Daddy Daughter Dance

Every year at the girls school they have a Daddy Daughter Dinner Dance. Last year Jeremy was still in school and was unable to take the Taylor. Grandpas and Uncles can bring their kids if Daddys can't. So Taylor called her Uncle Aaron and he flew out and brought her. Rylee was unable to go because she didn't attend the school. This year when we got the tickets the girls were so excited! They got all dolled up and enjoyed it.
Before the girls went to get their hair done I had them jump in the shower with bags on their head so they wouldn't get their hair wet. It was very cute! They had been at school all day and I wanted them so be nice and clean.

I took the girls over to my friend Alison's house. She is a hair dresser and did the girls hair. Taylor enjoyed getting all done up.



She did some curls on top then put her hair in curlers and had the bottom half down.




Rylee didn't her hair up. So Alison used a wavy iron
It's like a crimper (you know from the 80's) but it's more of a curl.When she was done she put a black and white head band in her hair









Both girls got corsages from their daddy.

Taylor's was red roses
Rylee got White roses.

I bought the girls new shoes and they had some cute dresses. We painted their nails and put their jewelry on.

I think they all looked great. Even my sexy hubby!




At the dance they were served spaghetti, salad and rolls. Of course they wanted to dance and were starving when they get home.


They each got glow necklaces.
Taylor and her friend







Jeremy danced a few times with Tayl0r and a little with Rylee. He said Rylee wanted to dance more with her friends then with him.
For the most part I think the daddys stand around watching their daughters dance.


















There was a conga line and both girls were in the front.










At the end of the night there is a drawing for gifts. Taylor won! She got a folder and a note book. They got home just after 8:30pm Friday night and were so happy and had so much fun. Even Daddy did!

Potty Time

I bought a potty chair a few months ago for Diesel. He went on it a few times but wasn't ready to really start potty training.

On Super Bowl Sunday I was changing Diesel's diaper and he had a little rash. I mentioned to Jeremy that I was thinking about changing the diaper brand. Jeremy said why don't we just get rid of them all together. I thought about it and decided it had been a few months and we should really try it again. So just like I did with the girls I let Diesel run around without any pants.

Monday I had a doctors appointment so he was only "free" in the am. But did pretty good. He peed a little on his way to the potty but was bale to stop himself and finish on the potty.

Every day has just gotten better and better. Thursday and Friday he didn't have any accidents. Friday he even had diarrhea. Now he just runs to the bathroom on his own and half the time I don't even know he has gone. Sometimes he yells "POTTY, POTTY" as he runs down the hall. then I just run after him. It's so cute. Friday he had disappeared and this is what I found. I guess he is just like all the men!

Busy reading his Policeman Book

Being a ham as usual

When he is all done he dumps his potty in the big potty and I rinse it out.

He has come down with something and had a few accidents yesterday but still did really good. He even took a nap yesterday with out a diaper and was dry.

Soccer Fun

So for the past 2 years now Taylor has played soccer. She plays at our church on a Recreation Team called the Cheetah Bears. The church also has Club Teams. Every year around this time the Club League hosts a HUGE tournament. Because Taylor plays in the REC they usually don't play in the tournament. The level of play and the structure is more advanced. This year Taylor's coach decided to enter her team in the tournament. For the regular season the are 8 in 1. He had a lot of faith in the girls. We are the only REC team in the division we are playing. The the teams are Club.

Game 1
So the first game was bright and early at 8am. We had to be at the fields by 7:15am. It rained all night and was sprinkling on the way to the fields. The coaches were great and had coffee and donuts for the parents and girls. Once the team was all checked in and verified they headed over to warm up. The game started a little early and it was on. The Cheetah Bears were fierce. They dominated the whole game. Taylor scored 2 goals and made some big plays. I have never seen the girls play so great. It rained, I mean Poured off and on for the 1st half of the game. The girls have never played in the rain before. The girls kept the ball on the other side of the field about 99% of the time. They had about 8 goal shots that they just missed and about 5 that the other goalie blocked. The 2nd half the girls were still dominating the game but the other team was able to get the ball into our side a few more times. In the end it was shut out and Taylor's team won 5-0. It was amazing. I am ready for a nap and I need to have a throat lozenge so I can yell for the 2nd game. I am so proud of them. Taylor was amazing and the coaches were just too funny to watch on the sidelines. Looking forward to another GREAT game at 2:15pm today!

