six

Today marks six years of mommyhood for me

and

6 years of Hannah Joy in our family!

She celebrated at school with a rowdy round of "Feliz Cumpleaños" and handed out Confetti Squares (Rice Krispy treats with Cap'n Crunch & Fruit Loops) to all her classmates.

At home, she designed her own birthday crown 

(in Kindergarten, or at least her class, the teachers no longer make sparkly crowns for you).  

And we used the leftover Fruit Loops to design some fun necklaces.

Fancy accessories are a must for this birthday girl.

She still loves pink and purple but has now expanded her wardrobe to anything that has a good spin to it.

The best quote was 

"Mommy, we need to make a list of all the numbers I've been."

6 candles were actually rather hard to squeeze onto her Rice Krispy Treat.

 

Matt's singing "Happy Birthday", thus the contorted face.

 She loves being the big sister and picking up Abigail, who is definitely not as light as she used to be.

And don't worry, being six hasn't changed her love of crazy face making.

She finished off her day with our birthday tradition of a treat out with Daddy.

Tomorrow we celebrate this little guy.

My two birthday kids,

seriously so sweet!

light

Rainy, cloudy days produce the most gorgeous light in our family room.

I just had to pick up my camera.

Here's a few moments from the last two days...

Our friends Wilson & Henry came to visit, I tried to get a picture of all four older kids....

and it ended in this.. 

Wilson is pretty smitten with Hannah 

I think she shares his affection. 

Who doesn't love this cute pouty face? 

And her curls are beginning to show 

Cheese!

Toby has the most beautiful amber eyes

Abby's checking him out. 

cooking time!

photo montage

Montage /mɒnˈtɑːʒ/ is a technique in film editing in which a series of short shots are edited into a sequence to condense space, time, and information. 

(definition taken from here)

Here is my photo montage of some of my favorites from the past few months...

"Mommy, I need hot cocoa to warm me up!"

Yes, I have a climber.

this is how "water-play" generally goes in our family....from Peter to Hannah

coloring with pastels on our camping trip

our friend Sophie, enjoying the sand

beach happy

flying kites with daddy

me and my littlest one

California poppies, even at the beach

some cute baby faces

reading bedtime stories by headlamp with Alex,

 can't decide which is my favorite... 

snow fun

a daddy and his girl

I love his happy, post-sledding face

the 5 of us

bedtime reading at the cabin

my happy girl

a night away with my love, sleepy but happy faces...

It's been a pretty, good February and March. 

 I am incredibly grateful for it!!!

conversations

I like talking with my kids. 

I love hearing my kids talk to each other. 

Here are a few of the conversations from today.

I enjoyed them and I hope you do too.

Around our kitchen table:

Hannah: Mommy, there's a girl in my class who loves the Seahawks  but she likes the 49ers too.
Peter: Boo Seahawks! Go 49ers!
H: Yea, 49ers should have won.  But the Seahawks won and they went to the Super Bowl.  And they won and the Broncos lost.
P: Boo Seahawks
H: And they got a trophy and rings. Boo....

I sit and listen to this and marvel, how did my children get such accurate knowledge of the NFL happenings this year...oh yes, Matt.

all in their jerseys ready to cheer

watching a 49er game

At bedtime tonight (which by the way, I have found that if I want my daughter to really talk to me - just climb into her bed with her at nighttime and she will talk away...)

H: Mommy, when you were in the hospital having Abby what did they do to you?
Me: What do you mean?
H: How did they get her out? Reagan (her cousin) said they cut open the mommy's tummy...


Me: Sometimes they do if the baby's heart is beating too fast or too slow or if the baby is turned the wrong way.  If the baby is okay then the mommy's stomach just gets really tight and squeezes the baby down.
H: How big is the cut?
Me: (I show her about 4inches or so)
H: (big sigh of relief) Oh, I thought they cut the whole tummy open (she shows me from top to bottom).  My brain can think funny things...

so thankful for this girl

Valentine's made

This year, for the first time, we embarked on the realm of homemade valentines.

It was a fun, 

crazy,

messy,

undertaking (that involved a bit of perseverance on all our parts.)

But we had a good result.

36 finished valentines!

 Today Peter got to pass out his valentines at preschool.

Abby & I got to join him for his class' Valentine party.

 He sang Skinny Marinky Dinky Dink...I Love You to me, 

shared a piece of his special cookie and gave me a sip of his lemonade (on his own initiative).  

It was so sweet!  

And this little man melted his mommy's heart.

I hope something melts your heart tomorrow!!