Christmas in Seattle

Before we left for Boise we had a miniature Christmas in Seattle where we opened the presents that my parents sent to us. Here is Hannah opening up her Leapster, games and case. Even though she doesn't quite know how to use it yet, she loves it and carries it around most of the day.


Liam opening up one of his gifts. He got some adorable new clothes, a quiet book, and a fun basketball hoop/T-ball/football center. Besides Liams smile my favorite part of this picture would have to be my little Rambo in the background, hahahahaha. A Christmas ribbon has never looked so manly.
We all made out like bandits, thanks Grandma Geri and Papa Ron!

Hannah's Birthday Celebrations

We had a wonderful time celebrating Hannah's 3rd Birthday. The day before her Birthday we went out to dinner. She requested a cheeseburger and milkshake. As we were driving to Red Robin we passed a McDonald's and Hannah yelled "I found it, I found the cheeseburger and milkshake!" The poor thing is used to high class meals. We told her we were going somewhere else and she was still excited.

Pictures from her Birthday dinner.This picture was taken when the servers brought an ice cream sundae and all sang Happy Birthday to her. She was quite sure about the whole situation, haha.

On her actual Birthday we had an ice cream party! Hannah's friend and neighbor Leah is exactly 1 year older than Hannah, so we had a combined party for them and their friends. We played games like pin the cherry on the ice cream cone, colored place-mats that had pictures of ice cream on it, and let the kids put their own toppings on their ice cream sundaes. There was a great turn out and the kids had a blast.

One of the biggest hits of the party were the cupcakes that were baked into ice cream cones. Jack especially loved his.
Hannah and Jack coloring their place-mats.
Playing with the fun blow out toy
Taking a break from the cupcake cone to play with the blow out toys some more
Liam had fun at the party too :-)

When we got home from the party Hannah opened up presents from my parents and us.

Hannah opening up her present from Grandma and Grandpa
She was so excited
She got a fun paper doll toy and that beautiful Christmas dress and a bed time cd.
Opening up her present from us. She got clothes and this cute crib for her baby.

Trying to get a picture of me with the kids.
Love these kids!
Hannah wearing the gorgeous dress my mom got her for her Birthday.
This picture would have been perfect if the lighting wouldn't have been so bright.
Now there is a beautiful smile.
Jakes mom, Mimi, flew into town for a few days after Hannah's Birthday. She brought some fun gifts including that adorable princess snuggie Jake is sporting :-)
Her other gifts were twistable crayons, coloring pages, a fold up play tent, and a gorgeous new dress. But I will just treat you with another great picture of Jake in Hannah's snuggie.

Hannah Turns 3!

Today Hannah turned 3 years old (insert gasp)! She is turning into such a little lady and has such a kind and gentle personality (when she is not tired or hungry....but who doesn't get cranky when that happens??) We just love being around her and talking with her and hearing the funny things she has to say. Often times her narration during a movie is more comical then the movie itself. Recently we were watching Cinderella as family and it got to the part where the evil step sisters tear off Cinderellas dress and she said "Uh no! Her dress is broken, she needs a Mouseketool dada." Apparently the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show can be educational: a Mouseketool can solve any dilemna. Thanks Mickey.

Speaking of education, Hannah started preschool! Here she is excited for her first day of class:

Some friends in our complex mentioned that they were doing a preschool co op and invited us to join. Once a week we take turns hosting the children at our home and teach a lesson. Right now our lesson plans are based on a letter of the alphabet. She has loved it! The moms do such a good job of entertaining the children with a craft, writing, books, snacks, and games all based on the given letter.

She attended a creative dance class that I taught in November. I will do another post about it but I had so much fun teaching it! It was a free class for preschoolers and there were between 10 and 20 kids there every week. It was a great turn out and the children and their parents are requesting that I teach the class again, so it looks like Hannah will be attending a dance class in January too. Hannah loved going to dance class and interacting with her friends. Here she is in her tutu all dressed and ready for dance class:

Hannah is turning into quite the social butterfly. She loves to find children to play with and automatically refers to them as her friend, even if they just met. I love that about her. She is such a tender hearted girl and enjoys being around other children. She especially loves her little brother and is growing into an incredible big sister.Her vocabulary and grammar are growing daily. She knows and recognizes the ABCs. She can count to 20 and recognize any number. Her memory is impeccable. If you read her a book regularly she can soon read the book back to you word for word. She enjoys singing and being sung to. If you ask her who her best friend is she will say Baby Howe or Jack. Baby Howe goes everywhere with her and she wishes her friend Jack could come everywhere with her too.

