Happy 4th Birthday Hannah!

I would be lying if I said that I was writing this post with dry eyes. To say that I have had an extremely hard time accepting that Hannah is turning 4, would be an understatement. I don't know why, but for some reason, 4 just seems so big! Maybe it's because Hannah actually "gets it" this year, and knows that she's getting big, and she has been so excited about it. Or, maybe it's because she planned her birthday for 312 days, but, whatever it is, this mama isn't handling it very well. Every time she talked about it, I told her that I was sad that she was getting so big and that she wasn't a baby anymore and every time, she would give me the sweetest hug and tell me, "but mommy, I'll always be your baby...even when I'm 100!!!" That describes our sweet little Hannah perfectly. She always takes every one's feelings into consideration, and she always wants to make others feel good.

It seems like just yesterday that she was born! We were eating dinner Monday night and I just happened to look up at the clock at 7:11...the exact time that Hannah was born 4 years ago. I teared up a bit, gave Hannah a big kiss, and told her how happy she made her daddy and me 4 years ago that very moment. We talked about how we couldn't imagine our family without her. She had fun asking us questions about when she was born and she always laughs when we tell her how she cried non-stop for months and months!! And now she's four!! She's not a crying little baby anymore, she's not even a toddler anymore, she's my preschooler that is asking me how many days until she gets to go to "the big school!" If only we could freeze time!!!

I want to write everything I feel about our kids on each of their birthdays, so I can always remember, but I really don't know where to start on this one. Both of our girls are so much more than Brett and I could have ever dreamed of in our children, yet they are both so different in their own way. Hannah is the most loving and compassionate child I have ever met. She has never met a stranger and she is one that everyone wants to be friends with. She makes the old people smile at the grocery store and makes the crying baby laugh at the park without even trying to. She is such a sensitive child and her cuddles can make any one's day brighter! She is SO curious...sometimes a little too much, and will WEAR YOU OUT with her 1,000 questions an hour!!! She won't accept "I don't know" for an answer, so you better be on your toes when you're around her. She loves to help out, and is very willing to do whatever it is that you ask of her. She still LIVES her day by her Responsibility Chart. Her 8 responsibilities are, "Obey, Be Nice, Share, Tell The Truth, Help Out, No Whining, Use Your Manners, and Stay In Your Bed All Night :)" She will do whatever it takes to make sure she gets a "straight line" every day!

Brett and I can honestly say that we couldn't be prouder of the little girl that we have raised thus far, and we are so excited to see how much more joy she will bring us in the years to come!!

Hannah is the best big sister we could have ever asked for! She absolutely adores her little sister and they play together like angels! They tell each other every day that they are best friends, and as a mommy that grew up with 2 sisters, it melts my heart! I see their friendship growing closer all the time and I pray that God will always protect that special bond that they have!

Her favorite colors are red, orange and pink, and her daily routine revolves around those colors. The panties she picks, the dress, the shoes, the toys, everything that has red, orange and pink are her favorite...and it can become VERY annoying at times!!!

She LOVES school and she loves learning new things!! She has known all her numbers and letters for a while now and can count to well over 100. She can count by 10's and is working on counting by 5's. She can do simple addition and subtraction. She can write all of her letters and can independently write "Hannah Leigh Belf, Alice Anne, Mommy, Daddy, Jammy, Papa, Gigi, Wally, car, stop, go," and many other words. She wants to know what every word on a building, billboard, etc. spells. Her favorite activity by far is coloring. She can color for hours...as long as she has a red, orange and pink crayon!!! Her favorite princess is Ariel and her favorite games are Hide-and-Seek, I Spy and Chase! She still loves ballet and started gymnastics this year.

She is a great eater!! She'll try just about anything and LOVES salad! I told her that she could pick any birthday dinner that she wanted, that we could eat at home or go eat somewhere and she said that she wanted to eat chicken caesar salad and macaroni and cheese at home--DONE!! She wanted pancakes, fried eggs and blueberries for her birthday breakfast.

