Kate turns 2!

Our sweet little Kate {who, in fact, is not always so sweet, but very sassy!} turned two!  Can you believe it?

We had a family party for her with, what else?  A Tinkerbell party!  Our third Tinkerbell party in less than a year :)  What can I say?  We love Tinkerbell at our house.

I made her a delicious Tinkerbell cake {for reals - it was so yummy!}, which she loved.  And we had homemade peach ice cream.  Mmmm, so good.

{Kate loved the ice cream!}

{The Birthday Girl and mommy}

{Papa and Grammy}

Kate got some fun presents . . .

But her favorite, by far, was this Dora bath toy:

She carries it around with her everywhere!

{Uncle Derek thought something was funny . . .}

{Dawson loved the cake!}

{Aunt Lindsey and the Birthday Girl}

{Blowing out the candles!}

{Kate and her daddy - she is SUCH a daddy's girl!}

Here are Kate's two year stats:

{Height}:  35 inches (81st percentile)

{Weight}:  30 lbs (85th percentile)

She's slowed down a little!  She has always been off the charts in height, she's catching up to Emmy so fast.

 {Love this sweet little face}

Here are some things we want to remember about our Kate:

- Her favorite things in the world are a sippy cup of milk, her "cozy cozy" (a crib-sized comforter), her "lamby" (a stuffed animal lamb) and now her Dora doll.

- She totally can beat Emmy up.  She'll hit, pull hair and scratch.  And not only Emmy.  Jake and I have both had battle wounds, as well as a poor little boy at the gym :(  Naughty girl!  I finally had to tell Emmy to hit her back.  Emmy was not happy with this.  But, eventually, she realized she needed to defend herself against the sassy Katers!  And the hitting began . . .

- Despite her violence, she can be a sweet and cuddly girl.  She is so good at giving hugs.

- She is becoming a great little talker.  Sometimes she has to repeat herself once or twice, but we eventually can understand what she's telling us.  Most of the time, she talks in at least 4 or 5 word sentences.  She'll yell, "Stop it!" if she doesn't like what you're doing or saying (or in my case, singing . . .).  And she's really good at saying "thank you," even without being reminded.

- She loves eating broccoli, tomatoes, olives, blueberries, grapes and applesauce.  She's our good eater!

- She loves watching Diego.  When she wants to watch TV, that's what she asks for.

- She is becoming very independent.  She wants to do most things by herself.  If you don't let her, watch out!  The tantrums will begin!

- People ask all the time if her hair is naturally curly.  Honestly, what two-year-old is gonna let someone curl their hair???  I politely tell them yes, the curl is natural :)

- She's happy in the mornings!  Emmy, on the other hand, is not.  It's nice to have one child be a morning person!  She gets that from her dad . . .

- She LOVES to color!  She even colored with a permanent marker all over the counter, chairs and herself . . .

- She likes to sing (yes!).  She's got a cute little voice :)  One of her favorite songs is J Lo's "On the Floor" - that's right, she's turning to her latin roots.  Ha!

 {This girl loves the boat!  Grammy and Papa sold theirs, though :(  Anyone wanna take us out on the lake?}

{Sweet sisters}

We can't believe our baby is already two!
We'll keep her :)

Tinkerbell 30th!

I turned 30 this year.  That's right - three + zero.

Well, my wonderful husband decided to throw me a surprise party!  He recruited my sister and my friend, CC, to help him out.  I had NO clue - I was totally surprised.  The party was at my parent's house and some family and friends were there to help me celebrate!  It was a blast!

What's even better is that it was a Tinkerbell party.  Quite appropriate, I thought. Had to keep a youthful theme going, right?

So we ate some delicious food, had cake {of course}, played games - we even had a Tinkerbell pinata.  And we ended the night with a little Glee Karaoke on the Wii - thanks to my sis for that present!.  {Side note - Emmy and Kate totally fight over the microphone every time we play it.  Note to self: get another mic for the Wii!}.

The group that helped me celebrate:

The pinata!  My dad got some great {ahem} action shots:

{The first person never breaks it, right???}

{Lindsey knocked it off the rope!}

{Jake and Derek playing baseball with the pinata}

Me and my sis:

{Yes, I had a birthday crown :) }

So thanks to all my friends that could make it to the party and thanks to Jake, Linds and CC for putting it together!  There's nothing like friends and family to ease the pain of becoming another year older.

