fun with hannah

My sister and her family made the move to North Carolina (finally!!) and Hannah got to come hang out with us for a few days while Janne and Adam unpacked and got settled into their new house.  Ellie and Hannah were SOOOO excited to see each other!!

Two giggly girls in the tub.

To make it even more exciting, Grandma was here, too!  Hannah seemed to be a bit overtired from her cross-country drive so she slept late in the morning (while Ellie waited patiently for her to get up) and then snuggled for awhile (to everyone's delight).

These two are silly wherever they go!

Grocery shopping for taco fixin's.

Singing about her quesadilla.

Snuggles in the morning and shopping in the afternoon.

One of many trips to Target.

We met Auntie Janne for lunch when she was ready to pick up Hannah and she was shocked (and a bit angry!) to see that we got Hannah's ears pierced.  Doesn't she look cute though?!  After letting Janne panic for a minute, we let her know that they were just stick-on earrings!

hannah and auntie janne's trip!

I got the best surprise ever when my sister, Janne, and Hannah showed up all the way from Arizona to meet us for dinner at McAlister's (and hang out with us for a week)!  Apparently they, along with Grandma (who was already in town visiting) and Jacob, orchestrated this plan months ago-- and they were all able to keep the secret!!  The first thing the girls did when we got back to the house was change into matching jammies.

Ellie absolutely ADORES Hannah and follows her around like a second mother.  When they sit next to each other, Ellie tries to help hold Hannah up even though Hannah can easily do it on her own and is as big as Ellie (despite their 363 day age difference).

The littlest girls had so much fun playing football in the backyard.

Run, Hannah, Run!!!

Trying to get a good picture with such cooperation from these two proved difficult.

Ellie loves "her" Hannah

Fun in the backyard

Ellie is always on the go!

More matching jammies-- and cooperation (or lack thereof)!

We introduced Auntie Janne and Hannah to Viva Chicken and Publix!

On their last day in town, we drove down to South Carolina to see the Peachoid- a peach shaped water tower.

Silly girls at the Peachoid

Such a smiley girl :)

The little girls and Grandma

Before taking Grandma, Auntie Janne and Hannah to the airport, we went to Toast for breakfast and walked around the streets of Davidson.

the elf, jammies, and decorating the tree

Our elf, Sandy, made his return appearance the Saturday after Thanksgiving, complete with a North Pole breakfast!

Grandpa got to open one of his Christmas presents a bit early-- new art for his office!

Matching Christmas jammies for all of the cousins

Just the Albaeck kids :)

Grandma and Grandpa get the kids each a new ornament every year and they love the anticipation and surprise!

Hannah and Ellie are the same size but are 363 days apart!  They're definitely opposite ends of the spectrum.

Silly Hannah, you're not supposed to eat tissue paper!

Playtime!  And sidenote, I wish I had curls like Ellie!

Hannah and Ellie love playing together.  When I told Ellie to go sit with Hannah for a picture, she thought that meant to sit on Hannah's lap!

The big kids!

The kids had fun tearing up the tissue paper and pretending it was snowing.

After everyone headed to the airport, we decorated our Christmas tree and this year, we let Ellie help!

Decorating the tree-- I love unwrapping all of our ornaments and reminiscing about fun vacations we've been on and big events in our lives.

The kids love picking out the perfect spot to showcase their favorite ornaments.

Ellie did a great job hanging up her ornaments.  She took her time picking out the perfect spot and then loaded up the branch with as much as it would hold!

After dropping everyone else off at the airport, Grandpa came back to our house for the night before heading off on a business trip.  He was able to go to Viva Chicken (for delicious Peruvian) and watch "Christmas with the Kranks" (since the daughter goes to Peru...) with us!

cutting down a christmas tree

Instead of shopping on Black Friday, we all drove up to the mountains to pick out a Christmas tree at Lil' Grandfather Mountain Christmas Tree Farm.

We took a hayride up to the trees and finally found THE ONE!  We tagged it and then it was cut down and hauled back to the barn.

Trees for days!

Sweet Ben loves his baby sister- and she loves him just as much!

It was fun being able to share our tradition of cutting down a Christmas tree with the whole family!  Nick was convinced that we needed to take this tree home even though it was sadder than the Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

When we got home the boys got the tree all prepped and into the house and then we let the branches fall down for a few hours before Jacob put up the lights.

thanksgiving fun

One of the best parts of having family in town is that you can dress the kids in matching clothes!  Ellie and Lexie LOVE having matching jammies and it's even more fun when Hannah can be included.

Hannah is such a sweetheart-- I wish we were able to see her more often!

We had a fire in the fire pit one night and roasted hot dogs for dinner-- and of course made s'mores for dessert!

On Thanksgiving morning we always have McDonald's Egg McMuffins for breakfast and watch the parade.

Snuggly sweethearts :)

The girls helped get Thanksgiving dinner ready this year.  Ellie supervised the turkey prep while Lexie helped with the pickles and olives.

The big kids had dinner in the kitchen and the adults and little kids ate in the dining room.  Sadly, we didn't get any pictures of the adults or the dining room other than the caramel apple sangria (delish!).