Time to Brag...

The whole purpose of this post is to brag about our wonderfully smart kiddo. At the moment she is quite obsessed with puzzles. For awhile there, she could color ALL day, now she does puzzles ALL day. Literally, she will put one together, take it apart, and do it again. Nick and I were out Christmas shopping for her the other day and Nick had the idea to get her a more difficult puzzle than she already has, so we picked out a Cars one that is ages 4 to 8, 46 pieces!! We bring it home and bust it out, and she doesn't pause for a second to put it all together. As hard as it was to it back and watch her do it, we did not help one bit and she did the entire thing herself without getting frustrated at all!!!
Hard at work putting her puzzle together.

So proud that our just turned 3 year old did a 4 to 8 year old puzzle... she's pretty proud of herself, too!!

Princess Classics on Ice!

So, at the last minute Gina and I planned to take the families to Disney on Ice: Princess Classics! Literally, we bought tickets Thursday night for the Sunday afternoon show! We somehow convinced the Dad's to come too, and I'm sure they were thrilled they did! The little girls were totally excited to see princesses, but I think the big girls were even more excited!!
Emma's grandma brought the girls crowns and princess wands, but since the little ones weren't into the crowns, Gina and I grabbed them and got in the spirit!

The first half of the show, Hannah was totally into it, and she couldn't wait to see Snow White. When the girls would stand next to each other they would cuddle and it was super cute!

The show was really good, and it was so much fun watching it through Hannah's eyes, I think I was looking at her more than the ice skaters! To see her get excited and clap along with songs was awesome. However, after intermission Hannah got a little restless and was done sitting still. If the show had ended there, it would have been a total success, but I think she was still a little too young to be still for the 2 hour show and she was ready to go. But we persevered and made it to watch Cinderella and the Prince get married in the end.

After the show, Daddy and Hannah with her crown that came with the cotton candy... she was ready to go home!

I was wanting to take her to Disney on Ice in February, but maybe we'll save the money and take her in a year or 2 when she can enjoy it a little more! But, I'm glad we are able to provide her with all these fun experiences!

Halloween and Trick or Treating!

This was a momentous year in our family for Halloween-- Hannah helped carve pumpkins for the first time and went trick-or-treating for the first time! Halloween started off with me running around to 6 different stores trying to find a witch costume for Hannah. Earlier in the week she saw Minnie Mouse dressed as a witch and couldn't stop talking about it, so Nick and I decided (at the last minute) to surprise her with a witch costume... I did not intend for it to be almost impossible to find, though! But, I finally found the dress and hat in her size at Toys R Us and the purple and black striped tights at Party City. When I came home with the new costume, she was thrilled and wore it ALL day!!
After nap we decided to carve pumpkins, or as Hannah called it "scarving punkins". I didn't realize how little she could actually do, and since she didn't like to touch the pumpkin guts, she didn't even want to help clean them out. But, she did use a tool to scrape a little and picked out the designs to carve. She sat with us the entire time and anytime she could help with something she was right there!

After we were done, she loved hugging them to take pictures and she kept calling them her "babies" it was so funny!!!

Since the messy pumpkin carving business was over, Hannah could finally put her costume back on and she kept telling me "I'm the cutest witch ever!", which she was totally right! For the next hour or 2 she ran around the house wanting us to take her picture until the grandparents came over for pizza.

After pizza it was finally time for trick-or-treating! Since we live on a busier street, we drove over to Kari and Billy's to go trick or treating with them in their neighborhood. Dylan was dressed as a sheriff and was super cute... I tried, and failed, at getting a picture of the 2 of them together, they refused to stand still for even 2 seconds, there was too much excitement! So, we decided we better get a move on, these kids weren't gonna wait much longer. The kids were so good and neither was afraid of any of the people dressed up or houses that were decorated. After every house Hannah would say "I wanna get more treats and fill my bucket all the way to the top!", she quickly got the concept and couldn't go fast enough. We kept telling her we need to wait for Dylan, and with clenched teeth she would say "hurry-up Dylan", but all in all both kiddos kept a good pace and got their buckets filled about half way.

