. . . oh, to be six . . .

. . . here's addi . . .

. . .today was her birthday party . . .

. . . it's not officially her birthday yet

but we had an ice cream celebration anyway . . . . . . we played 'don't eat pete' . . .
. . . 'pin the cherry on the ice cream cone' . . .
. . . addi . . .
. . . and halleigh got a little confused
about the object of the game . . .
. . . but then they caught on . . .
. . . good guess darby . . .
. . . great try halleigh . . .
. . . no girly ice cream party is complete without a camo blindfold . . .
. . . we tried to bust open the piñata . . .
. . . everyone gave it their best shot . . .
. . . chris took his life in his hands
being the 'holder' . . .

. . . tate got really excited . . .
. . . "let's get this straight . . .
. . . there's a stick and
i'm SUPPOSED to hit something with it?" . . .
. . . but the piñata would not die . . .
. . . what with the cone itself
being made of a pizza box
and then covered with burlap and all . . .
. . . finally chris showed the piñata who was boss . . .
. . . everyone quickly snatched up

their share of the goods . . .

. . . and ate candy . . .

. . . while they waited . . .

. . . for ice cream sundaes . . .

. . . halleigh proved once again that
she is, in fact, allergic to ice cream . . .

. . . gift opening always starts out

in an organized fashion . . .

. . . cinderella with her magic wand was a big hit . . .

. . . ashtyn brought a darling yellow purse . . .

. . . barbie clothes have soooooo many tiny pieces . . .

. . . good thing darby was there to clean up . . .

. . . tate decided he'd rather chill
on mom & dad's bed
with his elmo slippers and toy story . . .

. . . he did make a brief appearance

to check out the loot -

note the sticker bracelet and glue sticks . . .

. . . he busted some sweet moves with balloons . . .

. . . good thing he didn't catch on

when brent was demonstrating

the art of helium inhalation . . .

. . . he modeled mrs. potato head's specs . . .

. . . brent terrorized the baby . . .

. . . amanda practiced being a boy mom . . .

. . . tagg snoozed . . .

. . . halleigh modeled a new outfit . . .
. . . so did the birthday girl . . .
. . . and she showed off her bling bling flip flops . . .

but her mom said not to look at her nasty toes

. . . all in all, it was a pretty good day . . .

. . . it's great to be six! . . .

. . . don't blink . . .

. . . there i was . . .

. . . cutting up a cantaloupe . . .

. . . looking out the window . . .

. . . thinking to myself, "is that rain?" . . .

. . . amazingly, yes it was . . .
. . . unexpected . . .
. . . yet always welcome . . .
. . . it lasted maybe five or ten minutes . . .
. . . then the wind blew . . .
. . . i've never seen so many
seed pods on
our enormous ash tree . . .
. . . or in our pool . . .
{p.s. this little shower dropped the temperature
to about 90 degrees at 6 p.m! woo hoo!}

. . . announcing . . .

. . . a cute new blog for your reading pleasure . . .

{it's about time!}

. . . he's there . . .

. . . as you may or may not know . . .

. . . drew has landed safely in mexico . . .

. . . he sent a package home

before leaving the mtc . . .

. . . things he didn't think he'd need . . .

{pamphlets in english, all the dearelder letters

from me, bill, his sisters, and a few of you

[don't worry . . . it wasn't ALL of his letters],

a couple of pair of b-ball shorts, some t-shirts,

an awesome missionary exercise guide,

and his skinny jeans}

. . . i still have laundry skills,

even though there isn't

much laundry to do any more . . .

. . . of course, i always

check pockets before washing . . .

. . . good thing . . .

. . . i found this in his jeans . . . . . . i ♥love♥ this boy . . .

. . . good news from provo . . .

. . . we heard from Drew today . . .

. . . in the mailbox . . .

{letters AND photos}

. . . and on the phone! . . .

. . . turnabout . . .

. . . is fair play . . .

. . . let me begin by saying that

alisse and i are tight . . .

. . . she's borrowed stuff from me before . . .

. . . stuff like sign language books

and photos . . .

. . . so who could blame me for

borrowing these shots from her? . . .

. . . for those of you who

don't get to see amber's blog . . .

. . . here is . . .

. . . tagg christan hansen . . .

. . . {and his cheeks} . . .

. . . four days old . . .

. . . thanks alisse {and good job!} . . .

. . . and the winner{s} is/are . . .

. . . i asked my missionary son, drew,

to choose four random numbers

between one and thirty

{see question number seven} . . .

. . . congratulations to

cammac,

kacee,

sue, and

jckhadlocks . . .

. . . cami, sue and kim -

come on over and choose . . .

. . . kacee - we'll talk . . .

. . . if you have access to amber's blog,

you can see photos of tagg here . . .

. . . timeline/giveaway/no photos yet . . .

Tuesday 3 June 2008

7:00 p.m. - I'm pretty sure I'm getting a cold

9:00 p.m. - Cold is officially full-blown

9:05 p.m. - Chris calls wondering if

we'd like 3 party crashers for the night

10:00 p.m. - Chris & Amber {in labor}

drop off allegedly "sleepy" children

11:30 p.m. - Halleigh is finally asleep

with Addi in Drew's bed

11:31 p.m. - I go to bed

11:32 p.m. - I immediately begin coughing

& determine I'd better sleep on the couch

***

Wednesday 4 June 2008

12:10 a.m. - I turn off the TV

3:30 a.m. - I wake up because

Tate is crying

3:45 a.m. - Going back to sleep?

Tate will have none of it

3:50 a.m. - I call the hospital

for a progress report

{the doctor just walked in}

4:30 a.m. - Chris calls to let us know

the baby was born at 4:00

5:00 a.m. - Tate is still awake

& wants to watch Mickey Mouse

5:05 a.m. - Both girls wake up

& I give up

5:30 a.m. - I shower

7:00 a.m. - Tate falls asleep

on the family room floor

7:10 a.m. - Girls bathe

8:15 a.m. - Halleigh wakes Tate up

for no good reason

8:16 a.m. - I send her to her room

***

Details are as follows:

Tagg Christan Hansen

8 pounds 8 ounces

21 1/2 inches long

***

In honor of our fourth grandchild's birth,

I'm giving away four of my oops! burp cloths.

Winners will be chosen from comment leavers.

I've already picked the lucky numbers.

But I'm not telling what they are!

If you live close and you win

and I know you,

you can choose your oops! in person.

If you live far away,

you'll have to trust me!

Good luck!

***

p.s. Who knows when

I'll get to see the baby.

I'm sick!

. . . two/twenty-two . . .

. . . down/to go . . .

. . . what does nine years ago look like? . . .

. . . left to right: brad, geoff, and drew . . .

. . . where are they now? . . .

. . . brazil joao pessoa, panama, mexico city . . .