Hannah and Milam had a fabulous 4th Birthday party together...Breakfast With Santa!! Hannah talked about it for months and could not believe that the REAL Santa was coming to eat Breakfast with them at her house!!! We have a lot to live up to next year!!!

Greeting Santa at the Door

How sweet is this!!

Santa Reading "The Night Before Christmas"

Sweet Sisters

Blowing out their candles

Her party wouldn't be complete without her dear friend Molly!!

Happy 4th Birthday Hannah!!! We love you all the way to the moon and back!!!!

Girls Weekend

Someone asked me today if I was a "hunter widow" and that's exactly what I have been lately!! Brett loves hunting and during hunting season, the girls and I get in a lot of good girl time! We have had such a fun and busy weekend! They are both at the perfect age and are so much fun to do things with!

Alice Anne seems to have grown-up all of a sudden and she is my little doll! Honestly, I can't get enough of her! I'm really, really sad that she is such a big girl now and no longer a baby at all! I can't even talk about it with out tearing up! The other day, I told our "Elf On The Shelf" (aka Suzy), how good Alice Anne was doing at using her manners. Ever since then, Alice Anne has ended every single sentence in "ma'am." It is so funny! "May I please have some water ma'am?" "I need to go to the bathroom ma'am" I love it! Hannah keeps telling her that she doesn't need to say that and Alice Anne just laughs.

Hannah is really into the Christmas Story this year and wants to talk about baby Jesus all the time. She asks me questions all day long about baby Jesus and half of them I don't even know how to answer, and when I do answer it, it leads into 100 other questions that I don't know how to answer.

Hannah asked me today what Santa was going to bring me for Christmas. I told her that Santa only brings presents for kids. She got such a sad look on her face and asked me if that made me sad. I told her that I would get some present from other people. She said, "mommy, what do you want daddy to get you? I'll tell him and I'll make sure you get it. I don't want you to be sad on Christmas." My tender hearted little one!

We've had so much fun looking at Christmas lights this year. Of course the girls love all the really tacky light displays and they've begged us to get a blow-up snowman to put in the front yard, but there is just no way!!

I wasn't going to do breakfast with Santa this year because Santa is coming to Hannah's birthday party, but Hannah has talked about us going to eat breakfast with Santa last year so much lately and kept asking me if Alice Anne could go with us this year, that I went ahead and did it. She obviously loved it and I want that to be something that they'll remember doing with me every Christmas. I'm so glad we went...they had a blast!!! Alice Anne tried to act shy and pretend like she didn't like Santa, but the second he left, she begged for him to come back! When we got in the car she said, "I give Santa big hug at Hannah's party and I tell him I sorry. I really want a Snow White doll! I sweet!" She obviously thought about it after he left and is a little worried that he won't bring her presents if she doesn't give him a hug. Hannah literally talked Santa's ear off and luckily he went right along with everything that she said about him coming to her house for her party. The girl can talk!! We were waiting in line at the grocery today and the old lady behind us simply said, "looks like you have 2 good helpers." That's all Hannah needed her to say to initiate the conversation. By the time we had paid, the poor lady knew everything Hannah had helped me with the past 3 days, Hannah's full name, birthday, all her friends names and their birthdays, what kind of parties they had all had, what she was going to have at her party and on her real birthday, what she wants for Christmas, how many dogs she has and how old they are, what kind of party she wants to have when she turns 5, 6 and 7, what we were going to do the rest of the day, and a bunch of other stuff the poor little old lady did not care to know! It's so funny, but sometimes a little embarrassing!

We went to a live nativity after baths the other night. They had costumes there and the girls got to dress-up like Mary and Joseph. Of course Hannah was Mary and she told Alice Anne to be Joseph. Alice Anne insisted that she was NOT a boy! Hannah was so funny when we left. She said, "mommy, you know we weren't the real Mary and Joseph. It was just pretend. Could have fooled me!

They couldn't get enough of Baby Jesus

Hannah and her new BFF

Alice Anne doing a pretend pout!

Another thing that I LOVE doing with the girls at Christmas...making chocolate covered pretzels and they love it too!

Roasting marshmallows and making smores!

Bundled up in mommy and daddy's bed to watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer!