This girl

This girl, she's a mess, she's a firecracker, she's a sweetheart, and a goofball.  We love Miss Hannah so much, she is full of life and full of love...she is a passionate little one.  She loves all things girly...baby dolls, real babies, Minnie Mouse, purses, shoes, and jewelry, but she also has a tom boy side.  She is not hesitant to play with trains and trucks, she is tough and does pretty well keeping up with her big brothers...her current favorite song is "The Wheels on the Bus."  Little Miss is a talker, she is curious, she most know everything.  Many many times a day she comes to me when I'm busy and asks, "Doing?"  As soon as I hang up from a phone call she asks, "Who's that?"  Hannah must know everything!  Haha!  She loves to be silly and make people laugh...just the other day she started imitating her Emmy and the way she says, "Precious."  She has learned this from the boys, and she thinks she's so funny when she says it (and really it is hilarious).  Hannah is quite bossy, she is always telling her brothers or Tex to "Come here!"  She will even boss me around at times, for example, her bed time routine is very consistent, so she will tell me what to do.  "Bow" she says as she takes out her bow and hands it to me.  Then, "Milk please," followed by, "Sit, rock, minute."  If I forget to turn on her monitor (which as lights on it), after laying her down, she will tell me, "Lights, on!"

 

Here are some pictures that show the many sides of our girl...

 

Here she is showing some girlyness, playing in her kitchen with Minnie and Daisy, her phone, teapot, and baby doll.

This is my sassy girl...this picture makes me laugh everytime I see it because boy is she sassy!

Hannah LOVES her daddy!!!

Being silly...these PJs were Isaac's, then Luke's, and now Hannah's and I love them!  She found Isaac's Jake hair and put it on while she walked around saying, "Jake!"  Did I mention how she makes me laugh?

This was after Disney on Ice, we went to help Tante Soo Jin move, and Hannah was exhausted...she climbed up on this cooler on her own and said, "Bed.  Night night."  But with Hannah's busy personality this nap only lasted a few seconds.

Hannah LOVES gymnastics, she will watch it on tv and she will copy her brother's tricks as best as possible.  Many times a day she will get on the floor and start practicing her "Mastics."  Last week while driving Luke to gymnastics I was talking to him about his class, Hannah jumped in the conversation and said, "Love you, mastics."  She hangs on everything she can, and when she sees a bar she can reach she will reach her arms up and say, "Swing!"  She is dying to hang and swing on the shower curtain rod.

Here she is demonstrating her love of her accessories, high heels and a necklace that she found while playing at Emmy and Gumby's.

Hannah is busy, always on the move, so shopping has become a challenge, she will NOT sit in a regular basket any more, I cannot get that belt tight enough to keep her from standing up.  She will stay  in the special baskets like at HEB, but this particular day she was so tired and decided to go night night behind Luke. (notice her shoes on the back of the basket, that's her newest thing...she won't leave them on!)

 

Hannah is proving to be our most challenging toddler, but she also has the biggest personality, which can lead to some great fun and great laughs!  Sometimes you have to get past her throwing herself on the floor tantrums to be able to enjoy her sweet and cuddling moments.

Feast Fun!

This past week the boys both celebrated Thanksgiving at school with a Thanksgiving Feast.  It was a special time to spend sweet moments with the boys and their friends as we think about the things we are most thankful for.

Luke's feast was calm and precious.  It was held in his classroom, so I went early with another mom to set up the table and get the food ready.  Luke did so well, I was nervous how he'd do seeing me there, but he was great!  He saw me in his room, but then he had to leave again, and he did not hesitate.  Whew.  Then they came back to see the feast set up and he was all ready to dig in to the yummy food!  I haven't gotten up to his class often, so I really enjoyed seeing him interacting with his friends.  After they ate they all sang us the cutest song..."Hello, Mr. Turkey."  I remember Isaac singing this song as well, but he was always so shy at school so he didn't sing or do many motions.  Luke had no shyness at all, he sang and danced along with his friends/teachers.  I loved it!!!  I'm so thankful that he has adjusted to school so well, he is truly growing and changing daily!

