December!

Someday, I'll actually catch up on this blog and the posts will be about the same month that I'm posting in :) Ha! Life is busy and there's not much down-time to say the least! Hannah is back into the swing of things with preschool after a wonderful winter break. The girls were both sick with colds for a few days around Christmas, but other than that we had a great time visiting with family and friends around the holidays! In December, we managed 2 visits to Columbia, celebrating Hannah's birthday, having numerous visitors to Liberty, celebrating Christmas multiple times, and lots of holiday/winter fun!

Cats!! Mom and Howard now bring their 3 cats with them when they come to visit, and we've all decided that the cats are the best entertainment for the girls! The girls could seriously play all day with the cats out the garage. They absolutely love them. They throw balls to them, push them in the stroller, hold them, and chase them. The cats are amazingly docile and put up with all of this! Blacky, Ray-Ray, and Lisa are great cats :) And the best part is...we don't actually have to get a pet and take care of it for the girls to have the experience. Yay! Well, and Greg is allergic to cats, so while the girls LOVE kitties, we will never be able to have one. Greg is a good sport and puts up with the cats while they come to visit :)

Hannah's 4th Birthday!!
Hannah decided that she wanted to have a Hello Kitty party for her birthday. She also decided that she wanted to celebrate in Columbia with her cousins and have a gymnastics party. It turned out to be a great idea, because it was a wonderful way to celebrate her birthday!

This is the Hello Kitty cake that I made. This is the first time I have tried to re-create a "character" so I was thankful that she choose Hello Kitty instead of Cinderella or something :)

Hannah wanted to help decorate her cake, so we compromised by having her decorate her cupcakes and I decorated the cake. Here are her masterpiece cupcakes :) So sweet. When they were served at the party, the kids didn't think twice as they grabbed one and gobbled up all that frosting.

Uncle Dave helping Lauren balance on the beam :) She actually stood there by herself for a few seconds...

The gymnastics place was great! They provided a "coach" or the party and she led the kids in all sorts of games, obstacle course, parachute activities, etc.

They encouraged all of the parents and grandparents to participate, and they did! It proved to be a really fun time :)

All the cousins!!

After the gymnastics place, we all headed over to Shakespeare's to have some lunch and open presents. It was great for the adults to be able to catch up and the kids had a fun time at the "kid table". Hannah still talks about how we allowed her to drink Dr. Pepper on her birthday, and how she and Kate Dyer got to go fill up their cups with Dr. Pepper at Shakespeare's :) And then how she accidentally pushed the wrong button and got 2 sodas in her cup...and then how she spilled it...ha! Quite a day for this 4 yr old :) Hannah was in heaven getting to spend all this time with her cousins. She is really so lucky to have such great cousins who are so good to her and such good friends to her.

Yes, that is a cow bell. Yes, I think that Uncle Jeff is leading in the race to give the most annoying present :) Ha! That's a good one...we are still trying to figure out a way to top it.

This quickly became her favorite night gown ever :) This gal loves Hello Kitty. I'm not sure what it is about HK that makes it so popular, as there is no t.v. show or book or anything else? Just simply Hello Kitty.

Lauren eating with a fork! One of the first times that she had done this, and she did great!!

Hannah's Christmas Program!
They had a wonderful Christmas program at preschool. They kids sang 6-7 songs and they generally performed the Christmas nativity story. Hannah was a lamb :) The kids in her class were all dressed as animals from the nativity. Next year, maybe she will get to upgrade to an angel or something? :) The program was so sweet. She really loves learning the songs and frequently sings them at home too. It is amazing how well the 3-4 yr olds learn the songs with very little time to practice.

After the program, the class headed down to the Christmas party! They made reindeer ears, had a special reindeer snack, and played pin the nose on Rudolph. Hannah was very excited about the party and played the game approximately 52 times until she got Rudolph's nose on the correct spot. Harper's mom commented on how she loves how determined Hannah is. Yes, yes she is. And we love that too...most of the time.

