***I copied and pasted this from my sister's blog because it was just too sweet:

Dearest Hannah,

Happy 4th Birthday! You are the absolute cutest and most hilarious girl I know. I talked to you on the phone today and teared up because you're just the sweetest little thing. I wish I could bottle up your adorable 4 year old voice- it makes my heart melt. I told you "Happy 2nd Birthday" and you cracked up laughing and said, "I'm not 2, I'm 4! 2 comes before 3, but I'm after 3, so I'm 4!" You are so smart and witty and you're only 4. You seem so old to me, but at the same time you're just a little baby in my mind.

I'm so glad I had nieces and a nephew before having kids because I can honestly say I love you babies more than anything. Sometimes I wonder if my heart has enough room for my own baby. Will I really love my own as much as you? I know the answer is yes...and more (sorry!), but I can't fathom that right now. Today I will just let my heart be full of love for you, sweet Hannah Marie!

So Happy 4th birthday to you! I cannot wait to squeeze and kiss you in one month!

Love,
Aunt Rachel

....and what's a blog post about Hannah without posting pictures of her cuteness?

 

After all of us getting the stomach bug on Saturday, we were feeling well enough to be able to have Hannah's birthday party on Sunday night.

Hannah was very patient about having to delay her birthday party, but once she saw all those presents, she couldn't wait to rip right through them!

My mom took Hannah to Legoland a few weeks ago and had this caricature drawn of her as Cinderella. Joey got a Yoda one from Legoland for his 5th birthday.

Hannah: still the queen of goofy faces!

Our original pajama party idea ended up working well since we've been in pajamas all weekend!

And the stinker who got us all sick in the first place. It's a good thing she's cute!

No one really had their appetites back yet, but the kids said they wanted to go ahead with the waffle bar. They nobly polished off a few waffles between the two of them. It was their first real food all weekend!

 

And it wouldn't be a party without Bubba and Nana. My parents were so sweet to come over early to make us some food. I had a bunch of chicken defrosting in the fridge that was going to go to waste since I didn't end up using it for dinner Saturday night like I had planned. So, my mom made us a big batch of her delicious chicken dumpling soup, and my dad made us his famous chicken fried rice. When we get our appetites back, we'll be all set with yummy food for a while! Thanks, Mom and Dad!

It certainly wasn't the weekend we had planned, but we survived and we were blessed in spite of all the sickness!

 Hannah turned 4 on Friday! We started the day with the traditional birthday donut.

 For dinner we went to McDonald's at the mall because afterwards we went to the Disney Store.

 Hannah decided that this year she wanted to pick out her birthday present from the Disney Store instead of Target. Hannah spent most of the time trying on different dresses.

 She ended up picking out this nightgown dress (although it really doesn't look like a nightgown) because it was so long and flowy. She was SO happy with her decision, and we were pumped because the nightgown dresses are much cheaper than the regular dress up dresses!

 

Ellie loved the Disney Store too. She saw this plush Cinderella doll and held on to it the whole time. When it was time to leave I took it away from her at the last minute and boy, she howled!

Hannah's birthday party was planned for Saturday. The week before was a little weird as far as planning because there were so many things that were up in the air. Andy's grandma is not doing well and it looked like Andy might be flying out to Philadelphia anytime for her funeral. There were a few times recently when it didn't look like she would make it through the night, so we thought we might have to postpone Hannah's party until the next weekend. On Wednesday, Andy's grandma was still alive and even seeming to improve, so the party was officially on for this weekend. We didn't know for sure if Andy's parents were still up for coming out, but they said they were so we were good to go!

 The next unknown was Joey's baseball game. He had his game scheduled Saturday morning so we were going to have to schedule the party around that. It was going to be a little inconvenient, but we were glad that Andy's parents were going to be able to watch Joey play t-ball. Then a big rainstorm hit and it poured all Thursday night. His game was officially cancelled Friday. We were bummed that Grandma and Papa J weren't going to be able to see the game, but it did make the schedule for Hannah's birthday party easier.

Then came Friday night. Andy's parents were going to get to our house in the afternoon, but Andy's dad had some urgent work business to attend to, so they arrived at our house at around 9:00. The kids were already in bed but still awake from all the excitement of the Disney Store. Or so I thought.

