Really long update

I think I must be the biggest blog slacker ever! It isn't that I don't have time I just haven't been very motivated and it takes forever to post pictures:) A lot has happened since my last blog, there have been two birthdays, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. I figured I should get this done so that Christmas isn't included in the same blog.
Hannah turned 5 in September. We had just a small stay at home thing with family. She requested a Tinkerbell theme so I made her a Tinkerbell cake that was only so-so, but what can you do? She got a bunch of presents from Grandmas and Grandpas and Aunts and Uncles. Thank you to everyone that sent her birthday wishes. Hannah is loving school and already has the boys chasing after her (Matt is already thinking about which gun he should buy, I had to remind him we are in TN and whoever she dates probably has a bigger one:) These are some pictures of her birthday fun: The first one is of the new Barbie bikes maiden voyage.

Then came Halloween. We had a really great one except for the fact that it was raining on and off all day. We had some friends come over and made pizza and dry ice root beer. Our new neighborhood was a great place to trick or treat and we had a ton of kids come to our house too. Hannah decided on being a cheerleader after debating between a cowgirl, a mermaid, and a fairy. Piper was a princess because she would not let me get anywhere near her with the flamingo costume:) Matt was Clark Kent and was told at our ward party that his costume was the most original. I was a witch with a huge tutu on. The tutu was no sew and was really easy to do. This year we decorated our yard with a demented pumpkin, one that looked like a guy getting run over by a lawn mower, and one that is throwing up:) Here are some pics of our good time:

Then it was Piper's Birthday. She had a Winnie the Pooh theme and her cake turned out a lot better. She still didn't really get that she could tear off all the pretty wrapping paper but she loved her presents. Hannah loved them too. We had to keep telling her that they were Piper's toys and not hers, her reply was I am just saving them for her (what?). We stayed home for Piper's birthday this year too. Maybe next year we will have real parties but this year I was sick and not really prepared for that. Thank you for all of Piper's birthday wishes and these are some pictures of her good time:

Then there was Thanksgiving. I had the flu so it wasn't a big event. I still managed to make the turkey and a few sides but the pumpkin cheesecake didn't make it to the table. Overall it was okay, but when your sinuses are all stuffed up you can't really taste your food.
Well that is what we have been up to the last few months. After Christmas I will post again with the pictures of our lights and stuff. Merry Christmas to everyone!

Our new house

This has been one of the most stressful times in my life! Buying a house is no simple thing, but after all of the complications and headaches we finally have our house. We love being able to really play and run around. The girls love playing in the backyard and riding their bikes in the cul-de-sac. They are a few draw backs, they didn't really clean the place when we left so there was a ton of cat hair everywhere. We got new carpet because the carpet was awful! I mean don't walk around without shoes awful. The new carpet is really thick and soft. We put new filters in all the vents because it looked as if those had never been changed. We found out a few other things that will have to be fixed that didn't show up in the inspection, but over all it is a pretty nice place. There is so much cupboard space in the kitchen that I almost don't know what to do with it. I love having that problem:) Some time we will get around to putting grass in (instead of weeds), a veggie garden, a nice flower garden, and some hydrangea bushes. We have so much to do now.

Hannah has started school full-time now. She is really independent and didn't even want me to walk her to her class on the first day. She goes to computer lab three times a week, music twice a week, art and guidance once a week, and gym twice a week. The school district we are in seems like a really good one, the people at her elemetary school are really great. Piper loves being at home with just mom. We spend most of that time cuddling on the couch, she is so cute! She is starting to talk alot more, and she loves to sing.

Well that kind of updates us for now. Here are some pictures of our house (I'll try to post more later).

Summer time

It has been really hot here so we have taken the girls to the pool a lot. Hannah loves going! She has her own goggles, a tube, and a life jacket that she loves to wear. Piper has a baby float tube that she isn't really fond of; she would rather run around the edge and scare mom half to death. Last week we went to a sprinkler park for a friends birthday. Once again we couldn't get Hannah away from the water and Piper we couldn't really get near it (she would get close enough to just tap her toes in the water). One of our favorite things to do is go to the park. Piper loves to climb around by herself and go down the slide. Hannah just loves to talk to random kids and run as fast as she can. I decided to practice a little with my cakes to pass the time. I am still working on piping and stuff so it is still a work in progress. Here are some pictures of our fun summer activities. We will be going on vacation soon so I will have more to post then. Also we are buying a house. We close on the 24th of July, so after that I will post some pics and blog more about that.

Fun

I have been really bad at updating this recently so there are a few posts that follow this one. I wanted to post some of these pictures just because they are so cute.

What a goof ball. That is her Easter basket.