Coach Kevin is telling the girls how great they are doing.

Check out our awesome Banner I had made for the team.

Game 2
After a 5 hour break it was back to Soccer. The girls were so tired from being up so early for the 1st game they weren't in the swing of things until the 2nd half. All together is was a big adjustment for the girls. They are used to playing 4 quarters and being able to sub out when ever as well as having 5 subs. This tournament was 2 - 25 minute halves and they only had 3 subs. The girls lost there 2nd game 5-1. Considering the caliber of the other girls Taylor's team made them work for their goals. They held them off a lot and really tried hard. It didn't rain anymore and in the end the girls had fun!

Here are the coaches giving the girls a Pep Talk during Halftime.

After the game the coaches bought the all the girls an Icee. Here is Coach Todd and a few of the girls watching the Older girls play while they eat their Icee.

Game 3
It was up and at um early again today. They had to be at the fields by 8:30am for a 9:15 game. The girls were all fired up. They all played their hearts out today. It was the most intense game yet. There were a few girls on the team that played better today then I had seen them play all season. It was amazing. We didn't win today. The score was 7-0 but even though the score was high the girls ran their butts off. They hustled, blocked, kicked and ran faster and harder then I have ever seen. They did amazing. Again our girls only practice an hour a week and have only been together since Mid September. Theses CLUB team practice at least 2 times a week and have been together since early August. They pay a few thousand dollars compared to out $160 for our RECREATION league. Our girls defiantly made the other teams earn their goals. We were all so proud of how great the girls did.

After the last game they all got trophys and a pin. We came in 3rd place out of the 4 teams and we were the only Recreation team in our division. I think that's pretty darn good.

We are already talking about moving on next year with some of the same girls and our coaches!

Rodeo Day

So today Rylee had Rodeo Day at school. I volunteered to help out.

All the kids came dressed up in the CowGirl Gear. Rylee is wearing a vest that My Grandma and Grandpa Duran got me when I was little. It worked great!






The had wagon rides and searched for gold.

They had story time about an Armadillo, made tall hats and played Cowboy war (the card game).

For lunch they ate beans out of a can and had chips and hot dogs. It was very cute and Rylee had lots of fun!

7 Years

7 years of love, happiness, friendship, laughter, fights, struggles, sadness, disagreements, safety, security, admiration, conquests, family and MARRIAGE!

7 years ago on January 19, 2002 I took a vow to love, honor and cherish a man I knew I would spend the rest of my life.

7 years ago 2 words changed our lives forever

7 years have come and gone so quick. 7 Years is a long time and yet it's just the beginning of Jeremy's and my journey.

7 years we have been married and it's been amazing, hard but wonderful. We made it this far when so many said we wouldn't. And over those 7 years it's only gotten better. Everyday I love him more. Everyday I thank God I am his wife. Everyday I cherish our family.

For our 7 year wedding anniversary we went out on a date night. A friend watched the kids. She refered us to an AMAZING sushi place. We went to sushi and were in heaven. Then we had planned on watching a movie but none of the movies we wanted to see were playing at a decent hour. Instead we ran to blockbuster and rented a movie. We picked up the kids, came home put them to bed and watched out movie while we cuddled on the couch.

It was very nice to get all dressed up to go out.

Everyday Life

So I usually have something special to share or an event. But not this time. I just want to share some of the everyday things that happen in our day to day life.

Last week Aaron Jeremy's brother came for a over night stay. He had to move some stuff back to California from his old apartment. We didn't get to see him for more then a few hours but I was able to snap this picture of Diesel laying on his uncle. It's so sweet how much they love each other.

Last week Friday the girls had a spirit day. It was Super Hero Day. They were able to dress up as a super hero and they picked the ones they wanted to be. Taylor chose Super Girl and Rylee chose Bat Girl. We ran to the store and bought some red and black fabric and a blue shirt for Tay and a black shirt for Rye. When we got home I cut measured the fabric and cut it to make capes for the girls. I just tied them in knot around their necks. I had some transfer paper left over so I printed the Superman logo out and put it on Tay's shirt. I then used puff paints to draw the logo on Taylor's cape. I used puffy paints to draw the batman logo on Rylee's shirt and cape as well. Taylor wore her cape and shirt with a red skirt and Rylee wore hers with black tights, boot and short. Here is the finished product. I think they looked so cute!!

Diesel has been doing lots of new things too. He has really come along way in talking. He says so much now and really trys to repeat what you say. A few of my favorites are when he looks at me wanting something and says "pease" aka Please. It melts your heart. Another thing he does it say "I sawry" aka I'm sorry. He will in passing bump into you or step on your foot and you hear as he goes on his way "I sawry" It's too cute.

Something new he started last week Thursday was to climb out of his crib. Now it's a daily thing. At nap and bed time I have to put him back in bed about 5 times. Finally the last time I have to raise my voice and be very firm and tell him not to get out of bed and to go to sleep. I have to check on him every few minutes. Sometimes he is out playing with is cars other times he opens his door and comes running out. Sunday night he had gotten out of bed and I was putting the dinner dishes away. Jer had just walked into the kitchen and he saw Diesel. Diesel saw that Jeremy saw him and he went running back to his room. Friday night when I went to check on him before I go to bed just like I do every night and I couldn't open the door. Diesel had gotten out of bed and had fallen asleep on the floor at his door. In the morning he used to lay in bed and kick the wall so you knew he was awake. Now he comes into the room. This morning I was watching TV, I could hear Diesel opening his door and I waited for him to come find me. Instead I heard him talking. I went looking for him. I found him bent over on his head looking under Taylor's bed saying "itty itty" (Diesel talk for Kitty Kitty) Our cat Saber had gone under the bed and Diesel was trying to get him out. It was too funny. One of the moments I wish I had a video camera. Although I don't have a video camera handy I do have my camera and I was able to find Diesel asleep in his chair. I knew he was very tired but I wanted to feed him lunch before he took his nap. While I was cooking lunch I looked over and my efforts a waste. He decided he wanted to sleep.

Slumber Party Fun

So we had Taylor's 8th Birthday Party. It was a slumber party and boy was it full of fun! I tired to keep them busy so chaos wouldn't erupt with 11 little girls. The girls starred arriving Saturday evening at 5pm. Jeremy ended up working later then he had hoped so I had to take care of Diesel too. But, I did have my saving grace. Shonna my friend came over and helped as well. It was nice she and I had our own sleep over! It was hectic but fun. I remember for my 8th birthday I had a sleep over too. I am still friends with 2 of the girls that were there. I tired to do some of the things we did at my party.

Once the girls were all here I took a picture with each girl and Taylor then we took a group shot. The pictures were for later in the evening.

The 1st thing we did was play the mummy game. I divided the girls into groups. I gave them 2 rolls of toilet paper and they had to warp someone up as a mummy. Here is Rylee's group. Can you guess she's the mummy!

Here is Taylor's group. 1st Taylor was the mummy then half way though they switched and had her best friend Sydney be the mummy. They had lots of fun!

Shortly after the mummy game it was dinner time. Pizza was Taylor's choice. They all enjoyed it. But I will say 8 larges for 11 girls 3 adults and 2 2year olds is way too much!!! I am never good at estimating when it comes to pizza. we still have 1 whole large left and have been eating it everyday.

After dinner we split the girls up again and had 2 activities going. One was

pillow case painting. It was a spin off of something I remember doing with my mom. Instead of painting t-shirts like I used to do we made pillow cases. This is where the pictures came into play. I uploaded the pictures and printed them onto transfer paper then ironed them onto the pillowcases. The girls got to decorate around the picture of themselves and Taylor. Taylor had the one with the whole group. I let Rylee's Best buddy come over so Rylee wouldn't be left out and so Rylee's and her buddies was of them two.

The other activity they traded off doing was finger nail painting. It was a spin the bottle game. The girls would take turns spinning the nail polish bottle and who ever it landed on they had to paint 1 nail that color. Then we traded off colors. Some of the girls just wanted all one color so Shonna helped with that.

Once the pillow cases were all done it was Ice Cream time. The Ice Cream was so hard it took a few minutes to thaw. So the girls played freeze dance. Our cable carrier has a Kids Only song channel with pop songs that kids like. We had that one and they took turns yelling freeze.

Here are some of the finished pillow cases. I think they turned out great!

Once the Ice Cream thawed it was time for our Ice Cream Sunday bar. We had Vanilla ice cream and the girls got to put what ever they wanted on their ice cream.

I had tired putting 8 candles on Taylor's creation but there wasn't enough room so she just got and 8. I think it was a GREAT idea!

We are just about to sing Happy Birthday to her. Here is Taylor with her Best Buddy Sydney.

Once the Ice Cream was all done they all made their beds in the living room. Taylor had picked out 2 movies for them to watch. Horton Hears a Who and Narnia Prince Caspian. Diesel was so cute he kept walking around laying in the beds with the girls. Maddie Shonna's daughter made her one little bed and wanted to be like the big girls.

After watching 2 movies I finally said lights out and turned everything off. It was 12:30am and I didn't hear anything after that. It think by this time they were all pretty tired. Only 5 of them were still up at 12:30. 1 little girl went home at 9 (she wasn't allowed to sleep over) and 1 little girl wanted to call home at 10:30 so she could go home.

I think the girls were up at 7am but didn't get me until 8am. I made them breakfast while they played some of Taylor's new games she got for her birthday. I made an egg dish at Tay's request. It looks scary but tasted yummy. Most them picked out for awhile while Taylor told them to just eat it and that it was good. The one's who finally did eat it said it was really good. Others left hungry I am sure! lol... The all got picked up at 10am and I had everything cleaned up and taken down shortly there after. I took a nice long nap Sunday afternoon.

In all it turned out good and I know Taylor had lots of fun!

Shonna again THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU ! You are the BEST! I LOVE YOU!!

Family Fun

So the 1st official week in January was a busy one for The Hanel Clan!

It started Monday with the girls going back to school. After 2 weeks of sleeping in and laziness life was back to normal. We all managed to get up on time and out of the house so they weren't late to school. They had a good first day back. They were very excited to wear some new Christmas clothes and share their holiday fun with their classes.

Tuesday I was getting ready for my In-Laws to come. Plus Diesel had a well check up. Everything is going great with him. He weighs 24.2lbs and is in the 9% and he is 33.25 inches tall and is in the 21%. He is the "fattest" he has ever been. He is very small but is growing proportionate so there aren't any worries. Oh and his head is tiny in the 12%. The doctor says he will look better then having a big head. lol... Tuesday night soccer started back up for Taylor. They had a winter break and had been off for about 1.5 months. Practice went well and although it was cold out she seemed to be back in the routine. Late Tuesday just before 9pm Maydeen and Bob arrived. Jeremy got home from work about 10 minutes later. (he likes to work late for extra $$)

Wednesday morning after the girls were off to school May and I took Diesel to a follow up ENT appointment for his tubes. his hearing was perfect and everything looked great. We did find out that his adenoids are blocking his nasal passage by 75%. Although it is a fairly large blockage he should grow bigger and his adenoids should shrink. We aren't going to remove them at this time. The Doctor said he wouldn't do it on his girls in this case. Diesel goes back in 6 months. After the doctor May and I went shopping. We ran some errands. We got back around 2 to pick the girls up from school. We laid Diesel down for a nap and ran to Walmart to buy all the party stuff for Taylor's 8th birthday sleep over. When we got home both girls had a surprise waiting for them. Bob had spent all day putting together a desk for Rylee and desk chairs for both of them. He also did some Honey Do's for me. They girls were so excited and very surprised! Jeremy managed to get off work at a decent time and we all went out to dinner. We tried a new place over by the Cardinals stadium. It's was very nice Mexican restaurant. The food was pretty good and the atmosphere was very nice. Diesel did pretty good for not being out to eat in a very long time.

