Fort Building with Grammy

Grammy came to play for the day so I convinced her to make a fort with me. Who knew all the fun one can have with a large box.

This box could be:

* a fort

* a hide out

* Noah's Arc

* a spaceship

* a bed

* Starbucks "May I take your order?"

*so much more

I am the director and telling her where to make the windows.

"You are doing well Grammy"

Where is William??
Annabel will find him.

I found him!

Annabel is ONE

A look back at Annabel's first year of life:

Annabel Hope
January 20, 2009
4:35 am
8 lbs 1 oz
19 3/4 inches

One HAPPY and tired Mommy

Our sweet baby girl

Proud Daddy

First family of four picture

Proud BIG Brother

1 month

Two months

Three months

Four months

Five months

Six months

Seven months

Eight months

Nine months

I LOVE Hawaii!!

Nine months

Ten months

Eleven months
Happy ONE year!
I'm ONE!

Hand Prints

Since Annabel is ONE, I wanted to document her hand and foot print.

When William was one I had his done as well. Mary Potter,

with Little Pumpkin Potter does a fantsctic job making

wonderful keepsakes out of pottery.

Annabel making her handprint on the clay.
She was not into the cold damp clay- such a girlie girl!
One print down, one to go

Annabel and her "fairy toes"

Completed flower-
I can't wait to hang it!

William's 1 year prints

The clock hangs above my desk in the kitchen

Merry Christmas

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care...

This was a most unusual Christmas for us. With Ryan gone, I did not decorate much. The kids are still to little to know the difference so I kept it simple. I did miss NOT having a tree and all the trimmings. But we made up for it at Grammy and Pappa's.Beka, William and Grammy decorating the "grandkid" tree

Kira and Annabel watching

Grammy, the kids and the beautifully decorated tree -clump style
Beka and William had so much fun decorating the tree. They each had their own bag of ornaments and they each carefully placed all the ornaments on the same 3 branches.

Making the frosting for cookies. Beka was having so much fun making the different colors that when it came time to making green, she kept squeezing the tube of food coloring. Needless to say green was everywhere and it was a dark green.

Kids Table- eating spaghetti before cookie decorating

They were so cute. We loved listening to their conversation

William carefully placing sprinkles on his red snowman

See

Christmas Eve

6 kids 3 and under need I say more

Christmas Eve
We miss you Daddy!

Kids table- notice William has the same face. He is NOT into taking pictures- such a 3 year old

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Santa made an appearance

Christmas Morning

I was terrible about taking pictures or should I say overwhelmed. So Christmas was not as well documented as hoped.

Christmas morning opening stocking
William walks downstairs to see what Santa left and his response was:

"Where is my yellow car? I asked Santa for a yellow car." Mommy was crushed. Little did he know that Santa left his yellow car in Reno. It was too big to bring back. William was thrilled when we returned home to find that and a sled.

Thomas the Trains

Gifts from Daddy:

Mommy= t-shirt

William =a stuffed penguin

Annabel =a stuffed seal

Thrilling Thursday's

Every Thursday, we have playgroup. We have been together since the toddlers were just days/weeks old.

8 random women +8 terrific toddlers +6 playful babies
= wonderful weekly chaos
I love this group! I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends to share this great stage of life with. Our chidlren play so well together and love being together. We all take turns hosting the activity. This week we went to Rock a Bye for a puppet show and then headed to Red Robin for lunch.

Huge snowman outside Rock-A-Bye

William, Sara, Sofia, Jack

teamwork

race car drivers patiently waiting for our table

I love it that they are content with watching the screen- no money- shh


The boys being silly




The girls

Awe- food
I wish I had taken pictures of the entire group. 5 mommies, 5 tots, 4 babies made for one fun, loud, messy table. However, we were not the only large group with young children. I was pleasantly surprised at how well lunch went.