Joey came down at 9:30 to tell me that his tummy didn't feel good and he thought he was going to throw up. It didn't completely surprise me because Ellie threw up Wednesday night, and I was a little worried someone else might get it. I got Joey to the bathroom, and sure enough, he was right. Next was Hannah Belle at 10:00. Unfortunately she didn't quite make it the bathroom in time.

In the 6 years we've been parents, we've been very fortunate in that we've never had kids up at night throwing up, somehow it's always been during the day. Also, we've never had two kids sick like that at the same time. Well, on March 8, 2013 our "luck" came to an end. Both kids were up all through the night throwing up or just moaning in pain and calling for me.

Joey was actually pretty funny in the middle of the night. He was so indignant about throwing up that he just kept saying the funniest things. After I told him that Pepto-Bimsol is only for people ages 12 and up he declared, "Well, that's just not fair. What, they want little kids to have to feel sick?!" He also asked for permission to use a "bad word" before he announced that he HATES throwing up.

After being awake all night, around 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning I got the bug. Andy's parents stuck around for a little while Saturday morning to help us with some laundry (Joey was excellent about making it to the bathroom in time. Hannah, not so much). Then they left to go back home around 9:30. We felt so badly that they had a total of a 12 hour drive and were only at our house for about 12 hours. And of course most of that was spent sleeping (at least for them). Hannah did rally in the morning and opened her birthday presents from Grandma and Papa J before they left.

Surprisingly, Hannah didn't bat an eye about her ruined birthday party. I guess hanging out all day watching movies and drinking 7Up is a kind of special treat. I was much more disappointed than her!

Saturday afternoon Andy was the last in our family to succumb to the nasty stomach bug. Thankfully, by that time I was feeling better so I was able to take over parental responsibilities. I will say that there is definitely a benefit in all of us being sick at the same time. Everyone was more than content to just lay around all day and no one wanted to eat anything so it wasn't like I had to prepare any real meals. The only problem was that Ellie, my normally super independent child, was uber clingy and fussy. I'm not sure what was going on with her although she still seemed to be having some effects of the stomach bug, so maybe she just wasn't feeling well.

With everything up in the air all week I think we had Plan A through Plan E for Hannah's birthday party. This was NOT one of them:

(Notice the sad, empty punch bowl in the background.)

The funny thing is that Hannah's party was going to be a pajama party complete with a waffle bar and donuts, so at least I got the pajama part right.

I've been thinking about my poor neglected blog for a while, but I haven't had much to share. I haven't been very good about taking pictures lately, and that always decreases my motivation to blog. Finally I decided, even without many pictures to share, I really need to write an update! Also my favorite sister may or may not be bugging me to post something. ;-)

So, here's what we've been up to:

Joey is now on his first t-ball team. His coach is really enthusiastic and into it so that's really fun. Right now it's the preseason so he has two practices a week and then his games start in March.

Since the holidays we all have been into puzzles around here. Hannah got several new ones for Christmas and loves to do all of them several times a day. We even have worked on a few 500+ piece puzzles as a family. I love just having a puzzle out and watching someone wander over and start working on it whenever it strikes their fancy.

Valentine's has always been one of my favorite holidays. The kids are big fans now as well because this is the second year in a row that Andy hid a treasure hunt around the house for us. We all love when he does this and Hannah already asked him to do another one next year for Valentine's. It was so cute to see the kids dashing up and down the stairs finding clue after clue and little treats along the way.

The kids and I reciprocated the Valentine's love and hid little cut out hearts around the house with reasons why we love Andy/Daddy. Joey's contributions centered mostly around Andy sharing his video games with the kids. Hannah's focused on how sweet her Daddy is and also she said she loves him because he can carry her and Ellie at the same time.

The kids had been asking to have another date night where Joey and I go out on a date and Hannah and Andy go out on a date. We haven't done that since before Ellie was born, so Friday night Joey and I had our date night. We ended up going to 4 different restaurants! Joey wanted chicken nuggets from Chick-Fil-A, a burger from In-N-Out, a dipped cone from McDonald's and I got a dish of pasta from Noodles and Company. It was like a fast food scavenger hunt. Unfortunately, I didn't think to get a picture of us as we dashed out the door, but I'll leave you a mental image: Joey dressed up in his nice church sweater and his clip-on-tie clipped on to the zipper at the top of his sweater. Kind of adorable.

