Someone turned 1 today!

Our little angel Hannah turned 1 today! What a year it's been. We didn't do too much today. We'll be celebrating with our families on Sunday. But we did make it a special day for Hannah. Braden and Cobin spent the day with us and Hannah enjoyed watching all her cousins play. We also went out to dinner with my parents and Hannah ate like a champ. She is my good eater! We sang happy birthday to her about ten times today because she just is too cute to only do it once. She starts squealing and dancing and clapping her hands. I'll have to video it for you on Sunday! She's still not walking yet, but it could be any time now. Here's Hannah's first year in pictures:

January 26, 2010, 5 minutes old


1 week old


1 month

2 months and starting to smile!

Peacefully sleeping through the night at 3 months (a big accomplishment!)

Visiting the Dales in Portland at 4 months

Getting into summer wear at 5 months

Enjoying the jumperoo at 6 months

Enjoying a girls night out at the DeFauws, 7 months

Daddy time, 8 months

9 months

10 months and too cute, I could just eat her!

11 months and celebrating Christmas with the Epleys

The big 1 year old and gnawing on her new vibrating teether from grandma and papa!

Hannah has seriously been the best baby this past year, and that's saying a lot because I have good babies! She never cries, sleeps excellently, eats everything, and is just such a sweet, sweet baby. We are so blessed to have this gift from God. I'm looking forward to this next stage. I remember loving the year from 1 to 2 with Ava and Allie. They just soak up so much and are constantly learning new things. We are so excited to see Hannah start talking and interacting more. We love this child. Happy birthday sweet Hannah!

Happy birthday Ava

Ava turned 5 today! We had a fun day celebrating her birth. Our mom's group came over in the morning and joined us for fruit, candy, cupcakes, and pretzels (some of Ava's favs). She played some games with her friends and ate lots of junk! My parents came over in the evening and had dinner and cupcakes with us.

I'm getting a little more creative with these birthday banners. Art has always been my weakness but Ava doesn't care!

Her new Ariel dress.

Ava loves balloons so thank you to the DeJonges for this pretty one.

We had a fasion show in her room and I took some pictures of her in different outfits. She looks so old/big to me in this one. And she decided that this is the dress she'll wear for Valentine's day this year. Too funny.

Grandma and Papa got her this sweet pinata. You just pull the strings to get the candy to drop out. Not as fun as beating it with a stick but at least it stays in tact. Ava wants to hang it in her room.

We'll celebrate with the Rosses on Sunday. Allie threw up this morning, unfortunately. We didn't want to spread the germs. I'm praying no one from mom's group gets it.

Ava has been such an angel these past five years. She is such a great big sister. She really tries to include Allie in everything she does. She has a great imagination and it's fun to listen to her playing in her room, especially when she thinks no one is listening. She loves to sing. She is constantly singing, and she has a really good voice. She loves riding her bike and is currently learning to ride without training wheels (in the basement). I realize this is probably later than normal. I just didn't even think about having her ride without them until I went to Portland and saw Jackson flying down the street with no training wheels. So we're slowly working on that.

Happy birthda sweet Ava!

First steps (with help)

Hannah will be 1 in two weeks and she's starting the long process of learning to walk. She started pulling herself up to stand a couple months ago. Then she started walking along the furniture. Now she's walking with help from her walker. She has also stood up on her own for about ten seconds. It's only a matter of time. I love it when my girls start walking. Some people think it's just more for them to get into, but I figure they're alreay getting into everything, they might as well be able to walk while doing it! And it's less I have to carry her, giving my sore arms a break:) Ava started walking at 13 months, Allie at 14 months. We'll see if Hannah is around the same.

Beautiful skies

There have been some really sweet sunrises and sunsets lately. I just can't help taking pictures of them. The pictures are never as good as the real thing, but at least you can get the idea. The first two are sunsets. The last four are sweet sunrises over the lake across from our house.

The birthday girl!

Allie turned 3 yesterday. Ava, Mike and I stayed up the night before and decorated the dining room and made a big banner for Allie. She was so excited when she woke up the next morning.

She was super excited about her ice cream cake. She couldn't wait to eat it!

We let her get dressed up as a princess before our families came over.

She was given a lot of great presents that she loves.

Her cousin Braden made some cookies for Allie too.

Grandma and Papa gave Allie this cool Tinker Belle pinata. Each kid was able to pull on a piece of ribbon and one of them releases all the candy. Allie just so happened to pick the right one!

Allie was in a sugar coma here with her Auntie Jess.

Grandma and Grandpa are heading to Florida so it was great they got to be here to celebrate with Allie!

Auntie Katie, Allie, and Hannah

Allie with her cousins Braden and Coban

Grandma, Papa, and Allie

The Rosses and Allie!

The Epleys and Allie!

It was a fun day. Allie enjoyed playing with her cousins, riding bikes in the basement, and opening presents! Allie is our little sassy pants. It is so fun to watch her interact with Ava sometimes. She can definitely hold her own. Here are some of her favorite things and activities at 3 years old:

Movie: Toy Story 3

Color: pink

Toy: her baby doll

Food: mac and cheese

favorite thing to do with Ava: Ride bikes in the basement

best friend: "Woody" (she happened to be watching toy story when I asked her! Usually she'll say Nevada.)

Weight: 34 lbs

Height: 3' 1"

We love our little 3 year old!