Welcome 2013!

Kicking back enjoying some of Dad's special sausage, egg and maple syrup pancakes and resting up for what is sure to be another busy year. Hoping and praying this is the year we get to bring our Gracie home.

Wishing all our family and friends a year full of surprises and joy, health, happiness and most of all love.

Happy New Year!

Christmas 2012

This Christmas was a quiet one with just the four of us. Matt stayed the night and Hannah having skied all day Christmas Eve, had to be woken at 10:00am. I first woke Matt at 9:30 and told him I was giving him a head start before we unleashed Hannah. He was surprised she was still sleeping and remarked how different it was from whe Kelly would leap on him at 6:30 in the morning shouting at him to get up so they could open presents when they were little.

When I woke Hannah, she rolled over to go back to sleep. So I told her it was Christmas and she sat up right away and then jumped out of bed and ran downstairs squealing and yelling it's Christmas. She went downstairs so fast that she forgot to open her Christmas stocking. :)

Next we opened gifts. She loves being youngest because she gets to go first and hand out the other presents. Her favorite gifts were the material she got to make more dresses, her spy glasses (she can't get enough of Spykids lately), and of course the Spykids movies.

We invited Rosann, Gustavo and Edith over to have Christmas dinner with us and really enjoyed our time with them. The food was good and the girls loved drinking their sparkling cider from wine glasses. So grown up even if they were at the kids' table.

Can't wait till next year when hopefully we will have one more little girl to share all the joy and memories with.
 

Christmas eve present, I wonder what it could be?

Pajamas for me and Alexandra

Christmas anticipation

Spy glasses!

Which one should I open first?

Hannah opening gifts

Material for my new fashion creations!

Matt's thrilled to have a comforter for his new bed

Dad in the holiday spirit 

Practicing some zen with watercolor paper?

Hannah and Edith

I Can Ski!

Hannah got to go with our neighbors for a weekend of cross country skiing the weekend before Christmas. They took lessons in the morning and then set out to ski. While both kids and adults spent some time on their butts in the morning, they quickly got the hang of it and were off to enjoy the freshly groomed trails. :)

The girls, Hannah and Edith, did great. Hannie's little legs kept her working extra hard though to keep up with the others but she was quite the trooper. Maybe next year John and I will try it out.

Thanks Rosann, Gustavo and Edith for treating Hannah to such a fun weekend! We are truly blessed to have such good friends.

Getting suited up for the snow

Ready to hit the slopes!

Winter wonderland

"Hey Guys, wait for me!"

Christmas Concert

Sparkle was the theme (according to Hannah)for this year's Christmas concert. Hannah picked out a very shiny dress and eveytime she turned during a song, the light hit her dress and it was DAZZLING!

The kids did great, although I think Hannah gets a tad overwhelmed when she sees the audience and stops singing during parts of her song. But she still loves it. The highlight of the concert as usual was the kindergarten's Christmas play. They performed the nativity story including writing of the script. Pretty darn cute.

Hannah in her Christmas finery

Second grade performance

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's House

We got to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa just before Christmas. We had a great time and a wonderful dinner. Thanks Jan!

Hannah loved her new puppy (no, not the real kind), doll clothes and her fashion design toys. My scarf has been great on my walks and we have all been enjoying John's cheese. :) Matt really loves his new bed pillows and pajamas too.

Thanks again for making our holidays special!

Hannah opening her gifts

A new puppy!

Matt and Hannah checking out his new pajamas

John checking out all his goodies

Gingerbread House Design

A Christmas tradition around our house is the decorating of the gingerbread house. Last year, Hannah and two of her friends decorated the gingerbread house together. However, I think they kind of took over and Hannah really didn't get to make very many of the design decisions.

So this year, I decided that we'd decorate the house as a family so she'd get to enjoy it more. Only one problem, I didn't count on Dad taking such an interest in the design aspects. After a few moments of back and forth between Hannah and John, he gave up trying to help her with some pointers and let her just have at it. In case you didn't know, she has a bit of a stubborn streak.