Isaac's feast was bigger and busier, but still so great!  Some of the other moms and I all got there early to set up their class table in the cafeteria.  We put paper on the table, like a table cloth, then dished out the food.  It was early in the morning, so I wasn't sure much would be eaten, but the kids didn't hesitate to dig in.  They started the feast with a small program, they sang the cutest songs on the stage.  Isaac was so excited about this, he talked about it for days before and sang the songs daily.  His favorite songs are "Just a boy and a girl in a little canoe" and "Three little teepees."  Once on stage he became so shy and nervous.  He did sing, and did do the motions, but with great hesitation.  I'm proud of him though, it was a big group and a big audience, and he did his best!  After singing they sat down to feast, and like I said they did dig in!  Isaac chose his seat based on the cupcake, he wanted orange icing.  No surprise there!  There were a couple of kids absent, so Luke joined in the feast, all he wanted was the cupcake and the popcorn...again no surprise.  Oma was supposed to come babysit Hannah and Luke for me that morning, but the weather got nasty, so she was delayed.  She did make it up to us, but just joined us at the school instead...which was wonderful.  Isaac loved having her there, and Luke and Hannah had a blast joining in the fun.

We have so much to be thankful for this year; it's nice to take some time to reflect on our blessings.

Family Pictures 2013

This boy's smile can light up the world, but sometimes you have to work extra hard to get it...this particular day he was all smiles for us.

Our baby girl, not such a baby any more.

This month Carl and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage, so I wanted to get a picture of that.  :-)

Our 5 year old...he's getting so big!

This one cracks me up, Hannah was not at all sad so I'm not sure why she's making this face.

 

A couple of weeks ago a long time friend took some family pictures of us.  Briana and I have been friends since junior high, and although she lives in San Antonio we try to stay in touch and catch up when they come to town.  Her parents live on a beautiful piece of property in Dobbin, so we headed out there for her to share her talent with us.  I will admit I was very nervous about how it might go, family pictures with three kids ages 5 and under...could get messy.  Thankfully, the kids were so well behaved and cooperated really well with what we asked.  Briana captured some great shots, we will treasure these forever!

Disney on Ice

Last April Kristin and I took the three big kids to Disney on Ice and it was a blast!  When the show came to town again we knew we had to get there.  There's something magical about Disney and the show is incredible.  The kids love seeing the characters sing, dance, skate, and be silly.  The show is filled with characters and stories they know, but there were also a few that they did not know.  That didn't matter, they enjoyed every minute of it!  Luke's favorite part was Goofy, "Because he did silly things!"  Luke did laugh hysterically at Goofy...love that kid and his love for all things silly.  Hannah loved seeing Minnie and Mickey, her face would light up and she got a giant smile on her face every time they came out...she'd yell, "Minnie!!!"  It was precious!  I was very nervous about taking Hannah, but Carl ended up having to work, so I had no choice.  I'm thankful it worked out that way because Hannah did great and really enjoyed herself.  Isaac's favorite part was during a scene from Mulan, I think, they were acting out a war and shot a cannon...he loved that cannon!  It surprised me, but my boy is starting to really like the true boy things, like shooting.  He enjoyed every bit, he was captivated the entire time.  I know I say it all the time, but I'm so thankful for our sweet friends, Kristin and Taylor, and I treasure these precious moments and sweet memories.

 

Veterans Day Program

Today Isaac's school had a Veteran's Day Program to honor all the veterans in their lives and in our country.  A few weeks ago the kids were asked to bring in pictures of any family members that served in the military, so Isaac brought in a picture of Grandpa.  He was very proud to bring that picture and honor him.  The program today was very special, and I think the kids learned a lot from it.  I'm thankful Isaac is in a school that takes time out to honor the veterans that serve our amazing country.

 

 

Isaac had some homework this weekend; he had to disguise a turkey so that he wouldn't get eaten on Thanksgiving.  He chose to make an Aggie football player.  (Hannah doesn't miss a chance to be in a picture.)

 

The kindergarteners were the first ones in the cafeteria, so I snapped a few pictures as they were getting settled.

 

Each K class represented a branch of the armed forces; Isaac's class represented the Coast Guard.

 

Hannah loved the performance...after each song or presentation she clapped and yelled, "Yay!"  I had multiple people tell me that she would one day be a cheerleader.  Isaac's teacher said that Isaac looked at her at one point and said, "Did you hear that?  That was my sister saying Isaac."  Heehee, that girl does not have a volume knob, she's always loud and always calling out for her bubba.

 

The veterans were honored during this performance, they all sat together on the stage.

