Update for 2014

Flying at Christmas with Dad

  This has been a great year with Hannah.  We made it through a wonderful first year at Liberty Christian Academy and she made a bunch of great friends.  Her teacher, Mrs. Linda Hickey, was enthusiastic and affectionate, which Hannah needed to see after having been in the daycare system and how damaging that was.  She was singing every day and playing school with all her stuffed animals and us.  She excelled in her letters and phonics and had begun memorizing Bible verses.  She rea

silly willy

lly enjoyed gym as her favorite class and recess as the most favorite part of her day.  She decided that Carter was who she is going to marry and when she told my husband that she was going to marry Carter and have 5 kids, he turned gray and almost died!  We have found this to be entertaining (Mother in law and I) and are encouraged that she at least has a good understanding that you meet someone, they love God, you become friends, you get married and then have kids.  She is sure that they are going to work together at her company called “TP” and Carter will work outside selling caravans, Honda Odessey’s, CRV’s and dump trucks and she will work in the office because it is her company.  She will drive a burgundy Odessey and they will live in New York.  (pretty detailed course if you ask me!!  Especially at 4+)  We had a talent show in which Hannah decided to show her talent of painting.  So she and I sat on the stage and she painted a rainbow on an easel.  She even picked out a CD with some music to play while she painted and she painted with great accuracy and confidence. 
We still have the picture!  J  At the end of the year Hannah had a farewell or graduation of sorts from Pre-k.  She told everyone all summer long that she was now going to be a kindergartener. 

Easter Bonnet decorated with a crown (of course)

She became best friends with Makayala and we have had a couple play dates back and forth with the girls.  She has grown out of her favorite pink shoes and some of her favorite dresses that managed to last 2 years but now are far too short or too tight to get into.  Hannah and Dave have worked on swimming together and when we go consistently she does very well but there is always an acclimation when we stop for a while and we are the only ones who take her swimming so it is definitely a challenge to stay on top of something like that.  We completed a full year of gymnastics at the YMCA which she really loves but she is still asking to be a ballerina and take ballet lessons.  This is a cost prohibitive sport for us to enroll her in.   We have peered through the windows at the New Albany ballet academy a couple times and watched the girls practicing and she watches with rapt attention.  I am aiming to take her to the Nutcracker this year in Newark so she can see an actual ballet in real life.

Over the course of the summer Mrs. Hickey gave us verses to memorize that corresponded with characteristics of the Spirit.  There were 12 verses.  One for each week and then we learned a couple extra ones for VBS and Sunday school so all together she had memorized about 20 verses over the summer.  It was a great thing for both of us and gave us a great opportunity to talk about the characteristics not only of God but what He expects to see coming from us. 

Her summer was spent between a few places.  She spent time with Betty and Richard Barr (who are my sister-in-laws parents), her Nana, the Bussey family, and our friend and neighbor, Margaret Bruce.   She got to see the Reptile Guy, walk in the Firemen’s parade, went to Safety town, got to go swimming several times, learned to horseback ride, went to a wedding, spent one afternoon with Aunt Beth, did a birthday party, helped in the gardens, played a lot, and won a ribbon for her Pee-Wee pig and her horse showmanship at the Hartford county fair! 

Prize money for fair pig

Phases we have gone through;  princesses (which are still holding strong, horses, getting married, Mickey Mouse and Mickey Mouse club house, an obsession with caravans of all types, and cars in general. 

Hannah waiting to go into the ring

Learning; Reading, respect, and responsibility.  We have sampled bar soap in exchange for talking back, made close acquaintance with the hand carved wooden spoon, picked threads loose on the cushion of the timeout bench, and learned that a grand plan for a fabulous birthday party can disappear in the wake of a fit.  She has also learned that when she states, “This is the worstest day ever!!” that it does not impress us in any particular direction J 

Funny or Quippy phrases;

Some of the things on our list to do this year are; skate on the Blue Jackets ice, go to the top floor of a tall building in Columbus to look out over the city (probably one of the hotels), see paper get made, do a corn maze, go to the quarry and watch them sort and scoop the materials there, go to the Works, and make a volcano.

having tea with tea set from Grandma Gower

Mom look at that balloon up in the sky!  It’s your favorite color.  Won’t God be happy when it gets to him?

