January 2009 Happenings

Hannah says:
"January has been a blast! We've had lots of birthdays to celebrate...my Daddy, my Nana, and my friend, Christian! Christian had a really cool party at Peter Piper Pizza where we played lots of games and ate some yummy pizza and cupcakes! This is me on the race car...


Here is the birthday boy, Christian, plus me and Natalie sampling the cupcakes. We decided we REALLY liked them, especially the icing--which is the most important part!



Daddy is really good at all of these games! You wouldn't believe how many tickets he kept winning! We were able to pick out some serious prizes at the end!


This is my friend, Ms. Carol, who goes to our church. Even though it was after Christmas, she invited Christian and me over to her house to see her AMAZING Christmas village that she sets up every year in her living room. Mommy didn't get a picture of the village because she was running after me worrying that I would knock it all over or something...she muttered that under her breath, I think... BUT...Christian and I were really good and had fun during our visit with Ms. Carol.




One of the best parts about going to Ms. Carol's house is...you get to take real homemade gingerbread cookies home with you to eat! Yummy!"

50 Years of Wedded Bliss

December 2008 was a BIG month for our family...not only did we have fun during the holidays, but we had a BIG anniversary to celebrate! Chuck and Ada (Dawn's parents/Hannah's Nana & Papa) celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary! We had a nice reception for them at the church and so many of our friends and family came from near and far.

Here is the happy couple "cutting their cake"...

Here is a 3 generation picture...Hannah had so much fun at the party! She visited with everyone and tried to be as entertaining and social as she could.

Chuck's sisters, Martha and Willie, came for the big occasion, as did lots of our family! Cousin Jeff even came all the way from Spain! It was truly a special occasion!

These are some of our sweet friends who helped make the party a big success! We couldn't have done it without Megan, Jamie, and Kim. We also had a lot of other "little helpers" who you see in the picture below!

We "had ourselves a merry little Christmas..."

as told by Hannah...
I had SOOOOOOOOOOOO much fun all throughout the holidays this year! I got to sit on Santa's lap at my pre-school and I could just tell...he absolutely loved me! In this picture, I think I'm getting EVERYTHING I could possibly wish for...a dollhouse, a camera, on and on... Maybe Mommy & Daddy won't tell him about all of my 2 year old shenanigans! Tee hee...


See...I'm whispering into Santa's ear & telling him not to believe everything he hears on the good and bad list... It's all a conspiracy! I guess Mommy & Daddy have been pretty good this year. Maybe Santa will bring them a Wii or something fun???

Here I am at my friend, Natalie's birthday party! We jumped and jumped until our legs were sore...okay...at my age, they never really get sore. I just heard my Mommy talk about how that can happen... Happy Birthday, Natalie!

This picture was taken at the Christmas Parade in town... I LOVE to go to this! Well...I don't love the loud sirens and all, but the endless candy being thrown at me makes up for it. If only Mommy would let me eat it all at once! If she wasn't looking, I bet Nana & Papa would let me...

How do you like my cute reindeer shirt that we made at school? Mommy wanted me to show it off...and well...I'm pretty good at that! I like standing in front of the tree anyway because I can sneak a peek at all of the packages while I'm there!

On Christmas Eve, Mommy, GiGi, Nana, and I figured we'd better make some cookies in case Santa Claus comes to my house. I think he likes chocolate chip cookies with little mint sprinkles on top. It's too bad that he won't actually get to have the little sprinkles...I couldn't resist and ate a lot of them before I got caught. YUM!

On Christmas morning, Santa must have realized how good I've actually been, because he CAME to my house! He brought me a BIG dollhouse and a digital camera for kids that can be dropped and tossed into the toilet if you want (not that I do that)! Then...we opened lots and lots of presents from all of my family. We had so much fun!

Mommy got me and Daddy an electronic violin. I think Daddy liked it even better than me...He kept saying he was trying to teach me how to hold it and play it, but he sure hogged it an awful lot... I'm really learning, though, and maybe I'll be a world-class violinist someday if I keep practicing...

Oh...Mommy & Daddy DID get a Wii after all! We have had a LOT of fun playing with it. I don't get much of a chance to play, unless it's the racing cow game where you run into scarecrows! FUN!

Thanksgiving 2008 in West Texas

We visited our family out in Odessa for Thanksgiving, which is always a treat! Hannah enjoys catching up with her GiGi, Grandpa, and all the rest of the Horton clan. Last year, we lucked out and got some snow, but this year...not so much...just nice weather!

Hannah & GiGi are best of friends!

We always try to get a good family picture...one never can be sure how photos will turn out with a 2 year old...

And...Hannah loves to sit in Grandpa's lap...plus now he has a cute little dog, which makes things all the more exciting!

Happy Halloween 2008!

I am Princess Hannah Grace! Don't try to define me as one of the specific princesses you may have heard of--I am who I am! Happy Halloween to everyone...hope you got lots of candy!


