Well, it’s that time again!  What’s shakin’ at the Seymour house?!

Hannah Renee is now 4 years old.  Kind of amazing that it has been 4 years we have had her in our lives and 4+ years we have been married and in our house here in Johnstown.

First day of School!

Hannah has been in daycare since she turned 2 years old and we have been fairly unsatisfied with the care and lack of education and focus in the class.  She disconnected and stopped coloring, would not do crafts, did not want to read books any more, was difficult to focus on a task and her communication decreased.  She was not sleeping well, having nightmares, crying out in her sleep, etc. and so Dave and I made a decision to move her to a different school.  The Lord opened doors for us to move her into Liberty Christian Academy in Pataskala and she passed the entry evaluation with flying colors.  She is in a class with Mrs. Hickey, who greets each student with a giant hug in the morning and gives each student a chance to tell the class something exciting about their evening or weekend.  They are identified, something special about each child is recognized, and then the whole class listens while that child shares.  She is writing her letters with proficiency, she iscomprehending how to spell words phonically, her observation skills have heightened, she is communicating better, back into her books, and coloring and creating on her own.

She loves stickers, and coloring, has slowed her outfit changes to twice a day, dresses like a princess as often as possible (shoes, crown and all), has developed an affinity for cats, has an active imagination, great negotiation skills, a very individual personality separate from Mom and Dad, and great fashion sense.  She loves to tell jokes (and gets them!) and even has a great sense of direction or at least location….she knows where you are by the landmarks.  She even has learned to read the route numbers on the street signs to know if we are going the correct direction.  Our car has recently died and is awaiting its final journey to whatever dealer we purchase a “new” car from and in the interim, my sister-in-law has lent me her car to get around and it has a map and navigation in the dash that Hannah loves to watch and listen to.  She is attentive to the news on the radio and wants to know where the accidents are and what they are talking about.  She knows what the weather is going to be and listens with intent to the forecast.

She draws great pictures that tell stories that rival the authors we read.  An imagination that encompasses compassion, adventure, mystery, romance, values, and humor.  “The princess lives in a little house in the woods and walks everyday to see the dragon who lives on the mountain.  She brings the dragon fresh baked cookies because those are his favorite kind and they make him have smoke and not fire.  One day she was visiting the dragon and a huge storm came with a tornado and blew and whooshed until the dragon blew it away!  But on the way home, the princess pricked her finger and fell asleep in the woods.  The stinky skunk walked up and waved his tail at her to see if he could wake her up but it didn’t work so he walked way.  Then along came a prince who saw the sleeping princess and he asked the stinky skunk what he should do. The skunk told him to give her magic kisses and when he did, she woke up and then they had beautiful music for their wedding.”

She looked out at the foggy fall morning this morning and asked, “Mommy why does it look so mysterious out there today?”  I responded by making my best ghost-like sounds “ooooooh “ and she said, “No!  Mom stop!  I don’t FEEL like being mysterious today.”

She went squirrel hunting with Dad this weekend for the very first time and came back with tales of what all she saw in the woods.  Earlier in the day she attended a ride planning picnic with us @ Scioto park.  Also, she took up post in Dad’s new ground blind to hunt for deer with her (plastic) bow and arrow.  She came back from her hunt with “Apple Juice”, her kitty from God, and had successfully hunted 2 bucks and one doe with her bow and arrow.  She was very excited that Dad promised he would hang her big buck on the wall by his. J

One morning I had been working in the much neglected veggie garden after we came home from vacation and kept having the nagging feeling that I should head up to the house to check on the bug since I had left her peacefully dreaming in her bed.  I finally made my way up to the house and walked into the kitchen where I found, on the table in her place, a the box of Graham Crackers, a granola bar ½ gone, and some juice.  Then, over by the refrigerator was her chair.  The cabinet was open for the pantry and a giggle danced down the stairs to the hallway.  I quietly walked toward the stairs and heard the bedroom door close quickly and the scurry of little feet.  Upon opening the door, I found a curly headed blonde giggle puss ducking her head into her playhouse.  When I came in and sat on the edge of her bed and said. “Huh!  Where could my love bug be?,”  she jumped out and ran over to me with a much melted Klondyke bar, saying, “Here, mom!  I saved some just for you!  Eat it quick.”  I love these moments!

We were at the dentist for a checkup and she was sharing the chair with me and watching the news.  She suddenly turned around and exclaimed. “Mommy, mommy look!  It’s an Astronaut!.”  The technician stopped what she was doing and looked at her in stunned silence for a moment before saying, “Wow!  I don’t know anyone else your age who can even say astronaut, let alone knows what one is!” 

Some of the funny things she says are; “May I be excused?  All the chairs in my belly are full.”  “I have a story to tell you and it goes like this….Once upa time,….”  

"Your drivin' me NUTS!!!" (from a CD called "Scat like that")  "Can you see in my belly button window?"
I had a list of more but misplaced them!

Hope you enjoy a glimpse of our life!

Here I am, January 7th, 2013 and just beginning what should have been a post back in September!  Wow!  My intentions have been good and I have thought so much about this post that I was convinced that I had started a post already and it was just awaiting a few closing thoughts!  Well, not so much.


We have had a busy year and a half and our Love bug is growing into a fine young lady.  She had her first birthday party with friends her own age and we invited a few of the children from her class that she suggested and then there were some other children of friends of ours who were present as well.  Dave rented a "Bounce House" for her which had a slide and the combination of the two was over the top for her!  She was just out of her skin with excitement as bounce houses and slides are her two favorite "rides" or playground things.

