"My Birthday in February"

Hannah kept saying this for weeks, to everyone. When Taylor got her out of bed on her birthday and told her Happy Birthday!, Hannah said, "my birthday in February." Also, my mom flew out for Hannah's birthday so she liked to say, "Gramma coming to my birthday" all the time as well.

This birthday was a big one being her second; which at our house means 2-year old quilt. My grandma always gave quilts to the kids when they turn 2 and 12. I started Hannah's quilt over a year ago when I picked the fabric and started collecting it as extras from customer orders. I finished purchasing what I needed and sewed the quilt over the last few months and sent it to be machine quilted. It arrived back 6 days before her birthday, and I finished binding it the day before. I think it turned out beautiful and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Hannah's day was great, we did presents in the morning. The boys gave her bubbles, my parents tons of felt food for her kitchen, we gave her the quilt and her 'birthday shoes' (butterfly sandals I told her she couldn't wear until her birthday) and a glow worm from gma/gpa Harvey.

Also, I got it in my head that I would make her a birthday dress since she had a Sunday birthday this year. Which really shouldn't have been a big deal since she gets a new dress almost every other week. But I dreamed up a dress with about 5 sewing techniques I had never done before the result was a hideous, home made looking dress. So Saturday night after the kids went to bed I whipped up an entirely new dress which turned out lovely.

She wanted a butterfly cake (thanks to me) and whenever I asked what she wanted for her birthday dinner she always answered, "a butterfy cake".

My little Hannah is so fun and delightful to be with. She is the chattiest little thing and talks constantly which still makes me laugh. I love all the little things she says. She follows me everywhere (which is usually fun) and likes to do everything I do. She loves babies of any kind, doll or real, and she loves cooking in her kitchen and with me. She is still in a crib which is the longest by far of any of my kids. She loves her binky but talks about how the binky fairy will take it away (which will be soon). Hannah loves clothes and shoes and anything girly. I love shopping with her. Recently she said to me, "I need new shoes", what the 6 pairs you have aren't enough?

Hannah loves going to nursery and she loves to sing. She sings to herself in the car, to her babies at night in bed. She knows tons of songs and always asked me to sing to her. She is so concerned about everyone and really observant of others and their needs. I love my little baby girl.

Grandma Urie

My mom came out to visit and it was so fun! The kids had a blast playing with her. I had a blast talking and being together with my mom. We mostly hung around the house and relaxed/played/talked. We did celebrate Hannah's birthday, ran to the capitol one afternoon and also took a trip down to the Alamo on Saturday. We played Legos, read books, spent time outside, did our nails. It was such a wonderful visit and we all had a great time. I'm so glad my mom was able to fly out and be with us since we don't get to see them too often anymore.

James Birthday

James birthday was really fun. He requested lasagna as his birthday meal. Also, his cake has changed several times over the last year, but a couple days before his birthday he received a card from Great Grandma Harvey in the mail with race cars on it so then he wanted a race car cake with a track and cars. That decision stuck so his cake was a race car one.

He got a Ninjago lego set from Hannah and Matthias since he'd been eying them and they just came out in January. Then the madness began. Both he and Matthias have bought Ninjago sets since then with birthday money and they play all day, sometimes up to 6 hours a day with those legos.

Also James has been wanting a robot so Taylor and I got him an a motorized erector set which he was really excited about. Taylor and James built the car that day and it drives around frontwards and backwards.

We basically played/cooked all day besides going to church. A very happy birthday all around. I can't believe James is already 6 years old! He is hoping his teeth will start falling out soon. And so are we.

James is a really good helper when he wants to be helpful. =] And he is so great playing with Matthias and explaining everything and anything. They really are the best of friends and it is so wonderful!

Valentine's Day

Was lovely here. Taylor and I celebrated Saturday night; the stake had an adult dance which was really fun. We went to dinner first at Gumbo's and they had a live band and really yummy food. The dance at the stake center was SO fun! I love dancing, a lot. And there was a live band there as well that played great music. All old stuff really good for actual dancing, (as a opposed to standing in one spot and swaying around). We have a fun older couple in our ward (who Hannah calls "my gampa") and they taught us several dances. And we had lots of people from our ward there as well. It was a wonderful night!



On actual Valentine's Day the kids and I had a really fun day. Mostly just doing chores around the house, planted a peach tree, ran to the post office to pick up Hannah's birthday quilt (!), and the boys bought some new Legos with money they have been saving forever so they played for the next six hours. We had a yummy dinner when Taylor came home and then family home evening. It was a pretty near perfect day.

Broccoli! --Matthias

Dinner is complete, we're all sitting around the table eating a chocolate chip cookie and chatting.

Kristi: Hey guys, tomorrow I'm going grocery shopping. So if you need anything in the next two weeks I need to know now so I can put it on the list.

Matthias: Broccoli!

Away In A Manger

Hannah loves singing and picks up on the words to songs really well. She is such a mimic and a great speaker so her song repertoire is quickly rivaling the boys. This is a little late, but Christmas cheer is good all year round.

Boys' Room

The boys helped paint their room and were so excited to do it. We saved it until a time when they could help and we could finish it all. They lasted about 15 minutes and then gave up on me so I could finish alone. They helped pick out their colors. This is the room where Hannah started her refrain, "Don't paint on carpet, paint on wall." The good thing about painting a foreclosure, the kids can help and you don't even have to worry about anything.

Eventually we plan to get a chair rail up around that white strip in the wall. And the boys wanted a jungle room (hence the brown and green) so I got the jungle vinyl animals to stick on the walls. This room looked about the same as Hannah's: nasty carpet, stinky smell. Also the blinds here were gross and mini blinds unlike the rest of the house that has 2 inch faux wood so I replaced those as well.








(I thought about cleaning the Legos up for the picture and then figured this is how their room looks 98% of their waking hours; we clean it up right before bed and they pore it out the minute they wake up. So I left it).

Also, Taylor and I (mostly almost completely Taylor) created a built in closet for the boys as well. We drew the design one night deciding where we wanted clothes and toys. Then bought materials and started work the next day. We ended having to finish after the boys were in bed so they got to sleep in our room while we worked. The closet turned out really well and it is so nice to have a space for everything. And you can see in one of the pictures we put a shelf along the very top where we are storing the old baby clothes (only one bin is up there in the picture, but it's full now. And we designed a space for the hamper too. I'm so happy with this closet! Taylor did a great job.

Brrr

Woke up at 5:30 yesterday, rolled over and groaned because the window was glowing bright. That's so frustrating when the moon is shining on the snow.

.....

SNOW!!!?!!??!?!?!

What the?

Pretty sure we moved to Texas. Pretty sure it's only snowed in Austin about once in the last 10 years. Yup, it was 4 degrees colder here than in Denver yesterday.

Ahh! Cover my head with a pillow and go back to sleep.

A couple hours later little feet come racing in, "Snow!" "It snowed". Eyes are all aglow. And the 1/2 inch on the lawn is almost made okay. Hannah has no snow in her memory so she thought it was interesting and headed out to eat some. Cameron, Lesley, and Aubrey are here visiting (sadly trying to escape snow).

The boys had a blast and made a snowman (aka 'snowhead'). I stayed in and everyone was happy with the morning.

School was canceled for both Taylor and James...don't laugh, Austin can't deal with any snow even small amounts.

It was 65 and sunny today.