Happy 8th Birthday Hannah!!

Happy 8th Birthday to my sweet little Hannah!!   I still can't believe I have a second grader, an 8 year old, a little girl, who is growing up so fast right before us.   Hannah has had a great last year, and I know the year ahead will only be that much more fun.   Hannah still loves tennis and discovered soccer this past year. She is playing again int he spring as I think she actually surprised herself in how much she ended up liking it. In Hannah style, she starts each new thing she tries timid and unsure, finds her place, builds up some confidence and starts to make some progress. She is never one to jump right into anything, with her things take time as she warms up to it.  By the end of the soccer season she was finally getting aggressive, knowing where to go and stand and was a good little defender.  We can't wait to watch her this spring.  

2nd Grade has had a rougher start that we would had liked for this year. She has a new teacher that is more strict that she is used to. More rules, harder topics, and more school work. Hannah was in tears for the first 8 weeks of school. She is finally in a groove now and getting much better grades and working hard at improving her report card. We are really proud of her for all the progress she has made this year and how much she has grown up.

Hannah's world right now evolves around play dates and her little social life. There doesn't seem to be a party she doesn't get invited to by all her little friends. Hannah is liked by everyone and seems to get along with just about anyone, even though she has her favorites. Her and Lila have "BFF" written all over little papers throughout the house and are practically sisters. Hannah asked the other day if we could get Lila a drawer at our house for sleepovers and playdates since she is here so much. It made me laugh. They are adorable together and Lila is an energetic little girl with a lot of personality that is a really positive influence on Hannah.

Hannah is still a good big sister to Drew. While she gets frustrated and tells us she wishes she had a sister instead, I know she really loves her little Drew. She laughs at him all the time and his crazy silliness gets her out of her shell a lot. They either play together really well, or just not well at all. But when they are playing well together... it is pretty darn cute. And even though she won't admit, I know she loves him to pieces as she is really protective over him


I look forward to the year ahead. She is growing up so fast and I know I need to cherish the next few years as they will fly bye. I am going to blink and have a teenager on my hands, and then, well ... yikes.

Hannah, we love you more than words can express, all the way to the moon and back. You make us smile, laugh, love and wonder with your strong yet timid personality. Being your mom and dad is truly the heartbeat of our lives. We love you our little chicken :)

Love,
Mom, Dad, Drew & Murphy

And then... we had her birthday party!! At her request, a magician and 10 or so of her best little friends from our neighhorhood and school. Hannah said it was the best party of her life. After the magician, and pizza, and candy and cake... she had Lila, Lucy and Sophia spend the night. Happy to say, everyone got along great and they were a ton of fun.  Whispering, giggles and laugher until 2:30am!!

Here is Maddie and Hannah watching the magician!

The party goers + Drew.

At the end he made each kids quite the balloon sculpture/ hat. They loved it!

Here is Anita on the left, then Lila and Sophia. Anita also lives in our neighborhood. Lila and Sophia are also good friends as they were in class together last year.  Sophia was a trip... full of personality and as sweet as they come. We loved having her at the sleepover. She made us laugh all night.

No party is complete until you have a bunny in your living room.

Drew had a ninja turtle outfit made from balloons. Even a shell that is not int his picture, it was pretty cool.

Hannah was dead set on having this cake. She has been looking at it at publix all year. Wouldn't you know it, when it was time to eat cake, she passed. Way to busy to eat. With all the leftovers she still has not had a piece of her own birthday cake, I didn't even know that was legal? :)


Another year, another party... Steinemann holiday season is now over. Back to weekends with a little more relaxation :)