Happy Birthday Dick!!

I have been preparing this blog post since April of this year. Impressive I know.

I just want to take this moment to say Happy Birthday to a special member of our family.

On this, his 76th birthday, I would like to take a moment and reflect on some things that I appreciate about him.

His hard work and always providing for his family.
His devotion to our country.
His love of flying and the happy memories his kids have of time with Elvira.
Of course, I couldn't forget to mention that I am a big fan of his son.
Most of all though, on this special day, I want to say I appreciate his good sense of humor and great forgiveness towards me for posting this picture.

Happy Birthday, you old devil!
I hope it is a great one!

Flowers will cure almost anything

Gunnar trip to Israel was rough on me. It had been such a busy time leading up to it with all the birthdays and parties that then I got super sick and lost my voice. I think Gunnar must have noticed I was having a hard time becuase he had flowers sent to me. And although I still felt miserable and was stuck at home with two kids and no voice, it did help take the edge off the pain. I also developed an even greater appreciation for single moms, military wives and firefighters wives. :)Oh and in case you were wondering, the pictures were taken a week and a half later once I was feeling a little better. :)

Grace's going ons

Grace is now 4 and a half, which was very exciting for her. We started Kindergarten (at home) a year early, becuase I felt like she was ready scholastically and it didn't make sense, if we are homeschooling anyways, to spend another year going over shapes and colors when she is ready to learn to read and what not. She LOVES it and is super excited to do school every day. I find it slightly exhausting to have my mornings tied up teaching, but enjoy it, especially since she is such an eager and smart student.
In Kindergarten we made family flashcards with her relatives pictures, name and relation to her on them and we pray through those every day (by the way, if you have specific prayer request, let me know, it is easier when we have specific things to pray for).
She continues to enjoy helping and all things that she thinks are "grown up." She can't wait to be a teenager. She recently has decided her goal is to grow up, live in her own home and eat cake every day. Such high goals for one so young.
The other day she came up and told me she was going to hold her pillow up to heaven becuase that way God could see how much she loves him. Because "a heart means love." She is very affectionate and loves writing notes. She has begun correspondence with her cousin Elena's great grandpa who was recently widowed and has enjoyed having a pen pal. She prays for him and my grandpa faithfully that God would comfort them with the loss of their wives. So sweet.

Grace is also in love with all things cowgirl. I wish my grandma were around to see it. She loves any opportunity to sport her boots. She is such a good big sister and loves helping Elizabeth out.
At the Wild Animal Park Grace tried out her acrobat skills. I am not sure she is quite ready for the circus just yet, but she is off to a great start.
Grace and I met up with her bff Lilah and her mom to see a play. The girls are 5 months apart and always have so much fun together. They are very similar so hanging out with the two of them you know something funny is always being said.
Funny, chearful, full of energy and a mind that goes a mile a minute. I can't imagine life without Grace in it to make me laugh.

Sweet baby Elizabeth

As Elizabeth grows and grows, her little personality is shining through more and more. She is so different from her sister and so uniquely herself it is fun to get to know her. She is on the quiet side but oh so sweet and oh so cheerful. She is such a joy to be around with her constant smile and her belly laugh. She tends to be shy around people she doesn't see very often. She loves to snuggle and cuddle. Here are some recent pictures of our little sweetheart.

Happy Birthday part 6

Seriously, I bet you thought I was done with the last one. This actually is the last one from our three weeks of birthdays. This one was from the day after Maria's party.

Gunnar and Maria had signed up to run a half marathon on her birthday. Well, then last minute Gunnar was given an all expense paid trip to Israel, and he didn't want to run and risk getting sick/super sore and tiered when he knew he had to leave the country.

He picked Maria up at some unearthly hour of the morning and they went to where the race was. I wasn't there, but I hear she rocked it.

All done, looking way better than I would at that point!
Since we were all too tired from the party the night before to go watch her run, we welcomed her back with banners. And cheering and jumping. Well Grace was the only one jumping, but that still counts, right?
She ran a great time and we were all super proud of her!

Happy Birthday part 5

The day after Gunnar's birthday we had a party for Maria's 2oth birthday. In honor of her incredible artistic gift my parents transformed their back yard into an art gallery and we all dressed for the occasion. Unfortunately, we were all so busy having fun we didn't take very many pictures.

