Hanna's Party

Hanna shared a rainbow birthday party with her cousins Lizzy and Jocie this year. Aunt Lisa provided a super fun bounce house and water slide. Aunt Laura brought a cute t-shirt craft. Aunt Melanie handed out tasty party favors...and I made the cake! It was FUN.

Yay Five!

Hanna is five! And she is the best five-year-old girl I have ever known. She is creative and imaginative and dramatic (in a great way). She loves music and dancing and fresh air and bike riding and preschool and playdates and makeup and jewelry and curly hair and girly fashion (maybe she could teach me a thing or two). She craves macaroni and cheese and hotdogs and peanut butter and honey sandwiches. She gives me hugs, kisses and compliments every day, she sits on the counter and watches me make dinner every evening, and she makes me sing to her every night (her favorite song is a cheesy track from the "I'm a Mormon" album called "When I grow up I want to be a mother"). I could never get enough of her. Her birthday was on Friday and after the initial sugary breakfast and presentation of gifts, we spent the whole day decorating and getting ready for the big party...

6 Months Old

Now's when it really gets fun to have a baby around! Seriously. This boy sleeps through the night, takes three naps a day, eats like a champ, follows a predictable schedule...and when he's awake, all he does is smile and laugh (and drool a little). He's such a roley-poley bag of chub, I just want to squeeze his guts and eat his neck! No kidding, this is the age that makes me want to have ten kids.

That being said, baby Reed doesn't have any big milestones to report. Not a single tooth has come through. No crawling, no sitting up, and not a ton of rolling going on. He doesn't seem to want to do anything out of the ordinary. He's not off the charts chubby like some of his brothers were - just 50% for both height and weight. The doctor says that means he's average...I kinda think it means he's perfect!

This post was powered by Keri @ the House of Payne :)

Good Buddies

This is Hanna's last year at home before she goes off to Kindergarten (sniff, sniff...sob!). She and Liam have such a special friendship right now and I'm not sure it will ever be the same once she's gone all the time like Nolan and Colby are. I have to record all this cuteness while I have the chance! The picture above is the two of them at the zoo together, petting sting rays. And here are some cute shots I snapped of them acting out the movie Rapunzel. Hanna is Rapunzel, of course, and Liam plays every other important character. They know all the words and they do all the motions. Whoever worried that life without out a sister would be altogether lonely and dull (was that me?), need not worry so. Apparently, it's not too bad.

School Projects

So as to preserve these somewhat expensive and certainly time consuming projects in the annals of time and not have them hanging around my house shedding moss and pebbles....here are a few pictures of Nolan and Colby's homework assignments.

And while we're on the subject of school, allow me to journal about Nolan's curse. He's been telling me for months about several girls at school that like him, and one in particular who is very vocal and forward about it (following him around, writing him letters, drawing him pictures, giving him her phone number, chasing him incessantly on the playground). At first I just told him to ignore her, but in recent weeks he has been particularly bothered and would even get teary telling me about it (especially after a recent field trip when she sat by him on the bus and tried to kiss him). I finally contacted the teacher and asked her to address the issue, and I was surprised to hear from her that she was well aware of the problem and had been threatening the girl for some time to stop and had already asked the girl's mother to handle it. She told me she would put it in the principal's hands. I learned shortly after that the principal had met with the girl and her parents and told them that if she didn't leave Nolan alone they would have no choice but to expel her. Nolan says that she hasn't bothered him since. Poor irresistable kid!

Firestation Field Trip

This is Hanna's preschool class. I'm in a teaching co-op with six other moms in my neighborhood. It's been so fun planning lessons for this group and spending this time with Hanna. Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE having a little girl? Especially THAT little girl! Anyway, we recently took a field trip to the fire station and here are a few pictures. Liam's not technically in the class, but he sure had a good time tagging along! And I made sure to get a close up of Hanna with her first crush, Ryland.

Fun Things in February

Just a couple of cute things that I wanted to remember from this month...

This picture is from a couple weekends ago when Scott took the kids jogging with him. He often gets out and goes running on Saturday mornings and the kids always mimmick him while he stretches and beg to go with him. He usually says, "no, no, no," and takes off. But this time he said, "sure!" He even got them all suited up and fully equipped with music devices and ear phones. Then they all ran down the street and around the block. You should have seen the smiles on their faces! It made me so happy.

And this is a picture of a sign that Scott and I found on Nolan and Colby's bedroom door. If you can't read it, it says, "Stay out! We have a meeting!" We asked them later what their meeting was about and they said it was an "ipod meeting." They're so funny. They just had to close the door and take a moment to discuss and compare ipods. I love how they love to play and how they are perfect friends for each other.