A Special Weekend With Hannah

Over the weekend we had visitors. My brother Danny, his beautiful wife Deborah and their adorable daughter Hannah were in town for a conference and took an extra day to spend with us! Since Hannah just turned three, we had a birthday celebration.

When Hannah's mom asked what type of cake she wanted she said, "Pink". We haven't colored a cake in years as we try to stay away from food colorings, so instead we experimented with natural colorings. We used beet juice to color this "pink" gluten free strawberry cake.

My older brother Danny has been a pest to me over the years, I have to admit, but there was always a soft side to him, even when we were kids. As a father, he is truly amazing. He is so patient with Hannah and really takes time to see her side of things.

Hannah opening her gift from us. We bought a few small PlayMobil sets. They were always Sophia's favorite toy, even now.

I LOVE watching Alexander play with young children. He has a special gift of being very patient with them and he always has them laughing. He reminds me of his own daddy. He is the same way.

Hannah had a little crush on Sophia. Really, how could you not? She is an older girl, she has two pink walls and a pink ceiling in her room with lots of other pink stuff. Sophia and Hannah hung out in Sophia's room for quite some time and in the morning, Hannah woke Sophia up so they could get started playing again.

By evening, Hannah was getting pretty silly. She decided to build a castle out of pillows and was a little frustrated with her cousin Joe (my nephew) for not sharing his last pillow and said, "Serious."

Living in Florida the last year, Hannah hasn't seen much snow. Although snow was the last thing we wanted to see again, we were happy that it came for her. The snow quickly melted after they left but pieces of her snowman still sit in the yard reminding us of her. What a special little girl!