By the way, my GiGi made my beautiful dress...I have truly enjoyed wearing it to the church Fall Festival, the pre-school Parade of Costumes and again for Trick-or-Treating! I am off to the ball in the next picture...with just a wave of my wand, more chocolate appears!

Here I am with Mommy & Daddy at the church Fall Festival hayride pulled by my very own Papa on his tractor!

We had FUN at pre-school this week! A Parade of Costumes AND a Halloween Party with cupcakes and my favorite friends...

These cool glasses were a party favor at the Halloween Party at school... Mommy says they don't really go with my princess dress...maybe if they had a few rhinestones around the rim!

Back To School!

Hannah has been anxiously awaiting the day that Playday (her preschool at our church) began! All summer, she has asked me, "Mommy, Playday today?" Well, it's finally here! This year, she attends two days a week and has a nice new teacher.

Hannah at the Meet the Teacher Event with her new teacher, Ms. Stephanie...

We were all smiles this morning as we got our things together for the 1st Day of School! Hooray!

And...the mommies were certainly all smiles, too! Mommy and Hannah had a really fun summer together at home, but it is definitely time to get back into a routine... Off we go into a new school year of adventure!

Labor Day Weekend

GiGi came to visit us on Labor Day weekend! We went to the Dallas World Aquarium and saw all kinds of interesting fish and other animals. Hannah's favorites were the otters and penguins!


We also spent some time playing at our neighborhood park. Mommy and Daddy climbed up to the top of the slides while GiGi snapped our picture.

The Gymnast

Hannah is convinced that she is headed to the Olympic Games sometime in her future! She has been taking gymnastics since May, and really loves it. We attend a Tiny Tots class currently (which means Mommy gets out there and does everything with Hannah--pretty funny sometimes!).

Here is Hannah sporting one of her favorite gymnastics leotards...


Hannah with Coach Annie...She's doing one of her front rolls. Hannah always cracks us up with her "salute" at the end: "Ta-Da!" with arms up gymnast-style!

Beach Babe

The Hortons held their family reunion at Island Retreat--Port Aransas, TX this summer. Hannah had not yet experienced the beach, so this was VERY exciting for her! She loved jumping in the waves and building sand castles with her daddy and cousins.


Hannah and Daddy heading out into the waves...

Hannah's Great-Nana was along with us on our trip. She had fun playing Ring Around the Rosy with Hannah and her cousins...

We attempted a family picture in front of the ocean...

Garden Girl

This summer, we (the Mathews' & Nana/Papa & the Hortons) decided to try our hand at a garden! It was a LOT of work, but also a lot of fun, not to mention educational for Hannah and Christian...

Here's Hannah with Papa after he plowed and tilled the garden for us. She was very excited to be a part of this endeavor--especially happy to play & dig in the dirt!


This is our scarecrow that we put together. GiGi (Scott's mom) was here over Memorial Day weekend to help us get him all dressed and up to scare any crows away. Unfortunately, he didn't scare many rabbits away, so we lost all of our green beans!


Hannah and Christian really enjoyed playing at the farm while their mommies and daddies slaved away. This was one of their favorite activities, which kept them out of trouble for the most part!

First Trip to the Dallas Zoo

In May, Hannah visited the Dallas Zoo for the first time. It was hot that day, but she had a blast! She was so busy looking at animals it was hard to get her to stop to take a picture.

After the hot day at the Zoo, we had to stop for ice cream at the nearby zoo-themed McDonald's. Thanks to Gigi for the afternoon treat and for being there to get a rather large gorilla to pose for a quick picture!

Teddy Bear Picnic

Playday (my pre-school) had a special Teddy Bear Picnic where our parents & grandparents could come and eat a picnic lunch on the playground with our teddy bears! We had so much fun eating outside, playing, and showing off our bears...

Here's a picture of my Nana and my friend, Natalie's GiGi (Miss Terry). Miss Terry plays piano for The Praise Team that Mommy and Daddy lead. It was so nice to have them at the picnic!

A Little Tea Party...

My sweet GiGi (in Odessa) made me this beautiful tablecloth! I love to set the table and put all my jewelry and accessories on to have tea. Sometimes, it's just me and Elmo or Raggedy Ann, but whoever it is, they NOW have a fabulous handmade tablecloth and napkins to be served on! Thanks, GiGi!

Happy Easter Sunday!

He is Risen! We went to church this morning and heard all kinds of great music and saw all of our friends in their nicest clothes! It's a great Easter Sunday!

Here I am in my Easter dress out in the courtyard at the church...



Mommy and Daddy & me and Christian...


Here's another family shot...



After church, we went home and had a yummy dinner! Mommy and Nana really put it on the top shelf--I even got a special cupcake!

PaPa is probably going to be a little upset that his picture is on the internet like this, but maybe he'll get over it! We all just laughed and laughed at these silly bunny ears! PaPa is a pretty good sport!