Egg fun

This year I decided to dye eggs with Hannah for fun. I thought about doing it last year, but I wanted to wait until she was actually old enough to help and enjoy the process. While I don't like the idea of connecting eggs with the celebration of Easter, it is fun to do this as spring is here. So, we called them spring eggs. I bought a kit at Walmart for a whopping $1.88. Hannah was a bit unsure at first, but she caught on quickly and loved it. As I was setting things up, she kept asking "What are we doing, Mama? What are the eggs for? Are we cooking, Mama?" As I explained the process she was genuinly intrigued. I love how kids act when they are presented with a new experience. They, unlike us adults sometimes, joyfully anticipate trying something new and are very willing participants.
Nothing like this goofy smile to get us going. Someone please give me hope that the goofy smile stage ends at some point! I can rarely catch a "normal" smile these days.
At first, we cracked quite a few eggs with Hannah's method of "gently" dropping them into the dye. Oh well, surely that is part of the fun, right!?

Soon, she figured out how to work the egg holder and that worked a bit better.

I love the look of anticipation on her face as we let the eggs soak in the dye.

Here were our creations after we finished. After dying all 12 the first time, Hannah decided she needed to redo them all. So, we double dipped them for some fun color creations. Look, I actually caught somewhat of a normal smile here!

She did try and eat one but figured out she is not a fan of hard boiled eggs.

Anyway, we had fun doing our spring eggs together. Also, I would highly recommend the egg dye kits that come with their own cups since you don't have to worry about putting dye in your household cups.

Joyful Days

Having Hannah at home with me full time now (with no more mother's day out) has truly been a joy to me. I was not feeling good about her being there anymore and I have loved the extra time we have had to spend together. Don't get me wrong, I think Mother's Day Out is fantastic...it was just not right for Hannah and our family anymore.

She has also enjoyed going to the church with me for a few hours a week and helping me get work done. She attends staff meetings with me on Thursday mornings and watches a DVD while we meet. I love that I work at a place that is so incredibly kid friendly! She especially enjoys that Mr. Tom (a grandfatherly church member) is at the church on Thursdays and she LOVES Mr. Tom. I will have to take some pictures of her playing with Mr. Tom next Thursday so I can share her joy with everyone.

One of the things that I have loved is just more time for us to do things like finger paint. I realize that Hannah is almost 3!!! And this time will quickly pass, so we are soaking up all the time we have together right now. What a joy!!!

An unwelcome visitor

Last night, Jason and I had an unwelcome visitor in our bedroom. Jason went to pick up what he thought was a piece of trash on the ground. The next thing I know he was jumping around yelling that something stung him. To be honest, I thought he was being a bit dramatic since we searched for about 5 minutes and saw NOTHING that could have stung him. I was convinced that he had touched a prickly sticker, and he thought that he had grabbed a bee. After much searching with a flash light, I finally saw it....it was a scorpion!!! Yes, Jason did indeed pick up and get stung by a scorpion!
I am glad that we found him too, since he was sitting on top of a pair of Jason's pants (which is where he flung him after he was stung). That would have been a rude awakening if Jason had put those pants on this morning. Anyway, I quickly called the doctor and he assured us that it was probably like a really bad bee sting. Jason assured me that it hurt REALLY bad and I did also feel bad that I had underestimated his pain! So, with some benadryl and tylenol he was good to go. The only problem (in Jason's eyes) is that there are no war wounds to show for it. He was hoping for some gnarly wound to show his students today...but alas, his thumb is as good as new. As for the scorpion, I can't say the same for him...as he is no longer. The problem with this is that we gave him the plunge in our toilet. However, for this lady, who has to sit on said toilet...well, let's just say that I have been using my leg muscles to practice using the bathroom without touching the toilet.
Let's hope there are no more scorpions in this house!!!

A full and wonderful weekend

We have had the blessing of having Pop (Jason's Dad) here for the weekend. Hannah has LOVED having Pop around and has pretty much run him all over since the moment he got here. We have enjoyed the zoo, the museum, walking around the neighborhood, and playing in the backyard for several days now. The weather has been gorgeous while Pop has been here and so we have tried to spend some quality time outside. Pop also watched Hannah one night while Jason and I had a date night...which was wonderful! Thanks Pop for that great blessing!
Here are some fun pictures fromour time outside today.

Thanks for coming out Pop and loving on Hannah! We all enjoyed spending time with you!

You've got to be kidding me!!!

