Hannah's First Day

Today was Hannah's first day of pre-school.  (I guess that's why I have time to blog about it:).  She's very excited.  She went right in to her classroom and started her school work.  What a big girl.

Camp High Five

This is what Lincoln told me was his favorite part of school-"Camp High Five."  It's a cleverly done PTA fundraiser.  I wish I could have captured Lincoln's face as the race started.  He was beaming with happiness.  

Hannah is 3!

I was kind of burned out from Rachel's birthday the week before, but with Rachel's help we managed to make it pretty fun for her.

 Breakfast in bed initial response-I want to kill you.

 Her face once she realized it was her birthday.

 Her present-rollar skates.

 Hannah's first gift was skates so she could join Rachel and Lincoln in kitchen skating.

 Rachel and Hannah chose a princess theme for her birthday so Rachel drew a castle and they played princesses being rescued by a ninja for a long time.

 I made the princess cake.  Joe helped me figure out how to do it.  

 We had a new family in the ward over to help celebrate.

 G-ma Danielson's traditional 3 year old birthday blanket.  She slept on the floor with this quill-ow for 2 weeks after she got it.

Happy Birthday Hannah!  You're a fun girl that adds so much joy to our family!

Rachel is 7!

 Rachel turned 7 in August.  She is getting so big!  She anticipates birthdays all...summer...long.  We planned her party and made everything from scratch to keep her from being bored in the summer.

 The "Real Birthday" cake.

 Birthday breakfast.

The party theme was "stars."  It was a little far fetched but it worked.  The craft was this star jewelry box.

 Don't Eat Sunny

I was going to buy Rachel a pinata just like this, but got ambitious and made it.  I think I'm improving at my ghetto paper bag pinatas.

Rachel is a wonderful daughter and older sister to all her siblings.  She helps me so much.  I appreciate her sincerity and desire to make other people happy.

First Day of School!

Rachel had her first day of 2nd grade and Lincoln had his first day of Kindergarten.  I was nervous for Lincoln because he seems so young to me.  He has really impressed me with how well he has done.  The first day he came home and said it was thumbs down boring, but every day after that he has loved.  Rachel has always loved school and this year is no exception.

Carolina's Stop 3

Our final stop on our Carolina's Trip was to visit the Ragatz.  Sarah is my best friend from high school/college and my trip out to her new house was long overdue.

 The kids were excited about doing this camp fire the whole trip.

 Joe and Carman got the manly task of making the fire.  The even more impressive part of this was the wood was wet.

 Sarah, Lily, and me getting ready for s'mores. 

 Sarah's sweet mother lives nearby and offered to watch our kids while we went on a date.  I bowled above 70 so that was amazing. 

 Lily got to come too.  Pardon the creepy picture in the back.

 We went to a library magic show and then stopped by this Arthur exhibit.  The kids got to be on the Arthur show.  (If you look really close you can see it on the screen).

One of the funnest parts of the trip was decorating Sarah's mantel.  Joe watched the kids and we did the typical comparison shopping that I just can't do with Joe without him wanting to curse me.  We went from store to store and then back to old stores....so fulfilling:).