Mom you and Dad look like you love each other a lot.  Which one of these princesses do you think you and Dad look like? I think you look like Snow White and Prince Charming.

We spent the day working on finishing up some projects around the house this weekend.  First, on Saturday, we went to the fair to watch Hannah do her horsemanship competition with Cassie at her side and her trusty steed, Cowboy.  She walked proudly into the ring with all the other competitors and waited until her name was called and then did everything the judge asked of her.  Her second showing was 4 classes later and she rode through some paces as requested by the judge again.  She did a great job and sat very well on the horse.  She looked so very grown up with her riding helmet on and her little boots and sitting on such a tall horse.

When we got done at the fair we came home and she slept the rest of the afternoon until dinner.  Sunday we went to church and I can see the beginnings of her turning 5 already.  We sat out in the yard and worked on her work book for kindergarten today and she picks up on everything so easily.  I am excited to see how well she will do in school this year.  Dave is building a honey barn for himself and was busy working away on that and would ask me to come and help him every so often.  So I went to assist him and Hannah asked if she could come and help too and I said of course.  She handed him nails and then he said that we weren’t needed any more for now so I went to go back into the garden and asked if she was coming and she said  “I prefer to stay her with Dad for now.”  Okay…so about an hour later he asked for my assistance again and when I went to assist him, Hannah informed me that she had taken my spot and was assisting Dad while I was busy.  She assisted me in making dinner, we looked for shooting stars after it got dark, caught lightning bugs, helped my string hot peppers, we played in the hose, she helped me water the veggies up top, petted a monarch larvae, swung on the swings, picked blackberries and strawberries, chased a tree frog, played wiffle ball with leaf bases, and then made a pile and buried the princess who was then saved by the fairy prince who sprinkled her with pixie dust.  She is getting so grown up.  As we laid on the bed this morning looking out the window at the gardens and the rain, I told her I love to watch the rain and would love to get to stay home and watch the rain today.  She said, “Well, you can look out the window at work and watch the rain.”  And then I reminded her that there were no windows at work and she said, “I think you need to get a new job with windows!”.

Hannah as Mary for the school play

 

As we were working on the honey barn building, I was standing inside the building to stabilize the door and Hannah was outside with Dave.  She was handing him screws and kept saying, do you need more screws Dad?  Are you doing okay in there, Mom?  Are you sure you’re okay in there? Is it dark in there?  Are there any spiders in there (to which I answered no and then began scanning the shadowy inside of the new shed in hopes that they had not moved in yet)?  What a great helper and she was very encouraging telling Dave that he was doing a great job and that the shed looked really good! Then when Dave told me to go ahead and open the door and i couldn't because he had screwed it shut with me inside... she said "It's gonna be okay Mom.  Hang in there!  Dad's working really hard to get you out.  Don't be scared."

 So we have had a busy year full of different experiences.  Thankfully we have been able to spend some quality time with family and now this next year we are going to work on building our friend inventory out here.  We are also aiming to spend more time with our extended family as well.  Hannah is learning to read very quickly and just gobbling up the new knowledge as it is given to her.  It is fun to see her excitement as she learns and grows and figures out things on her own.  Hope you enjoy the update!

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.

