It's my Birthday Shout Hurray!

Hannah had so much fun for her party yesterday!! Of course I didn't find my camera until way after everyone left, so I will have to burn the pics to a CD from my mom's camera! Those will be coming soon (you know all those who came to the party, the cake pictures, blowing the candles out, etc. etc)

We got Hannah a bounce house for the day yesterday and she had a ton of fun. All the kids slept great last night! I really think that we need to get one of those things for us to use too. We did the traditional Smith BBQ with cake. Everyone played nice and the adults had some great conversation time too.
The best part of the bounce house was the hair that followed!! It is great! My favorite picture of Hannah!!

Bouncing was great and so was Hannah getting her bike! I swear we called 20 Targets and Wal-Marts and NO ONE had 16" bikes!! Finally I called Toys R Us and they had ONE left. I was thankful that we could get Hannah her new bike. The funny thing was that Hannah thought it was Josh and Carly that brought the bike for her birthday!! Great?!?!?!

Oh well, I guess it was just all about her getting a bike right??


Ruby just about had a break down at the end of the day! I guess that she didn't get the birthday talk. Oh well I thought it was kinda funny, so I am laughing again at my child's expense. I am sure she will hate me later or at least be mad at me.

little bit of everything......

Our camera is a little full of random stuff so I am making an entry with "A little bit of everything"

Steve finally got our lawnmower going! It was my steal of a deal at DI for $35 in the middle of winter. Sure enough it does work and just needed a little bit of love (gas and oil) and it works great!! I think Steve has learned though that living on a 1/3 of an acre that it is a lot of grass to mow!!
The dogs are getting BIG too! Well for their size they are almost done growing at around 20 pounds and 13 inches. We love our pups!! Lucy Lu is first and then Freckles. We decided that they didn't need to eat the bathroom door anymore at night, so they are in their crate at night and go out first thing in the morning. They seem to really like this and they really can hold it all night long!! No more accidents in the house anymore at night!!! What good girls!!

Then we have Katy in a bath. It was the first time that she waved bye-bye to me!! This is why I love to have the camera running at weird times of the day. Like who would have thought that in the bathtub Katy would wave bye-bye?!?!?


So that is the end of my little bit of everything post......

Five Years Ago Today........

Five years ago today my little Hannah was born. Five years ago we were still in Provo. Little did Han know that in five years she would have Nine different addresses, live in 3 different states, move across the country twice, gain 2 more sisters, and somehow end up back in Utah county where it all started!!

I am still so amazed at my little girl! Five years has gone way too fast and I am sure that the next five will go even faster. I will put up the party pictures tomorrow for all to see. We rented a bounce house and are having a famous Smith BBQ with cake.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!! Hannah MADE Summer Swim Team!!! My little fish made it after all. I can't believe it. Practice starts on Monday!!

Happy Birthday Hannah!!

Look how little she was!!

Right around a year old.

Smile I am two years old!!

Happy 3rd birthday Hannah

Here she is at four years old! Growing up big and tall!

Hannah's Update......

It has been an interesting week for Hannah. I am amazed at how good she is with decisions that others make for her and that she is okay with a little disappointment in life. Last Friday we finally found out that she did not get accepted into American Heritage for the fall. She was one of four children that did not get in for Kindergarden. As a mom, I was totally crushed since the schools out here are not that great!! What were we going to do and I didn't really know how to tell her that she would not be going to school by the temple every day?!?!?

I stressed and admit that I did shed a few tears for her!! but Steve and I sat down with her and told her that things did not work out for her to go to school at AH, but we were going to find her an even better school to go to. She looked at us and was like okay! She asked if she could go to school where Savannah goes to school. (That is her friend from swim lessons) and we were like yes you can go to school at Forbes!! She was good with that and hasn't looked back!!

We are going to be putting her into a Kinder extension class still though in the fall since kids here have a short day on Mondays (only 2 1/2 hours of school!!) and then it is normal days for Tuesday to Friday (a whole 3 hours!!). The extension class will have her going to school for another 3 hours a day and get homework too. I really want homework and for my child to be challenged at school. The school district does not give homework until they are in the 3rd or 4th grade. Way toooo late in my opinion, so that is why I am so happy for this extension class. I think that it probably worked out better only because Hannah can now go to school all day for kindergarden!!! She needs more time in school than what the school district offers. Hannah also loves the place since it is all about Disney and Princesses!!! Anything to make learning even more fun!