We were only out for about an hour, but all were tired and ready to go home. Once home, we turned our lights on for trick-or-treaters to come to our house, and we actually got a few good size groups. Hannah LOVED handing out the candy and seeing what everyone was wearing, she was sad when we said it was time to turn the lights off and go to bed. Then first thing the next morning, she said "Can we turn the outside lights on for more trick-or-treaters?", needless to say she had a great time and didn't want Halloween to end!

Movin' on up!

A few days ago, Nick was offered and accepted a new job!!! In 2 weeks he will be starting at his new company, SEIU 1000, which is the largest union for State for employees. His new job title is Windows Server Administrator. He will be making a little more moola, they offer GREAT benefits, including FREE parking (Woo-Hoo), and he won't have to do desk top support anymore, he will be working more behind the scenes keeping the server up and running smoothly... all the way around this position should be a great career move for him and more beneficial for our family. The only slight downside of the new job is the company's colors are yellow and purple, and every Wednesday is company appreciation day and they ask employees to wear purple. Since my hubby has never owned a purple shirt in his life, I went out and purchased his first company appreciation shirt as a "Congratulations on the new job" present... I think it'll bring out his sexy eyes!!! I'm so proud of my hubby and knew his hard work would eventually pay off!!

Scootin' in the "Neighvorheard"

Hannah got a scooter for her birthday from Grandma and Grandpa, and we took her to the bike shop this last weekend to pick out a helmet... and I have a feeling it's going to match the bike Santa might bring her for Christmas! *wink* wink* Anyway, this has become our new favorite, daily, activity. After nap we have been taking the scooter out for a stroll in the "neighvorheard" (that's how she pronounces neighborhood!). She has so much fun, she waves and talks to everyone we pass, loves looking at everyone's house, she stops frequently to take in the scenery and I've got to keep her moving or we would take hours to get back home. It's a great way to pass the time and keep her busy until Daddy gets home or Daddy will take her out while I cook dinner!

I love this, most of her scooting time is spent walking behind her scooter... she's still getting the hang of her new wheels!

"Punkin" Patch with Gina and Emma

Gina and I took the girls to the pumpkin patch this last week and had so much fun! But to start off the trip my car got stuck in the mud and Gina had to get a few burly men to push us out while I found a less muddy spot to park. Hannah could hardly contain herself, she was so excited to see what the pumpkin patch was and the fun things they had to do.

This picture was actually taken at the end of the morning after we had found our pumpkins. It's crazy to realize that Gina and I have been friends for 20 years now, and our girls are following in our footsteps and have known each other since birth!

First stop: feeding the goats. Hannah was all about it, and wasn't scared at all; Emma was a little more reserved but came around and totally enjoyed feeding them too. There were also chickens, ducks, pigs, and turkeys (which Hannah thought were ostriches!) which the girls loved to watch.

Next we followed them through the corn maze, they climbed the steps to the tree house and went down the slide, then climbed the hay pyramid, played in the hay house, went down another slide, and then walked through the haunted barn- Hannah kept saying she was scared but as soon as we left the barn she asked to go again!

Finally, it was time to pick out a pumpkin, and they were the perfect size, not too big for the girls to pick up. Hannah was a typical girl and could not decide on a pumpkin, while Emma instantly picked one and was ready to go. Then Gina found a teeny, tiny pumpkin, which ended up being a hot commodity and the girls fought over it until Emma was nice enough to let her BFF have the teeny pumpkin and she chose another one.

Overall, our morning at the pumpkin patch was pretty successful and Hannah only pouted for a few minutes when it was time to leave. We have the best girls ever and I'm so happy they are able to grow-up together! I hope they will look back one day and see how lucky they are to have each other, like Gina and I are have each other... nothings better than your BFF!

Our 3 year-old!!!

