7 short years ago...

this little lady was born!!

Zanna's birthday was on Saturday and we had a whole weekend of celebrations this year! I could tell she felt very excited and special because she has made Dave and I many love notes saying "I LOVE MY FAMILY!" and has said, "You're the best mom!" many times.  I really didn't do a whole lot this year, but it has been really cute to see how the little things make her feel so loved and happy.  

Zanna has always been a mature soul and she is incredibly helpful with Mia and truly my right hand girl.   Sometimes she even gets Mia out of her bed in the morning and changes her diaper and just plays with her while a get a little more sleep.  She loves to teach James new things and has always been a great older sister to him (besides the teasing and bossing at times:)  

Whenever I go to the school the kids in her class ask if they can have a playdate with Suzanna. A friend in her class said that he wished the school year had just started because then he would have more time with Zanna before she moves...and his favorite state is Idaho now because that is where Zanna is  moving--I thought those were two of the cutest things I've ever heard!  

I just love my girl so much and feel very privileged to be her mom and get her hugs and kisses every day!

Friday...

The  hostess cupcakes we made for her class--we put all the kids initials on them and they thought is was so fun to come outside for lunch and see these on the table.

Showing me her new monkey tricks

Saturday morning...

this year she got to open presents right when she woke up. She LOVED her new "mood necklace" from Grma F. and American Girl books and mini doll from Grandma M!

After this, we headed over to the ward Christmas Party...

Zanna's new friends Nate and Ben Asay invited her to the SF Children's Symphony to see Peter and the Wolf.  She wanted Dave to go with her so the Dads and kids went to the city for the afternoon with Joanne, the sweet woman from the ward who got the tickets for this great event!  

Later that night we went out to dinner to and Zanna chose a place where she could make her own ice cream sundae!  We also picked up her cake at Costco for her party and she was SO EXCITED about this cake, it was hilarious.  She didn't stop talking about how beautiful it was and all the little details about it for about 15 minutes straight and wanted to hold it on her lap all the way home.  Her party wasn't until monday and on Sunday she pulled a chair up to the opened fridge so that she could admire her cake.  I loved seeing her so excited and she definitely takes after me with this love for birthday cakes!

Sunday morning photo in her new birthday dress:)

On Monday after school we had a bunch of great kids over to celebrate. We kept it very simple and had a great time climbing trees, playing with toys and chatting.  We sang, ate cake and ice cream and then headed over to the park around the corner where we played, played, played until dark.   

(All I did was hang a birthday sign and have the table set up with the cake and snacks and when Zanna walked in from school her face lit up and she was dancing around with excitement...so cute!) 

the kids

the moms

Probably the only year she'll ever be eating her cake outside in December!

HAppy 7th BiThDay ZANNA!

Enough of the Stanford sweatshirts!

This is a long over-due post but we had a fabulous time with Grma and Grpa Francis in October! We visited the Stanford bookstore and scored some sweet sweatshirts that we pretty much wore all weekend...so don't mind that almost every picture in sporting some sort of Stanford attire.  

we saw the huge Redwoods...one of my favorite things about going to this place (Henry Cowell State Park) is the smell of Nature...you just step out the car, take a deep breath and are instantly relaxed!

one of my favorites of these three crazies

this one's a framer

Marianne's in Santa Cruz--the Horchata ice cream was one probably the best ice cream I've ever had...and I've had A LOT of ice cream!

We also ventured up to San Fran and explored Union Square for the first time.  The kids and I rode the awesome escalators at the Nordstrom mall, we rode the trolley, ate at Cheesecake Factory and explored Britax--the most amazing fabric store I've ever seen! I wish I was an seamstress and I learned that women spend days and days in there conjuring up creative goodies.  We got some grosgrain ribbon and flowers to make zanna a new headband and new silky fabric for her to sleep with :)

We also went to our first Stanford football game against my hometown WSU Cougs!

It was a little rainy but fun to be there together and explain the game to the kids.

Zanna loved the cheerleaders and James talked about getting cotton candy the whole time...it was more about the experience than the game!

Zanna had an 8am soccer game--she scored a few goals for her special fans!

Stanford Memorial Church--so beautiful that I almost feel bad posting this picture because it does not even do it any justice!