The thing is, I still act like feel like I'm 20.

I was kind of freaking out about it after I turned 29.  I couldn't believe I would be turning 30 years old.  Cuz that's always sounded old to me.

But you know what?  I've decided that 30 isn't too bad.  In fact, as one of my friends told me, 30 is the new 20!  And I feel just as good as I did when I was 20.  I'm getting older AND wiser.  So here's to another 30 years!

Emmy turns 4!

{The birthday girl on the morning of her birthday}

Emmy turned {four} last week!

My, how the time flies.  For real.  I swear, this little girl was just a little baby joining our family.

She had a great birthday!  

She opened presents:

{She's a big Tinkerbell fan}

 {She had been asking for a Book of Mormon.  She has to hold it every time we sing "Book of Mormon Stories"}

{This present was the big winner - she loves that the fairy wings can turn into the Barbie's dress, and vice-versa}

I made her an Ariel cake, but it was not the best looking cake in the world, so I am not posting pics - I'm too embarrassed about it!  But she {loved} it and that's all that matters.

She had a Tinkerbell party with her friends, which I will post about later.

Here are some things I want to remember about Emmy:

- She still {LOVES} to sing!  And she's got a great little voice (I'm not just saying that because I'm her mom, promise!).  She is always singing her little heart out.

- She has a fun little imagination.  We are constantly "playing" something.  Most of the time she's Christine and I'm the Phantom.  Or I'm Jane and she's a monkey (from Tarzan) or she's Jane and I'm Tarzan.  And it doesn't matter where we are or what we are doing.  It can be while I'm making dinner or getting ready.  She's always ready to play make believe!

- I taught her "I am so smart.  S.M.R.T."  Why?  I'm not sure.  But it is so funny listening to her sing it.  I wonder what her preschool teacher thinks about that one . . .

- Emmy can write her name and she knows all of her letters.  We will be at the store and she will get so excited and say, "Mom!  There's a "L"!!!"  The best was when we were in St. George and she saw the big D on the hill.  She excitedly yelled out, "MOM!!!  There's a "D" on the mountain!!!"

- She is becoming a better eater (YAY!) and is more willing to try new foods.

- She LOVES books!  We try to read to her for at least 15 minutes a day, usually right before bed time, but she could be read to for hours at a time.

 

These are her school pictures.  So cute!!!  I love them!  I was too lazy to scan it in, so I took a picture of the picture, which is why it maybe looks a little distorted :) 

Emmy and I had a mommy-daughter date a couple weeks ago with my sister and her daughter.  We saw "Phantom" at Dixie High.  Oh my.  She LOVED it!!! 

The girls dressed up in their "Christine dresses" and their "Christine cape's" that Grammy made them last year for Christmas.  We went to dinner first and everyone was loving them in their dress-ups.

{Mysterious . . .}

DHS has changed A LOT since I went to school there!  Their theater department is awesome - it really was such a great production.  Just look at the huge Phantom mask that was outside the theater!

Emmy wanted to get a picture with "Christine" but, of course, I had to be in the picture with her.  She just stared at all of the characters after the play.  Especially the Phantom.  But she would not even let me get close to him!  Apparently he was too scary.

Coming up next, a post about the Tinkerbell party!

Happy {Late} Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Jake! Ok, so his birthday was on Sunday - I'm a couple of days late on the birthday post, but better late than never, right?

I have to say that I have one of the best husbands ever. I know I've said this lots of times, but he is so helpful and selfless, much more selfless than I am. He would sacrifice just about anything for his family. He is such a great dad and is so involved in his girl's lives. How many dads do the dishes and give baths after a long day at work? And then, on top of that, gets up with the baby in the middle of the night to give his wife a break?

Doh! His eyes are closed, but that's ok, he's still hot :)

In case I haven't told you enough, I feel so lucky to have you for a husband! I know not all husbands are willing to do what you do for the girls and I, and I just want you to know how much I appreciate all you do. Really. What would I do without you? I'm so spoiled :)


I love you and want to wish you a happy birthday, even if it is a couple days late!

P.S. I've done a ton of posts today, so scroll down if you want to see more :)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was my birthday, and what a great day it was!  

