Ella's day!

Ella Shae is already 5, a whole hand!  Our little girl is growing up and is sure a cutie pie.  We love her dearly.  Here are 5 things we LOVE about our Ella.

1.  Ella is a girlie girl!  Her princess acting, dancing, and singing are SO cute.  When her little sister Evey dresses up she exclaims, "Evey, you look so DAZZLING!"  Emery even asked, "Ella, what does Dazzling mean?"

2.  Ella has the cutest voice.  I love it in all it's forms (except for the ear piercing temper tantrum screaming :) from when she is reading to herself, or singing to her sister, or dramatic playing with her barbies and pollies, or her little giggle AND ofcourse I absolutely love her lisp that is noticeable on words with the letter "s".  I am not wanting her to grow out of that one yet! When she was 18 months and she wanted food badly she would call from her high chair, "thum, thum, thuma, thuma," (some, some, some) rapidly until we put food on her tray..it was totally hilarious! You should see her when she sings one of her favorite songs, Ariel's "Part of your world".  The part that says, "I've got hoosits and what's it's galore.  That is a mouth full of "s's".. so her tongue is very prominent and hard at work!  It is the cutest thing!

3.  Ella is very beautiful inside and out.  Those gorgeous eyes of hers melt me..don't worry, I can still discipline..phew!  She has the personality to match her looks.

4.  Ella plays well and is happy.  Ella has a great time entertaining herself and infact sometimes wants to play on her own.  I never worry about her being bored.  She is great at occupying her time and is always finding something exciting to do.

5.  Ella is very bright.  She is catching on to things quickly.  She has started to read and loves that she can recognize all the letters.  She has fun learning from her big brothers about math and other things in school.  She also remembers the lyrics to songs very well.  Her primary chorister said that if she, herself forgot the words, she would look to Ella who was singing her heart out to remember them.  I love how dramatic she gets when she sings..her hands to her heart, or wide open eyes, or twirling..just love it..it's a show everyday!

We just love you Ella.  Happy 5th Birthday sweetheart!!!  Here is Ella's day!

tinfoil gifts first thing in the morning

LOVES her new birthday shirt!

her favorite breakfast..frosted flakes

the happy helper at school with Miss Kate and Miss Annette..she got to bring snacks and wear a b-day crown

lunch at her choice, Wendy's with grams and gramps

playing with Luke..they watched Monsters Inc and played outside

walking the Scofield's dog..thanks Staci for letting her..she LOVES this activity

one of her favorite dinners, spaghetti and PEAS

the opening of gifts..doesn't she look cute rubbing her hands intently and sticking her tongue out

a beloved gift that she got from mom and dad (it arrived by UPS that very day 1 hour before the party) Woa

her mermaid cake..aren't the little figurines so cute

big number "5"

Isn't she the cutest little birthday girl?!

The Hancock Winter Olympics

We've been having our own little olympic fun over the last little while.  ICE SKATING!  It's amazing that St. George now has it's very own ice rink.  Even though it costs a fortune for our family to go it was worth it!  You should have seen us all crashing and falling on the ice.  We defintely earned points for originality and for artistry, boy we were stylish and a sight for sore eyes!  SO fun!  Grandma and Grandpa H had a good time watching us.  After a little bit of Evey trying out the ice they were very gracious to give our backs a break and to let us help our other 4.  So they took her off to get a treat..much to her dismay.  She LOVED the ice and didn't want to leave.  We'll try to go back and brush up on our skills!  What do you think..a gold medal for trying!

Cousin Brenden was working at the time we arrived and was happy to get us outfitted with those lovely skates.  I was very happy to see that lysol can sitting on the counter.  Thank goodness they spray inbetween each use!  Ahhh, where would I be w/o lysol!  The olympics would certainly not be the same!

SNOW FORM CREATIONS  What a lovely sport this was!  We were off with the Meyers on this day to find snow..a tradition done over the holidays or a little later :)  We came across this church in Diamond Valley (on the way to Pine Valley)  I think we used every bit of the snow that covered the grass.  Their snow form creation of a snowman is quite lovely.  I gave it a gold medal..yay! 

Then came the best part...demolition time!

I'm not quite sure what this snow form creation was called..

..or this one..but they sure are cute!

Then ofcourse we have the snow form creations of beautiful snow angels!

Good job Ella Shae!  Way to go for the gold!

Well, that is our fill of the Hancock winter games.  Until next time....

Boys to Men

During Christmas vacation, this gang of guys took a day trip to explore the "caves".  Curtis had previously been with his guy friends from work.  It is out in the Green Valley area.  With flash lights, walking sticks, and hats in tow, they were off! 

