Our Hannah turns FOUR!

We decided to have our little Hannah Joy Pomegranate Kitsteiner's fourth birthday party a few days ago -- before her twin cousins from South Carolina ended their visit to the farm. 

When I told Hannah we were going to have a party, she looked up at me and said. "A party just for me? With presents? And cake?" She isn't used to things being all about her. She was soooo excited!

We had her go in our bedroom (the only room we currently have) and decorated and brought her out for her birthday "surprise". She was actually feeling a little "shy" when she came out of the bedroom which never happens to Hannah. She told me later: "I sort of felt like happy crying."

And then it was onto the kitchen where Aunt Elizabeth (John's older sister) and his mom had decorated for a little party. 

I only managed to get one picture which included her cousins: Eli (next to Isaac) and Ethan (green shirt in the front)

Grama K. makes the BEST ice cream cake. Seriously. I bought one one time and it was a total letdown. We love ice cream cake here because it doesn't have egg!

Bowling out her candles:

Showing us how old she is (with her Grama K.):

Opening her presents. She got some really sweet things. Notice how excited Arabelle is about the party:

Here is a favorite recent video of Hannah that just makes me smile:

Tomorrow, September 4, is Hannah's actual birthday. Here are a few facts I want Hannah to remember about her life at 4. 

• We used to call you Hannah "Pomegranate" when you were in the womb. The nickname has stuck, and it is your official "unofficial" second middle name. If you ask you what your full name is, you always says: "Hannah Joy Pomegranate Kitsteiner." Daddy wanted to put it on your birth certificate, and I laughed at the idea. I kinda wish we would have. 
• Here's a favorite post I wrote with some of my favorite pictures of you. 
• Here are some looks back at your previous birthdays:
• Three and a half
• Three
• Two (Includes some of my favorite pictures)
• http://flakymn.blogspot.com/2014/09/hannah-joy-turns-one.html
• I also like to remember what your brothers and sister were doing at the same age:
• Isaac
• Elijah "Sidge"
• Abigail
• You are not shy at all and love Dad and Mom equally. 
• You are wearing a size 11/12 shoe, size 5T clothes. 
• You vocabulary is amazing. You will use words like "aroma" and "disgusting" and color everything with adjective like "terrible" and "fantastic." 
• You can count to 29, know all your colors, recognize all of your letters, and know a lot of letter sounds. 
• You sing the ABC's but often mess it up.
• You are incredibly observant. Today, as we left the grocery store you said, "Why did we leave our donuts on the counter?" Sure enough, we had forgotten a bag!
• You love to watch shows. Some of your favorites are: 
• Princess Sofia
• Daniel Tiger
• Tinkerbell
• Some of your favorite things are:
• Princesses
• Legos
• Magnatiles
• Watching shows (I usually have you do things to earn them as you could watch them all day long and do when I forget where you are and what yo are doing.)
• Color (a little)
• Put stuff in her mouth
• Play playdough 
• Going to Grampa and Grama's house (You walk there by yourself.) 
• Changing your clothes (constantly)
• Play with her brothers and sisters
• Imagine
• Have adventures
• Riding your bike
• Eating snacks
• Playing in your pool
• Taking a shower (you like to lay at the bottom of the tub and just let the water hit you.)
• You don't really understand time. You will often say: "Is it 10 o'clock yet?" because you know that is the time for snack every morning. However, you do seem to understand numbers pretty well. Some examples:
• I told you we had to do something twice and you said: "That's like two times."
• I told you that you could bring in one toy to church. You said: "What about two? Okay how about three? That's a good number."
• You ride a bike with training wheels. You have successfully ridden a two-wheeler but you fell so you don't want to do it again.
• You don't really sleep with any specific toys. You mostly like "Garbage Can" which is your huge tiger you use as your pillow.
• You don't use diapers or pull-ups at all. You wet the bed sometimes, but if we let you wear a pull-up to sleep, you pee in it on purpose. 
• You sleep a good twelve hours a night (7:30-7:30). But you really fight us getting to bed with constant needs to get up for something. 
• You are drawing people and are pretty good at. 
• You are a decent eater. Not our best (Abigail) or our pickiest (Isaac.) 
• You haven't napped in like ... forever!!!
• You love hugs and will get/give them to almost anyone. You have bonded with our intern, Jacob, and Tijmen is by far your favorite WWOOFer. Here's a video of you finding out he was coming back to our farm for a second visit. 

You are incredibly 

precocious, 

boisterous, 

glamorous, 

preposterous, 

wondrous, 

zealous, 

humorous, 

outrageous, 

adventurous, 

ridiculous, 

mischievous, 

fabulous and 

miraculous. 

WE LOVE YOU!