Happy New Year

Aurora
Madelynne

Abigail

Our Family

Wow! I can't believe that it's already 2012. Where did 2011 go? We had a really busy year this past year. There were so many new changes in our family. Some were amazing and some were sad, but here we are ready to start another year.

In April, we welcomed our precious third daughter, Madelynne Ranae Hanna! She is such a joy and blessing to our family! I can't imagine life without her. She is smart and very good-natured. I can't wait to see what surprises she has in store for us! She is learning so much every single day. Maddy is 8 1/2 months old and is starting to talk, crawl and learning to walk. She keeps us all on our toes!

Rory and Abby have grown so much over this past year, as well. They aren't little babies anymore, that's for sure. They are both growing into very independent and individual little girls! They started ballet this last year and finished up their first semester in December. They will have their first recital in just a few months. It's unbelievable how far they have come and how much they have learned! They practice their dances at home all the time and are genuinely excited about being able to remember their routines! It's exciting to watch them. This next semester, they will be taking both ballet and gymnastics. They have enjoyed ballet so much, but they missed being in gymnastics, so we are going to try letting them do both. I guess we'll see if Mommy can keep up with everything. LOL!

This past year also brought some sadness to our family. Michael lost two wonderful grandparents in April. We wish that we could have had more time with each of them and that they could have gotten a chance to get to know Madelynne and watch all three of our girls grow. We will never forget either of them and will work to make sure that our girls know what wonderful people they both were. They will always be loved and never forgotten!

We know that 2012 has a lot in store for our family. We are looking forward to all the excitement and joy that we hope this year has to offer.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Rory's blue, purple and pink spiked hair for "Crazy Hair Night" at AWANA

Abby's crazy hair

Our Little Ballerinas

Sweet dancers

Rory posing in her class

Abby's a pretty little ballerina

Rory posing in her ballet outfit

Abby showing off her ballet outfit

Daddy rocking his girls... he's got a lap full... LOL

Yummy Peas!!! :)

Maddy watching Rory and Abby ride their bikes. She loves to be outside!!

Abby riding her bike and taking her puppy for a ride

Rory is doing so good riding her bike. She is now riding it up and down the block (with Mommy close at hand... of course)

Maddy always wakes up with a smile on her face

Abby, Jonathan and Jacob

Rory snuggling Maddy in the morning

Rory showing off her new haircut

Jacob, Jonathan, Rory and Abby showing off their new haircuts. I gave 6 haircuts that day. LOL

All of my girls are fascinated with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse... :)

Maddy playing in her saucer. She's such a smart little girl!!

Maddy's ready for some food!!!

I wish that I had been able to keep up my blog over the last few months. When I found out that I was pregnant with our little Maddy, I remember thinking to myself "How much more work could it be to have three kids than it is to have two?" Well, the last few months have taught me the answer to that question. It's a lot more work, but I'm loving every single minute of it. I was meant to be the mother of three kids. I have no doubt about that at all. There is never a time of the day where I am bored... that's for sure. Our girls keep me on my toes every single second of every single day. LOL.

Madelynne is now 5 months old. I can't believe that it's possible that my baby girl is already that old. She's growing an learning new things every day. She started rolling over both ways a little over a month ago. She is sitting for short periods of time by herself. She is saying "ma" and "da" all the time (especially when she wants something). She is even starting to push herself up on her hands and legs. Maddy always wants to be a part of what the older girls are doing and it's fun to watch her get excited just watching them. When they aren't right in front of her or paying complete attention to her, she gets frustrated. The Little Princess believes that she needs the constant attention of her big sisters, and she usually gets it. I've never believed that it's possible to spoil a baby, but Maddy sure is particular about getting her way. :) Besides, as I've told many people, she is my last baby so I will spoil her as much as I want to.... thank you very much. :) Truthfully, Madelynne is the happiest and most easy-going baby that I have ever been around. She sleeps well at night. She eats well. She's constantly smiling and laughing. She is just a joy to be around! I honestly can't imagine my life without her. She's a wonderful blessing to our family!!

Rory and Abby are growing more and more every day. They are getting fiercely independent.... especially Rory (big surprise). Three has definitely been the most challenging age yet. There are days that I miss them being little where they needed me to do things for them instead of constantly hearing "I'll do it by myself!" Both girls started ballet on September 12. They are the cutest little ballerinas that I have ever seen (of course I may be a little biased)!! After class this last week, Rory proclaimed to me, "Mom, I think my class is cheap!" When I asked her why she thought that, her reply was, "'cause I've been to two classes already and I still don't know how to dance!" LOL. They will have a dance recital in the spring that we are all looking forward to. I just know it's going to be the cutest thing ever!! We have also started working on pre-school material at home. Michael and I looked into several of the programs around town for 3 yr olds and felt like many of them were simply baby-sitting programs. Since the girls won't be old enough to start a pre-school program at the schools for another year, I decided just to teach them at home. It's been a challenge juggling everything plus doing the pre-school material, but we are making it work. The girls are learning so much that it amazes me! They are already starting to write their letters. They know their letter sounds and are even starting to put the letter sounds together to make words. They can both count to twenty and can recognize their numbers. They are also learning many other things. It's wonderful to watch them so eager to learn!

