Summer Solstice / Attack of the 50 Ft. Girl

Hannah celebrates her 2-and-a-half year birthday, blowing bubbles, playing with her water table, and terrorizing the ants at her feet, during a rare sunny summer day on our little patio.

Where the Sidewalk Ends...

The Fire Hydrant Begins...

Just Another Day at Art Class

Hannah, Reece and Kayla continue to love their new art class at Fort Mason. But even more than playing with paint and play-doh without their mommies around, they LOVE running around the "stage" built out of recycled goods in the parking lot with "Tanner Baby" (now a full-fledged toddler) while actual Baby Sloane looks on...!

Top 10 Interpretations of Tanner's Grunts and Growls Above:
10. Hellooooo ladies..... I'm not wearing any pants!
9. What's a hexagon?
8. Stroller? Are you kidding me? THOSE are MY rides back there!
7. Sorry ladies, you must be UNDER 30 inches to ride the ride...
6. I make MAD Money, the E-Trade baby gets his tips from me.
5. Which one of you is gonna change my diaper?
4. Hellooooo ladies..... I'm still not wearing any pants!
3. I've got hiney-kins and chilled bottles of milk behind the bar.
2. HAHAHA yeah, I farted.
1. I am the most interesting man in the world:
(I may not always drink milk, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis.)

Of course she was not running around chasing after Tanner (and vice versa) like the other maniacs above. But one day, Baby Sloane may have the advantage of youth, and a steadfast gaze, when it comes to winning Tanner's affection.

Like Mother Like Daughter

Like mother like daughter at 2 1/2 years....except for the mullet
(and now you know why I refuse to cut Hannah's hair!).

49 Years may seem like a LONG time...

...to wait for the Chicago Blackhawks to win the Stanley Cup again.....

But I'm sure it seemed like just yesterday that Ann & Tom got married.
Happy 49th Anniversary (June 10th)!!

Express Yourself

Kristina sent an email to me today at work.
She had written in the header, "Teacher says Hannah LOVED painting."
When I opened up the picture file in the body of the email...
This artist's happy smile popped out!

First Day of School!

Hannah attended her first day of preschool (summer school session anyway) at the Parker School today. Unsurprisingly, she didn't even look back when I told her I was off to run errands and would see her later (my soft-pedaled Goodbye for her). In fact, I had to work to keep her attention, and to get her to come see her new, personalized cubicle, "let's take off your backpack and sweatshirt," etc. just to hold her focus for a few minutes longer -- apparently it was ME who was having the hard time saying goodbye. I looked her in the eye, and said "Hey, Hannah, I'll see you in a little bit ok??" She looked back at me, said "OK bye," and then whirled around and ran down the mini-staircase toward a table with some coloring pens and stuff in the art room. I peeked through the window to see if she was indeed going to be ok, and to be sure she wasn't looking for me in a last-minute panic (when did I become so self-involved?), but the truth hurt -- she had already forgotten that I existed...

By the time I came back around 11:45 to pick her up, she was sitting by the fence with a few other kids, chowing down the bag of Wheat Thins I'd left for her in her backpack (also unsurprising that, based on her feeding frenzy, she'd probably refused whatever snack the school supplied). Her white (?!? duh) cords and shirt were covered in a mixture of multi-colored paints, sparkles, and mud/dirty water. The teacher overseeing the pick-ups informed me that she'd fallen off a ladder and gotten pretty upset, but she thought it was more the surprise than the actual pain of the fall that led to her tears. Yeah, probably. That didn't stop Hannah from telling me multiple times on the way home about how she "fall on my back" and actually did seem to have some real, albeit minor, injuries to her back and foot. Oh well, what are you going to do, right? I guess this is the beginning of learning to let go. As excited as I was for her for this day to come - knowing that she would love school, and that I would enjoy the new free time it afforded me - I can already see that this "goodbye" business is only going to get harder as she grows older and even more independent. Who needs college anyway!?

"Don't let the door hit ya, mom!"

Welcome Baby Lukas!

Lukas Robert Johnson
Born May 30th, 2010 at 6:25pm
to Erik, Debbie & big brother Magnus

Congratulations all!!! We will miss you terribly when you move back to the midwest in July!!

Festivals O' Fun

We seem to have finally emerged from the coldest May on record since 1977. And just in time for a bunch of fun festivals going on around town. Last weekend, we hit up the Carnival Festival in the Mission district with Samantha Jacobi (and papa Jarrod), among others. Then this weekend we got to take in the Union Street Festival down in my old stomping grounds, Cow Hollow. Both days could not have been more beautiful too. Which is nice since summer is almost upon us, which means the fog will be rolling in all too soooooon....!

Carnival Festival - May 30, 2010

Who is having more fun here? Hmmm......

ANNNND she's off, again..... This would not be a good place to lose the Banana.
~~~~~~~~~

Union Street Festival - a little more kid-friendly (at least between Steiner and Fillmore Streets...)

Hey look, I'm flying with Lil' Joe!

The Diva awaits the rest of her rainbow & butterflies make-up session.

Get me outta this spinning teacup before I hurl!