A Treasured Gift

When Hannah turned 3, M3 and I were chatting about gift ideas and she told me how much her girls had enjoyed the Disney Junior magazine when they were Hannah’s age.  I mentioned this to my parents and they purchased a 1 year subscription for her.  This gift quickly became a treasure and something she checked the mail for on almost a daily basis.  We receive either 6 or 8 magazines each year so it’s a long wait between them but she reads them over and over and over again!  (There are times when I spot it in the box but if we don’t have time for her to delve into it or if she’s not with me I leave it there for her to discover the following day.)  MMC magazine days are special days where she gets to get out of the car and help me collect the mail.  A special treat for sure!

These magazines are a wonderful combination of reading, writing activities, craft ideas as well as cutting and pasting. 

This year may parents extended her subscription again and she’s still just as excited now as she was then to open the mail box and see her magazine waiting!

This is what I hear each time she climbs back into the car.

The moment she’s buckled back into her car seat the magazine is open and then once home she can often be found walking down the hallway still reading it as she makes her way to a comfy spot to pour herself into her magazine.

If you’re looking for a gift that keeps on going for your 2-5yo, I don’t think you can go wrong with Disney Junior.  There’s nothing better thank making supper and seeing your child absorbed in a good book!

21 Questions on Hannah’s 4th Birthday

Last year I started a tradition of asking Hannah 21 questions around her birthday. 

This year I took a tip from Auntie Doris and recorded Hannah as she answered the questions.  What fun it was as she even sang one of her responses.    (PS – No baby dolls were harmed in the making of this video.)

1.  What is your favourite colour? Red
2.  What is your favourite toy?  Doc McStuffins
3.  What is your favourite fruit?  Banana
4.  What is your favourite TV show? Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
5.  What is your favourite thing to eat for lunch?  ‘Old McDonald’s’ – chicken nuggets and French fries
6.  What is your favourite outfit?  Butterfly dress
7.  What is your favourite game?  Candyland
8.  What is your favourite snack? ’Crunchy things’ which I’ve since found out are mini rice cakes
9.  What is your favourite animal?  Giraffe
10. What is your favourite song?  Jesus Loves Me
11. What is your favourite book?  I Love You Like Crazy Cakes
12. Who is your best friends?  Noah (and Ben, Owen, Grayson, Lucas and ‘Falia’)  Mommy is glad she had at least 1 girl in the mix! ;o)
13. What is your favourite cereal?  Bear Cereal (Sugar Crisp) with Cheerios
14. What is your favourite thing to do outside?  Blow bubbles
15. What is your favourite drink?  Chocolate Milk
16. What is your favourite holiday?  Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  My friends!  (Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto and Donald x 2, Nemo, Baby + 3 bears!  Yes – it’s crowded in our little bed!)
18. What is your favourite thing to eat for breakfast?  Cereal – see number 13 above
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?  Pizza
20. Where do you want to go on vacation?  Mickey’s House!!  (Walt Disney World)
21. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Princess

I was really surprised that a year later 8/21 questions still had the same answers!  Hannah tends to be a kiddo who sticks with things for a long time.   It’s helpful when planning birthday parties as I can ask her what theme she wants about 6 months before her party and she will normally not stray from that.

Happy 4th Birthday baby girl! Mommy loves you SOOOO much!!!

My adorable little girl looking a little sassy in her birthday outfit from Auntie Carol and Uncle David.

A Birthday Candle with a Wow Factor!

I’ve seen these candles online but had never found them in a store.  Last November that changed when I found one in a little store in The Villages, FL.  I tucked it away for Hannah’s birthday and brought it out for her party as a special treat for her.

Her little face was so sweet as everyone sang to her and her response at the end to the help her little friend Noah offered was absolutely precious!!  (Benjamin, you may want to avert your eyes. ;o)

 

More birthday party fun to come in tomorrow’s post.

Hannah’s Day of 4th Birthday Fun!!

I went to bed shortly after midnight Wednesday morning and gently sang Happy Birthday to my sleeping girl.  When I finished she sweetly said, ‘Thank you Mama’ and then went right back to sleep.  She is the cutest ever!!!

Last year I started a new birthday tradition with Hannah and she began asking about it early in February to make sure Mommy knew her heart’s desire.

Last year she played with the balloons for about 45 mins.  This year she knew there were presents downstairs and she was ready to head down in about 45 seconds!

She was super excited to see her new bike and the other gifts too!  She has ridden a bike like this at Walmart so many times in the past 6 months that I’ve lost count!  Most times when we went to the store she asked to go to the toy area and rode the bike around and around the displays.   It’s a little bit big for her right now but she’s growing so fast that I figured by the time she’s ready to take the training wheels off she’ll have grown into it.  On her 4th birthday Hannah was 41 3/4” tall which continues to be around the 86th percentile for height on the NA charts.

You can see that it didn’t take my girl long to put her own Hannah spin on riding her new bike!

When I wrapped her gifts recently it was a little like Christmas for mommy too.  I kinda when crazy buying gifts before Christmas so ended up putting a number away for her birthday. 

Hannah is my craft and sticker loving gal so we spent some of the morning enjoying those parts of her gifts.

She loved this little balloon.  Unfortunately I didn’t pick up on the squeaks it was making until it popped.  I hadn’t had an opportunity to teach Hannah about balloons and laying on them until it was too late.  She was so good about it and there were only a few tears.  Poor lamby!  She’d asked for a princess balloon a number of times but I’d stalled her knowing that I had this one at home ready to blow up for her birthday.  Mommy is now on the lookout for another one for my sweet girl!

Hannah choose pancakes for breakfast.

On your birthday, mommy turns a blind eye to table manners and grabs the camera instead!

After playing with her new toys for a while she helped me prepare the loot bags for her little friends who would be attending her birthday party later in the day.

We met Grandma for lunch at one of her favourite places, a local sushi restaurant.  Mmm!  (Don’t you love this cute shirt that was handed down to Hannah?!)

On our way home we stopped in to visit Nana at work and then at her ‘big girl school’ to pick up a junior kindergarten pre-registration package.  I was a bit overwhelmed to be in the school that Hannah will be attending in September!  It’s a very nice school and I’m happy that she will be going there.  I took a long route home and happened to pop up the heat a bit and my sweetie nodded off for a little nap.  I knew she’d be up late with her party so wanted her in top form and a nap was just what was called for.

While Hannah napped I decorated her cake. I remember with fondness cakes that my mom made for me so I wanted to make her cake.  It’s not super fancy but she was excited when she saw it and that’s what’s important!

(The cake topper was purchased from TwoSweetCakeImages on Etsy and I would order from her again for sure!  The image was beautiful and came with great instructions.)

Before we knew it it was party time!  We changed into our party clothes and headed to an evening of birthday fun with family and friends!!

I loved that we had this entire day together and could focus on our family and Hannah’s special day.  I hope in the future to take time off work again on her birthday so that I can pick her up from school and take her to lunch or possibly volunteer in her class that day.  Oh how I love my little girl!!!

Happy 4th Birthday Hannah XiaoFen!!!

4 years old?!!  WOW!!!  How can my ‘baby’ be 4 already?
Hannah and I shared an amazing day together today!  I took the day off and we enjoyed every moment of her 4th birthday together.  Well…except when she was running and playing with her friends at her party.
I have a lot of great pics, videos and stories to share with you but for tonight I’ll leave you with a few.
Happy 4th Birthday Hannah!  Mommy loves you more than words can express!