Nobody like a Grandma

Grandma Pat came and spent the day with us last week. Although we hardly ever get to see her, she and the kids clicked instantly. Hope didn't want to leave her side. We had a great day at the Natural History Museum, opening late Christmas presents, taking lots of pictures (all of which Ben slept through), and just catching up. Hopefully someday we'll live much closer.

The Big 4!

Hope had her birthday. She's been so excited about it since about last February. She's been telling us about the fireworks they have for her and the great big party she was going to have. So on New Year's Eve she stayed up so we could take her down to watch the syncronized fireworks off of the hotels on the strip. We got to officially wish her happy birthday as we put her to bed totally exhausted, but she had made it. We had a fun family party for her on her birthday and she got to have her first friend party a week later. We had seven friends, two of their younger brothers, four other parents, and a great time. Notice the mountain of balloons behind her with her cake.. I asked Tony to do the balloons and he claims he didn't realize I hadn't meant the whole 80 count bag. Needless to say our house was full and I had a battle with Hope for the next two weeks convincing her to let me get rid of any of them.

Hope the Dancer

Hope had her very first recital. It was for her tap and jazz class and she did amazing. She knew all of the steps, and the gymnasium full of people didn't even phase her. It kind of made me wonder if she could really be my daughter to be so comfortable in the spotlight. Anyway, she was adorable and the whole thing helped me realize how grown up she is getting. They did their jazz dance to "We're the Doodlebops" and then waited patiently for all of the other ages to perform so they could tap to "Santa Clause is Coming to Town", now her favorite song.