Decorating for Christmas

We discovered all the Christmas stuff was in our storage unit.  Its amazing how a year can make you forget where you put stuff.  Stu filled his car up, and we needed to empty it by Monday, so we decide a good Sunday activity would be to decorate for Christmas.  Hannah recently switched her nap and it is right in the middle of church.  So as she slept, Stu and I decorated.  We got completly done by the time Hannah woke up from her nap and we captured her reaction to the decorations and the tree.


The final project-completed.  I didn't want to temp Hannah with the ornaments, so they are only a few on the TOP part of the tree only. 


Hannah pointing at the lights she can see from the stairs

 
When Hannah noticed the Christmas tree


 She is not quite sure what to think of the tree




This is a Little People Nativity Set my old boss gave Hannah for Christmas last year.  She LOVES it.  If you haven't seen this, or want one...they are so great for those little ones in your family.  And it sings!  Little People Nativity Set
 


 

Gobble Gobble

This year Thanksgiving was on my side and we decided to have it at our house.  With Leah still in Afghanistan she would be the only one missing from our Thanksgiving feast. Stu was excited to bake a turkey (his first).  And I found all kinds of fun stuff on Pinterest I wanted to try out to decorate the table.  But before we could do anything that day...I signed up for a 10K race with my sister in law Karly that morning.  Karly recently got into running and had done a 5K and I talked her into a 10K.  She ROCKed it and we came in at 1:17 (not to shabby for her 1st 10K)  I was sooo proud of her!


Karly and me at the starting line


My brother Cole decided that morning to run the 5K.  He has been trying to get into the top 3 in his age group.  Today he got...4th again!  Must have been the 2 slices of pizza and tall cup of java that slowed him down that morning.


Karly and me at the finish line with Hannah


I found this on Pinterest.  Get a dollar store plate, paint and write things you are thankful on it.  Bake it at 350 for 30 min and it will be set.  I followed all the rules and it STILL rubbed off-as we were eating.  I was sooo mad!!


These were also on Pinterest.  They were easy to make, the time that it took was letting the frosting dry.  A lot of my turkeys look kinda...'special'.  But so it my family so it worked out great!  :)


And...finally...Stu's turkey.  He brined it over night and everywhere we read said it should be ready by X time...It was ready a full 2 hours before that.  So we had to move up dinner.  It was soo juicy and I am soo proud of Stu and his first bird.

The "Boy" has returned

Stu's little brother Trevor just got home off his mission in Barcelona Spain.  We all headed to the airport to welcome him home.  We were there right when his plan landed, but if you have ever flown International...it takes time to go through customs, get your bag..etc.  Every time the door opened we were hoping it was him.  Turns out, the missionaries coming home that day were in the B-A-C-K of the plane.
Here are some pictures of the day.


Little Miss Hannah had all kinds of energy and spent most of it running around the International waiting area.  I was lucky to get this shot.  


We all got matching shirts to wear to welcome Trevor home.  The shirt are the Barcelona Soccer Team (Trevor is big into soccer).  Hannah didn't get one (I couldn't justify spending $20 on a shirt she would only wear once)


First picture of Trevor


Trevor meeting Hannah for the first time

The whole family in our matching shirts

First "Offical" Hair Cut

So Hannah has a mullet.  When she was little she rubbed the hair on the back of her head off and when it started to grown back the hair that was NOT rubbed off continued to grow.  So we had a mullet situation going on.  I HATED the thought of cutting my sweet baby's hair, but she need to have it all trimmed up so it can all grow together.  Here are her before and after pictures:


Before


After

And yes..I saved the hair that was cut.

15 Months Old

Hannah is getting close to that 1 1/2 mark...She is 15 months old today. 

Hannah can:

*Says "meow" for Kitties
*Says "wow"
*Has been know to pick tomatoes off the vine and eat them like an apple
*Said "baby"  (We are counting this as her first official word)
*Started to spin around when music is played
*Will pick up and carry as many things are possible in her hands
*Got her first cold
*Figured out how to ride Blue like a horse and loves to sit on him (or use him as a stool to get on the couch)
*Can throw a ball
*Loves to be outside (and finds the snow very fasinating)
 

Nickname:
Pumpkin Pie

She has a best friend

Hannah LOVES her dog Blue and she has recently tried to ride him like a pony, or we will catch her climbing over him, or she may just try to snuggle up to him.  Blue is very patient with her and for the most part tolerates her 'man handling' her.  Here are some pictures I have captured over the last few months:






For our weekly Sunday walk, Hannah decided she would walk Blue this time and had to hold his leash the whole time






Hannah feeding Blue his breakfast


Hannah is already doing "hair"

Its only cute here...

I have seen many plumber cracks in my day, but to date this is the cutest one I have seen.