Scooting around during a January thaw!

She is getting very tall and has not had her hair cut yet so her little blonde curls are still dancing around her face.  Her eyes are a vibrant blue and she is smart as a whip.  She is still enjoying reading and Grandma has subscribed to Ranger Ricks Backyard and now Click for her which she looks forward to with great anticipation.  She really enjoys puzzles and is very good at them...all types and I am considering doing a subscription to Highlights Puzzlemania this year for her.  Stickers are a favorite and can be found all over the house, her dolls are tied up in pony ties and covered in bandaids, and she doesn't go far without either dress up shoes or a doctor bag.  She has a great sense of style and a passion for shoes (which must be genetic though my selection of shoes is more sensible now than in the past) and loves art.  We are working with her on coloring in the lines and writing letters and I have realized rather recently that she is challenged with writing letters and battles with herself about which hand to use.  She is
predominantly left handed but shows great abilities ambidextrously.  If anyone has suggestions on how a righty teaches a lefty how to write, please don't hesitate to call, email or comment!

The chef hard at work.

She is very reserved in her affection so when it is received voluntarily, it is cherished.  The other day I was sick with a flu bug and she climbed up on the bed and touched my head and said, "I hope you have good rest, mommy."  and then kissed my forehead as she brushed back my hair.  She gives well thought out compliments as well.  One night we were walking hand in hand up to the bedroom for the end of the night and she looked up at me and said, " Mommy, you do a great job putting me to bed." It's those moments that I treasure as they are few and far between.

Church day is Sunday at our house and that is how we track the week.  She wakes up on Sundays, comes down and gets tickled in our bed for a little while, we go out and make waffles for breakfast and then get ready for church and the day begins with the question...."What day is it today?" to which I respond, "It's Sunday".  "Dad! Dad!  it's Sunday!  That means it Church day! We get to go to church today!" and the whole time she is bouncing up and down with excitement.  We sing songs together in the car and she loves to listen to "her" music, which is children's praise music.  Our week is designated by certain days.  Monday is Nana's day, Tuesday and Wednesday are school days, Thursday is our "special" day (just Hannah and I), Friday is Share day at school, and Saturday is Family day.  A fun progression and something to look forward to all the time!

Her favorite color was blue and now it is pink.  I wonder if her declaration of pink as a favorite color is socially induced or if she is really and truly inclined to it.  She is a good eater and a good cook!  She loves to make bread, cookies, scrambled eggs, salad, meat loaf and meat balls.  Each night her fascination with dinosaurs transforms our living room into a giant cave where the Tyrannosaurus T-Rex and the Stegasaurous can't find her.  The Quetzalcoatlus (not sure if that is spelled correctly) can fly over top and she can be an armadillo or an alligator.  When she is really tired she pretends to be a baby animal so she can crawl up in our laps and snuggle and suck her thumb.

The queen and her princess.

We lost both our dogs within a month of each other this past year and it has been very hard for me and Hannah asks when Mr. Jed is going to come back, as someone dog knapped him out of the yard.  Laney was killed by a car and I buried her by the rabbit trail in the lower part of the yard.

We took her some snow balls this winter as she loved to chase them.  Other happenings included having a miscarriage that ended me up in the hospital for 4 days with as many blood transfusions, a struggle physically with the aftermath of that, a visit to Schnormeier Gardens with Dave in June and another with Hannah in October (I wrote a garden profile for Ohio Gardener magazine which is coming out for the May issue), Dave and I  took a trip to Canada on the motorcycle (2000 miles), Hannah stayed mostly with Grandma but also with Scott and Beth and our friends the Busseys, she went with us to Hocking Hills twice, and to Marietta to the Sternwheeler festival (which she loved and keeps asking when we are going to another hotel!).  She loved the hotel because we ate at poolside for breakfast and then she and Dave swam for a couple hours while it poured down torrential rain outside!  She went on the bounce house slide twice and the Merry Go Round and then we sat on the rooftop of one of the hotels and had snacks and watched the fabulous fireworks display! There were some family parties, Hannah went tubing at the lake (which I have no pictures of yet but I am sure there are some floating around out there:)), we went to a Blue Jackets game, sold at the Granville Farmer's Market, did the big Trick-or-Treat in Granville and the Christmas walk.  We were blessed with friends from a distance coming to visit twice and hope to travel their direction this year. During one of those visits we lost our power for 7 days and Uncle Doug came to the rescue with washing water and a generator.  We had our annual party with 50 people and no power and it was GREAT!  Good food, great people, and Fabulous Fireworks!  Hannah was very impressed with the lack of power because for a couple months we would drive someplace and she would note that certain places had power. Nana and I took her to a Renaissance style party and she and Dad got to make some wonderful snowman cupcakes for the Christmas party and did a great job!  It has been a great year.



The snow this year has been great and we have been permitted to make snow angels to our hearts content, tube, sled ride (thanks to Uncle Doug and his Christmas gift of a sled!) and make snow dogs, men and dinosaurs.  We even got to do some ice skating on some patches of deep puddles on the farm road.

So that is the 18 month update in one long post!!  I hope you all enjoy it and we hope to see more of all of you this coming year.  God Bless!

Our beloved and greatly missed Mr Jed.