Men: Grandpa H, Uncle Allen, Uncle Wayne, cousin Shane  Boys: Caden, Carter, Jace

Doesn't that look like a UFO in the background!  Uncle Allen just actually threw a rock in front of the camera...don't you know that's dangerous..who is the real boy here! :)

Exploring those dark caves

There's Uncle Allen throwing a rock again!

I just love these pictures.  I think the scenery is so beautiful!  The girls scenery was more limited that day but enjoyable.  We all met up at the theatre to view "The Princess and the Frog".  What a great movie.  We'll be buying that one!

Emery's swimming party

So I know I'm kind of weird doing a swimming party in the middle of winter but at least it was indoors!  Emery has always wanted a summery swim party..she got jealous the last time her brother's had one, so why not?!  Thus, we could only have a few kids and it was really hard to just invite a few because we love to include everyone!  The kids were really good and we had a grand time.  Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Hancock for taking care of Emery's siblings during this fun event!

Her invitation

The silly party gang!

We carried on with the Hannah Montana theme..yummy chocolate and peanut butter cupcakes..mmmm topped with reese icecream..an Emery favorite!

Jace, Maycee, Hali, Emery, Jaylee, Amara, Elle.  Jace was a very good sport about being the only boy!  He was the life of the party I tell ya!  He sure kept these cute girls laughing!

2010 with a bang!

Welcome 2010.  We are glad you are here!  Ofcourse it's another great way to celebrate and spend time with family.  We had a big party at our house and Shane provided some exciting entertainment with his fire works show!  The kids looked so cute bundled up, watching intently!

Good times...good times!!!

Lucky number 7 for Emmy!

Am I the only one that thinks 7 years old sounds SO much older than 6?  How could my children be gettting this old so quickly?  Even though Emery is growing I am sure grateful for what a beautiful daughter and example she is to me. 

My sister Cynthia helped me make "name songs" for all my children when they were babies.  Thanks sis!  This is how Emery's song goes ( it's to the tune of the primary song, "Give Said the Little Stream") "Emery my little one, I love you, yes I do.  Emery my little one you bring joy just like the sun. E your eyes are enchanting, M your merry, and E elegant, R you resemble angels from above, Y you yearn to love!  Let me expand:

E- enchanting eyes  As a baby Emery had a tiny little face with very big blue, enchanting eyes.  She sucked us all in from the beginning.  They are still very beautiful and innocent.  When I look into Emmy's eyes I see purity.  Grandpa C. would also comment on how beautiful her eyes were.

This is Emmy at about 6 months.

M- merry  On most days Emery is merry.  She is a joy and delight to be around and she is very loving and kind to those around her.

E- elegant Emmy is very elegant.  Her spirit is mature and special.  She has an amazing generosity about her.

R- resemble angels from above   Emery IS an angel in my eyes.  I'm sure she was sent here at this time to be many other peoples guardian angel.  She is so tender, kind hearted and giving to others.

Y- yearn to love This is a natural desire that Emery has.  She is so good at loving everyone around her.

Here are the pictures from her exciting day.  She counted down to her birthday for what seemed like months.  As soon as she opened her presents Christmas morning she stated, "well, that's okay if Christmas is over because it's only 5 more days until my birthday".  So her birthday was like Christmas all over again.

I love giving them the tinfoil presents in the morning so it can hold them over until the evening party.

During the day I didn't bring my camera, darn.  We went swimming at the rec center and went out for lunch to "In N Out Burger".

We had a traditional family party and were lucky to have a few more in number to attend.  Brenda, Wayne, and Alyssa were still visiting.  I have so much fun making cakes.  I love working on them the night before and then sharing the surprise after dinner.  Sometimes I wonder if it's more for me?\

The barbie was one of her presents.  I think it is the cutest.  As I started working on the props for the cake I was very impressed with Caden's abilities and creativity.  He made the microphone out of a unsharpened pencil and screw.  Then he covered it in tinfoil.  Ella also was there cheering us on!  I'll have to think about hiring Caden when it comes to future cakes!

Auntie Brenda is so good to our kids.  She really makes an effort to spend time with them and love them.

A new bike!  We had to get this for her birthday since it was the "only thing that she didn't get for Christmas"(her words)

In the evening we settled down with Grandma and Grandpa to watch Emmy's new "Hannah Montana the movie" dvd.  She was excited to just hang out with the adults and eat all her yummy treats.  I was stuffed since we had homemade cafe rio for dinner and reese peanut butter cake and caramel brownies. 

What a fun fun day.  I just love having birthdays to have a whole special day to honor someone and I was so happy to honor and celebrate Emmy.  She is just wonderful in every way.  We love you Emery Grace!