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!

Happy Birthday Part 1

It seems like we had a month full of birthday celebrations. We started out mid August with Elizabeth's first 1st birthday party with Grandma Carol. She had some delicious birthday cake and got to try on some fancy earrings (what girl isn't a fan for jewelry?). Good times.

The Tiniest Musician

These pictures are actually from her first birthday back in August. Ellie loves her Tia's tiny piano!