Cowgirl

So as you know if you read this very often, Grace LOVES visiting her Great Grandpa. Part of the reason she likes this so much are the cows. He lets her name the new calves and she gets to watch them walking around being cows. She loved her cowgirl get up from Grandma Carol and has been talking about how she is going to wear them to the ranch. Well, apparently the cow wrangling was calling her heart strings so the other day when I was out taking her picture, she was pretending the the dogs were her cattle. Linus was the cow, and LadyBug the calf.Look at the look of determination on that face! Linus, of course was clueless (as it was, it took 5 minutes of shouting his name to even get him to come out to play), and LadyBug was running into both of them being a spaz.

Finally, however, she got them the way she wanted them. Look at that smile. :) You go, Cowgirl!

Red Chair-5 months old

Time is flying by. Elizabeth rolls all over the floor, has started a bit of cereal, and is growing like a little weed. She still has that sweeter that sweet disposition and a huge toothless smile that melts my heart. She loves her sister and her face lights up when she sees her daddy. She could sleep better, but loves to cuddle in our bed, and I am a sucker for her smile. :) I could cry that she is growing up so fast, but so thankful that God gave her to us.

So here are her 5 month pictures in the big red chair.

I had trouble getting a good picture because she kept trying to sit on her own and toppling over, like this:Finally, I had Grace jump up and down behind me.
Oh the sweetness!
And the sisters:
I loved this one too:
And this makes me laugh, so funny!
For the previous months you can click here to see how she has grown.

Flashback Friday: Ay, Caramba!

As you know, I grew up in Spain. I didn't move there, however until I was 4. It is a little known fact, however, that my brother Michael and I were quite cross culturally gifted before that. :)

From a young age, blending in has always come naturally to us. In fact, around the tender ages of 3 and 6 (aproximately, maybe more like 2 and 5), we were mistaken for a mariachi band.

Take a look at the pictures below and I am sure you can understand where the confusion came from. And judging from our outfits these were taken two separate days. I just realized that as I write, so I am not sure who the hat belonged to that we had so much access to it. I will have to ask my mom about it to see if she remembers, as I have apparently blocked it out of my memory. I am guessing Michael has as well, as they say people do that with childhood trauma. :)

A night out on the town

Gunnar and I had been to Riverdance when we were first married. We had enjoyed it, and when Gunnar found out that they were in town for their final tour, he thought it would be fun to go again. I didn't feel comfortable leaving Elizabeth for that long, so we had to bring her along too. We also invited my mother-in-law Carol and her boyfriend Cliff. Grace stayed with my parents and was super excited.

When my dad went to take out picture Grace ran out of the house yelling "We need to take a Hanson family photo." So of course we did. Quite possibly the best attempt yet.

I took this picture before the show while we were in our seats. Gunnar was then going to take one with me in it, but the usher lady came by and told us we were not supposed to take pictures. Opps.
So we took some in the lobby instead.

Cousin Nick

A few days after Christmas Elizabeth was thrilled to meet her cousin Nick. She didn't however, express her excitement as much as Grace, who pretty much wanted to talk to him the entire time he was here. Including the time when we were talking to him. She does know how to dominate a conversation. We hope Nick comes back soon, as Grace did not seem to be running out of things to say to him anytime soon.

Cow Girl

Grace got a full cow girl outfit for Christmas from my mother-in-law. She wore the boots to church the other day and posed with the hat before we left.

Everyone complemented her cowboy boots, and she corrected each one saying: "They are cow GIRL boots. My grandma Carol gave them to me." She must have said that 20 times. Such a cutie pie with such a sense of style.

Christmas Day

Maria spent the night so we stayed up watching music videos from the 80's and Elf (our favorite Christmas movie), so come Christmas morning, I was VERY tired. And by VERY tired, I mean I was kind of walking around asleep, with my eyes open, pretending to be awake. Due to this condition, I didn't take too many pictures, and a few of the ones I took were blurry because aparently, I was too tired to hold the camera still.

Anyways, we were going to breakfast at the beach, our family tradition, BUT Gunnar makes amazing pancakes, so we ate those first. Really, it wasn't that smart of a move, but the pancakes were beyond delicious.