As I get older, birthdays lose their appeal.  Maybe because I'm getting closer to 30 . . .  But all I wanted for my birthday this year was to spend it with my family.  My parents were out of town and Jake works late on Tuesdays.  But Jake surprised me and took the night off!  

Here's how my day went . . . Emmy woke up early (for her, that's 8:00) and Jake made us breakfast!  I requested pancakes (with the homemade strawberry freezer jam I made two weeks ago) and eggs (scrambled w/ cheese, just the way I like 'em).  Yummy!  I went to the gym (just because it's my birthday doesn't mean I get the day off) and then went to the park w/ some friends and let the kids play.  Thanks, Jess, for getting my lunch!  After coming home, putting Emmy down for a nap and showering, I took a nap.  Since Jake didn't have to work he made me dinner - Chicken Marsala.  So yummy!  Jake cleaned up, gave Emmy a bath and then we put her to bed.  We decided not to do a big cake since it's just the two of us (Emmy can't eat cake . . . it has eggs in it) so we made Chocolate Lava cake.  I love the gooey goodness of that delectable, delightful treat.  It was such a nice and relaxed day, I couldn't have asked for anything better!  Here are some highlights . . .

When I got home from the park, there were a dozen beautiful red roses waiting for me.  What a wonderful husband I have!

My handsome husband making me a seriously delicious dinner

I wish you could all have a bite.  It was so good I couldn't stop eating it!

My very own birthday cake!  This isn't the best picture, but I'm sure your mouths are watering anyways . . .

Oh, and Jake had Emmy singing "Happy Birthday" to me all day long.  She had a big smile on her face every time she sang it.  Jake got me Twilight, the movie (yahoo!) and those beautiful flowers.  What more could a girl ask for?  :)  Thanks for such a great birthday, honey.  I love you!

Happy Birthday, Grammy!

Yesterday was my beautiful mom's birthday! It's a big milestone birthday, the big 6-0!!! Can you believe it? She definitely doesn't look 60. So since it is such a milestone, my sister and I decided to throw her a surprise party! And boy was she surprised! My dad invited a few of their friends and we had a great time eating a yummy dinner and homemade ice cream - yum yum! Homemade ice cream is a Hansen family tradition! Here are some highlights of the night:

Right after everyone yelled "Surprise!" She had no idea about the party!

My parent's friends, hiding. We got 60 balloons for the special occasion!

Papa and Grammy

The grandkids helping grammy blow out the candles

Emmy enjoying the delicious homemade ice cream!

Who needs a spoon when you can use your fingers?

Mother and two pregnant daughters! (Yes, my sister is pregnant, too! She is due 3 weeks before me. How fun is that? Notice the baby bumps?)

Happy Birthday, Grammy! We love you so much and are so lucky that we have you in our lives! We get to see your beautiful, smiling face everyday. Thank you for all you do for us!!! Here's to another 60 years . . . :)

Happy Birthday to me!

My birthday was this past week and I just have to say I had a GrEaT day, thanks to my wonderful family!



I have such a wonderful husband who will do ANYTHING for me - I'm so lucky!!! I really like photography so he got me a new camera! I'm so excited to learn all about it so I can take some awesome pictures! It's a Canon Powershot SX100 IS. Doesn't it look nice? Stay tuned for some pics from this baby.









My sister got me this charm bracelet from Lea Sophia - I LOVE it!



And I'm anxiously awaiting a gift card from Joann's from my sister-in-law.

And my mom went way overboard, of course, and got me some much needed new clothes!

Thanks to my family for such a great birthday!

Birthday Girl

The day Binga was born

Emmy's First Birthday is this month. I can't believe it has been a year already! My pregnancy seemed to drag on FOREVER, but once she was here it has just flown by.

I gave her a cupcake to dig into but I think most of it ended up on the floor
She wasn't shy about rubbing the frosting ALL OVER herself!
Especially in her hair


Her cousins, Maddy and Grey, gave her this unicorn. She absolutely loved it. She just started hugging it and carrying it around with her after she opened it. Thanks, Mads, for picking out the perfect present!

Happy Birthday, Emmy! We love you so much! You have made our lives so exciting. We never knew we could have so much joy! Who knew our lives could be such an adventure!