Clifford the Big Red Dog

There's Clifford's paw and Hannah squeezed right between them.  Generally, Hannah is really scared of "Characters" .. but when she saw Clifford, her favorite,,, she ran right up to his arms and welcomed Clifford's hug. It was really cute. 

This is Cliffords friend "cleo" ... Hannah loved seeing all of Cliffords friends..

And finally, at the sand box, she tries to feed a dog a shell.   Why not?

We had a nice time at the Children's Museum last weekend ( I am a little behind in my updates). We didn't stay long, as it was getting REALLY crowded, which wasn't fun for mom and dad.   Hannah loves it there, she loves exploring, playing and figuring it all out. Before winter ends, we might have to plan a day there during the week when it isn't so crowded with people :) 

"Mommy and Hannah Day"

Today is President's Day, so schools are closed. I took the day off the spend with Hannah. Hannah nows calls these days "Hannah Mommy Day" which I find endearing. We went to mall of america today to underwater world and looked at alligators, fish, sharks and sting rays.   After the aquarium, we went on a few rides at the theme park, and finished our outing with a little pizza for lunch. We had a lot of fun together, and really wish we had more time together like this.   It is kind of fun to sneak away like this from work and spend time with family.. if only there were of these days to go around! 

Happy 4th Birthday Bella

Yesterday we went to Bella's 4th Birthday party. I can't believe she is already 4! I vividly remember painting her room pink upon the arrival home from the hospital! Time flies!! It was a great party. We went to Kid Create Studio were they made cupcakes out of clay. It was really cute. They had a cupcake cake, and fun activities for the kids. Bella is really into crafts these days, so she was loving it. Thanks Bella for a fun Birthday party!!! 

Happy Valentine's Day 2009

On Valentine's Day, we went to Kim and Jason's house. It was the perfect evening, spend time with friends, relax, eat some pizza and decorate valentine's cookies. As you can see in the picture above, Hannah is really excited to decorate the cookies. Her post icing and sprinkle consumption is below. Hannah spent a little more time eating handfuls of sprinkles while licking her fingers full of icing than actually decorating. But the girls had fun. It is always fun to see Hannah and Eleanor together. They have such a great time together, and are such good friends. The shriek with excitement when they see each other, it is too cute. 

This would be Hannah and Eleanor laying in a chair post icing and cookies screaming "I stuck" when in fact they weren't really stuck, they just thought it was funny to say that. Two peas in a pod!

"Ja'Mirah Doesn't Bite Anymore"

Hannah had her Valentine's party at school last week. Above is a picture with her friends Evie and Ja'Mirah.   Or as Hannah calls her "Mira". All the kids had a great time. The parents made the kids boxes to collect their valentine's. Dad made Hannah's boc b/c well lets face it, he has a little more creative skill than myself. It was really cute, decorated in pink with heart stickers. Hannah loved it and was telling everyone about "daddy's box" she was so proud of it.

Here she is Ja"mirah ... and Hannah. If anyone heard me daycare updates up until a few months ago, you might had heard me complaining a little about Ja'Mirah. She was a biter, and Hannah always seemed to be her latest victim.  We would ride home in the car and on a daily basis, we would hear Hannah say "mira bite me, bad mira" as if she were a dog. But, since the biting has subsided, the two are now the best of friends according to the teachers. The director of the daycare calls them "ebony and ivory" which cracks me up.   I love the kids can easily put the past behind them as if they bite marks and terror never happened :) 

Sledding, Fire and Ice!

More sledding, and more fun this weekend!  While it wasn't 42 degrees, it was in the 30's... which is a heat wave here. At Saturday, Eleanor, Bella and their parents came over to go sledding. The girls loved it as the slide down the bunny hill in the backyard.  Hannah's favorite part however, was eating snow. She couldn't get enough of it. Frozen lips and all. I thought, well, as long as the snow is "white" what could it hurt?

Hannah was all smiles as she went down the hill... 

And eve more smiles when she went down the hill with her friends!! It is hard to see here, but Hannah and Eleanor and screaming and laughing all the way down.

Again, a little hard to see, but Hannah and Bella have huge smiles on their face!!  So cute! 

On Saturday night, the three of us went to Plymouth's fire and ice festival a few miles away on Parkers Lake. We didn't know what to expect so we will be a little more prepared next year. It was a lot of fun. They had horse sleigh rides, smores stations, ice sculptures, bon fires, ice skating, hockey and sledding. It isn't a Minnesota festival unless there are cheese curds, she enough.. hot steaming fried cheese in the middle of a frozen lake isn't all bad!   We wrapped up the night with a pizza and some Little Mermaid movie.  ( Hannah is getting quite into the Disney princesses these days) 

We are doing our best to make the most of winter, and keep Todd sane since this isn't his favorite place to live this time of year.   We can take the 30's, lets hope it doesn't get to negative 30 again anytime soon!