Jason and I went to a new restaurant last night and enjoyed a family dinner. Hannah was particularly energetic (read: hyper!) for the meal and didn't end up eating much. At one point she had her head on the seat next to me and I could see something green in her mouth. I assumed it was some lettuce from our burgers, but then I noticed it was bright green and she was chewing on it. I quickly grabbed it from her mouth and saw that it was gum. The only thing is that I don't carry gum...which means that she got the gum from...YUP, you guessed it! She grabbed dried gum from under the table and was chewing on it!!!! DISGUSTING!!! I thought I might throw up right then and there!!! Seriously...you've got to be kidding me!!! YUCK!

Fish Out of Water

Hannah gets really attached to books for a few weeks at a time. She basically memorizes them front to back as we read them to her over and over (AND OVER!) again. While at times this is pretty tiring, I love that she pays so much attention to what is being read to her. After a week or 2 with one book, she will move on to another. I know that this is a pretty typical pattern with kids, and I just love to see it play out with Hannah. Lately, her favorite book has been "Fish Out of Water" by Helen Palmer. It is a fun one that she has come to love. While she normally will not let me video her reading, she gave in to my request tonight. So, if you are familiar with this book, you should recognize this slightly abridged version by Hannah.

What a delight it is to see my almost 3 year old joyfully flipping the pages of a favorite book!

The good, the bad, and the ugly

Well, this week was our first full week without Mother's Day Out and I have to say that it went well. I thoroughly enjoyed spending some more quality time with Hannah and I was able to still spend a bit of time at work with her too. Since last week was not such a great week, we seriously needed this week together.
I am pretty sure that last Friday was the worst parenting day for me, and the worst day for Hannah too. Without going into too much detail, let's just say that before lunch I was in tears over Hannah's behavior and had Jason on the phone to talk to "his" child. It was tough to say the least! So, after that, it was great to have such a good week this week with Hannah. We have spent much time praying together during the day as both Hannah and I are in need of grace and patience to make it these days.

Snow Day

We had a beautiful snow day on Tuesday of this week. We saw more snow in Waco than I have seen in my 10 years of being here. It snowed big, beautiful flakes all day long and we accumulated about 4 inches by the end of the day. Most of the schools let out early, so Kelly got off work and came over to play. We decided to go over to Crystal's house to surprise her and let the kids see each other. It was so fun to see snowmen ALL over town as we drove. They were in yards, schools, parks, and we found these 2 outside of an apartment complex. It was so fun to see!
Hannah could not resist wanting to go outside at Crystal's house and play in the snow. She had already been bundled up and stripped out of wet clothes twice, but we did it again just because we could.
Joe figured out how to make and throw snowballs while we were there and no one was safe from his lazer arm!
The kid in Kelly decided that she HAD to go and jump on the snow covered trampoline! She simply could not resist. This is one of the things I love about Kelly...she is crazy and spontaneous with fun stuff like this!
Hannah didn't want Kelly to have all the fun though, so she jumped on to join her.
Oh the joy of a fun snow day!!!

The LONG walk home

Molly and I had to learn a bit of patience yesterday when our 20 minute family walk turned into an hour walk. Hannah was carrying Jason's coke bottle and she decided she wanted to fill it up with dandelions. This was fine at first, but after picking the 57th dandelion and only having the bottle 1/5th of the way filled up, I realized I was getting a bit impatient. It was super cute though seeing her run through some fields full of flowers (er...weeds) and pick them. It was so cute when she would turn around and say "ANOTHER yellow flower!" As if they were popping up right before her eyes (which some people would argue that weeds do!). Anyway, we eventually had to cut off the flower picking since it seriously could have lasted all day. She sure was cute though!

Daddy even got in on the flower picking fun.

One happy girl!!!

This Mommy's heart

I have always heard that "a Mom knows" but I am not sure that I fully understood that concept until last week. Sure, I have had Mommy moments when I knew Hannah was sick or that something was wrong with her. But, lately I have had this "Mommy feeling" about her being in Mother's Day Out. I have loved the program that she is in (and the time it has given me!), but lately things have gone down hill quickly for me. She has 2 teachers in the class, one of whom I really liked and the other I didn't care for much. When she was really struggling with behavior, the one teacher really took her in and cared for her and was firm with her as well. About 3 weeks ago, that teacher left and was replaced. Hannah seems to not gel with either of the teachers in the class now and after a few minor incidents this Mommy now has that Mommy "feeling" that says that things are not right. So, she will be finishing out February there and then will not be attending anymore. I can't tell you how good this feeling is for my heart. One assurance I have that this is the right decision is that I am not sad at all to give up that free time I had. God has given me great joy about having her with me on those days and I know it will be good. Now that she is older it is easier for her to go and do things with me. Anyway, I am thankful to God for those "Mommy feelings" that lead us to action for our kids. What a true blessing that is!