This picture is a little blurry but I love it. I know I'm biased but I think she is the most beautiful girl in the world. Can you find Baby Howe in the picture?
She wanted to hold Baby Howe in the baby carrier like I carry Liam.
Here is a cute picture of Hannah with Jack and his mommy Kelli.She is quite skilled at building towers and loves to balance toys at the top of her creations.
Oh and remember this post? Or this one? She still sleeps in weird positions. Here is the proof:

We love our Hannah! We are so lucky that we get to be her parents.

8 Month Old Tubs

Our little boy is 8 months old!!! (OK, truth be told he is now 9 months old but I started this post a while ago and it needs to be published before he is no longer a baby.) I probably sound like a broken record when it comes to saying my kids grow up too fast. But seriously people, mine are growing up way faster than most kids.

Liam's official name is William. But he gets called William like 0.001% of the time around these parts. Liam is his name in public when we introduce him to people. But at home he mostly goes by Baby Bruda, Tub of Love, Tubby's, Tubs, Buster....pretty much anything but his real name. Is that bad? I feel like we should be better at calling him by his name because at this stage they should recognize their name. But he really is just a heaping tub of love.

He is such a happy little thing. Case in point: One time I had to step out of a church meeting because he was laughing too hard. I wasn't even tickling him or anything. He loves eye contact and smiles and it doesn't matter who you are he will smile back with this big grin that lights up not just his face but the whole room. I love watching the effect he has on people. Our little ray of sunshine. Hannah can't get enough of him either. She loves making him laugh. And his laugh makes her laugh. They are like two peas in a giggling pod.

He started teething this month. Which was no fun. One day I noticed while I was feeding him some solids that between bites he would bend down and gnaw on the table of the high chair. The next day his first little tooth popped out of his gums. He was also pretty fussy and started waking up at night. I never knew when Hannah was teething until there was a new tooth in her mouth. Maybe I just understand the symptoms better this time around...or maybe Liam is just a little softy :-)

Liam's Latest

1st tooth
Started crawling
Loves to stand with support
He loves food. He will eat anything, even vegetables as long as they are disguised in some applesauce. I know. I'm sneaky like that.
He stopped sleeping through the night due to teething and 2 consecutive colds. Poor guy.
Loves people and will cry if he is left alone in a room.
His favorite thing to do is take something and hit it against another something.

He is so much fun and we love him to pieces!!

Now for some pictures:

Wearing his BSU hat to watch some college football
Playing with a toy dog
Dressed up in his Sunday best
Showing off his early crawling skills back in early October
He loves to stand in his crib
Such a sweetie

"Garbage Cawn"

First of all, I love my little Hannah. She is a dream of a child. But she is obsessed with something, and it is going to drive me bonkers. Most children develop some sort of quirky little obsession when they are young. For some it is trains, others it is a certain TV show, or a favorite superhero, maybe a well loved baby doll or stuffed toy...and then there is Hannah's latest obsession. "Garbage cawn's". That would be garbage can, but she pronounces it with a British accent, hence the "cawn". She doesn't play with them. She just loves to talk about them.

While driving down the street she will point out every single garbage can we pass and talk about how dirty they are. She will count them and name the colors she see's. And lets face it, when you live in a big city you see about a bazillion garbage cans in just a quick trip. It would be more bearable if she didn't force you to repeat everything she says just so she knows you heard her. A sample conversation that transpires on a daily basis while in the car:

Hannah: "Green, black, and a blue garbage cawn! 1, 2, 3 garbage cawns!!"

Me: "Good job Hannah."

Hannah: "Garbage cawn too deerty Mama." (She say's dirty with a British accent too)

Me: "That's right Hannah."

Hannah: "Garbage cawn too deerty Mama!!"

Me: "OK Hannah."

Hannah: "Garbage cawn too deerty Gretchen!!!!" (She mean's business when she calls me by my first name)

Me: "I hear you Hannah, you're right."

Hannah: "GARBAGE CAWN TOO DEERTY GRETCHEN!!!!!!!"

And then I cave in.

Me: Begrudgingly "Yes Hannah, garbage cans are dirty."

Can you see the joy that is a car ride with her lately? She loves garbage trucks too. She will gaze out the living room window in excitement as a garbage truck pulls into the parking lot to pick up the trash. Over the past couple of weeks it has gone from hilarious and sweet to "I would rather be hit over the head by that garbage can than hear her say it one more time". Please tell me this obsession will fade. Have your kids ever had an obsession? I would love to hear about it.

Pictures

A couple of weeks ago we took the kiddos to JCPenney Portraits to get some professional pictures taken of them. It was the first time Liam had ever had his pictures taken professionally. He is 7 months old, so it was about time. They both did great! We got some good smiles out of them.