Michael and I are busier than ever. Of course, our three little angels keep us on our toes all the time. Michael is busy with work a lot. He is teaching Latin and Texas History and has the more students in his classes than he has ever had before. It's crazy how many kiddos they cram into the classrooms now days. I am helping with a Bible study once a month at our church called "Manna for Moms." It's geared toward mothers who are busy and need to take a chance to fellowship with other busy mothers. It's actually a great group! I'm also teaching Sparks (K-2nd grade) in our AWANA group at our church. It's the largest group in the club. This last week, we had 21 kiddos in our class. It's crazy!! I love working with this group. They are a great bunch!!

I promise to try to do better with updating my blog. Maybe, one of these days, life at the Hanna house won't be so crazy, but I'm not holding my breath! :)

30th Anniversary Party

The beautiful cake

Mimi and Maddy

Braxton and his Momma

Lesa and Shandra

Gary and Connie Beauchamp

Mimi and Braxton

Aunt Ann and Grandma Jeanie

Lesa is Maddy's best friend at this point in the evening.. LOL

Sweet sleeping angel

The kids loooooved all the balloons

My wonderful and handsome hubby

My grandmother and her sisters, Ann and Montie

My parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary this year. What an accomplishment!! We decided to through them a special surprise party with their friends and family. It was a fun filled evening with good food, friends and family. I am so happy for my parents and we all wish them many, many more years of happiness!!

Swimming Lessons

Rory and Abby are taking swimming lessons again this summer. They are having a blast!! This week will be their final week of the four weeks that they have been in lessons. It's amazing how much they have learned this summer. They took a class last summer where they learned basic water safety. This summer, though, they are actually learning to swim! Both girls graduated from the first level after the second week in lessons and are now in the second level class. They have learned to hold their breath for 15 seconds, bob up and down under the water 10 consecutive times, how to float, how to do a basic dive, how to do basic swimming techniques, how to enter the water, how to submerge completely in the water, how to open their eyes under water and how to do a sitting dive from the side of the pool. Michael and I are so proud of their progress!

Colorado 2011

Mimi and Papa with all their grandkids

Michael and all the kiddos

Daddy with his girls

Daddy and Maddy

Maddy and Papa are pretty good pals. Maddy lights up whenever she sees her Papa. Talk about making his day!!

Love this outfit!!

There was a hail storm while we were there. There was so much hail that it looked like snow. A family down the mountain even built a snowman. LOL The kids had such a great time playing in the hail.

We came upon a huge herd of elk numbering somewhere around 300-350 animals. This is just part of the herd that we saw. It was amazing!!

Maddy in her sweet coveralls

Mimi and Maddy enjoying the nice evening together

Rory loves to hold her baby sister

The girls enjoying the afternoon outside

My big girls :)

Abby on one of her daily adventures with Daddy

Rory by the pond that she hiked to with Daddy and Abby

Sweet Adventurers

Rory and Daddy sitting with Maddy on the deck enjoying the morning sun

Maddy taking a bath in the sink. She was not a happy camper with Mommy.

Abby playing with Rory on the stairs

Rory pretending to be Rapunzel

Sweet sister snuggles

Daddy and Maddy in the morning sun

Silly Abby

Sweet Rory smiles

I just love her smiles

Abby watching her dvd player

We go to the mountains to enjoy the outdoors and our girls watch their dvd players. LOL

Rory playing a competitive game of slap-jack

We decided to take our annual family trip to our family cabin in Colorado. As usual, it was a wonderful trip. We were a little worried how our little Maddy would make the trip, but she did great. She slept most of the way up there and back. The girls, all three, loved exploring the cabin and the surrounding mountain. Each day, Michael took the girls (and Braxton after he arrived) on an "adventure." They would go exploring to see what they see what they could find. They also hiked to the local ponds/lakes to toss rocks in the water. They even found several snakes. YIKES!! Madelynne enjoyed sitting on the deck and watching the birds and squirrels. She also loved when the wind would blow through the trees. She would laugh and giggle. It was a lot of fun watching her experience the simplest things for the very first time. It was so nice to get away for a while. Not to mention, we didn't miss the heat either. :) We look forward to spending many more summer vacations in Colorado!!