Auburn pasta

I just found these pictures of some really cool pasta that we got for Christmas. We received a package in the mail before Christmas for Jason that said "Go Auburn" on it. My mom had sent it and I really had no idea how cool it would turn out to be. It was Auburn pasta! Who would have ever thought that you could buy this stuff? So, I cooked it up for the bowl game and we enjoyed rooting for Auburn as we ate this yummy stuff! I added chicken, bacon, and feta cheese to the vinaigrette dressing and it was delicious! It certainly warmed the hearts of these Auburn fans!

Fun with Daddy

Hannah and Jason have had this game playing ritual at night for some time now. They chase each other, play hide and seek, and generally get hyped up together. It really is great fun for me to see them have so much fun together. I love the interaction that they have with one another. Since I enjoyed this type of great relationship with my dad growing up, I love that Hannah gets to experience it too. So, here is their own version of hide and seek. Jason jokingly calls it "hunt the seeker" since rarely does anyone stay hidden for long.

Hannah recently has begun jumping off things to us. She was pretty timid about this up until last week when she began jumping into the swimming pool (which is another post entirely, but certainly a LOT of fun has been had in the pool these last few weeks!). So, she has now carried that adventure into her bedroom where she loves to jump to Daddy's waiting arms. So fun!

These videos just make me so thankful for Jason and his great love for Hannah. Truly I could not do this parenting thing without him and I know that Hannah will benefit so much from these sweet days of interaction with her Daddy.

Oh the joys

So, I have been storing up all the funny things that have been said during the last week of potty training. Enjoy!


1. While I was going to the bathroom (without any privacy) Hannah exclaimed "MOMMY, good job, you went potty!!!!"


2. Jason was trying to help Hannah pull her underwear and pants up after she went potty and she adamantly told him "Daddy, that's MY job!"

3. While we were using the potty at CVS pharmacy, Hannah saw someone else's feet under the next stall, so she kept asking (loudly), "Mama, what are they doing? Mama, what is that person doing? Are they going potty?" They made a quick exit at this point.

4. After praying that God would help Hannah learn how to use the potty, Hannah saw Molly going potty outside and exclaimed "God helps Molly go potty too!"

Alright, I think I am done talking about potty training on the blog. I think we are good to go (pun intended) at this point, so I will move on to more exciting things. Hannah is doing great and we have more fiber around than I know what to do with. YEAH for conquering that big step!

Independence

There is actually a lot that I was not expecting when potty training rolled around, including constipation (PLEASE someone tell me how to solve that!!! Nothing is working right now!!!), teaching bladder control, and learning that throwing soiled underwear away is MUCH easier, although more wasteful, than attempting to clean them out. Besides these things though, I was not expecting the HUGE surge of independence that came in the past week with potty training. If you asked Hannah right now, she might actually tell you she could touch the sky...no joke!

Don't get me wrong, I think independence is necessary and wonderful, but in an almost 3 year old, it can get old quickly! She definitely wants to do things on her terms, which is probablimatic since her Mama has her own terms too. You see where this is going right?! We have butted heads more this week than we have in the past year. It has been interesting to say the least. The most interesting thing to me is that even in this surge of independence there is still a big part of her that wants to be cuddled and held more than normal. She is breaking out into her own little person but still wants to know that her Mama and Daddy love her. Last night she was disciplined by her Daddy and right after the crying stopped, she grabbed him for a hug and then asked him to rock her. It was sweet to say the least, and he certainly took up the cuddling opportunity.

I remember studying this exact concept in my graduate classes and I love that I now see it play out first hand. Erik Erikson came up with 8 stages of psychosocial development from infancy through late adulthood. The stage from age 2-3 deals with autonomy in children and their relationship with their parents. It actually discusses the autonomy coming directly from the potty training stage. While, I don't follow all these philosophies, I do find it interesting to see in Hannah what I learned about years ago.

Somersaults and fillers

Hannah has recently figured out how to do somersaults (sort of). She enjoys doing this over and over as she tries to develop her gymnastic skills. I always enjoy the flop that comes at the end...highly technical, I know.

Hannah has added fillers to her language for some time now, and I just find it so interesting. When she is excited about telling you something or is talking to fast, she adds "filler" words and sounds in to help move her story along. It is pretty comical when she does it. So, here she is talking about Molly with her filler words and sounds. I still find language acquisition fascinating and I love to watch her language develop in this way.

By the way...I have NO idea what she is talking about.