Sun Baked, Sweet & Crunchy :)

Look at my little beach beauty in San Diego!  

So stylish!  I couldn't resist buying Hannah an attractive sun hat, and at $2.50, it was a steal!  She had to fight her daddy for it. . .he wanted one just like it.  I'd show you the hat he ended up buying at the beach instead. . .because, it was. . .um. . .interesting!  But, if I put a picture of it in the blog, it will only encourage him to buy more hideous (yet, arguably practical?) accessories in the future.  I need to discourage that.  So, let's just say, it definitely did the job keeping the sun (and any possible secret admirers) FAR AWAY!!!  :)

It was a typical, lovely day playing at the beach.  Then, someone brought ice cream into the equation. . .

"What?  Did I get some on my face?"

Mmmmmm. . .

Hannah was thoroughly enjoying her gigantic sweet treat, the evidence dripping down her chin and all over her stomach, arms, and legs. . . moments later, I found myself holding the soggy, dripping cone while Hannah bolted to the sand to "wash" herself off.  There was a small puddle of ice cream where she once stood, and the seagulls were all eyeing her sticky mess.  Not sure what went through her mind, but apparently, Hannah believed covering herself in sand, would be better than being covered in sticky sweet ice cream???  I wish I had my video camera ready to capture the initial dive into the sand. . .she dove in head first, like it was a pool and proceeded to roll back and forth and back and forth, until every bit of her ice cream drenched body, was covered in a layer of sand. . .she seemed satisfied with her new crunchy skin!  It took a lot of coaxing to get her to walk down to the water with me to wash it off.  

Silly kid.

Happy 4th Birthday!

Wow, how can it be FOUR years since our precious baby girl was born? Parents say all the time how fast it goes. . .and it is true. I wish it didn't go so fast. . .

When Hannah woke up, she excitedly jumped on our bed, then stood still and stared at herself in the mirror on my dresser. "Look how TALL I am, now that I'm FOUR!!!" Matt and I looked at each other and laughed. Silly girl, she was convinced she grew over night! *pause* On second glance, maybe she did? Maybe she really did grow six inches over night? She sure looked taller! How could that tall girl, be MY BABY!?!?!? She has long legs! (well as long as they can be for a Messmer/Clifton--she is cursed with short genes! LOL) She looked so much older to me. But, it doesn't matter. She will ALWAYS be my baby. Even when she is 100 years old!!! Hmmm, that would make me 131? Yikes! That just might be the point in time when it becomes hard to figure out who's the mom? and who's the daughter? Do you count wrinkles like the rings of a tree stump to determine the age of the old prunes sitting in their recliners at the old folks home? Dunno. Luckily, I will likely be mentally out to lunch by then, and won't care what I look like! (Yeah, kind of like me, now! Only more. . .dehydrated-looking) Anyhoo, I digress, as usual :)

What a joy Hannah is! I just can't say enough good things about our happy little girl! Of course she has her toddler moments, but mostly she just goes with the flow. She is strong headed, yet easy going. Yes, that IS possible, and that is part of what makes Hannah so interesting :)

Hannah's birthday was a whirlwind! We had an early T-ball game that morning, then we had to get home and get her cleaned up and changed into her party dress! It was not easy getting her to eat her breakfast that morning because she was excited about the game and her party! We naively tried to get her to take a little rest before her party, but apparently 4 year olds have way more energy than 3 year-olds. . .REST is no longer in her vocabulary. (And NAPS were dropped from her vocabulary at least a year ago)

We had her birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza. It was a win-win for everyone. The kids got pizza, games and rides, and I didn't have to clean up! She chose a Tangled theme, and we had an awesome cake and cupcakes made for the occasion. A few details were missing from the cake, but she didn't notice. When I took her to pick it up, she was in total awe that the creation in front of her was HER cake :) It was adorable. She wanted to eat it in the car! Luckily Papa was keeping watch over it in the back, or she would've found a way to break out of her car seat, and dive into it on the way to the party! We just had to trust Papa would not stick his fingers in the frosting, or steal some of the flowers. . .well, lucky for him he did not pluck any of the flowers out, or it would've been an unpleasant surprise! To our amusement, and disbelief, the flowers on the cake turned out NOT to be edible! (What kind of bakery puts NON-edible tiny pretty flowers on a 4 year-old's cake? It baffles me) But, that didn't stop one brave (adult) soul from devouring one, maybe even two of the "crunchy" flowers. He lived to tell about it, and we have not been served with any legal papers as of today, so I think we are in the clear! We were just fortunate that there were no flowers on the roof of Rapunzel's tower (the part of the cake all the kids wanted to devour), or we would have had a lot of unhappy kids and parents. . . The shingles were edible, and made of frosting, so the kids were safe!

So, as usual, the party itself was a complete blur for me. . .I don't remember if I even ate any pizza? And I didn't eat my piece of cake until everyone left the party! Yeah, I talk too much, and my mom always told me not to talk with my mouth full. . .

Hannah didn't want to leave after the party was over, so we rode her favorite ride a couple more times, picked out a prize, then left. I've never seen a kid fall asleep as fast as she did in the van! I don't think I was even done backing out of our parking spot, and she was snoring away :) True sign of a really good, FUN day!

Thanks to everyone who shared in her special day with us :)