Today was the kind of day I love to have with my daughter.  She was happy and bubbly from the moment she woke up and just so excited to be alive.  Even though her "awakening" happened at 5:00 am, she was full of vigor.  So we sat in the kitchen together and chatted about what the day would hold, what we might learn at church today, what to eat for breakfast and how Dad was sleeping in for a change.  We put on some dress up clothes and had an early morning tea with our cereal and scrambled eggs and then headed out to pick what blackberries we could find.  The path to the blackberries is long for an almost 3 year old!..  We walked across the yard through one of the flower beds and examined the first Cactus Dahlia blooming, smelled one of the roses and saw a beautiful Swallowtail butterfly.  All the while, giggling and touching and just enjoying the beauty of God's creation together (and Dad was peeking out of the window from the bedroom as he stayed snuggled in even though he doesn't know I saw him).  We ran down the driveway to the culvert and stood on top throwing rocks so that they bounced off the corrogated pipe and kerplunked into the water.  A little further along and we stopped to examine the different footprints in the mud.  There were Killdeer tracks, Deer tracks, Coon tracks and Hannah tracks.  She squatted down real low to the ground, like small children do, and contemplated the different tracks and then looked up with her clear blue eyes and curls dancing around her face and giggled as she pointed her little finger into the palm of the raccoon track.  Along the road we went until we cut across the dewy grass toward the cemetery and stopped briefly to pick some clover flowers and taste the sweetness at the ends of the petals.  She bounced along the edge of the cemetery while I picked some berries and then as I got further along she ran up and suggested that she could " hold the bucket for me so it wouldn't be so hard for me", (As her little hand grabbed up the berries as fast as I put them in the bucket).  We picked berries and picked berries.  She did a wonderful job of selecting the ripe berries from the bushes on the edge that she could reach and waited so patiently for me when I climbed into the stickers to get the berries in the back.  Then we walked down the edge of the soybean field looking for more berries and we found three feathers...a Turkey, a Dove, and a Red Tail Hawk.  There were more berries along the way and finally we headed back toward the house. At her prodding, we followed our dog into the coolness of the woods to do some more exploring.  We found some pine cones that had been stripped clean and beds of needles all over the pinewoods floor.  I had the bright idea we should take a "short cut" down the hillside to the almost dried up creek and though it had rained 2 days prior, I did not consider that the slope would be damp at all.  The hillside descends steeply to the creek and the deer trails all go sideways down the slope rather than straight down.  She followed closely behind me, hanging onto my sweatpants and we slid our way down the hillside less than gracefully.  At the bottom we explored the rocks in creek bottom and found some interesting rocks that were hollowed out and one that looked like it had been split in half with the perfect shape of a square left in the middle.  We decided to put those in my sweatpant pockets to show Dad.  We navigated our way up the bank and along an ATV trail where there was promise of more berries and she climbed up on an old tree that was lying in the field and she and the dog explored the crevices until they found what looked like a mouse nest lined with milkweed seeds.  Lastly, as we wandered back to the house with our handful of blackberries for Dad, she decided we should pick some Queen Ann's Lace so Dad could have some flowers.  She was a sight with her blackberry ring around her mouth, her little curls all ascew and little briars stuck in her hair, but her smile was priceless and it is a day I will not soon forget.

Staying Young at Heart

Today is June 6, 2012.  One of my dear friends is turning 50 today and I thought about her this morning as I picked a HUGE basket of lavender blossoms.  I was sharing with my daughter about my friend and she started jumping up and down saying "Mom, you got all those flowers?!  Now we can get started on my birthday!"  She is a love!  Her smile lights up a room, her laughter is contagious, her heart is caring and compassionate, and her brain just never stops creating.  As I came back in the house from the garden this morning, she was running down the hallway proclaiming to me that the leftover corn on the cob in the fridge was cold and needed heated up and that I needed to help her heat it up so she could eat it for breakfast since she was hungry and couldn't reach the microwave.....and on and on she went telling me she wanted blackberries, oranges, pears, yogurt and Cherrios for breakfast and would I put two ponies in her hair today and could we do a craft before school and who is picking me up today, etc., etc.  She sings at the top of her lungs "Do, Re, Me", "This is the Day", and "Praise Ye the Lord".

I'm not sure now how long it has been, but she has been climbing out of her crib now for several weeks.  She never fell out of the crib but was very agile in her descent.  As a matter of fact, I watched her one night as she began the ascent into bed and noticed she lifted her whole body up and swung her legs sideways to the corner of the bed like a gymanist.  She climbs out of bed now, changes her clothes, comes downstairs and proceeds to start her day if no one is immediately present.  Her pronunciation is superb and she is just gobbling up all kinds of information.  She can say "Rumplestiltzkin", "Stegasauraus", Tyrannosaurus Rex, and many more words.  She gets excited about school each day and loves to makes crafts.  She is a joy in the classroom and makes the other kids and teachers laugh.  I love to be a kid with her and poke at worms, chase spiders, be amazed at a lightning bug and how it tickles my hand, run through sprinklers and look up at the clouds in the sky.  We sing "Dancing in the Rain" with our umbrellas and splash in the puddles and I love that she wears patten leather shoes with her denim shorts and shovels mulch at the same time.  There is never a day or occaision that doesn't warrant patten leather shoes!  She looks in the mirror when I do her hair and says, "Look Mom...I look like you!", which I am sure will turn to disdain eventually but at the moment it warms my heart that this precious and beautiful little one thinks we look alike. Some things she says just make me laugh like "Mom are you brushing the walnuts (knots) out of my hair?" and "Guys!, Hey guys! Come over here and tickle me!"  She asks to wear a "twirly" skirt at all occaisions and loves to shake her pony tales in the mirror.  She is really great at brushing her teeth, she planted seeds for Kale, Bok Choy, carrots and sun flowers all over the place because she got a little carried away and Mom was busy with other stuff.... Oh! and I almost forgot that we planted a peanut plant in the garden and if we ever get any rain, we might just get some peanuts!  Every day she went down and asked if there were peanuts yet and now she has decided to just look at the plant and watch it grow.

She loves to fish (so long as she catches something) and loves to do crafts.  We spent the day down at Hocking Hills twice and she loves the waterfalls.  For two weeks after, we were exploring waterfalls in our living room and climbing on "slipitty rocks".  I pray that she will find God's best for her life and that she will keep alive the joy and sense of both wonder and adventure that she has been graced with.  I have a little hole in my heart that she is growing so fast and I think the whole going to school thing has forced that because she had to figure out who she is on her own without us.  I hope someday she will read these posts and get to know how much I have loved her from the beginning.  She is so patient with us and our drive to get things done.  One night she was so tired she could barely stay awake but we hadnpt eaten dinner so I took her upstairs and brought up a picnic dinner to have in her room while we read a story and she just settled right down and chatted about her day and what she wanted to do tomorrow like we have dinner in her room every day! After I brushed off the crumbs, she curled right up in her bed and went peacefully to sleep.  I don't want her life to be a power struggle and I pray that God will let her teach me how to teach her so that she grows up strong and is the woman God wants her to be. 

Our neighbor has lost her husband to his battle with dimensia and we went to the funeral home for the viewing.  Hannah looked at Jim in the casket and looked at me and said "Mom-mom, Jim isn't sleeping."  and I said, "No, he isn't sleeping.  Jim is in heaven with Jesus now."  She said, "Is Jim walking around now?"  and I answered, "Yes.  He is probably running and dancing with the angels in heaven."  She looked at his body and smiled and said, "That's good."  His wife smiled and gave Hannah a big hug.  She is a wonderful Christian woman and found great pleasure in Hannah's inate understanding of the situation.  I have been told by some that children have no concept of death and heaven and Jesus but I believe, from watching my daughter, that God has given her a gift of both discernment and wisdom.  Wisdom does not come from being a long time on this earth but from embracing the lives of those around us.

We are undergoing some changes in our lives that are affecting our "normalcy" and I was saying prayers with Hannah one evening and pouring out my heart to God to the point that a few tears rolled down my face.  She reached out her tiny finger and touched one of the tears and said, "Mommy, you have tears rolling down your face."  I explained that sometimes even Mommies have tears.  The next night as we had our special time together and were again preparing to pray, she put a hand on either side of my face and said, "Tonight, don't let tears roll down your pretty face, okay Mom?"  I am amazed at how in tune she is.  What a blessing.

She starts asking on Tuesday if today is church day and just loves to go to church and see the kids and learn about God.  Her little childrens Bible is loosing pages already  as we have read it so much and she has the stories almost all memorized.  We took her to the lake a few times around the fourth of July and she went down a 200 foot water slide, played in the bouncy castle, and swam swam swam.  We also went to a street fair and went on the Merry-Go-Round, the Wiggly Worm and the Fun Slide.  She is so very adventurous...just like her dad!

There will be a 3 year old birthday party on the 15th of September for any and all who would like to come.  We are truly enjoying this time in our lives and look forward to many more years of laughter, tears, and wonderment.  I love you, bug!

The Big TWO!

 So here I sit this morning, at the kitchen table and looking out at the sunrise which is greeting the day of my daughters birth.  The shades of orange and purple melt across the horizon and seem to be almost frosted by the coolness of the gray foggy mist settled just above the tops of the soybean fields.  It is hard for me to believe that she has been in my life for two whole years already.  I never thought I would say it, but I look forward to her little smile each morning and just can't wait to see what we will experience today.  On a side note, I started a job this week and will miss spending the day with my treasure.  She will, however, be making people smile as she travels around with Grandma today and celebrates her special day. 

I hear they will be traveling to a special firehouse where Grandma has a friend who will be letting her sit in the fire truck!  It will be a highlight for sure.  I can almost see her eyes lighting up when they pull in the parking lot!  I think they will probably go to the playground and then have some  "ice" (ice cream) at some point.  Grandma will make it a special day whatever they do.  I am so sad not to spend the day with her. My husband asked me why I looked so upset and I tearfully tried to relay to him what all was in my heart and did so unsuccessfully.  In his own frustration at my emotions he plainly stated, "This is what people do every day.  Shuffle their kids off to wherever and go to work."  As is par for the course, I don't want to be part of the norm (whatever that is)!

Hannah is growing so tall.  Her eyes are so smart and she has the cutest little blonde curls around her face.  She likes to dress up and she likes to play in puddles.  She'll serve you a wonderful cup of tea with a fancy hat or bring you the most fearless presentation of a bug you have ever seen.  She loves to dig with a shovel and is hands on with everything we allow her to be.  She even climbed the extension ladder so high I could only reach to her knees.  She loves tractors, school buses, and big trucks.  She gets excited when there are motorcycles and 4-wheelers on the road.  She loves horses, cows, sheep, kitty cats and dogs and has 2 goldfish in her bedroom.  She is well behaved, adaptable, funny, smart and talented. I don't know why but she colors less now and we have been out of paints for awhile so she hasn't been painting anymore even though she loves to.  She loves fruit and is begining to be a great eater.  Her teeth are all coming in very well and despite the trips and tumbles we've had the past few months, is no worse for the wear.  She is fearless in  alot of ways and loves to be swung and thrown on the couch.  She balances herself on the edges of things and is begining to really climb now.  She has a great love for books and will sit on the potty and tap the floor in front of her telling you  "sit! sit!" so you will sit and read while she is concentrating.  Her language skills are developing nicely and her words are becoming more clear every day.  Like a typical 2 year old, she is haveing some fits when she doesn't understand why she can't do it her way but that is not really anything new.  Now that she is spending more days at the babysitter, she is spending some time with some other children and she is enjoying to go there.  Our sitter and friend has several children of her own and is a good Christian home so we have  no worries about those types of influences.  I thank God for that.  She is growing up fast, just like they all do, but at least I know I have tried hard to be sure she is getting to be a child and to let her know how much I love her each and every day. 

I hope you enjoy this short rhetoric and will stay in touch with us to see how she grows.

Not for the Faint of Heart



Such an angel, right?! lol



Well, twenty-one months!  I thought I should write an update because there is so much that has happened in the last few months.  Hannah is growing into a very pleasant little girl.  She is so accommodating and fairly even keeled...even for an almost 2 year old!  If you ask her how old she is, she will hold up one finger.  If you ask her who made her so special, she will say God!  She follows instructions pretty well, even if she has to think about whether or not she wants to comply with your wishes.  I've been told that I spead to fast to her but she understands me just fine.  We never have spoken to her in baby talk so she has adapted to adult conversation.  She is not speaking audible words very well and has, in fact, lost some of her vocabulary.  However, she babbles along with the appropriate fluctuation as if she were speaking complete sentences.  She is running now, jumping off things, climbs really well and is starting to submerse herself in a supine position on her own in the tub.  We went through open heart surgery with my Mother-in-law and spent a couple weeks going to either the hospital or the nursing home every day for the majority of the day and she was a real champ.  We packed toys and snacks for every day and the nurses and volunteers chatted with her, waved to her and walked with her every day.  We now own a collection of little animals the volunteers at Riverside make for children who come to the hospital even though we insisted we already had at least one.  How can you say "no" to a sweet faced volunteer who just wants to see your little girl smile?!  She has discovered the fun of mud puddles, learned how to blow a dandelion puff, likes to eat sweet violets and sweet peas from the garden, has learned how to smell the flowers and has figured out that even though Bumble bees look really friendly in a story, they are not so friendly in person!