My, my what a difference one year makes!! Tomorrow is our little girls actual birthday and today she had her 3 year well-baby check-up! Diagnosis: perfect toddler that is growing fabulously!! (But we already knew that) She is now 28lbs. and is 36.5 inches tall, which means she is in the 25 percentile for both height and weight. Since last year she has gained maybe 2 lbs. and has grown about 4 inches! Her health is perfect and development right on track.

Thinking back over the year it's amazing how much Hannah has accomplished in her little life. When she turned 2, she was able to speak 3 word sentences, and now she can narrate full paragraphs about her day and whats going on around her. She knows all her animals along with the sounds they make. She can count to 20 and say her ABC's. She's learning songs, her favorites are Old Macdonald and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but she tries to sing EVERY song she hears, even on the radio. (She will sing Pink, Paramore, and All American Rejects !!) She also knows all her colors and always points them out to us. Her coloring skills are quite amazing, if I do say so myself, she seriously colors inside the lines and most people are pretty impressed with her mad skills. She has since been able to memorize books and she "reads" them to us or herself during bedtime. She started preschool at La Petite in January, going 2 half days per week, now she goes 2 full days per week, and that may be increased to 3 full days in the coming months as school gets busier for mom. In late April/early May, she pottytrained with her best friend Emma, and caught on pretty quick! She had very few accidents and now is a master at pooping and peeing in the potty. She even got bumped up to the 3's class at school 4 months early because she was doing so well at pottytraining. She still wears pull-ups at night, but will randomly wake-up dry in the morning, so we are getting closer to completely trained. In June we started swim lessons; she was pretty scared and clung to me for life, but got a little more comfortable in the water but she refused to go under the water at all costs so thats what we'll work on next summer. She was only able to do a few lessons because she got bit by her grandparents dog, Jake, and had to get 14 stiches on her cheek and lip; it was unfortunate but she has since healed really nicely. Hannah is getting more skilled every time we visit the park, we are letting her be more independant when climbing and trying not to act too nervous when she's trying new things. Her favorite things to do at the park are swings, riding her tricycle, and climbing ladders or steps. Since last year her daily schedule hasn't changed too much: she wakes-up about 6:30-7, and instantly asks for a "bana", I keep waiting for her to be sick of them, but it never fails she asks for one everyday. She enjoys watching playhouse Disney on the mornings we are home; her favorite shows are Mickey or Caillou, and her favorite movies are Finding Nemo, Cars, and Bolt. She loves going to Blockbuster with us on Friday nights to pick a movie for family movie night-- which we try to do a few Fridays every month. Her favorite breakfast is strawberry shredded wheat with milk. Then we have lunch about 11:30-12, and her fav lunch food is PB&J's or mac n cheese, then naptime is about 12:30-3:30. After nap, it's snack time first and foremost; she LOVES all fruit but her favs are strawberries or watermelon. She's getting pretty picky about veggies, even though she used to eat everything, but she will normally eat avocado every time. For the rest of the day we play outisde, go to the park, or color. Then it's dinner, bath, show, stories, and bedtime about 7:30. She doesn't go to sleep right away, so she'll read to herself or sing until she's tired, but she's normally pretty content. She just recently got a big girl bed, so no more crib for her! She wasn't even climbing out of her crib but I figured it's time for the next step since she is now 3. The transition to a big girl bed was VERY smooth! We were shocked, she doesn't get out of bed without asking, it's so cute! The first couple nights it took her awhile to calm down because it was so exciting being in a new bed, but now she's used to it and even in the morning she calls for us from her room, and we tell her to come in our room. Beside her developmental milestones, we have done lots of fun things this year, including: Fairytale town, colored Easter eggs, got her first haircut, family trip to Oregon for great Grandpa's 80th birthday, the State Fair, Funderland, 1st manicure, movie theater for the 1st time, and I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but the point is we are truly enjoying our privilage of being her parents and watching our girl grow-up. It's been SO much fun seeing the world through her eyes and we look foward to what this next year holds for us!