The next night Andy and Hannah went the boring route and only went to one restaurant. ;-) Hannah was very excited to pick Chick-Fil-A, and Andy kept Hannah entertained with stories from his childhood. She couldn't get enough and kept begging to hear more. 

Hannah was THRILLED with the opportunity to get even more dressed up than usual (she's a little obsessed with accessories and on a daily basis has on at least two rings, one necklace and a bracelet or two) and she even got to have her hair curled.

Sadly, Ellie didn't get a date night, but lately she's been more than content crawling around the house and pulling out every toy we own. Because of that, our house is in a perpetual state of disarray. It's a good thing Joey and Hannah love her so much because we all are constantly cleaning up after our little Tasmanian Devil.

 

More and more people are starting to ask if Ellie is walking. Ha! Not even close. She doesn't even like to stand which really makes me laugh. Originally my guess was that she would walk around 15 months, but at this point I'm just hoping she walks by a year and a half. That just means she gets to be a little baby for that much longer, and I'm very happy with that!

Apparently this is the Hannah edition of "The Things They Say."

Hannah: I got Strawberry Shortcake gum. It tastes like cake.
Joey: I don't like it.
Hannah: You don't like cake?
Joey: I don't like the gum.
Hannah: I like it. It tastes like cake. By the way, I like cake.


***



Hannah: I like doing chores. I'm glad I don't go to school and (instead) do chores.

Before you are too amazed by this happy little worker bee, please keep in mind that she only says these kinds of things when I give her a chore she likes and she is not doing anything else. This is the same child who cried for an hour and a half while standing next to a stack of cloth diapers which she refused to fold.

Case in point, an hour or so later when I had her do another chore:

Hannah: Why did you ask me to do that? I want to play with my baby! I only want to do a few chores.


***



Hannah: I have a hunch this puzzle piece goes over here.

Hannah: I love cliffhangers. Cliffhangers are my favorite.

Hannah: Daddy, you're kinda suspicious.

Can you tell Andy has been reading the kids Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books?

If you live in Southern California, you know that it's been pretty chilly around here lately. If you don't live in California, you've probably heard about our "cold snap" because we southern Californians tend to FLIP OUT about any weather higher or lower than 70 degrees. True story.

So when it's 50 degrees outside and we are tired of being inside, this is how I dress my one year old:

Like a blue Abominable Snowman.

When Ellie is dressed in Joey's hand-me-downs, I'm always tempted to start calling her Benjamin Logan since that would have been her name if she had been a boy. Unfortunately, her pink skull and crossbone shoes would have given me away.

She would make a pretty cute Benjamin Logan.

Somehow we survived our frigid weather and it's been back to gorgeous around here. To celebrate, we are off to the park today and we'll probably all be wearing shorts and t-shirts. It's rough living in the perfect weather capital of the world!

Anytime Hannah sees Ellie after a short absence (like a nap or if Hannah was outside playing)...
   Hannah: Well hello, Ellie! It's so good to see you!


While watching a princess movie on the Disney channel...
   Joey: Balls have to be pretty because that's where you fall in love.


Heard from the back seat on our road trip to Phoenix at about 11:00 pm (both girls were WIDE awake in the middle row while Joey was sacked out in the very back)...
   Hannah: Rock, paper, scissors, Ellie. Rock, paper, scissors.
   ...brief pause...
   Hannah: Cut ya! Cut ya!
(Apparently Ellie played paper.)


   Andy (to no one in particular): Hey, beautiful.
   Hannah: Hey, Dad.
   Andy: How did you know I was talking to you?
   Hannah: Because you said my name.

Later at dinner...

   Andy (to Hannah): Right, Hannah?
   *silence*
   Megan: You didn't call her by her name.
   Andy (to Hannah): Right, beautiful?
   Hannah: Right!


Talking to Aunt Rachel on the phone:
   Joey: I got in trouble today.
   Rachel: What did you do?
   Joey: That's between me and your sister.