We loved our time with Grma and Grpa and they were such sports to sleep on the MANSTAD (with an awesome mattress topper) and just go, go, go! Jean stayed for a few extra days with the kids while Dave and I went to an interview in Idaho Falls and they LOVED having grandma all to themselves.  They made lip gloss and airplanes, ate pizza and McDonald's and read lots of new great books.  

Thanks for a great trip and taking great care of us and the kids---we love you!

funny to me

funny things...

Tonight while I was doing the dishes I heard this:


James: Brooke is allergic to eggs and peanuts so she can't eat them. I am not allergic to anything.... Well, I am allergic to GROSS food because I CAN'T eat it so I guess that means I'm allergic.  Zanna, you're allergic to gross food then too, right?"


Zanna: "Yep, I guess that's right."

every time I see this I smile

another little funny thing....


The day after Thanksgiving I was worn out from all the cooking so I made the kids chicken nuggets, opened up an applesauce and put out some carrots (raw baby carrots).  After dinner James said, "Mom, I love you so much because you make the BEST dinners!"


it doesn't take much to please this boy...

Mia loves to eat my face off and will gnaws on my chin with crazy baby strength...it tickles :)

Tonight I asked the kids to sing Mia Christmas songs in the car because she was sad, this is what I heard...

Zanna: "Shepherds, we have heard on high..." and "away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little POOR Jesus, lay down his sweet head."

Last funny thing...

We are moving to Pocatello, ID! 

We are really excited, but just the name Pocatello and the fact that we are moving there after all these years of living in some pretty cool places makes me giggle inside :)

details to come...

Life on Birch

I haven't been a very good blogger lately but here is a random assortment of pictures of the last few weeks.  We are in the middle of figuring out our plans for next year...I will let you know when and where as soon as we know...but I already know I will be sad to leave this place! 

My neighbors and I are doing a great dinner swap each week and the kids play like brothers and sisters.  We love the schools and the ward and it is really hard to think about starting all over again already.  We will be excited to have a little more space in our next place...but I just hope we find amazing people like we have found here, in NY and in Hershey.  

Enjoy!

5 1/2 months--love the toe-grabbing phase

she is a very intense eater with a LOVE for big-people food

James is definitely the best at making Mia laugh

Zanna is definitely the best at cuddling with Mia

Her sweet monogrammed shirt from Evie--thanks again!

One Sunday before church--these two are such great buddies, and although they get bugged by each other and call each other annoying at times, they love to play and laugh and ride bikes together and I am very grateful for them!

she really is getting too old!

Mia relaxing after a hike with her big pack:)

so serious...

I just love this one...especially Dave. We had a great evening together as a family (still getting used to being together so much for dinner since it rarely happened in NY because of Dave's long hours) and I just wanted to capture it.

Movie night...The Karate Kid and Slurpees :)

her first time holding her own food...apple slices

She loves to suck on her wet washcloths after a good meal

 

I laughed to hard watching Zanna do this at the school Harvest Festival

James and neighbor Zach...I mean red power rangers!!

mia being eaten by her favorite giraffe friend, she has also inherited Zanna's pink silky and loves to play in her crib with all her friends

She smiles so big on the swings and loves when the kids push her

one of my all-time favorites, what a sweetie

Soccer Days...are almost over.  Zanna scores about 3-4 goals a game and understands the game SO MUCH better now. She has become more aggressive too and is really fun to watch.  James' league was a little more relaxed but he has done awesome too and is a little natural...he really enjoys the snacks!

chillin' at soccer

Mia and Annie (our next-door neighbor) hanging out while Shersti and I were learning to knit

Playing in the crib...Mia LOVES her hippo pillow

Halloween Pics...a little late. Dave was a pro racquetball palyer (thought of thought on the way to the church party) Mia was just a cute orange-sweater wearer, James was a ninja and Zanna a pretty black kitty.  We didn't go trick-or-treating but got lots of candy at the ward Trunk-or-Treat and came home and watched Wizard of Oz...you should see Dave and the kids' impression of the lollypop guild- hilarious!

 

makes me smile every time

We finally took the training wheels off the kids bikes and it was about time! They both learned in about 2 minutes and we are loving living here and ride our bikes all the time.  It was really tricky to bike in NY so this is like heaven to them!