Hannah has also been taking swim lessons and got to try out for summer league swimming. She did not do that great last Tuesday, so we got her a chance to try one more time last night. Hannah did awesome this second time. Way better than her first attempt! I was proud that she finally found her little motor for backstroke!! It was an awesome 25 yards for her. Freestyle was a little different story, but she finally got to the other end. She knew that this time she had tried her best too!! Hannah came up to me and said "I'm not scared any more!!" Big deal only because they do tryouts in the deep end (like 12 feet deep).

I was talking to the coaches while Han was swimming and they said she is so awesome for a 4 year old and was very close but not quite ready for summer swimming. They were really impressed at what she could do and felt bad that they could not take her. I am doing great with that only because Hannah felt she did her best this time!! Another year of playing at the pool! At least they will remember my 30 pound fish of a swimmer for next year!

I am learning stuff about Hannah every day that I didn't know before. She takes disappointment in stride and runs off to the next thing to do. I can't believe that on Friday she will already be FIVE!! It should be a fun birthday for her!! I love my little Hannah Mae.

You know your kids are getting big when.....

I had some of those Mom moments in the past few days. My kids really are getting BIG!

Hannah has decided that she can play with the big girls when we go to visit friends. When Mindy and I took cookies to our friend Kallie on Sunday, Hannah went to go play with her older daughter who is 7 (I think). My baby is playing with kids who are around 6 and 7 now!! No more of hanging out with the kids that are 2 and 3. WOW!!

Ruby decided on Saturday that she was not doing this whole let's play in the pool with us on Saturday, but yesterday she decided for herself that she could go down the little side all by herself with wearing Hannah's suit from last year. Maybe the suit gave her good luck, I don't know but she was all little miss independent yesterday at the pool. In and out by herself, walking around, blowing bubbles in the water, and even going underwater just once by herself and not freaking out about it!! It's the little things that make me stand in awe and wonder about Ruby.

Katy is almost a year old already and is off and entertains herself during the day! She loves to climb the stairs and when I can't find her, I hear the "ma ma" coming from the top of the stair case. She is just patiently waiting for me to find her up there at the top of the very steep and scarry stair case. Whenever Katy wants to do something her word is "UP!" Up is for everything from getting out of her crib to just anting to be held. Truely her first word was UP!!

My Stephenie Meyer Night!

Waiting, Waiting and More Waiting. That was the theme of last night for my Mom and me for our girls night out!! We got there just before 5 after we got our shirts from Jen (see Everything Twilight). So we waited in line to get in the Show Barn and then we sat in the same place were Steve and I Rocked in the New Year with his company in January. It was then time to wait for it to be 7 pm. (So two hours of fun!!)

The place was full of women and a few men, but leave it to us women to take over the bathrooms for the men!!! Yes I was one of them because I was not gonna wait in a forever line with so few men around.
Finally it was 7 pm and there was Stephenie!! It was so great to hear her talk for just a few minutes. She said that the movie is going GREAT!! The parts she has seen are wonderful and is just as excited about December as the rest of us. There might be 2 more books after the Host! I am not all the way through the Host yet, so I don't even know how it ends yet. She did say that when she is done with book tours she will put up a blooper part of when the two folks meet at the end. (Sorry it is early and I can't remember peoples names right now). Stephenie also talked about her family and that she is missing her baby's kindergarden graduation this year, but her hubby is a full time dad at home! How cool would that be for me to tell my hubby that I make enough money that he can quit work and stay home with the kids!!

One of the best parts during all of our waiting was that we got to meet Stephenie's Sister!! Her best friend was out taking pictures of 'cool' shirts for Stephenie's page and they loved Jen's shirts!! Of course Jen was sitting with us by then, so she had to come say hi and snap pictures. Of course you know me, I had to ask to get a picture!! So Mom and me got a picture with Stephenie's sister!! This is the sister that already has got the Twilight book written from Edward's point of view, Forever Dawn. How cool is that?!?! We also got to meet cousin Mel, Melanie from the Host!! It was so much fun!
So we waited until 11:30 to get our books signed. It was worth the wait and so much fun!! What a girls night out with my mom! I guess it was like all those swim meets that you wait all day for Cody to swim less than 2 minutes or waiting all day long for Garrett to rope for less than 10 seconds. Oh well it was so much fun meeting Stephenie Meyer!!