Yo Gabba Gabba is the coolest show ever. I got a good ten minutes of quiet while it was on. Matt now has a bunch of episodes on his laptops for moments when we need sanity. Piper can be in another room and can tell it is on and comes running.

Piper pancake face...mmmmm


Lets do this!

Summer fun

We went up to the mountains the other day for a picnic. I love being able to go up there. This trip we saw two sets of Black bear mothers with their cubs. The last few we saw were pretty close but the trees were too thick to get a good camera shot, and of course the really smart people had to get out and start walking up the mountain toward the bears for a shot.....HELLO...are you insane?!! Anyway we had a lot of fun playing in the river. Here are some pictures of our day.

Hannah's First day

Hannah just completed her first week of summer school. In the county where we live they do a Kindergarten readiness program that I enrolled her in. I wanted her to get some classroom experience before school really starts so that she gets used to listening to a teacher and following directions. She loves it! The other day when I was dropping her off she told me "mom you don't have to get out of the car I can do it myself." Okay then, bye. She wants to stay longer and ride the bus, so the separation hasn't been hard for either side:) Piper is really jealous though. When we do Hannah's homework Piper has to be right beside her with her own paper and you have to give her all your attention or she freaks.

Easter

We had a really fun Easter this year. We did our egg hunt and dinner at our friends house. Poor Piper was super cranky and missed most of it. I found their really cool baskets at the craft store on sale, the airplane was the best. We didn't do a movie this year so hopefully next year we will remember that. Anyway, here are some pics of our fun time.

What a cutie

I had to post these pictures. Isn't she just the cutest little toddler on the planet? I think so:)

Vacation

This last weekend we went on vacation to Orlando and Daytona Beach. We drove down which wasn't too bad, but next time we will fly. Hannah had a ton of fun in Orlando. We stayed at the Nickelodeon hotel, it is an all suite hotel so the kids had their own room with bunk beds that was painted like Jimmy Neutron and we had our own room. Their pool complex was huge and once a day they slimmed people. Hannah spent the whole time down at the pool and on her way back she saw Spongebob and got to have her picture taken with him. Poor Piper was sick the whole time and didn't have any fun. Daytona was just a bust all the way around. The beach was no good and the weather was bad, then I got sick. By the end it was a relief to start the drive home. We thought we would have to take Piper to the doctor when we got back, but the minute we walked in the door she was fine! Little stinker. Here are some pictures of the trip.

Ice, ice baby

So at home sometimes we dance to random songs from back in the day:) One of the songs that we do on a regular basis is Ice Baby. Hannah apparently picked up more than I thought because at church on Sunday she raised her hand in class and said "I want to sing a song," she then got up and gave a solo performance of Ice baby with the beat and everything. She gave all the primary teachers a good laugh. She is also learning a Skee-lo song that we are going to do a music video for when we are in Florida, so stay tuned for that.

Dress-up

I haven't really had anything to blog about lately, so I thought I would post a few pictures of how we spend our time when daddy is gone. We have a ton of dress up clothes thanks to Hannah's friend Brooke and Piper is just big enough now for some of them. She sometimes gets frustrated because if she falls it is hard for her to get back up:) and Hannah is just a ham so every time she puts a dress on she makes me take a picture. The last pictures is the first time I could put Piper's hair in a pony tail. Matt thinks it looks goofy, but I love it.

Snow in the South!

We had an early February surprise here in Knoxville, we got about 3 inches of snow. Hannah sat at the window all day Monday looking at the snow fall, wanting to play outside. And though he was a day late due to the weather, Matt made it home in time to play with Hannah in the snow and build a snowman. Hannah built a snow dog. Here are some fun pictures and a video of Hannah pelting dad with a snowball.

Aloha!

Matt and I are back from our trip to Hawaii. We had so much fun. The first few days we were there we did a lot of sight-seeing. We drove all the way around the island and saw all of the North beaches, Waimea Canyon, a bunch of waterfalls, the spouting horn, and we did some hiking. This is Whale season so we saw a lot of them offshore, the turtles and monk seals came right up onto the beach to sit in the sun. Matt and I went to a luau one night, it was so fun! The food was pretty good and the show was amazing, it was like those girls hips weren't attached-crazy! Overall it was a really great vacation and we got to spend it with Matt's parents which made it that much more special. Now we are just trying to adjust to the time change and the weather:)

Hannah and Piper did good with their babysitter and Michelle had a lot of fun buying girl clothes and stuff. Poor Piper was a little bit confused when we went to pick them up. She had one hand on me and one out to Michelle like she didn't know who she was supposed to go with. Now she won't let go of us, I think she was worried that we were never coming back.

Here are some of the pictures we took:
A seal on the beach

Silly

This is one of my favorites



Good Times

Can't help but love him:)

Matt jumping off of a waterfall