Happy Bee Day Hannah!

Wow! I really can't believe Hannah turned 2 today! I'm sure it never changes, but I still vividly remember the whole night/morning that she was born. It has been an amazing two years and we know there is so much to look forward to still.

We started the day off with some yummy overnight cinnamon rolls (recipe from my good friend Lindsey Knopp). Hannah even put some sprinkles on hers for her birthday! After some playing in the park with both grandmas and two great-grandmas as well as a Happy Meal for lunch, it was nap time for the birthday girl. The rest of us were busy preparing the food and goodies for the party! Here is the dessert table. Nikki & I had such a fun time decorating the bumble bee cake! The cookies were decorated by Delaine and both great grandmas that were there. Once Hannah woke up, it was about time to get dressed in her special birthday outfit. I want to thank Miss Sadie for letting Hannah borrow her tutu and one of my co-workers, Monica, who made the "H" shirt for her to wear. It was so cute!!!

After a delicious meal of Italian beef, homemade mac & cheese, green beans, cole slaw and more, it was time to open some presents. Once again, Hannah was an old pro at unwrapping and had a great time tearing into her gifts.

After every present, she really wanted to stop and play with it right at that moment. It took a little coaxing sometimes to get her to open the next one. This was her big gift -- it was a joint effort with many family members and she already is loving it!
After presents it was time to dig into the cake! We sang and Hannah was anxiously waiting to eat her piece of cake. I think she liked it!I can't finish this blogpost without mentioning some very special visitors we had for this party. Ken & Delaine graciously brought both sets of their parents with them from Wisconsin so that they could be a part of Hannah's birthday. My grandparents were also up for the party. How awesome is it that all of Hannah's living great grandparents were here?!? It was a very special time that I know we will not forget! Here we are all together. There were many cameras going so we may not be all looking, but it at least it captures the moment.

The whole day was fabulous for all of us! It was great having so many family members here to help us celebrate this special day. We made many memories that we will be able to treasure for a long time. Happy 2nd Birthday, Hannah! We all love you so much and are blessed to have you in our life!

Christmas Celebrations

We had multiple Christmases again this year. In a way, I really enjoy doing it this way. Then it doesn't seem so overwhelming all crunched in a day or two. First off, we celebrated with my dad (12/21). He came over and we ordered dinner in then opened our gifts. We didn't want to go too far since we were on day two of potty training (which is why Hannah is opening all her presents in only a shirt and undies!) This was Hannah's first present experience for quite some time so she was very intrigued and made sure she helped everyone open their gifts! It was a nice relaxing evening!

Here is Gampy & Hannah looking at the calendar we made about our year.Hannah got a new outfit for her Bitty Baby doll. She was excited to dress her right away!

Then we had a little break until Christmas Eve and Day. On Christmas Eve, we went out to dinner and then to Christmas Eve service at church. This is something I didn't do growing up and I have really enjoyed that being our focus on Christmas Eve. We came home, put Hannah to bed and waited for Santa. Tim and I then watched "White Christmas" which is my all-time favorite Christmas movie!

Christmas morning we got Hannah up and read through the Christmas Story before heading out to see what Santa brought. She loves her new Anywhere Chair and used it all day long! She even "christened" it within thirty minutes so it also has had it's first washing! Oh the joys of potty training! We enjoyed a lazy day of pancakes for breakfast, playing in the snow, watching TV and relaxing!

Hannah was pretty excited to see her gifts from Santa and from us! Hannah enjoyed opening the rest of her gifts in her new chair.
Hannah's big present from us was a new puzzle step stool with her name on it for her new big girl bed! She loved taking the pieces off to do the puzzle and climbing and jumping off the stool.
My mom got back from her family's mid-afternoon and we started getting ready for dinner. We had just sat down to eat and had accident #2 for the day. It was a rough potty training day, but we cleaned up and continued with dinner. After cleaning up, we opened gifts from my extended family and Mom. It was a great night to just hang out together.

By the time we got to this Christmas, Hannah was a pro-unwrapper! Again, she had to open all her presents in her new chair. We also made sure to get a 3-generation picture after we opened gifts.
Tim's family arrived this week and we were onto our final Christmas. Wednesday afternoon (12/29) we opened gifts with Tim's family as well as the ones from his grandparents. That was followed by a wonderful Wisconsin dinner that one of Tim's grandmas prepared. It was very yummy! We had some time before bed for Hannah to play with her new toys.

Hannah getting ready for the final round of Christmas.

Hannah's big gift from Papa & Nana Casey was a Little People House - she has loved it!

Once she did go to bed, it was a mad dash to de-Christmasize our house so we could gear up for the big 2nd birthday and party the next day. Our Christmas was spread out but each and every one was very special and we are so thankful for such wonderful family!

Let the Potty Training Begin!

This fall, I decided to give potty training a try (or should I say start) during the first week of my Christmas break. I figured it was probably one of the only times I could stay at home for an extended period before summer and before another member joined our family. With the help of my more experienced Mommy friends (thanks Kristina!) and some tips from books, I got some good ideas and off we went!