Thursday May and Bob drove out to the shooting range where Bob shoots in his Cowboy action shoots. Diesel and I lounged around until they got home. We had decided to drive out and have lunch with Jeremy. I thought it would be nice if they could see where he works and what he does. When we got to the shop Jeremy showed us a project they had finished for the Navy. It was amazing. Jeremy constructed this HUGE thing and he had no blue prints. All he had were CAD pictures with only a width and height dimension. There were a ton of pictures and he had to reconstruct it. It was amazing and he was so proud of himself. His work was so good. Bob even made a comment that he had no idea how good Jeremy was at welding. I know Jeremy really enjoyed that! When we got home I had a follow up ultrasound for my thyroid. I am pretty sure that everything is fine and that there is nothing wrong. But I go back to the ENT in mid February. Thursday night Maydeen made us a yummy chicken dinner. Jer, Bob and I watched a movie and May got the kids bathed and to bed. It was a nice break.

I am never good at taking pictures when May and Bob come. It always seems we are so busy and non-stop. I was able to get one of Diesel and his Grandpa. You can't read it but the shirt Diesel is wearing says "I may be little but my Grandpa sure thinks I'm a Big Deal" Bob had gotten Diesel the shirt a few months back and I thought it was a perfect time for him to wear it.

Friday morning May and Bob left back to home.

Saturday morning Taylor had her 1st soccer game of this half of the season. It was an 8am game and it was COLD! I think the girls weren't all quite ready to be back. School had just started it was early and cold and soccer had just stared. The lost their 1st game ever 2-3. we had beat this team in the 1st half 5-3. They girls did play good but you could tell they weren't all there.

Another Hanel Birthday

Yes It's January 3rd. 8 Years after I gave birth to a beautiful, super good baby girl. The difference now is that she isn't a baby any more. I have a Tween! Only 8 more years and she will be driving. I know it's a ways away but the last 8 years have come and gone quicker then I would ever want. She is growing up to be a beautiful, smart, good hearted little lady.

It was Taylor's day and she picked Subway for Lunch. Her wish was my command! Can you believe this girl can eat she almost ate a whole foot long. I would say she polished off a good 3/4 of a foot long. I have no idea where it goes. I wish I had that metabolism.

I must say that most of the Day Taylor was busy playing her new DS. She bought some more games with her birthday and Christmas money. I think this is a Great picture!

My Baby isn't a baby anymore. Not only is she getting older in age she is maturing and I have an 8 year old that is going on 16. Oh boy do I have my hands full! But I love her so very much and even though I was young when we had her I wouldn't trade any of it for anything. I can't imagine my life with out my Tay Tay!

Taylor had some presents to open today. She was very excited and waited all day to open them.

Rylee decided to make Taylor a card and give Taylor some of her new bracelets that she bought with her Christmas money. I think it is so sweet how giving they are with each other and how thoughtful and caring they are. Here is Rylee's Thank You hug from Taylor. So sweet!

I love how my 2nd grader can now read her own Birthday cards all by herself. She was very proud and so was I!

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday Dear Taylor
Happy Birthday to you!

Yes her birthday "cake" is pumpkin pie. I was able to squeeze 8 candles on there. It's what she wanted I also made her some sugar cookies.

Now she has her Big Birthday Bask to look forward too. I am not so sure about it all. Next week with 13 little girls for a sleep over, what have I gotten myself into?