A friend of mine told me to reiterate a particular day for the sake of those who have not yet decided if they want children and for those who have already raised their children but would like a refresher.  We started out tired this particular day because we were up for about 2 hours in the night.  So we started our day with milk, as we always do, and then progressed to oatmeal.  Oatmeal is a usual favorite but happened to wind up all over the tray and she tried to hide some on her seat.  Mom tried to multi-task and clean the kitchen floor while Peanut was in her chair and contained.  That was not acceptable so Peanut had to be released.  Typically, Peanut will go and play in the living room while Mom cleans in the kitchen, so when she disappeared Mom thought nothing of it.  As it turned out, she was emptying the water bottles Mom and Dad had left on the end table the night before all over the carpet and the couch.  It is amazing how far a little water can go.  Mom cleaned that up, brought Peanut out in the kitchen and then let her go out in the mud room with the dogs after Peanut wiped out on the wet floor twice.  Mom put the dogs outside and went to mop the hall outside the kitchen and the Bugger got hold of a fertilizer we thought was out of reach.  She proceeded to dump it all over the floor, fill the dogs food bowl with it and then paint the wall with it.  Next, she decided to announce that she had done this by traipsing through the clean kitchen floors and down the hall to the bathroom where I was rinsing out a rag.  She came into the room saying "Uh-oh mum mum".  At which point she took my hand and led me back to the scene of the crime.  I took a deep breath, grabbed her container of chalk and some sunscreen and took her outside.  I left the door open so I could see her and talk to her and proceeded to clean up the floor, and the bowls and the wall and the kitchen floor and the hallway...again.  Everything was going along famously and when I went into the kitchen to rinse the mop, she tripped on the stone steps and wacked the front of her head and scraped her chin.  (sigh)  Calmed her down, got ice, read a book.  She was content at this point to sit in the living room for a little while as I continued to finish cleaning.  By now it's time for lunch and she is showing signs of sleepy.  I gave her some yogurt, which is a popular choice, and some fruit and a piece of peanut butter bread.  This is the day she discovered that if you squeeze the yogurt container really hard you can project the contents all over...yes, you guessed it, the clean floors.  (Sigh)  Time for sleeping after I get all that cleaned up and the baby in the tub to be hosed off.  Peace at last!  Nap time was not the normal 2 hours, of course.  I got about a half hour and then hear her screaming on the monitor.  I go up and open the door to see a major diaper malfunction...all over the bed, the wall, the baby, the stuffed animal.....(SiGH!)  No chance of returning to blissful sleeping so off we go to the gardens outside.  We were working planting some flowers right out front and as I was digging the hole, she was placing the plant in the hole.  Going along fine, I thought.  Next thing I know, she's popping out the plants that I had just put in.  (hmmph!)  New plan, I open the door to the craft room, which is right by the garden and she likes to go in and look at shells, and feel the material, play with stickers and some of her toys that are in there.  I continue planting and can see her through the window.  I plant a few plants and check on her, everything is fine.  Plant a few plants, check on her...what is that on her arm?  Looks really dark.  Hmmmm.  I get closer and see she has this dark something all over her hand and her arm.  Now entering the doorway....OH MY!!! What did you do?!!!!  Emptied an entire jar of John Deere Green ENAMEL model plane paint.  On her brand new shoes, the carpet, my cherry bench, her hair, face, hands, arms, legs and outfit.  I go to pick her up and don't know what to do with her.  Can't put that in the tub, right?  So down to the basement to the utility sink and I look desparately for the paint thinner.  I tell her not to touch anything.  She decides that she should pull on the pipes to the sink and rock back and forth, at which point I scream..."DON"T TOUCH ANYTHING!!!!" and she starts to cry.  Do you know what happens with enamel paint when it mixes with water (or tears)?!  It gets hard and glue like.  So as she cries she rubs her nose with her hand, pushing paint up her little nose.  I finally see some lamp oil and decide I should use that to see if it will clean up this paint.  It does.  So now I have a very happy baby covered in lamp oil with a green hulk like hue to her skin.  It is now time for dinner.  The rest of the day proceeded along just fine but I can tell you, i lost a bunch of hair that day!!!  Parenting is not for the faint of heart or uncreative.







Brand new sandals after she trapsed through the garden after the dog.