being five

Happy 5th Birthday, sweet Hannah Alice!!!

Hannah, We started off the morning of your birthday with you breaking a door on our advent house.  It was an accident, and you felt so bad that you had broken it.  I only write about this because it shows your personality so well....you are determined and give 120% to everything that you do!  A monkey figurine was stuck in one of the compartments, and you were determined to get it out.  You worked on it for a long time, until you finally broke that monkey free.....along with the small door!  My sweet girl, you are strong-willed and fierce when you set your mind to something, but you also are fierce in your love for your family and are willing to fight for justice in all situations.  You give the absolute, best "Hannah hugs" and squeezes, although it feels as if you might squeeze us in half!  You love special time with Mommy and with Daddy.  You are quieter than your sisters, and need more time to warm up in new situations.  You like to know what is expected of you, and want to be able to do something well before you are willing to really give it a try.  You are competitive, but you also look out for others and are eager to help, too.  You didn't play on a soccer team this year, but you had your own shin guards that you wore to Clara's games, and you often slept with a soccer ball.  We would hear the ball being kicked down the hallway before we would see you appear in the morning!  You always run to me first thing in the morning, wrap your arms around my leg with a huge squeeze and say "Mommy!".  You bring us so much joy!!  You have become so helpful and entertain your little sister and brother for us all day long.  You have really become interested in doing school work with Clara this year, and have been writing and sounding out words.  At first, you didn't want to have me teach you anything, and wanted to do everything your own way.....but you are beginning to let me teach you a few things!  Your favorite color is still blue, you love all things elephant, you ask for a dog weekly, and you ride your bike like a crazy lady-going up and down the curbs on the driveway and speeding around the cul-de-sac!  You are a perfect mix of athlete and princess!  We adore you, sweet Hannah!!! Happy Birthday!

Great Wolf Lodge, Thanksgiving in Bend, Nana's birthday, Hannah's birthday party....and home!

Darien and Monica flew into Seattle on Friday night, to kick off their week-long Thanksgiving break!  The girls couldn't wait to see them, and watched patiently until they saw Darien and Monica come around the corner through security, then raced toward them for hugs!  I truly have the best nieces ever, and they helped out immediately, reading stories and tucking the girls into bed :)

Darien and Monica babysat on Saturday and Sunday, while Joe and I worked.  They are the best babysitters, and made Christmas sugar cookies with the girls one day...I think they just might have watched a few music videos, too, because Eliza shouted "Hey, this is Justin Beaver!!" in the mall the other day when his song came on, and Clara asked me to look up Selena Gomez music videos today, so that she could listen to "You love me like a love song, baby" because it was stuck in her head! ;)

Hannah and Eliza decided that they wanted to go to Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate their winter birthdays.  I thought it was a great idea, because planning two birthday parties between Thanksgiving and Christmas didn't sound very easy.  We had an awesome time, and enjoyed the resort only being 70% full, and very short lines for the water slides, on a Monday night!

Clara was just BARELY tall enough to get the green wristband, which allowed her on all the water slides!  Darien, Monica, and Clara LOVED the Howlin' Tornado that has a free fall into a huge funnel.  They went on it over and over again, sometimes getting Joe or I to tag along!

Lizzy and Hannah had fun on the smaller water slides.  Lizzie was afraid to try them at first, but Hannah took her up, holding her hand the whole way, and they both came down with huge smiles!  They also loved these lily pads to jump across...

Isaiah LOVES the water, but he really hasn't liked any cold water yet....just the warm bathtub.  We weren't sure how he would do, but he couldn't get enough of the pools!  He loved to sit and splash the water...

We forgot to pack Lizzie a swimsuit....so she was THRILLED that she got to wear Isaiah's swim trunks, and be a boy!

We had an amazing, fun two days swimming at Great Wolf Lodge, and then we headed on to Bend for Thanksgiving!

We got to watch Darien's dance team perform at the tree-lighting downtown Bend...

We celebrated Nana's birthday the day after Thanksgiving...

The two November birthday girls!

Isaiah loved his tastes of cake and ice cream...

and screamed when it was all gone!

We squeezed in a quick visit with Santa, the same one we have visited since Clara was born...

Isaiah just kept looking up at him, trying to figure out exactly who he was!

While we were in Bend with some of the cousins, we celebrated Hannah's birthday with a little party.  Darien and Monica were in charge of her "wolf cake" while we went to see Santa, and they did a great job!

Darien came up with a fun game and made 40 different colored paw prints that she taped all over the house.  The girls had to find all 10 of their color...

and stick them on the wall to earn their prizes!  It was a fun game for our competitive Hannah!

Isaiah ran around, trying to keep up!

Hannah and her cousin, Chloe...

Aunt Julie found this interactive elephant for Hannah, and it was an instant favorite!

Boppa and Nana with our birthday girl!

Aunt Molly found the crown card for Hannah to wear to be the birthday princess...

What a crazy, whirlwind week!!!  We woke the kids up at 4 am on Sunday to start our trek home, so they would sleep the first half of the drive.  It worked great for keeping them happy in the car, but Joe and I have taken a few days to recover!  I took a nap on Sunday afternoon, and my incredible husband unpacked the entire car, sorted the clothes and did all the laundry!  We are still trying to get everything put away from being gone, and have now added all the Christmas decorations, but eventually we'll get things back in order!  We had a wonderful week with our family!!!

Dressing up...

 Isaiah and his friend, Elle...

 

Isaiah has been discovering how to play with some of his toys!  He loves to put the balls into the gumball toy and then push the lever to make them pop out again...

and he'll put all the shapes into this bucket, and then dump them out to start over again!  He's also discovered that doors are lots of fun to open and close, and has locked himself into one of the bedroom several times now!  We'll hear him calling and pounding on the other side of the door to get back out!  He's figured out the drawers and cupboards and still loves to open them, but now he knows to move those fingers out of the way as he shuts them!

This boy LOVES the bath!!!  We have been keeping the bathroom door closed, so that he won't get to the toilet, but I realized this morning that he just wants the bath!  He crawled into the bathroom this morning, and went straight past the open toilet, and I found him behind the shower curtain, pounding on the edge of the bathtub...

 and trying to climb in!!  We often start the morning with a bath because I can't stand to see him so upset when I take him away from the bathroom!