It snowed!! We had a great snow, but it was REALLY cold outside! So we brought the snow inside!

Lauren getting excited to play with snow! This sand table has gotten so much use! You can fill it with sand, snow, water, beans, etc. depending on the situation. They really love playing with it--a good toy no matter the weather.

Lauren is quite the reader! She loves her books and wants to read all the time now.

All bundled up and ready to go out in the snow with Daddy!

Sledding in the yard at home :) A small hill, but perfect for one of her first sledding experiences.

Greg pulling her up the hill-- He's such a good Dad :)

Hannah playing with her new art set! Her preschool teachers got all of the students in their class one of these art sets! I thought that was a very generous gift, but one that they kids LOVED! What a grown-up present for the little artist. Art is still one of Hannah's favorite things to do.

Mom and Howard came to visit for a few days and we celebrated Hannah's birthday and also had our Christmas celebration with them. We had a great time, despite the girls feeling a little under the weather with a cold.

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Color Wonder Light-up Paint Pallet! Just what she wanted :)

Lauren got a little broom! Perfect, because she tries to use our big broom and least a few times a day:) This girls spots dirt better than anyone and wants to help clean up. She has been known to go get a towel and wipe up a spill, or use the broom to clean up crumbs, etc. :) A 16 month old who cleans??

Hannah picked out presents for her grandparents, for Lauren, and for us at the Kidz Mall. She LOVES to pick out the presents and also loves to give them. I honestly think she was most excited about giving the presents than anything else. Which is wonderful! She gave Howard this sticker book, so here they are putting the sticker book together. So sweet :)

Making gingerbread cookies with grandma :)

Well, I thought I was going to get away with having Hannah decorate her own cake for her actual birthday at home. After all, she had wanted to decorate the Hello Kitty cake for her party in Columbia. But no...when the Strawberry Shortcake cake came out of the oven, she let me know that she actually wanted it to look like Strawberry Shortcake, and that she wanted me to decorate it instead of her. Bummer!!  :) Ha! So I went to work...the things we do for our children! Ha! ;) It didn't turn out marvelous, but she was very excited :)

Grandma took Hannah to Wal-Mart to get a special treat to help her feel better, after 4-5 days of having a bad cold. I think it worked :) She was feeling better already, but her little doggy seemed to do the trick to help her get over her cold :)

Christmas!!
Gramma Jan and Grampa Bill came to celebrate Christmas at our house! We had a great time! It was a wonderful Christmas! It was our first Christmas at home since having Hannah, and it was great to wake up Christmas morning in our own home and not have to travel with little ones and pack up all of our stuff, etc. Santa came, of course, and there was much excitement in our house!

Christmas Eve :)

Santa came! He didn't leave Lauren as many presents as Hannah...maybe because she's so little?!

Waiting in anticipation for Grampa Bill, so that they can go downstairs and see if Santa came!

That Christmas morning smile and anticipation :)

A walking dog :)

Hello Kitty wrapping paper!! Great job, Gramma Jan!! :)

Grampa Bill made an amazing bulletin board to match Hannah's bed! Great present! Hannah has had fun personalizing her bulletin board and putting up pictures and artwork.

Grampa Bill also made Lauren this cute little doggie rocking horse. She even actually rides it :) She loves dogs, so this is just perfect for her.

A kitty calendar!! :)

Lauren riding her new doggie rocking horse from Grampa Bill. It's a hit!

Gramma Jan and Hannah checking out her new paint set!

Lauren is saying "Kitty!!" :) She loved her new calendar :)

Working on her new snowman puzzle from Gramma Jan and Grampa Bill :) She loves puzzles and is really good at them! Very determined. The adult "helping" is not allowed to actually put any of the pieces together.

Love this picture :) They are using a thermometer from her new veterinarian set to "measure" the temperature in the oven as the Shrinky Dinks cook. Hannah is wearing her new veterinarian outfit :) Gramma Jan is such a sport!

Hannah the veterinarian :) Hard at work!