A much needed family fun night

As some of you may know, we have had a hard few weeks around our house. I felt like we needed a night away as a family of 3. So, last Saturday we did something that we don't normally do. We drove to Dallas for the night and took Hannah to Medieval Times. It was just what we needed. It was really nice to do something out of the ordinary and enjoy time with just us. We had a blast too. Both Jason and I have been to Medieval Times before but since we had Hannah with us this time, it made it that much more special. Hannah was a bit overwhelmed at first with all the people and with the opening sword fight. But, once the horses came out, she was captivated the rest of the time.

She LOVED being able to eat with just her fingers too. They serve you a full dinner of soup, chicken, ribs, bread, potatoes, and dessert with no utensils. That might have been her favorite part...well, that and the pepsi that they gave her.

Depending on where you sit in the arena, you cheer for a certain color knight. Ours was the blue knight. If your knight wins competitions, they throw flowers out into the crowd. Our Hannah was thrown a flower and she loved it.

Jason on the other hand had a different opinion about a knight throwing his daughter a flower! I love this picture of the 2 of them though...classic!

Anyway, this night away was a great time for us as a family. While Medieval Times (or any other place for that matter) does not provide us the grace and peace which come from God alone in hard times, I am thankful for these sweet memories that are made as a family.

Getting the hang of it

Hannah is quickly getting the hang of writing letters. Since I stay at home with her and do not teach in a school right now, it is a joy to spend time teaching her things like writing letters. It sure does this teacher's heart good!

One of the first words that she was able to put together was hat. We worked on that for awhile and attempted to change the "t" to an "n" so she could then spell Hannah.

We finally got the "n" down, but she has NO interest in spelling her own name.
So, for now, we we will just stick with having fun with letters.

It is so cool to me to watch kids as they learn. This will truly never get old!!!

The other night at dinner, Hannah got some food on her clothes. She insisted that she go upstairs and change clothes...all by herself. She has actually gotten really good at getting clothes out and putting them on correctly, so it didn't seem like a problem to us. Well, little did we know what she was about to put on and parade around in downstairs.

She came down in what should be worn as a halter top. However, she couldn't figure out how to put it over her head, so she improvised and showed up like this...

HELLO TARZAN!!! All I have to say is that if I ever see her wearing an outfit like this past the age of 4 (I'm really thinking 14-18 years old!) I might keel over with a heart attack. But, not before I tell her (in kind words of course) to change clothes and burn said outfit.

We quickly remidied the outfit situation and put it on correctly. Oh man, I don't know what I will do with the teen years!

I'm flattered (or something)

Hannah drew this lovely picture of me yesterday. She showed me how in the picture I had glasses, eyebrows, and my tongue sticking out. Well, I guess I am flattered! It's lovely coming from my sweet 3 year old (even if I look a bit like an ogre)!

This is one of the true blessings of being a mom...the sheer joy and pride I feel in a small picture that my child drew of me. I am thankful to God today!

Happy Anniversary!!!

This picture was taken 9 years ago today!!!

Happy Anniversary Jason! I love you so much and I am so thankful for all that God has blessed me with in you!

It was only a matter of time...

This week Hannah has pulled out 2 phrases that I was hoping not to hear from her (at least not at 3 years old!). In one week she has said "shut up" and "crap." I handled these swiftly so thankfully these phrases have not come up since. Man oh man, where has my "only say sweet things" child gone? The scary thing is that most movies we watch with Hannah (kids movies, mind you) say "shut up" multiple times in the movie. I guess we have become desentized to these things. I have to admit that I certainly have been...well, at least until my 3 year old said them.
I actually feel kind of bad for the situation. She hears these phrases in movies and in every day life (OK, OK, I admit that I say "crap" pretty often, but I TRY not to say it around her). But when she says it she gets in trouble. It is hard to explain to a 3 year old why these phrases are in movies but unacceptable for her to say. It's as much of a message that needs to be preached to me as her, since I shouldn't say them either.
I guess parenting is all about learning too. Sometimes, these lessons sting though!

Things certainly have changed

I know that I am not entirely old enough to talk about "how different things were when I was young" but I sometimes catch myself thinking about it. Yesterday Jason started working with Hannah on how to use the computer. I was kind of shocked that at 3 years old she figured out pretty quickly how to use the mouse. I can remember not really having to use the computer for school until high school, and our 3 year old will likely know how to do basic computer functions by the end of this year. Scary!

Anyway, here is Hannah in her computer training with Jason.