December 2016

Another year is over...wow time goes fast.  As promised here's two of my favorite shots from our Christmas card photo shoot.  So thankful for all my mom's hard work.

December is always a crazy busy month with church Christmas programs, parties, birthdays, and Christmas! But it was fun and I'm thankful for the time I got to spend with family and friends. The month started off with the kid's choir program.  The musical this year was Candy Cane Lane, a super cute story.  Hannah really enjoyed the music and the picked a craft class this semester which she LOVED.  The preschool choir actually joined the big kids on 3 songs this year so Abigail got to participate too.  All the preschoolers wore Christmas jammies....so adorable!! (Photo credit goes to Jack Hess)

The adult choir and orchestra did a program as well.  Hannah's choir sang a few songs and Nathan and I played in the orchestra.  It was a really good program.  No pictures of us playing, but here's good one of Hannah singing. (Photo credit goes to Jack Hess)

Abigail and I got to help at Hananh's Christmas party at school again this year.  I'm so thankful that I have the opportunity to volunteer.

Hannah's best friend in kindergarten was Mikayla and she was so sad that she moved about an hour away over the summer.  The girls have kept in touch on Facebook and mailing pictures.  Mikayla's mom contacted me a few days before Christmas to say that she was renting some reindeer to come to her house for a little while on Christmas Eve.  She wanted to invite us to come and see them.  The girls were so excited to see Mikayla and the meet reindeer.  The reindeer were so sweet and gentle.  Such a fun experience!!

Both girls got a doll as their big Christmas gift this year.  Hannah has taken really good care of Emily that she got last year and plays with her all the time.  So we decided she was ready for a real American Girl doll.  We really debated about getting one of the current ones or searching for an old discontinued one. In the end my mom ended up buying an original Molly off e-bay.  We had to do some work on her hair, but overall she was in really good condition.  And i think it's cool she's been loved and played with before.   Abigail will often play with Hannah's doll Emily while Hannah is a school.  So my sister got her a cheaper Target doll.  The girls were SO excited and have not stopped playing with their dolls.  They've dragged them all over the house.  It's so much fun to watch them play!

We still have another week of vacation before Hannah goes back to school.  We're going to look at Christmas lights one night, and maybe have a play date.  Otherwise we plan to hang out at home and relax.

Hannah is SEVEN

How can this sweet girl be SEVEN!!!  Hannah has the sweetest, tender heart.  She is kind, caring, and helpful, as well as creative and funny!

We had so much fun with her birthday theme this year.  We saw a booth at my sister's Halloween carnival that had painted paper plates and wrapped paper towels in tissue paper and then covered them all with cellophane.  Super cute and not to hard or expensive to make.  The most challenging part was attaching them to the wall without wrecking the paint.  Love all the bright colors.  And Hannah said this was the best photo shoot ever because she actually got to taste the real candy sucker...LOL!

This is always a crazy time of year so we didn't get to do our celebration with cake until the weekend after Hannah's birthday.  My sister's friend made the cake again this year.  SO CUTE!!

Happy Birthday my sweet sweet girl!!!