Sunday afternoon, we made a trip to Target for some new undies as well as some treats. Here is a shot of Hannah's treats and her bear that we used to help with the process. Then after nap on Sunday, Bear got to try to go potty. First, she was dry so she got some M&M's. Then she went on the potty and got to have a sucker. Hannah was pretty excited that Bear shared the sucker with her.

Monday morning we were off! Here is a shot of Hannah and Bear right after we put big girl undies on. Then she had the first accident of the day. One good thing is that she HATED peeing on herself. She started crying "Mommy" (in a real whiny voice). I thought that was at least hopeful. The rest of the day went okay. She had 3 more accidents and 2 successes including waking up dry from her nap and going right after. I felt good enough to keep trudging the next day. Here is Hannah hanging out watching some TV in between potty trips.
So, onto Tuesday. We started the day with two accidents. Bummer! The first was after she had been awake for almost an hour & a half and we kept trying but she did not want to go. She got off the potty and went like two minutes later. Then since she had just gone I set the timer for 30 minutes and within 15 she was going again. Definitely frustrating! But, not too much longer I saw the poop face coming and rushed her into the bathroom and she went on the potty! She then went pee two more times before lunch! After nap time, she tried and didn't go. Not long after that, we were reading a book and eating snack and she lifted her shirt and pointed to her undies. I asked if she needed to go potty and she nodded yes. We headed into the bathroom and had success! I was hoping that was a mini-breakthrough. We went the rest of the night with no accidents but no successes either. Moving to day three...

Wednesday we started the day pretty slow. She was out of her diaper by 8ish and did nothing until 11 am! We keep trying ever so often, but sometimes I think she is starting to lose interest. I was beginning to get concerned because she hadn't done anything. She ended up having an accident. I thought maybe it wasn't a bad thing because I want her to remember she doesn't like the feeling. We headed to nap time with no more accidents or successes. After nap time, we had one success and then another accident around dinner time. I decided to keep going.

Thursday was our most successful day! We had a sucess fairly early in the morning and another one in the afternoon and NO ACCIDENTS!!! She did have a wet diaper at nap time but I thought a day with no accidents was great! Friday was the same. No accidents and two successes! We did put her in a Pull-Up to go to dinner and Christmas Eve service and it was not dry when we got home. So far so good! Onto the next week!

Merry White Christmas!

What a wonderful Christmas at home! I'll wait and do a full Christmas celebration post after we are done with all of our Christmases, but I did want to write about Hannah's first real playing in the snow! Yes, it snowed here all day yesterday and a little into the night so we had our first white Christmas in many years. After Santa, presents & pancakes, we bundled up and headed outside. Here is Hannah ready to go!Once we got outside, it took a little coaxing to get Hannah in the snow. But eventually Daddy got her there. They tried to start a snowman, but it wasn't working great so instead they just made snowballs and enjoyed "eating" the snow.

No matter how much we tried to get Hannah to go out and play, she just kept asking to do this...
her favorite outside, front porch activity! After we were done, we went inside for some hot chocolate and got back just in time to watch the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade! What a fun first on Christmas!

The Big Bear Brunch

My mom, Hannah & I had a very special Christmas outing this year. Courtesy of Gwannie (my mom), the three of us headed over to the Ritz-Carlton for the Wings in the City fundraiser "The Big Bear Brunch." This organization is a St. Louis based non-profit group that supports children with terminally ill and life-long diseases and their families. We have a long time family friend whose daughter is a part of the Wings organization and were invited to join them at this years brunch. It was so much fun! The morning started off with registration and some activities and then we went into the ballroom to be served brunch. Since this is an event designed for children, brunch included hot chocolate with marshmallows and sprinkles for the pancakes (I think these were Hannah's favorite part of the meal!) After we ate, there were tons of arts & crafts tables around the ballroom for the kids to participate in. A few that we took part in were the sugar cookie decorating table, the coloring table and the bear magnet table. After some playing and lots of sugar, we loaded up the car and headed home. It was a wonderful morning and we can't thank Gwannie enough for taking us. We can't wait to make this a yearly event!

Mommy & Hannah before heading out for our special morning.

Gwannie & Hannah at the hotel.Hannah enjoying her breakfast of eggs, pancakes & chocolate sprinkles!

Next we headed to the cookie table to decorate a sugar cookie. Here is Hannah admiring her finished project.
Then we were off to the balloon clowns for a special balloon animal. Hannah got this super cute Rudolph balloon. After a brief break for some hot chocolate and cookie, we made our to decorate a bear magnet to remember our fun day.
And our last activity of the day was coloring a picture frame. This was by far Hananh's favorite thing to do (she LOVES to color!) I literally had to drag her away because she wanted to color some more.
We had such a fun day! Thank you Gwannie for this wonderful Christmas outing!

