Spring Time Fun

The girls have been busy this spring. PLaying outside, going to practices, and presenting at school.

Hannah had her last day of Micro Soccer this week. She is a natural, it is so crazy. She can already dribble the ball and is working on kicking it with the side of her foot. She can run for a very long time too, so I think we may have a keeper with soccer for her. The field at the Y is sweet. It is all astroturf and it sits up on a hill. So even though the wind blows like crazy, the atmosphere is awesome. It makes everone feel like playing a little soccer. All the parents get out in their work clothes and take a few shots into the goals and the stay-at-home moms come in their matched sweat suits and Nikes, very cute enviornment.

She got her first medal. This is her coach, nice guy, very patient with little ones. And they loved to see how far he could kick the ball. I was pretty impressed myself.

Her practices were fun because the parents have to participate. This is about the level I can handle, so I had fun too. We played duck,duck, goose...that is a game that I get. When we get into real competition, I shy away and that is when John must step in... he loves that stuff.

Her jersey was from our trip to Mexico over Spring Break. They had little "Foot ball" sets for sale in the marketa so Hannah needed it! She is such a pro.

Maddie did her first display for a school project. Being in the second grade, her class was assigned to explore the animal life in Australia and she had the wallaby to present.

She and John went to the Multicultural fair to have a dinner and look at the presentations. John was kindof embarrased at first because they were to take some kind of food from their culture to the dinner. I made a huge platter of fresh pineapple and a platter of Hawaiian sweet bread, he thought it was cheesy at first until all of it was eaten at the dinner! Ha! People love that stuff.

John has started playing softball again. It has been a couple of years but now that the girls are getting bigger, we can all go out and have some fun. He plays at a park where there is also a place for the girls to play then I don't have to worry too much about fly balls.

Maddie stayed to watch John and the little ones and I went to the park. We found an E for Ella and I thought it would make a cute picture. Then I was like "I wonder if there is a "H" for Hannah" then after turning a complete circle to look at what letters were on the ground and saying "is there a "H" (out loud, where other adults could hear me), I realized the was only a N, S, E, W...oh maybe the four directions! I am such a dork.

A new day

I have two friends that write blogs and they have for a long time, I have never been a journal-er but have always wanted to be one. So as I sift through my friend's documentation of day to day life, I sit there and think "I wish I had one" and "this would be so great to write down what goes on my my girls life as they grow." So today is a new day and I have decided to begin my own. We'll see how it goes, I know I have to make a commitment, but I think I am ready!

You may wonder why I use Happiness Principle as my blog title/username and I think it is a cool thing to talk about. My husband, John has an undergrad in Political Science and a few years ago we had a talk about Utilitarianism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism_%28book%29. Sounds crazy to sit around and talk about this but really, as thirty-somethings who have been trying to figure the world out and better understand how we want to live our lives and raise our children, we used the stuff we learned in school to give us a little understanding in real life.

So anyway, the understanding is that the Happiness Principle is a moral that if the thoughts and actions you put out in the world are positive, those actions will promote happiness in your life and if your thoughts and actions are negative then, then guess what? You probably will not find yourself in your "happy place..." So this is how I try to do it...and I try to teach my kids about this cause-effect relationship to the world. We'll see how this goes...

Yesterday was Hannah Jane's birthday. She turned 4. I thought this would be a good occasion to begin writing about the progression of their lives. I always try to remember the funny things they say and do, but with all that sweet-n-low I have used over the years, my "momery" begins to fail me. John says that sweet-n-low's ingredient of saccharin, he is convinced that it contributes to short term and long term memory loss...although it may be better contributed to extra curricular activities of my youth. Nonetheless, I will continue to consume sweet-n-low and love it because it really is the only chemical I put in my body, the last vice I will hold on to! http://www.sweetnlow.com/about/songpopup.html

So Hannah's Birthday...

The day went perfectly really. She said she wanted a princess party at home. So for the last month, we have worked to get ready to be princess-ified. We all had something princess themed to wear and it was convenient because I went to the Disney store and found a ton of stuff on clearance after Easter. Hannah had a beautiful dress and sweater with princess flip-flops. Ella Sue had a purple dress with fairies on it with shoes to match.

Maddie had a Snow White tunic and leggings to wear. She also got flip flops and I told her not to ruin them until after the party, but that didn't really work out. She wore them like two days before and the little rhinestone thing fell off. I had a cool shirt too, normally I am not the type of woman to dress in anything from the Disney store but they actually have some neat stuff. I wore this shirt...

John also got a Grumpy shirt, which I thought would be appropriate for him but the stinker somehow forgot to put it on. He wore a KU shirt instead, fancy that. John and I worked hard to clean the house for several days before the big event. Having about 30 people over it a great excuse to spring clean!

She had a great time, the kids jumped on the trampoline

and just played in the backyard.

Papa Bruce and MeeMaw made her a beautiful barbie princess cake. The food was great. Jason's Deli We ordered pinwheel sandwich trays from Jason's Deli which were a big hit. We had hummus and pita and fruit trays (that I made since it is much cheaper to make trays on your own). We had veggies and salads too, Hannah ate a ton of broccoli as usual, with ranch dripping off.

I made water bottle labels with the party theme on it, kindof hard to see but you get the idea.

Daddy did a great job with balloon hanging.

The night ended with cousin Jimmy staying the night. Hannah got a princess nightgown that she wore too.

It was a great day in all. Happy Birthday Hannah!