Hallee is 4 !

A belated birthday post!

Hallee's birthday was June 7th, 

and I didn't finish my blog post about her special day!

(OOPS! bad me). I've been so busy, I have neglected my blog. Traveling, sewing, quilting and just plain life seems to get in the way. I always have good intentions, and then I fall behind.

Hallee is 4 years old.

When she was born she was so tiny, 

the size of a Cabbage Patch Doll;

she was instantly loved by her big sister and brother;

she's very curious;

she's a girl of many faces;

she's quite a character;

she has many expressions;

but some of her faces aren't so happy;

she's a busy bee, so it can be hard to catch her looking at the camera;

she is adorable;

and she can be such a happy girl;

she can be shy;

she's a risk taker and she loves her "Poppy;"

she's a sweetheart;

and she loves her Yaya, too!

This Yaya is so blessed by her grandkiddos. Just the other day, Hallee said to me, "Yaya, I love seeing you," as she climbed into my lap! Hallee is a heart melter for sure and I love her so much!

Our Little Gigi is 8

Gianna Brianne, Gigi, is 8 years old! 

WOW! 

It is so hard to believe how the years have definitely 

flown by right before our eyes. 

Wasn't it just yesterday she was our first and only grandchild.

How we love this sweet, adorable, precious girl, 

to the moon and back!

Happy Birthday Brody!!

This sweet, little guy, 

Brody Noah Nicholas Bennett 

is another year older. 

He turned 5 years old, yesterday,

pictured here with his sisters, Hallee (left) and Gigi!

We sure love these "crazies" to the moon and back!

Little Hallee Hope is 1 !!

Our youngest granddaughter, Hallee Hope is now 1!
She is also walking and always on the go!
She was a cruiser for quite a while, and a bit unsure when she first started walking:

She did the ole' walk a bit than crawl to get somewhere faster.  Now she is stronger and crawls no more! Now she is on the run most of the time, except when she's tired; then, Hallee is a true cuddler.

We had a birthday celebration in our backyard, so the little ones could swim. The kids and a few adults enjoyed the warm summer day and the refreshing pool, as well as the yummy treats.

Soon it was time to sing Happy Birthday to Hallee! Everyone enjoyed fresh Strawberries and whipped cream, while Hallee had a special donut topped with whipped cream! You have to understand that when it comes to food, Hallee is NOT picky.  In fact she can't eat her food fast enough for her liking. If there's no more food on her tray and she wants more food, she lets everyone know she wants more.  Not by signing for more, like her siblings did. Nope, Hallee just "screams" for more! Loudly! Seriously! No quiet meals at the Bennett house!!  So it was a surprise when it came time for her to eat her pretty birthday donut, and Hallee just wasn't sure about what to do with it. She didn't even touch it.  She just looked it and then looked at everyone staring at her. It wasn't until yaya (yours truly) gave her a taste of the whipped cream that she "dove" in!

More fun birthday photos here.

Gigi Goes to Disneyland!

We spent a wonderful day at the "Happiest Place on Earth" on Gigi's 5th Birthday! It's a whole new place when seen through the eyes of a child, especially on her first visit to this magical land!

Papa and Gigi just before entering the park.

Mommy made Gigi a Minnie Mouse shirt to wear with her Minnie ears 

which she also wore on Halloween!

David, Hallee, Gigi, Nicole and Brody

Unc A and Micah joined us.

First ride for us was the all new Star Tours.

  Dumbo and the Carousel were both hits for all the little ones.  We all enjoyed the Tea Cups, Jungle Cruise and Autopia, too!  The grown-ups loved Pirates and Big Thunder as well!

Midday, Gigi changed into her princess Belle dress and had her face painted.

We explored ToonTown and took a tour of Mickey's house and the rest of the ToonTown.

Gigi and a reluctant Brody had their picture taken with Minnie Mouse.

In the afternoon we visited the Disney Princess Fantasy Faire.

Gigi was getting a bit tired,

But, despite the almost hour wait to Meet the Princesses, when asked what her favorite thing about Disneyland was, Gigi still replies:  "Meeting the princesses, Cinderella and Tiana!"

Gigi and Cinderella, her favorite princess, shared a chat, a hug and an autograph;

Gigi getting Tiana's autograph!

 It was truly a fantastic day!! 

You can see more pictures on my flickr page.

Milestone: Gigi Turns 5 !!!

In 6 days our sweet, little granddaughter Gigi will be 5 years old!

It seems like it was only yesterday when she was barely 6 pounds.

She's a cutie, there's no denying it!! (you can call me prejudice and that's ok!) 

 Pictured above, 4 generations of "Johnsen women"from L to R:  

Yaya, mommy, Gigi (6 months old), GreatGrandma

It's hard to believe this little princess will be starting school!!!  

