Fun with Friends

Last weekend, we met up with our friends, Shannon & Sayler, at the children's indoor play center in Northtown. I had never been there before, and Lola loved it.Mostly, she enjoyed watching the older kids run around and climb. Shannon, my yoga instructor, is 8 1/2 months pregnant with her second baby, so it was fun to see her one last time before her baby is here.

Lola & Sayler - Lola kept crawling to this beaver and kissing it's face!

On Monday, I drove to Chattaroy with Lola, to my friend Staci's house. She was helping me with a sewing project and our kids played together for a few hours while we were busy. Her kids, Cody & Ruby, call Lola "Baby Lola". "What does Baby Lola eat?" "What does Baby Lola like to do?" "What is Baby Lola's favorite color?"

Cody & Baby Lola

Lola, Cody & Ruby


Auntie Rach sent Lola one of those recordable books from Hallmark. Lola LOVES hearing Rachael's voice and especially loves the picture of herself in the book. She laughs when she hears Rachael say at the end, "I love you Lola!"

Valentine's Day

Lola surprised Dan with a new blanket for the couch! We have had a blanket on our couch for 3 1/2 years that is small, and not the softest blanket to curl up with. When Lola was born, one of the blankets we received was from Bezba, a locally owned company that is run by two moms. It is the greatest blankie, and we got to thinking, "Why should only babies have soft blankets to snuggle with?" So Lola :) and I splurged and bought a larger one for Dan. She LOVES it!

Lola, hanging out on the new blankie.

I bought Lola a pots and pans set to play with in the kitchen. Every time I am in the kitchen, preparing lunch or dinner, I pull out her pans and she "cooks" too. I know she's not into imaginative play yet, but she is DEFINITELY into noise, and these can do just that! She bangs them together, on the floor, and is now experimenting with sounds that they make on the oven and fridge too!



As for "real" instruments, Lola has a few instruments that I get out almost every day for her to play with. She gets so excited to use them. Some days, I also put on music that we listen to and she plays along for awhile, but then has to put them down so she can bounce to the music too!

She recently learned how to use the cymbals and just loves how noisy they can be!

What a great Monday!

I've never been a huge fan of Mondays, but this Monday was a lot of fun! Dan and I woke up early to do yoga, and Lola decided to join us. Our yoga instructor, Shannon, gave Lola her very own mat when she was born, and Lola loves it!

Lola on her yoga mat

Checking out dad's mat

We visited Stevo and did some work in his office. Lola learned how to play his African drum! After running a few errands, lunch, and a nap, Lola and I built a fort. We turned off all the lights and used one of Grandpa Jack's flashlights to read books in the dark. Lola thought it was great! She listened to me read for awhile, then played with with flashlight, and moved onto reading the books on her own. She is SO big. I can't stand it! We kept the fort up so Dan could see it and read a few stories with her when he got home.

Leavenworth

In late January, we made another trek to Leavenworth. This time, we brought our friends, the Bennett's. They are from Florida, and had never been to Leavenworth before. We had a jam-packed trip, but it was a ton of fun! On Friday, we took them to our favorite Mexican restaurant, and they met Beca & Grandma Arlene.

On Saturday, we took them snowshoeing, then enjoyed lunch at the Soup Cellar. We tried on hats at the Hat Shop, searched for nutcrackers at Grandma's museum, tried some cheese & meat at the Cheese Monger's, and went wine tasting! Then Beca treated us to awesome appetizers at her place.

Beca, Lola & Dan

The Bennett's & the Wadkins'

This was the first snowshoe trip for Jesse, Toni, Risa & Tali!

The pink snow bunnies.

Tali, Risa & Lola

Before we left town on Sunday, Risa went sledding on the hill in town, but then all of the girls decided that the dads needed to take a ride down the hill as well! To top off our great weekend, Lola learned to crawl at Beca's right before we left town! What a big girl!

Lola's first time crawling!

Ike

Jense & Lauralee's daughter, Kinslee, is only two weeks older than Lola, and we have already decided that at least for the time being, they are best friends! We love getting our girls together and try to visit each other as often as we can. The most recent visit was in January, over Dan's birthday. On Saturday, we all went to Ikea together, but Jense & Lauralee never quite made it inside the store, as there was the Seattle animal rescue van parked by the door, and there was a a certain little puppy that caught their eye. They brought the little guy home, Lauralee and I headed to Petco, and soon enough, the little puppy had a new name, Ike...like Ikea! Lola was in love with him. She laughed at him, would pet him, and even try to give him kisses. That might be the next addition in our household (but probably only if Lola's mom brings one home without telling Lola's dad!)

Lola in her Zags outfit from Grandma Linda & Nana

Lola & Kinslee...BFFs

Bringing Ike home for the first time.

Jense, Kinslee, Ike & Lauralee outside of the Flaherty house.

Ike...the newest Flaherty.

Mele Kalikimaka

Little Hula Girl

Last year, we spent Christmas in Kona, HI. Stevo, Nana & Auntie Rach shared a condo with us for eight days. Lola loved it and is definately a pool baby! The condo belongs to our friend's grandmother, and is right on the ocean. There were the most wonderful people who live there, an of course, they all fell in love with Lola :) She learned to wave in the pool and would spend time each morning in her raft, floating around the pool and waving at her new freinds! We had an amazing time and cannot wait to go back!

Makalawena Beach...paradise

The girls at the beach.

Our mode of transportation around Kona - Tawni's car. Everyone mistook us for locals, especially with the boogie boards on top and Stevo in the trunk!

Beach baby!

The locals :) Hiking into Makalawena beach.

Lola was such a pool baby. We bought her this raft for $3 at the drugstore in town and she couldn't get enough of it. We were in the pool at least once, if not twice a day with our little fish!

The whole crew. Mele Kalikimaka!