Our Crazy Fun Lovin Girl

Our little girl Hannah just seems to change SO much on a constant basis. I decided I needed to dedicate a post to her so I can remember all of the quirkiness that comes specifically with her and with her age. I love this little girl--she cracks me up--and keeps me constantly busy and on the verge of a heart attack most days.

I'll start with this little gem...

When you get a phone call in the day, it isn't like every time you tell the person on the other end, "hang on, I need to make sure all of my children are appropriately entertained, so as not turn my house upside down while I talk with you." Sometimes I will do that if I know the phone call will be long, but as for other quickies? I let the kids fend for themselves for a moment. And this is what was the result from such a quickie:

Hannah + marker= sheer joy

Check out this blue lipped beauty! The pictures of course don't do it justice.

Unfortunately, the sheer joy quickly escaped when mom took the marker away. I just loved the chain of event pictures.

Now why, you wonder, would this cute semi-mischievious girl leave me on the brink of a heart attack at all times? I will show you.

Hannah on the counter, she can get up on the counter ALL by herself.

And this:

On the table. I used to be able to talk on the phone, shower, get ready, and do some other random things without having to worry too much about my kids. Not the case anymore. I will be showering and hear a holler in the background "MOM! HANNAH'S ON THE TABLE!!!" She has been into this climbing thing for nearly a month now, and has not learned any lessons from it at all. Just last night she fell out of her high chair when a babysitter was here with the kids. I thought, "Maybe there is hope that she learned something about gravity." No. She's already been up on the table numerous times so far today. Endure to the end, right?

But she is not trouble 100% of the time. No, she brings us countless smiles and laughs in the day too. If anyone is laying on the floor, she will come sit on their head and start bouncing up and down. She has learned to say her own prayers, which I must say is adorable. She started out by putting her head in the couch and mumbling baby jabber and ending by pulling her head out of the couch and saying "Ameh!" After the extremely positive response, she did it again!! And again! Sometimes while we are eating lunch, we do it to the serenade of Hannah's prayers. She also has an obsession with stinky diapers. I don't know why. She loves to play with Drew and Madelyn and likes to copy-as best she can-what they say. She really is starting to say quite a few things and it is very cute. We were shopping the other day and were buying produce and she just kept shouting out the names of everything she knew: Nana! Appo! Oen(Orange)! She also loves to read and whenever she sees a baby, a teddy bear, or anything else she thinks is cute she will lay her head against the book and give it a "hug." She really is so much fun and very much a pleasure to have around. She brings us so much joy!

The Verdict is in--

We went to the doctor today with our whole family to see whether our new little one is a boy or girl. For the last four weeks Drew and Madelyn have been calling our baby "Scout." Drew really likes the name Scout and has been looking forward to a new baby brother. Madelyn has too. One day Drew shot me with a nerf gun right on my belly, it didn't hurt a bit, but he ran up to me and gave me a big hug and said, "I'm SO sorry. Are you okay Scout?" Madelyn is always very careful and makes sure I don't get involved in any wrestling or any rough play with the family.

So today was the big day and we went to go see if the baby was a boy afterall. When we got there Drew told the nurse that if it was a boy we were going to name it Scout. (This hasn't really passed by me or anything, Drew just LOVES that name for some reason) The nurse asked what we were going to name it if it were a girl. Drew said, "I don't know." She said maybe we'd have to name her "Scoot." Well the doctor got on the machine and found that he feels 95% sure we are having a "ScOOt." Another GIRL!!!! We were all kind of surprised. I wasn't really hoping for one or the other, but in the back of my head I just kind of thought it would be a boy. I'm glad I'm off the hook of trying to sway Drew away from the name "Scout" though. We don't even have any girl names at all! Most of all we are SO grateful that the baby looks wonderful and healthy and has a heart that is beating!! We can't wait for you to join our family little "Scoot!"

A Taste of our Holiday Fun!

December was a great month! We had so much fun celebrating Christmas and the Christmas season. We got to have about three ward Christmas parties, we crashed our old ward, but only on invitation I promise. The other two were in our new ward. One of our new ward parties was held by the primary children and they told the nativity. We had fun making costumes, only I didn't get that great of pictures of the kids. Madelyn was a perfect angel and loved dressing up, big surprise. Drew looked great in his shepherd costume and now loves bath robes. You can kind of see Drew, he is the boy looking at the camera...Madelyn was hiding pretty good, I never even saw her the whole time. Jed's sister Katie and her husband Josh were Joseph and Mary and did great! :)

We were able to spend time with our families and friends with more parties, FHE's, dinners, etc. It was a great time and appreciate all the work that goes into those gatherings!! I think I gained several pounds as a result of everyone's delicious cooking.... Our family also got the chance to go to Salt Lake and spend a few days down there after Drew got out of school and Jed was off work. It was fun to just take time away from our normal routine and spend time together. The lights on temple square were beautiful and we enjoyed our time down there.

It was cold, but it was fun! We also popped in on several of the free concerts that were going on in nearly every building on temple square. We were able to listen to about 5 minutes of each of them, that is all Hannah could handle.

We were also able to attend the Salt Lake temple, and visit my good friend MarjAnn while we were there, which were highlights of the trip. Jed spoiled all of us by taking us out to eat more than we usually do on trips. I didn't mind. :) Our favorite place by far was Tucanos. We went there for lunch--the only way to go since it is a pricy place. If you have never been it is pretty much an all you can eat meat place. They bring you meat on big skewers straight off the grill and cut you off a peice. They are coming around constantly, so you definitely get your fill. It also came with a salad bar which was delicious too. When we first got there, I had to visit the bathroom with a child so I hadn't gotten to eat anything quite yet. When I returned, Jed had the waiters shave off some meat for me. I had heard so much about this restaurant that I dug in pretty much as soon as I sat down. I jabbed a little peice of meat and, in haste, ate it while Jed was trying to mention something to me. The meat was goood......at first, then I had to grab a napkin and--with bad manners and all--spat the meat into my napkin. It was SICK! What Jed was trying to tell me was that it was chicken heart....... Anyway, we had plenty of other meat to taste and it was delicious. Needless to say that when they came around with the chicken heart skewer, I kindly refused.

Before we had gotten to the restaurant Jed and I were debating whether or not to take in the diaper bag. I decided that I must take it, you just never know when you need it. During the course of our meal...we were there for a long time....making the most of our pennies....Madelyn exclaims something to me with much animation. Turns out, Hannah had a Code 3 blowout. Yes, an EXTREMELY dirty diaper. In fact it was not limited to only dirtying her diaper, it was dirtying the high chair as well. She was turned so that her back was turned and quite close to a neighboring table. I tried to be as discreet as possible to shift the high chair away from the neighboring table so as not to offend. It was one of those laugh/cry moments as a mother. And I was grateful I had brought the diaper bag!!!! I'm sorry if that was too graphic, I just had to document it because it was funny.....after a little while.

We got home Christmas Eve night. (Pam we were going to come see you, but it was getting late before the big day. We send you our love though!!) We held a nativity with our kids and I played some Christmas songs on my violin, then we ate and ate treats, then went to bed!! Here is a picture of our expectant Mary: I loved the profile.

Hannah was the baby Jesus who would only cooperate with a dorito in her hand, even then it was pushing it. I just love the sweet look on our little Mary's face. :)

It was a wonderful Christmas Eve followed by a wonderful Christmas day. Lots of love and family which is one of the best parts of the Christmas season!!