A rather un-girly Christmas

So these are the girls Santa gifts. Keddi's is the only one to appeal only to a girl.
Shar has been wanting her own scooter for a while now. This one is a blue Hot Wheels one. She saw the pink, green, and red one but this was what she liked.
Mardi decided that she liked archery at camp this year and recently began asking for a bow and arrow. (New date activity with Dad!)
Tersa had her first experience with shooting in Texas I think. Uncle Mitchell took her when she was there and she liked it. They got to do it at camp this last year and then the young women went for one of their activities. She is pretty good at it.

Christmas Morning

This was a different Christmas for us in that because of morning sickness, I was still shopping for gifts the week of Christmas.
The worst is that a cousin Emerson, Jamin & Kimra, Cami & Wes and all the grandparents are still waiting for their gifts from us. I was too sick to get them done and out before Christmas. Sorry guys. You weren't forgotten!! They are coming.

Christmas Excitement

The girls usually get 3 presents from Mom & Dad each year. This year they got 4.

Tersa got a package of diapers, Keddi got wipes, Mardi got pacifiers and Shinara got a bottle.

It took a while but when Tersa thought she understood, she looked at me with controlled hope. Mardi seemed right behind her in realization.

Then Tersa flew across the room ONTO Mardi screaming. Mardi fake cried and lamented at the possibility that it might be a boy which is what Tersa has been hoping for since Mardi came along. Keddi and Shinara were confused, oblivious and bothered with the noise Tersa was making. We had to spell it out for them. Tersa and Shar would like a brother. Shinara doesn't think Joel should have to be the only boy. (But she also isn't thrilled about giving up her "baby" status.) Mardi and Keddi aren't that thrilled about having a "gross"(Mardi) rowdy (Keddi) boy around. We shall see.

A very Hahn day

Lindsay and the boys are moving back to California. So, the whole family drove through Vegas and stopped long enough to spend a whole day with us. The big girls were still in school so they aren't in any of the pictures, but they weren't left out of everything.

In the morning we went to the park.

We did some swinging, climbing and spinning.
Then we took the bat and ball over to the field. Batting, running and catching weren't enough and there was some race running and "Duck, duck, goose."

Later in the afternoon we picked up the big girls and went for an early dinner at a pizza place. We took our time and when we got home, the older girls and adults settled in for a game of Phase 10. Before we all finished with that, we piled into the van and went to a lights display at a nearby park. The younger kids entertained themselves with a variety of things as we tried to finish our Phase 10 game. We finally did sometime after 9:00 and they left around 9:30 since they wanted to head out early the next morning. We didn't get to spend Thanksgiving with them like we had gotten used to getting to do and we sure missed it. But we are glad they stopped for this day. It was a great one!

Christmas Party finale

The St. Nick from our play visited with the children. Some of the pictures I got of the ward kids were priceless!

Christmas party cont.

After eating a "Victorian Christmas dinner" (Turkey, boiled potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, oranges and gingerbread cookies. Plum pudding was out of the question for 250 people!) there was a little play put on. It was called Miser Scroonge. It turned out well and kept the children entertained so there wasn't much running around.

A Christmas Carol Ward Party

We chose "A Christmas Carol" theme for our Ward Activity this year. This is how the food committee set up the table.

On one side of the room, we put up house fronts. They were patterned after the buildings from the movie.

And the other side of the room had businesses. Scrooge and Marley's warehouse, a toy store and the Exchange.

The lampposts were my favorite part of the decorations. They are electric bulbs that flicker as though they are candles!

Change

I decided to give Joel a brunette for his 40th birthday. Well, not just any brunette, me. But I guess I miss calculated what a brunette is I guess. He says it's auburn. Regardless, it's darker and I really like it. He's fine with it but did comment that it would take some getting used to. It's not a permanent color. It fades over time. Sure is fun though.

Happy 40th Joel

Joel has not been looking forward to this birthday. But, here it is. We love ya old man! :)

Pops & my girls

Thanksgiving at the park

Our park activities included climbing trees,

Or clinging to them.

Baseball

Playing on the playground equipment and frisbee golf. All in an hour and some.

Thanksgiving

We enjoyed our morning. Joel went to get Pops and CC and had them here by around 10:30. We put the turkey in at 11:00 and left soon after to go to the park. Good times. Unfortunately, that is where the fun stopped for a while for me. Upon returning home, I was bothered by the fact that I could not smell the turkey yet and it was time to take it out. The oven was simply not hot enough! So we turned it up to 375 and ate our dinner about an hour late. No one else seemed terribly bothered except Shinara who wanted to eat as soon as we got home, and me.

Shinara's Play

A few weeks ago, Shinara came home with some lines written on a piece of paper and said she had lines for a play she would do for a "testing assembly" at school. By the end of the night, she had them memorized. Her friend Olivia did it with her. Olivia started and Shinara's response was: "The test is so our school, parents and teachers know we have learned everything we are supposed to." Olivia's line. "Yeah, it is!" She had no problem getting up there and delivering her memorized lines. So cute.

Sick

Well, strep went through 5 of the 6 of us and we are just really hoping that Joel can hold out since Thanksgiving is in 2 days! Mardi hardly suffered or for very long. Tersa suffered for a few days but in silence (as usual) and went to school despite pain and fatigue. Shinara has had lumps before and so when we saw another, we quickly took her in and she was on medicine quickly. Keddi and I were down for 3-4 days. I took Keddi in yesterday and we think that the infection in her thumb is strep as well so her medication should take care of it. I still have swollen glands but I can swallow without extreme pain today. Good thing too since I don't have anymore time for being sick.

This year I will be very Thankful that we usually only get good and sick about once a year!

Yardwork

This is what we can do in Nov. at our house. Joel wanted to fertilize the yard and reseed a bit. So, he and Tersa took turns "thatching" (getting the dead grass pulled from the ground so that water isn't sitting on top of it instead of soaking completely into the ground.)
As you can see, we can still get away with wearing shorts and short sleeves around here!

Keddi helped with cleaning up the dead grass even though she wasn't feeling that great. (She's like Tersa that way.) Shinara only worked when Joel gave her a specific job and only until she got distracted! Which is still better than Mardi who was inside doing her chores since she had been at a Stake Beehive activity that morning. What was I doing? I don't remember. But my Sat. chores and a trip to the temple got done!

Halloween 2009

It begins.

Shinara seems drawn to the more disturbing aspects of Halloween. She enjoys a little anxiety and fear. (But not too much.)
This year Mardi did Trick or Treating, but it was with friends in another neighborhood. And when she left the house she wasn't in her costume yet. The little girls were in bed by the time she got home. So, our traditional picture of the girls on Halloween was less two this year. I'm rather sad because if I hadn't been in charge of the ward activity, I'd have had time that night to get the four of them together. But, I suppose this is going to happen more and more.