Ryan's Third Birthday

 Three years old. Can't believe it. Time seems to go by faster every year. Here are the highlights from the big weekend. Special thanks to my niece, April, who took all the pictures so I could just enjoy the time with everyone!

Bella's excited to be at the museum!

Ryan is REALLY excited.

Shoulder rides are always fun.

Ryan's enjoying it, but Joshua? Not so much.

First stop? Lego exhibit!

Bella and Uncle Jeff design their cars for the race track.

Ryan's favorite part is running his car down the track and watching it crash at the bottom.

Rachel takes her turn behind the Lego wheel.

April feels the need...the need for speed! Go, Speed Racer, go!

Your handy mechanic!

This little boy has absolutely stolen my heart!

Gettin' ready for his ride!

We didn't get a picture of his gigantic smile, but Ryan LOVED riding the up-and-down horses!

Joshua and Rae battle it out on the checker board.

Ryan's second ride.

Rachel gives a pharaoh a high-five!

Bella, in her underwater gear, doing a scan on a mummy. I love our museum!

Hand shake with headless warrior.

Transform into this! We have the larger-than-life-sized Bumblebee from the movie in the lobby.

 

Ryan commands the Mr. Potato head space ship.

We went with a construction theme. Ryan got a "hard hat" and wore his "I Dig Dirt" shirt.

All our food was served in the many construction vehicles around our house!

Fitting into the theme was Uncle Jeff's present: a cement mixer.

Our friend Josh gave Ryan a book where Joshua can record the story! This will be great when he's working at night and the kids miss him.

Bella "bought" this for Ryan's birthday-you press a button and the foam "ice cream" shoots out on a string. We had no idea it would be such a hit!

Ryan's huge belly laugh at his ice cream cone.

Nana got Ryan this ride-on toy. You move the steering wheel back and forth and it moves you right along! Grammy and Grandpa bought Ryan a fire truck, which he loves.

Ryan's cake-a pound cake-Twinkie-doughnut-licorice-Kit-Kat-M&M cake. Yum!

They're just adorable!

Ryan was so excited!

Everything else after Day 18!

 Man, the rest of the time went down in a blaze of glory (and a blur). I was doing a countdown for Joshua while doing one for the kids and it all was pretty crazy. Next year, I think we're scaling back on the gifts. I'll still do an advent with the kids, but it will be more Christ-centered than winter-centered. Maybe some days will just be a small candy or cheap toy instead of something I have to orchestrate and buy supplies for. Oh well, live and learn. Anyway, commence with the photos!

The kids in their traditional Christmas Eve jammies. Ryan's, although a 3T, were still too small!

A trip to the Christian book store and we brought home this nativity for the kids to play with (since they knocked the head off Gabriel from the other set). What do my kids do? Set up a nativity conga line. When I asked Bella about it, she said they were in line to take their turn on top of the manger (when you press the button the star lights up and plays "Away in a Manger.).

Let the ripping paper begin! The kids spent Christmas morning unwrapping gifts from us, Maga and Papa, and their "aunts" Jessica and Amy.

Here's the loot from Round ONE!

There's nothing particularly Christmas related about this, I just love the look on his face.

We were blessed to have Uncle Jeff and ALL the cousins with us for New Year's Eve. We had such a fun time!

We all went to Snapperz-a Chuck E. Cheese for kids (and adults). Here's Joshua and Ryan shooting hoops.

Brian and April went head to head in a driving game. Brian hit the turbo button at the last minute and finished first.

Everyone pitched in to play this game! 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving and Christmas

And so we come to another Happy Hasselds blog post. It is my desire to post more in the new year to catch more of the day to day (and because that will probably take less time than doing these ginormous posts). So here we are, catching up after Halloween.

Isabella LOVES that her daddy is a "police offider." One day while he was getting ready, she decided to get suited up just like daddy.
Bella has fallen in love with Jessie from the Toy Story movies. We decided to buy it for her for Christmas (before Thanksgiving). Mom and I had our plan all worked out: she distracted Bells while I put Jessie in the cart and covered her with my coat. We shopped. Mom distracted her again while I ran up to the register and asked for an extra-big bag to cover it up. Mom walked around the store with the kids while I went to the car and buried the bag. Coming up the stairs with the bag hidden among all the others, we got three steps from the door when Isabella said, "Mom! Can I have the Jessie doll!?" We couldn't keep it from her, and here she is hugging on it. Jessie has been a constant companion ever since.

Thanksgiving was a wonderful adventure. Everyone (minus Brian) was together and we ate until we were stuffed. Bella made the place cards-Indian corn that she dotted with her fingertips and paint.


Fewer things cuter than kids in footie jammies, enraptured by the first snow of the year. It's okay-before I snapped this shot I stood at the kitchen window enraptured myself.
A Hasseld family tradition: making gingerbread houses (usually while watching "It's A Wonderful Life"). This year we decided to forgo the pre-baked gingerbread and build our own houses out of graham crackers. We had a fabulous time adding frosting and candy (although a fair share went in our bellies as well!). You can see Isabella's excitement.
In order to get anything done, we kept Ryan in his high chair! We threw him some random candies and graham crackers and that seemed to keep him happy.
Here we are in the middle of construction. Joshua took it very seriously. Naturally, he had the best building!
Bella's house is on the left (I think she did a great job!) and mine is on the right. Ryan had fun walking past them and once in a while popping a gumdrop or M&M in his mouth.
Joshua's tri-level, complete with inner supports (which you can't see, obviously) and a Christmas tree on the roof!
Bella took dance classes once a week for a few months, compliments of Nana. Here are some pictures from the big night! This first one is her looking out into the crowd and going, "Hi, Mom!"
Gettin' ready for the dance to start. They danced to "Little Pretty One" and it was ridiculously adorable!

Another tradition: Christmas Eve jammies! Here Bella and Ryan sport their new ones. You can't see it, but Ryan's has a penguin on front and it says "Chillin'"
And it never fails-you buy kids toys (like an interactive Woody and Buzz)-and they play with the box!
Christmas Day photos! Ryan had no greater joy than to do horsey rides with Maga.
Bella wades among the piles of presents. We were too spoiled!
Family photo! Every year I buy an ornament and put a picture of us in it. It's fun to look back at the photo of me and Joshua from 2005, the two of us (with Bella in utero) from 2006, our family photo from 2007, our family (with Ryan in utero) from 2008, and the first picture of our family of four from last year. Can't wait to add this one to the tree!
The day after our Christmas was our church's first children's program. Here's Bella doing her thing.
"The stars in the sky looked down where He lay..."
And you can't have winter pictures without some of the snow! The kids and I went out last week to romp in the white stuff. We had a blast.
And then the rest of the world celebrated Christmas! The kids and I headed to the candlelight service at Bill & Volere's church. There's something very sacred and right about singing Silent Night a cappella in a church lit only by candles. But before that, the kids and I had a photo session!
More blessings of Christmas: cards sent from lots of friends and family.
The true meaning of it all: the advent manger scene that we unpacked each day leading up to Christmas.
And finally, our tree, which I love, decked out in red and gold. Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!