So she set about making all the design decisions, including appropriate sampling of frosting and candies. It turned out pretty good and she was happy. We'll have to see how next year goes when she hopefully has a little sister to share the decorating with. :)

Dad and Hannah discussing design features

Hannah hard at work

"Um.., You don't mind if I have a little, right Mom?"

Fashion Designer

Hannah is into fashion design. Her latest adventure is to design dresses and then sell them online. The picture above is her first "creation", a beautiful paisley print number with a gathered shoulder and a little rouching at the waist.

For Christmas she got some material from Santa to expand her fashion line. It may be a little slow going though since she is insisting on hand-sewing her new dress line. She is convinced that if she uses a sewing machine that it won't be hand made.

I have a feeling that this new venture is going to require a lot of patience on Mom's part to encourage this new fashion designer. :)

Canadian Thanksgiving

This year, we headed north to Victoria for Thanksgiving. We started out early for Seattle to catch the boat at 7:00am. The boat ride was nice and Hannah enjoyed a couple of DVDs on her player.

We arrived around 11:00am, stowed our bags at the hotel and hit the city. We had a great time exploring the city and had dim sum for lunch in China town. Afterward, we checked into our room, rested a while and then headed to one of favorite pubs for dinner.

We also rode a horse drawn trolley around the city, took walks along the harbor front and enojyed coffee, smoothies and lots of good food over the weekend. But the highlight of the trip for Hannie was our nightly trips to the hotel pool. :) Lots of fun and a great relaxing weekend, definitely the way to spend a holiday.

Can I drink it now?

Perfect!

Hannah and Dad

Can't get enough lemons

Hannah and Dad checking out the seagull

Hannah on the beach

Mixing "paint" for a rock drawing

Dad and Hannah painting a masterpiece

First Reconciliation

This fall Hannah has began preparing for her first reconciliation at church and made her first reconciliation on November 16th. Our classes taught us how our sins hurt God, others and ourselves. She learned about God's forgiveness for us and how by confessing our sins to God and asking for his forgiveness that we become closer to God.

In a couple of weeks we begin our classes to prepare for her first Communion in April. This sacrement is an initiation rite where she will become a full member of the Catholic Church, celebrating the Eucharist for the first time with her class and church family.

Hannah, we are honored to participate in this journey with you as you learn more about your faith, deepen your relationship with Jesus and learn how to live your life as he taught us. Hannah, as you prepare for your first Communion, may you develop a greater love of Christ who is truly present in the Eucharist.

Look who's 8!

For Hannah's 8th birthday, we had a gymnastics party at the gym where she takes lessons. She loves gymnastics! The kids bounced, tumbled, twirled and played in the foam pit. Afterward,they enjoyed chocolate cupcakes with pink peppermint icing from Charlie B's. Yum!

Hannie, I can't believe you are eight already. The last five years have flown by as we have watched you grow from a scared toddler into a confident little girl who grabs the world by the tail and finds adventure, beauty and joy in everything she does. You truly LIVE life!

I pray that you never change how you see the world, because you have learned at a young age what takes most people a lifetime to learn. I can't wait to see the things that life has in store for you and the amazing woman I'm sure you'll become. Happy Birthday Hannie, Daddy and I love you with all our hearts and souls sweet girl.
 

Hannah bouncing with Edith

Hannah, Edith and Jaden

Working the bars

Chocolate cupcakes with peppermint frosting, my favorite!

Opening presents

Hannah and friends

Dunked!

Catching up after a busy fall. :) In October we attended Family Night for the school auction. This year they added a dunk tank for the kids. Hannah loved it!

Hannah loved climbing into the seat and getting dunked! Fortunately for her the tank was full of balls and not water, made repeat turns a little easier and more fun.

Dunked!