Hannah's Spring School Program

Today was the Day!! Hannah's Preschool Program! She did awesome!!



The kids sang so great! Hannah was a hoot again.

This is her school one. Well one of them anyway....



This was the dancing song. Probably the best out of the whole show.



Here is Hannah with her teachers, Miss Sam.....


and Miss Courtney.


I am so glad for Challenger and all that it has taught Hannah this year at school.

Happy Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day today. I have all of my girls with me (kids and dogs) and it was beautiful outside today. We even made it to church while they were singing the opening hymn. That's a BIG deal to us since I don't think we ever get to church on time. Not to say that we made it through sacrament meeting without going out, but at least we were there, right?!?!?

As I was getting my girls into bed tonight, I had to pause and tell them how much I love each of them. They are so special in their own little ways. Hannah was the baby that made me smile again and made that little dark cloud in my life drift away. Ruby was my middle baby and she gave me HOPE. Hope that I could have a baby and keep one to full term. Katy...well Katy is special since she is the last and is my total buddy. The baby that loves to snuggle with me!! The baby that could not wait to get here.

I even had my little moment with Ben today too. The song "One More Day" by Diamond Rio played on the radio on the way to Mom's house today. That is his song that I pause to take a few moments to remember him. He said Hi to his mom today. Today he was close and that made me smile.

I love Mother's Day!! It was great day.

New Looks and Walking Funny

Hannah got a hair cut yesterday at my friend, Mindy's house. She loves to get her hair cut and is bound and determined to be my girl who is gonna be girly no matter what. I can see it now. Nails done, hair perfect, and matching clothes.
I guess that the only great thing about this shorter hair cut is that Hannah can NOT chew on her hair anymore!!! Thank goodness. That was my silver lining for an impromtu haircut last night at Mindy's!! Thank you to my person who I find that I am a shadow of now. :-)

Now on to Katy walking funny. The girl loves to walk on her knees. I think that it is much harder to do that than actually walk on your feet. She wanted to give me the remote to the TV this time. I am glad that I caught it on video tonight!! I can't believe that next month she will be a year old! Where did that year go????

Last Weeks FHE

We have been having a great time with this whole garden thing. Last week for Family Home Evening we planted our seeds in the sprout boxes. We are still waiting for sprouts to sprout inside so that we can then move them outside. All of us had a great time! Ruby got a little stressed in the end, but over all it was a fun night of playing in the dirt, planting seeds, and or course learning about faith. Say it with me now...Faith is like a little seed. It was a great lesson and fun family activity.

Happy Day

I guess that it has been a little while since I have put up a post on my blog. Steve is doing a great job but I need to post too!!

The weather has been so nice the past few days we have gotten to play with friends almost every day. The park was on our list today. I am trying to get out of my secure little circle and find and make new friends here. It takes me a long time but I think that I am doing great since we have only lived here for a few months.

The girls are all doing great and having fun with the warm weather too. They are all in the winter to spring colds right now. We have sniffles, coughs, and sneezes right now. I don't think that they are gonna get through, but it will be summer before I know it.

I had a great time this morning. Steve watched the girls early this morning so that I could go wait in line for tickets to see Stephenie Meyer. Now who is that you ask....She is the author of the Twilight books. They are awesome and I think that most Mom's know who she is. Well I was at the book store at 6 am this morning to wait in the cool morning for her new book, the Host and a ticket to get in for her book discussion next Friday. Hey Steve has his whole story of Deal or No Deal and I have Stephenie Meyer!! Plus I wanted to get tickets really bad since this is one of the few things that my Mom and I do together. It took me forever to get her to read these books and she loved them after I kept begging her to read them. So I can't wait for next Friday night!! We are able to get 3 books signed from Stephenie!! We can't take pictures with her but I will be taking plenty during the book discussion. Talk about the ultimate Book Club group. I can't wait.

here is a link to stephenie talking about Twilight the book that got it all started!! and here is where you can read about the Host. This is what I will be reading all week long!!!