Fun Run

Isaac's school hosted a fun run as a fundraiser yesterday.  For the past two weeks they've been talking about it at school...making quite a big deal out of it.  Isaac was so excited for the actual run, he loved all of the fun things the organizers did at school.  He got a couple of pledges, practiced running/walking a mile a few days before, and went to school ready to run yesterday!  My mom and I took Luke and Hannah to watch the event, we were all so excited.  When we got there another mom mentioned that she had been there earlier in the day for her older child; and she said that many of the kids fell down because they ran into each other.  The run was in the parking lot, so these poor kids got pretty banged up.  This made me nervous, so I was sure to tell Isaac to be careful, it's not a race, just have fun. The run started and Isaac had a good first lap.  On the second lap he stopped for a drink, he stood there and drank the entire cup, then walked a little before running another lap again.  Then the next lap he stopped again, more water.  Every other lap he took a water break...it was killing the runner in me!  But he was having fun, doing all the fun things they said to do, and just enjoying himself!  At one point, the organizers asked the parents to jump in and run a lap with their kids.  I stood on the side and waited for Isaac to come to me.  As he ran over he cut across the group, another girl came full speed, and they didn't see each other.  CRASH!  They collided and both fell to the ground, the concrete!  The little girl fell on top of Isaac, so he broke her fall, but in doing so he scraped up his knee and elbow pretty badly.  He was so sad, hurting pretty badly, and scared to continue.  After cleaning it up and getting some band aids, then resting a few minutes, we finally convinced him to do another lap with me and Luke.  After one lap he wanted to sit again, so I let him rest.  Luke was not finished though, he loved it, so we ran two more laps together.  He's my runner and quite competitive, too!  Isaac ended the run with 16 laps, only 2 laps short of a mile.  I'm so proud of him for doing so well...apparently he was running pretty quickly in between his water breaks.  :-)

 

 

That's Isaac in the orange shorts and white shirt, he really enjoyed that big tunnel!

 

Resting after his crash.

Halloween 2013

We had a few Halloween activities this year, so I'll go through each with some pictures.

 

First up, Trunk or Treat at Luke's preschool.

 

They all loved this playhouse/tent.  They played in there for quite some time.  Luke was in character the entire time, giving everyone his monster roar.

 



Pumpkin bowling!  Notice Isaac trying to give Luke some pointers.  He didn't knock down any ghosts (rolls of toilet paper), but he did gently hit them.

 



 

Little Miss Hannah aka "Boo" was very into the entire thing, she walked around like she was in charge.

My three little monsters!

 

 

Luke wore his costume to gymnastics the week of Halloween; he loved that he got to wear it another time.

 

This boy loves the trampoline!!!

 

The bars are a close second to the trampoline!  He is definitely a monkey; he impresses me with his strength every week!

 

This was his first time to do the zip line, he was always too scared in the past.  The first time his coach held him up there, but by the third time he did it all alone.  He was disappointed that his coach did not let him drop to the mat alone, maybe next time.  I'm so proud of him for conquering this fear!

 

Isaac's school had a book character parade on Halloween.  Isaac chose to be Jake, and I thought he looked great!  I could tell he was nervous at first, but once he saw us he relaxed a little.  It was fun to watch the entire school parade through the school in great costumes!

 

Hannah, Luke, and I headed to a friend's house for a Halloween party after Isaac's parade.  Ssshhh, don't tell Isaac he'd be so sad to know he missed it.  I'm not sure how we made it through the week without Luke mentioning it.  I love this picture of Hannah, Boo, checking out the Boo doll.  It's like she's saying, "Hey, we match...Oma sure did a great job making my costume look just like yours!"

 

FINALLY, IT'S TIME TO TRICK OR TREAT!!!

 

Al three lined up with their pumpkins!  The boys made Hannah's Minnie pumpkin for her, which she loved!  Luke made his pumpkin at school during their pumpkin patch.  Isaac and Luke made Isaac's pumpkin together...he's a super hero pumpkin!

 

"ROAR!!!!"  These three were in true monster spirit, they loved to roar and scare everyone!

We went out to trick or treat with some great friends!  We have spent the last few Halloweens going out with this sweet family...it's become a fun tradition!

 

I looked over to see these two cuties walking hand in hand...such a sweet friendship!

 

Our two youngest trick or treaters sat in the wagon together, and boy did they enjoy it!  They spent the evening putting candy in and out of their pumpkins, and by the end they were sneaking licks of their candy.

 

Here's our entire crew at one of the houses loading up on candy!

 

I did not get a picture of this, but I had to include the most interesting part of our night...looking down to see Luke's mouth and hand glowing!  Yes, glowing!  Apparently he had broken his glow sword, and then decided to put it in his mouth!   Ugh!  It definitely made me a bit nervous, but thankfully he was fine, and now we can laugh about it.

 

It was a crazy busy night, with lots of trick or treaters every where, but it was so fun!  I love seeing the joy in the kids eyes as they put on their costumes and get into character.  I love watching them run from house to house and squeal with excitement when we tell them to go to the door.  These are memories I hope to never forget!