's past times includes dumping her blocks out of the bucket and clapping them together. Once she's tired of that she likes to play with the bucket. Lately she's been in to eating it and using it as a drum. Its one of her favorite toys.

Swinging

Eleanor loves to swing and play at the park. Mommy and Eleanor went with Daddy to take pictures and then we took advantage of the warm afternoon to play in Columbus-Belmont Park. We are looking forward to going back to see the chain that went across the river. In the meantime, here's Little E on the swing.

February 2009

Here are video clips from February. We have had a stream of Internet problems and have been busy cleaning up our yard and apologize for not being more up to date with photos and videos. Hopefully, we we be able to catch up this week!

Jolly Jumper

Eleanor loves her jolly jumper. She can spend many hours in it bouncing around. She likes to play there on her own and dance to any kind of music her Mom and Dad play for her. Here are a couple of cute shots.

Picture Update

I have uploaded new pictures to our snapfish page (use the link on the sidebar). They are of Eleanor (obviously) at the end of January and so far into February. I have also added an album of the winter storm and what it looked like around our house.
Movies to come soon.
We are all doing well. Eleanor has her two bottom teeth, can clap her hands, and wave goodbye. Andrew has also taught her how to give high fives.

Winter Storm 2009

Well, we have survived the ice. We were quite lucky and only lost power for about 2 days. The rest of our street still does not have power. (I have a feeling we are not the most popular house at the moment...)We lost lots of branches and decided to have several trees trimmed and a few removed. We are enjoying the changes and have lots of firewood now. While there was no power we stayed in the living room by the gas logs and cooked on the grill. Definitely have had my fill of hamburgers to last a while!
Eleanor is doing great! Her bottom two teeth cut during the storm so we would have had exciting nights with the power! (By exciting I mean up 4 times to settle the baby....)
Phone and internet services were restored today and we feel life is starting to return to normal. We are thinking about those people who still do not have anything.
Next weeks project is to upload some new pictures and videos.

Playing with Toys

Eleanor is quickly learning how to bang and wildly throw her arms around. This is one of her favorites.

Prune Face

I gave Eleanor prunes for the first time last night. She really enjoyed them - so much so she put them all over her face! At one point she even had them going up the bridge of her nose and around her eyes, but I wiped that off straight away. She was pretty pleased with herself. Check out snapfish for even more cute photos of "Squeakle Prune Face".

Two Spoons

Sometimes we feed Eleanor using the "two spoon" method - she gets one, we get one. Somehow this time she got both! Usually, she gives the other one up when she realizes there is a new one with food. She also likes to "feed" herself by grabbing onto the spoon while you help her put it into her mouth or "grab" the blob of food off the spoon and put it in her mouth herself. Usually there is a big mess, but its ok since she is learning. We are sure there are bigger messes to come!

Happy New Year

We rang in New Year's day having Hannah's homemade pizza and a Methuselah (that's 3 liters) of Champagne that Zach, MarMar, and JonJon got while in Napa Valley this past fall. We had a lot of fun and hope that everyone's year will bring them many blessings.

Christmas Pictures

We had a fantastic holiday season. Lots of visiting with Sam and Zach who were both able to come in. Check out our holiday shots on our Snapfish Page, just follow the link on the side bar.

Veggies

Eleanor has started eating her vegetables. So far she has tried carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, avocados and squash. She likes everything, but carrots (although, she will eat them). Each time she tries carrots she eats a few more so we think eventually she will like them. Her favorites are peas and sweet potatoes. She loves to make a big mess with the carrots by trying to feed herself. Here's Eleanor eating carrots for the first time.

Playing wtih Presents

Here's Eleanor playing with two of her presents. Now that she is sitting by herself she is having even more fun with them. Once she starts creeping and crawling the ball won't stand a chance.

Unwrapping Presents 2

Here's the video. I had to compress it for the web. Sorry.

Unwrapping Presents

Wow, Eleanor was very well remembered this year! Thank-you to everyone who sent her a present. She has sampled everything and your wrapping paper, a big seal of approval from the boss!). She really enjoys playing with the jumping bunny from David and Anna. She also enjoys watching the moving ball, but Mommy and Daddy don't so much enjoy listening to the great tune it plays! Here are some videos from Christmas morning.