Hannah & Lauren Land

Lauren writes notes everywhere around the house- about everything. They are precious and crack us up so much. I actually found these lists of "My Wishes" on the girls bathroom sink and thought they were just adorable. I love how the girls flutter around the house and think up the craziest playtimes with each other. I am so happy that they have eachother and their amazing little world together. My hope is that they will always be best friends and so in love with one another. I will always remember the moments. These are all of the small moments that make up the love and sweetness of this life (that I must say- is going too fast).

"My Wishes"
1. talk to animals
2. reid minds
3. be invisibl
4. To fly
5. have a camera in my dreams, so in the moning I could wach it
6. to float on water. like jump in and I would float
7. I could meet the tooth fairy
8. I could get light from the sun like Iridessa (a fairy from Tinkerbell land)
9. I could go presto and my farot comershol is on the t.v.

Spring Break week-

The girls camped out in our backyard- and did get a small amount of shut-eye with a full moon and all the critters chirping! Mommy opted to enjoy a warm comfy bed all by herself after a little while...aaaahh. Then the rain came the next day. It rained here ALL week. Kind of a bummer.



Hannah was such a trooper getting FOUR teeth pulled at the dentist this week. Oh, it was much harder on Mommy! Here she is with the glasses she got at our dentist. You are such a SUPER STAR!
The next day we spent with girlfriends seeing the movie "Velveteen Rabbit" (precious!) at the theatre and then lunch & shopping. The tooth fairy left $10 for all those teeth... and she got to spend it along with some from distant fairy $ (aka Grandma's).

Josh was on a mission to build a bluebird house for our furry friends in the backyard-- and he had such lovely assistants.

What a BLAST it was bowling with special friends. We had the whole place to ourselves and started off with bowling and ended with ping-pong and fooze-ball while it poured all day outside.
Then to end the week off we went to Jumpin' Jacks bounce house with the Germanys as well...and um, enough said about that- just ask me what happened. uh.

Where did our baby go?

NINE THINGS WE LOVE ABOUT HANNAH...
1. We love how funny you are and your very sweet and tender heart.

2. You still have the cutest giggle that makes everyone around you giggle!

3. We can't get enough of your tight, warm hugs that brighten even the cloudiest days.

4. We love the way you give to others.

5. We love your shining confidence.

6. We love the way you can make friends so easy and how you lovingly take care of lil' sis.

7. We love the way you can take the smallest thing and create an entire day of play out of it. So much imagination!

8. We are proud of you working so hard at everything you do.

9. Love that every teacher you have every year wants to take you home with them! (but you're all ours!!)

Happiest Birthday, sweetheart. May God continue to bless you on His amazing journey for you. We are always so very proud of you and love you more and more every year that passes. (is that possible?)

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!

A lil' Lauren in January: some firsts

She was soooo excited about her EasyBake from Santa-

She watched her cake closely-

and yummmmo! Frosting and all...


We went to the lake and she was finally feeling comfortable about a hook on her pole- what a cast Lauren!

Power tools...no problem!

ooooh yeah and look at the great cart we made for the classroom bunny.


A budding artist with her first canvas to paint-


Just a couple days ago she decided she wanted to learn to ride her bike. So she did! (Mind you it was on one of the coldest days in over a year here!) Off she goes- shivering hands and all. Lauren has always been one of those kiddos that says "Mommy, I can do it myself!" and once she puts her mind to something she just does it. I couldn't be more in love with you and so wonderfully proud of you, Laur-Laur!

Happy New Year!

Oh, but wait...there's more!

We were off to Mom's house after ours for a full day/night of unwrapping, laughing, catchin' up, and eating waaay too much. We all mentioned that we would have a more modest, smaller Christmas this year...ha, I don't think so!

I gave alot of handmade gifts this year...and my brother shares some of my blood! He made this incredible closet for Hannah and Lauren's American Girl stuff. So special. Love it, Steve! This will be around for generations to come.

Every year at Christmas my Dad would always wait until all the gifts were opened and surprise someone with something really big. He just loved surprises and Christmas was always so much fun for him. We want to remember and honor him every year and so this year I got butterfly wind chimes for everyone. I put a comforting poem with it and want everyone to remember him when we see it swaying beautifully in the wind. As usual, he was very missed.

Santa Claus is coming to town...

Gifts for eachother-- from Claire's of course (girly girl dreamy store!)

L gave Daddy a sleepy mask w/ a monkey saying "do not disturb"
(yes- he actually does wear these... shhhh!)

An Easy Bake...! This is all that little L wanted!!

The "spy girls" in our family loooved the spy gifts they got!