Birthdays 2012

Here is the first batch of pictures from Aaron and Hannah's birthday celebrations.  We had the Smith family birthdays on a Sunday evening to celebrate all the Smith birthdays [we are honorary Smiths!].  Lots of fun presents (mostly books and a sit and spin!) and a great time catching up with everyone.

To the park we go!

January held some pretty mild temperatures so we got to play outside a good bit.  Hannah loves to go to the park.  Her favorites are the slide and swings.  Hannah recently discovered that it was great fun crawling through the tunnels and climbing up the stairs!  It has rained several times this past week and been too wet go to the park.  You would have thought it was the end of the world.  All you hear is "slide? slide?"

Happy Valentine's Day 2012

Here are a few pictures of our Valentine's celebrations- we spread it out over a few days.  We took some pictures Sunday after church with Hannah in her cute heart dress.  On Monday we ate our Valentine's meal: ranch house pork chops, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, a little wine.  And the best dessert ever: cinnamin roll cake!  Tuesday brought in a host of gifts for Hannah: a Winnie-the-Pooh movie from Mimi/Papa (along with a skype call), an adorable heart shirt from Nana, and a book and a ball from Mama/Daddy.  Aaron got some special flavored coffee and I got a flower ring.  Pizza for dinner and off to a Cougar basketball game- hooray for Valentine's Day!

Books and boxes

Hannah and I went to the library story time for toddlers for the first time last week.  She loves to read and be read to so I thought we would try this new experience.  Hannah did so well during the actual story time- we listened to books, sang songs and popped bubbles.  When we left the story room and out into the children’s book section Hannah decided to wander off and talk loudly.  And there is a toy train track around the ceiling of the room- she thought that was the best thing ever!  So she ran around yelling “Train! Train!  Look- train!”  We will be going back this coming week but I think we will leave as soon as story time is finished.

To explain a little bit about the pictures above, Hannah's great grandmother "Mimi Jane" stayed at our house at Christmas and taught Hannah that riding in a box was really fun.  Now whenever Hannah sees a box, she says “Ride, ride!”  She thinks that boxes make a good place to read a book as well.

Valentine's Crafts. . .with a toodler

Hello Friends!  I am finally back blogging.  Here is part 1 of our Valentine's craft projects.  Hannah had some serious giggles while doing this.  The best part?  The finger paint was made out of yogurt- crafty and delicious :)

Snow day, part 3

Here is the last installment of the snow day pictures.  We pulled her in the sled, made snow angels, hiked to the backyard and to the bench.  Once again, Hannah was begging to stay outside in the snow.  She was freezing, hungry and crying her head off because she wanted to ride in the sled just a little more.

Zoo Lights at the Denver Zoo

Burke invited us to see one of his favorite holiday sites: Zoo Lights at the Denver Zoo.  Pretty cold but pretty spectaular.  There are not a whole lot of pictures to show because it was so dark.  But there is a great story to share: while we admired the ice sculptures, two ladies started to do acrobatics hanging from fabric from the ceiling.  Pretty neat.  But not to Burke.  His reaction: "This doesn't make sense.  These ladies are stressing me out."  Love that boy!

Christmas Day 2011

This is how Hannah wanted to spend all of Christmas: reading her old book and not opening new books!

Hannah in the midst of all her new books, dvds and flashcards.

Piper Jane and Hannah decided that running back and forth to the door and dancing was a great idea after all the present unwrapping!

Here are just a few of the pictures from Christmas Day.  All the kiddos and Nana had matching pajamas.  And all the kiddos were tired of opening presents after only a few. . . so we made them do a present blitz and open all of them in about 10 minutes so that they could go play and we could open our presents at a more leisurely pace.  Hannah got some baby dolls, a Cookie Monster back pack and Lots and Lots of books!  We also got her a bundle of Word World dvds and flashcards- these have been in continual use since we got home.

Fun at Nana's

Hannah in the tent

Hannah's two favorites: Aunt Kirstin (pronounced "shirshin" by the sweet girl) and a book!

Burke and Hannah watching Peter Rabbit- Burke claimed he wasn't scared but he hid behind the couch for the scary parts!

Nana has a huge downstairs area that is a perfect spot for playing!  There is a super tent for cousins to play and hide in, a basket of books and toys, large windows and a door to watch all the snow falling outside, and a big tv to watch your favorite shows.  Great job, Nana~ Hannah loves your house!

Snow day, part 2

Hmmmm. . .what am I supposed to do again?

Hannah loves sledding- I can't even count the time we pulled her up and down the driveway and street

This stuff is hard to walk in Daddy!

Aaron and 90 year old Mimi throwing snowballs at each other

Four generations having fun in the snow

Aaron and Evette showing their progress chart before taking a two mile hike in the snow- uphill both ways!

Sorry it has been so long since the last post.  Life gets crazy during the holidays!  Here are some pictures taken the day after the snow fell all through the night.  Hannah Loved being pulled in the sled.