Much to be Thankful For

We had a great break over Thanksgiving filled with family, friends and lots of fun. For the first time, we were able to fly to Wisconsin/Minnesota which we were very thankful for. Earlier in the fall, Southwest Airlines was offering amazing deals on flights and we jumped on it. We were very excited that we would not spending 16-20 total hours in the car. We left on Wednesday afternoon for the airport. The weather wasn't great, and our flight was a little delayed, but we made it through security with out any hassle and got ready for our very first plane ride as a family of three. Here is Hannah getting ready to take off for her first flight.We were able to have some relaxing family time once we got to Tim's mom and dad's house Wednesday evening. It was nice to just be able to hang out and spend some time together. Thursday morning, we hung out and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade before heading to visit the extended family. We had a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner with Tim's dad's side of the family. We also had an early birthday party for Hannah since we were all together. Aunt Nikki made Hannah a special birthday cake and she got a few new puzzles to play with.
Friday, some of us (not Hannah and I) were up bright an early (as in 2:30am) to start Black Friday shopping. This is a Casey family tradition and it didn't disappoint this year. Those that started off early got some great deals! Hannah and I made it there around 8:30 to join the festivities. We met the rest of the extended family of shoppers at Coney Island (Tim's favorite hot dog place in LaCrosse) for an early lunch and then continued our shopping. As crazy as it can be, it is one of my favorite things to do with Tim's family.

After resting in the afternoon, we headed over for Thanksgiving with Tim's mom's side of the family. We ate some more yummy food and had a nice time hanging out. There were three of the four great grandkids there and they all had fun playing and reading together.
Saturday morning, we headed back to the Twin Cities to catch our return flight home. Once again, security was a breeze and our flight was good as well. We were home by early evening to enjoy a nice relaxing Saturday evening. Unfortunatly, we all came home with a little bit of a cold so it was nice to just get to hang out at home.

Overall, it was a great Thanksgiving and really nice break from work. We had some fabulous family time and are really looking forward to more of it over Christmas break in a few short weeks.

Family Movie Night

We attempted to do our first family movie night in our basement. While we were all excited, it didn't last very long as a family of three. We rented Toy Story 3 because Tim and I hadn't seen it yet and we thought maybe it would keep Hannah's attention. Also, since it was the night before day light savings time, we thought this was perfect to keep Hannah up a little longer but in a quiet kind of setting. Well, Hannah was more excited to jump up and down and climb on us and the couch instead of laying down and watching the movie. We even had her new bumble bee pillow downstairs hoping that would intice her. After about thirty minutes, we decided to take her to bed. Oh well -- we'll try again another time. Tim and I did finish the movie and it was really good.

A New Room!

This past weekend, Hannah officially got her BIG GIRL room! Tim & I painted last weekend and set up her new bed. Then this weekend Delaine and Nikki helped pick out and decorate her very pink room. It was so much fun making a girly room since we did a neutral nursery. Here are a couple of pictures of her new space.

Here is one side of the room. We painted the wall behind her bed bright pink to accent her bed and the quilt we bought for it. Hannah moved into a twin size day bed that we found on Craigslist last year. We also got the two dressers at the same time. So far she loves being in her new bed!

Here is the other side of the room. We bought the pink cube stoarge piece at Target this weekend and thought it was perfect for books and other goodies. The big pictures are from her first year of pictures from the photographer that we used.

The Next Generation

Hannah has really started to love "coloring." We didn't have a table yet, but my mom saved the day! She brought over the table and chair set that she had as a little girl for Hannah to use. We set it up this past weekend and she has already enjoyed using it. Such a fun family heirloom!

Trick or Treat!

We had tons of fun this year for Halloween! Since Delaine came down for the weekend, she was able to bring Hannah up to school for my parade and Halloween party. It was a beautiful day for a parade and my students had a lot of fun at the party. It was a great kick off to Halloween.

Mommy & Hannah before the parade.Nana & Gwannie giving Hannah a special Halloween cupcake with green icing.

Then, tonight we went on Hannah's first official trick or treating where she could really participate. We decided to just do part of our block. She did so good! She loved walking down the street and going up to the houses. I was so proud of our little bumble bee! Once we got home, she helped hand out candy to the boys and girls who came by the house. Overall it was a super fun night!

She took right off down the street and buzzed right down to the first house!

The Great Pumpkin

We made another trip to Eckert's this weekend for some pumpkin picking. We decided to wait until today because Nana and Aunt Nikki were here for the weekend. We met my mom there in the morning and started our outing with a wagon ride. We headed out to the patch so Hannah could pick her own pumpkin. Because it was a little late in the season, there wasn't tons of options, but plenty for us. We settled on a smaller one then got back on the wagon and went back to the country store. We had a great time and once again enjoyed visiting our local orchard for some fall fun.

Hannah finds a pretty good pumpkin in the patch -- just her size! Hannah's favorite part of the pumpkin patch was finding "bigger" pumpkins and sitting on them. Here we are with our pumpkin out in the patch.

Back at the country store, Hannah found this cute bike/flower pot to pose at.

Fun with Fall

Fall is probably my favorite season! This year has had some crazy weather and it hasn't felt much like fall lately. However, it's still my favorite time of the year! While I was working on dinner tonight, Tim and Hannah took the boys outside. When I looked out, I couldn't help but snap some super cute pictures of Hannah playing in the leaves. Once again, we see just how much Hannah LOVES being outside!