We met our friends the Olivas family for breakfast, and then were going to go to the beach to take pictures. Due to the fact that we were late and it was a beautiful day, the beach was packed and we couldn't find parking easily. Due to the fact that we were really tired, we just called it a day and moved on. We did however take a picture of my parents and Maria with the girls as they were taking off after breakfast.

The last picture is the only one in focus from our time with Carol after breakfast. We opened presents and had a great time. We then headed home to relax and take naps!

Christmas Eve...the last one!

Finally, the last of the Christmas Eve pictures! My parents and Maria joined us for the Christmas eve service at church. There were lots of Christmas music, Gunnar spoke and we all sang "Silent Night" in the candle lit sanctuary. Grace was sitting with my dad who let her hold a candle, and she was stoked. She should have been, as there is no way I would have let her do that. But Grandparents get exceptions, of course. Besides, my dad told her if she moved in the least, he was going to blow the candle out. I have NEVER seen he sit so still. I am not sure she even blinked.

When we got home we tried to take a few family pictures. Twenty tries later, here is our family's Christmas picture of the year! :)
My second favorite.
Lastly, one of me and Ellie Belly. Look at that adorable double chin (her, not me, of course). :)

Christmas Eve

Due to my being behind on posting the pictures from Christmas, and due to the fact that my time is limited, I am going to skip Flashback Friday in order to try to get over the Christmas pictures. I am not sure if anyone even wants to see these at this point, but oh well.

I felt compelled to take a lot of pictures this year for a couple reasons. First of all, it is Elizabeth's first Christmas, and I don't want to do the whole jipping the second kid of pictures thing. Also, since I just got a new lens, I am still working on using it, and so it gave me a good opportunity to practice.

Unfortunately, I was way more excited about it being Elizabeth's first Christmas than Elizabeth was.
I know. What a party pooper.

She even felt this way about her gift that I bought her. Grandpa Dick did luck out though, because what is as sweet as a sleeping baby?
Grace, on the other hand, was beyond excited. She opened each of her gifts with the enthusiasm of someone who has just won the lottery. She exclaimed "oh wow, oh wow" for each one proclaiming it was just what she wanted. Gunnar and I got her a suitcase for our travels. She has already used it once to sleep over at Grandma's.
Not only was she excited about her gifts, but she was also very excited about everyones gifts. She helped everyone open their gifts. Like the calendar for my mom.
Grandpa Dick got the girls a stuffed bear. It is super soft and about the same size as Elizabeth.
Maria and Gunnar always exchange gifts and try to find something that the other person would love or would make them laugh. Maria totally scored this year with something that he loves AND makes him laugh. Elvis coffee, who knew such a thing existed.
Grace also had the oh so important job of delivering the gifts. It's fun being a kid on Christmas!
My mom got Grace Playmobil's which are Grace's favorite, and my favorite when I was a kid. They are great toys and Grace kept saying "I LOVE playmobils, I LOVE playmobils."
Elizabeth didn't sleep the entire time, although she did spend most of the day with her grandpa's. Here she is with her other grandpa, Grandpa Pa, just chillin' while he chatted with Grandpa Dick.

Christmas Eve dinner

The guest:
The Menu:




There were also rolls and ham, but everyone knows what those look like and besides, I forgot to take pictures of them. :)

Random Christmas Pictures

The days before Christmas, I ran around cooking and cleaning and all that momish stuff. I had my camera and took a few pictures that didn't belong with any of the others, so I thought I would group them together. I really have to get cracking to get through these pictures, I it is half way through January already, and starting to get embarrassing. At least I don't leave Christmas lights up year round. And I did take down the tree. But, I can only do what I can do.

Here is Grace, Christmas Eve morning, checking out the presents under the tree, which listening to Adventures in Odyssey.
That same morning, Elizabeth laid on the floor next to Grace, making silly faces at her. I love her silly happy face.
Another day, Elizabeth laying on the floor. She enjoys rolling around, and playing with her toys. She is going to be crawling before I know it.
While Grace takes her bath, Elizabeth and I have some down time, so we enjoy making faces at ourselves in the mirror. If you have downtime, you should try making faces at yourself in the mirror. It is fun. Well, at least Elizabeth thinks so.

Precious Baby

Elizabeth gets more and more beautiful every day. She has a precious personality and is so happy and mellow. She melts my heart every day with that big smile of hers. Those chubby cheeks, bluer than blue eyes and big toothless smile. She is growing up way to fast, but I am loving every minute of it.