We were all supposed to wear black in white to give it that black tie effect. Thankfully, I actually had a silver and black dress for Elizabeth. Grace didn't have anything in that color pallet, so she just wore her fanciest dress (and was SOOOO excited to wear it again).
Gunnar, ever the creative one, wore his Chaplin shirt becuase when he thinks black and white he thinks police car. Or so he says. He also doesn't really like wearing ties.

Not the best family picture, but at least you can see every ones outfits.
Lastly, my no-longer-a-teenager sister and I!
As we normally do, we got the girls ready for bed before we left (becuase they fall asleep in the car). There is nothing like a good teeth brushing to top off a great party!
My dad made this slide show to show off some of Maria's creations. It ranges from stuff she did when she was really little to her more recent stuff. I am so proud of what an incredibly talented sister I have!

Happy Birthday Part 4

So the week after my grandpa's birthday we had yet another birthday. This time it was Gunnar's. Following last years tradition, we went to Corvette Dinner for lunch again. We met up with my family (everyone minus Daniel, who had to work) and Dick and Sonja. It was a fun time (the little girls loved all the singing and dancing) and they make a delicious milkshake.

I didn't have the right lens on my camera AND the camera was on some weird setting without my notice AND my battery died. So my pictures from the day are less than ideal. But Elizabeth is making a tongue taco, which is pretty awesome.At this point my "good" camera died and I went to my little camera. Which ironically worked way better. There are the birthday buddies
Elizabeth practiced her walking on the way back to the car. She thought it was SO funny.
And lastly, just becuase they are super cute. And who doesn't feel better after seeing super cuteness?

Happy Birthday part 3

As I mentioned previously, we had four birthdays in less than a month (and 5 different birthday event/celebrations). As exhausting as it all was, we had a ton of fun celebrating.

After Elizabeth's birthday on the 24th came my grandpa's birthday on the 29th. He turned 77. Not only that, but with the close proximity to the anniversary of my grandmas death (on the 17th) we thought it would be a good time to all head up to his house to celebrate. My whole immediate family went. All 11.5 (can't forget my baby nephew) of us drove up after church on Sunday. If you have ever seen "It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world" (one of my grandma's favorite movies, by the way) and the scene where they are all driving to get to the big W? It was pretty much like that. We made it their first (yay for us!).

All of us stayed at my grandpa's house (that fits 5-6 and there were 12 of us there!) so it was pretty cramped quarters. Grace, however thought it was great, as she got to bunk on the livingroom floor with Maria.
We spent the day hanging out and relaxing. The little girls made Grandpa a cake.
We picked and ate Russell's grapes (the ones the deer couldn't reach).
We took pictures of Elizabeth to showcase her new birthday boots.

The first picture is kinda of an inside joke due to a video of Grace talking about being a cowgirl. (If you haven't seen it, email me and I'll send you the link.) Even surrounded by horse poop she is a doll though.


After yummy bbq dinner we had cake and took a couple pictures.

An awkward group picture:
The great granddaughters:
And my very favorite. The August birthday people:

Happy Birthday part 2

Elizabeth's second 1st birthday party was on her actual birthday at my parents house.

Since poor Tia had to go to school that night (bummer having a birthday on a Tuesday) she came by for some pre-party snuggles.Of course Elizabeth didn't really "get" the significance of the fact that she was turning one. But she did enjoy her cupcake and candle.
It was carrot cake and went over well.
She even had some of Uncle Mike's tasty homemade ice cream.
She got lots of nice gifts, including a bunch of yummy snacks from Auntie Ann. You can tell she is up on what one year olds like. She also got toys and clothes, which were a big hit, but I don't have pictures of. :)
We made sure to take pictures with all her birthday party attenders.
The Hanson side of the family.
Grandma Ta and Grace
Grandpa Pa
Auntie Ann, baby cousin and Elena
Uncle Danny
And Uncle Mike. Can you tell Elizabeth was over getting passed around at this point??
She did found some comfort on daddy's lap though.
All in all, I think she had a happy birthday and passed out in the car on the way home. Nothing like partying until you drop to celebrate your very first birthday!