NINE YEARS OLD?

Nine candles for Hannah!

Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Dick & Deb together celebrating Hannah. All of us tried ALL day (and night) to solve this 12 piece puzzle. "Whaaat?" you say. Really the most challenging puzzle ever.

Hannah wanted a Wii so bad for Christmas. Well, Santa couldn't fit it on his sleigh so we thought birthday instead. She was so excited to get it from all of her grandparents, us and some of her birthday money. It entertained us all weekend. Hannah woke up the next day and said "Mommy, I sure am sore from pitching!" The next day sore from boxing (Mommy too!). And last night Lauren says "Whew! Mommy I am sweating from so much fishing... can you get me some cold water?" No seriously---- and Wii love it! (I know- cheesy).

Here Hannah is wearing her birthday shirt that I paint for her every year and we rocked and rolled at a nearby skating rink with her (two!) best friends ever!

We had fun gliding and slidin'-- ha!

Be my Valentine

To start off Valentine's--the girls and I woke up and made heart pancakes for the main man in our life. (Yes- I do have a picture of Josh- a morning spiky hair "don't put that one on the blog" one that is!) We then played freeze tag at the park on the sunny day, got some great steaks at a market near here, rented a movie, made a trip to D.Q., got the grill started, turned up the tunes...
can I say P- A- R- T- Y?
I love all of my Valentines so much and it doesn't get much better than days like this.

Here are Lauren's best friends at school after a "sundae making" party.

Hannah and I at her class...with the softest teddy from her teacher...so sweet.

Wintertime...Springtime??

Who knew that in January and February months the days can be 30 degrees one day and then 70 the next. The girls wake up every morning asking if they should wear short sleeves or long sleeves! We have had fun playing freeze tag, fishing, bike riding, jump roping and stuff on these short sleeve days. Here is a picture of us at the lake when we had a short but sweet visit with Josh' brother. Hmmm- can you tell they're brothers?!

Almost every day these past weeks since she taught herself to ride her bike- Lauren has come home from school, put her backpack up, hot pink helmet on...and off on her bike sometimes until dusk. Her little legs petal up and down our driveway and she has the biggest "I am having the time of my life" grin on her face.

We had a picnic lunch and another bike-ridin' adventure this past weekend...


And some smoocharoos...

We're off once again...

Hannah rang the cancer bell at the park for HOPE (our Aunt Pat who just found out she has cancer) and Lauren rang it to CELEBRATE Grandma who fought it!