She has brought such JOY to our lives!!

Gigi is so loving and sweet, with the cutest smile and a dimple on her right cheek! She warms our hearts and we love being able to spend lots of time together!

She loves books and loves to be read to.  She loves camping. She loves being a big sister to her brother, Brody (2) and her baby sister, Hallee, almost 1. She loves to help in the kitchen. 

She loves to ride in Yaya's car and loves to go with Papa to get Yaya's car washed.  She loves to be tickled and she loves her back scratched (just like her mommy!).

 

She loves animals and loves going to the Wild Animal Park, 

oops, I mean the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park!

She loves to "make a plan" especially for spending the night at Yaya and Papa's house!

She loves to play dress up and loves princesses. 

Her favorite princess is Cinderella, so Yaya made her a Cinderella dress.  

I think we've watched Disney's "Cinderella" more than a hundred times; 

and it never gets old watching it with her!

And, guess where this special little princess is going tomorrow, in honor of her birthday, 

for the very first time!?!?!

(Shhhhh!  It's a surprise for our birthday girl!)  

So happy we get to experience the special day with her and her family!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIGI!!!
Yaya and Papa love you; we love you more--to the moon and back!!

Happy Birthday, Nicole!

Today is our beautiful, talented, creative, loving, sweet daughter, Nicole's birthday, pictured here with baby #3, Hallee, now 8 months!

Nicole is such a special blessing to us and an inspiration to me!

She means the world to us and best of all she is also my "best" friend!

Happy Birthday, Nicole!

May this day be a wonderful memory for you!

With huggies and kisses to our once "babycakes"

Love you, mom and dad

Big Birthdays!!

Brody Turns "1"

It's hard to believe tiny Brody Noah Nicholas Bennett has been in our family for a year now. It truly seems like just yesterday that his mommy, daddy and big sister, Gigi, picked him up from the hospital in Fullerton, to bring him home. But on April 10th, we celebrated Brody's 1st birthday and the anniversary of the day Brody joined the Bennett (and Pavone) family!

Born on April 6th, he was so little, with such thin little legs, who would have thought he'd get so chubby?!Friends and family enjoyed hot dogs, chips and yummy cupcakes at the Bennett's new home on a bright and sunny, spring day! Brody's party theme was "Opening Day for Baseball" since his birthday is so close to Opening Day. So the decorations reflected the theme.Brody was his happy self all day. He smiled when all sang "happy birthday" to him. When it was time for his cake, he started slow, eating only one sprinkle, with a little bit of frosting. Mommy cut the cupcake in half and he devoured the whole thing, one half at a time, every last drop!! Not walking yet, but he's always on the move, starting to climb and get into things he shouldn't!

Gigi Turns "4"

Gigi's birthday celebration was actually a whole weekend of celebrations (just like the "true" big girl she is!) On the morning of the May 5th, she had a playdate birthday party at the park with her preschool friends. Her favorite gift was the "Fancy Nancy" dress-up dress she received. Then in the afternoon, she had more of her friends come to "Gigi's Ice Cream Parlor" for another birthday party!!! Her friends came all "dressed up" in their favorite princess dresses, a very popular theme for 4 year olds!

The morning of her actual birthday mommy and daddy and brother Brody took her out to the Original Pancake House for chocolate chip pancakes!!! In the afternoon mommy and daddy took Gigi bowling for for the first time. She had so much fun!!

Later that afternoon they returned for dinner and Gigi modeled the new dress I made for her.

On Sunday Gigi enjoyed a family birthday celebration at home. Granny, Granpa, Yaya and Papa came over for mommy's homemade, yummy fish tacos and more ice cream!!

Micah Turns "1"

Micah is a bundle of energy and laughs all the time. He started walking a few weeks before his first birthday and there's no stopping him now!!

He turned one on May 12th. The plan was I would drive up to Costa Mesa on his birthday for a celebratory dinner. Nick would drive the motorhome up on Friday and we'd spend the weekend at Newport Dunes, with Micah's Mustache Party to commence on Sunday. But, as luck would have it, it didn't turn out to be a quiet weekend. Alex and Angelina had decided to move and they needed to move the Friday and Saturday before Micah's party! Long story short, it was an exhausting weekend of a hectic move, but everything did get moved to their new place, prior to the party.

The party was a huge success. Family and friends met at a park in Irvine. Despite rain for a couple of hours in the morning, it turned out to be a clear, sunny day, a bit cool due to a bit of wind! Everyone got into the spirit of things donning the black mustaches!! All enjoyed a great spread of food and delicious cupcakes made by Angelina, although Micah didn't seem to really like his cake--mom had to feed it to him.

Grandkids are truly blessings and so much fun to be around. Their laughter is contagious and we can't help but smile whenever we are with them. They seem to grow so fast, too fast!!!!