Bluebonnet Fun

We took our annual trip to take pictures in the bluebonnets last weekend and we got some good shots. For some reason the flowers this year were even more gorgeous and plentiful. The field where we have gone for the past 3 years had more flowers in it than I have ever seen. It made for a beautiful backdrop.

After last year we learned that the kids do much better when they have something to play with, so Kelly provided us with some balls to throw around. Joe enjoyed the tennis ball while Hannah stuck with the baseball. They were pretty cute as they were each throwing their ball around the field....at least it kept them happy!

Our favorite Aunt Kelly!

Crystal and Joe took some cute pictures this year too. By the way, next April when we take our pictures again, there will be an addition to this sweet family. Crystal is expecting a baby in October. So, we are delighted to have another baby to add to this fun mix.

We have never been able to get a picture of the 5 of us since we have not had a tripod and no one has ever gone with us (can you believe that our husbands have decided this is not the most fun thing to do?!?!). Anyway, since it was so beautiful this day, there were others taking pictures too, so we got one of all of us.

See last year's pictures here

And 2 years ago it looked like this with the below picture being one of my favorites!! Oh, these faces truly crack me up!!!

I am so thankful for 3 wonderful years of celebrating our kids together and even more years of wondeful friendships with these 2 awesome friends!

Spring

It is definitely spring here in Texas, and we are loving it! There is something in me (and probably most people) that feels like it comes alive when I am able to once again go outside and enjoy nature. Our days are SO much better when we are able to get outside and play. We have grass and flowers growing and I love taking all that beauty in. I love the cold months too, but I have to say that the VERY short spring that we have in Texas is beautiful! I am praising God today for the beauty that we find in our very own backyard.
And, as you can tell by the below pictures, Hannah loves being outside too!

A special celebration

Happy Resurrection Day! I pray that you were able to enjoy celebrating the resurrection of Jesus today. We have had a relatively quiet day today after worship this morning. Most of our activity happened yesterday. It started with a special treat from Kelly. She called on Friday night and said she had a surprise for Hannah on Sat morning. So, at 9am we drove out to the school where Kelly teaches and found eggs scattered all over the field. Hannah had the whole thing to herself (Joe...we sure wish you were there!!!!) and she LOVED it.

She got an entire bucket full of eggs and each and every one was filled with treats.

She got these special hair clips in one egg.

Several eggs had fruit snacks in them and if you know Hannah she absoutely loves fruit snacks. If I would let her, she would eat them all day long.

She quickly stuffed ALL the fruit snacks from one egg in her mouth. She couldn't stop herself.

Some eggs had balloons in them and Hannah was delighted by that too. She also got some gummy candies, stickers, and goldfish.

We are so blessed to have Kelly as a friend! She has an amazing love for Hannah and our family that is a gift from God. Thanks Kelly for such a special morning for Hannah! We love you friend!

After our egg hunt, we went to the zoo and walked around for about 2 hours. For our small town of Waco, we have a great little zoo. After the zoo, we were able to meet Papaw and Granny for lunch. They came back to our house to play with Hannah which delighted her. Thanks for coming over Papaw and Granny...we loved seeing you! I think Hannah had more fun things in one day than she knew what to do with. It made for such a special day for all of us.

Bittersweet independence

Hannah has definitely asserted her independence lately and it has been bittersweet for me. She likes to go potty all by herself now and doesn't even like for us to be in the bathroom with her. She has learned how to unlock and open our doors (deadbolts and all) and has been out the door before I knew it. This also means she likes to let Molly in and out, in and out, etc. She now has an opinion as to what she wears every day, right down to her underwear. Gone are the days of us doing most things for her as she is now itching to do them by herself. I have found this latest stage to be bittersweet. I love that she is asserting her independence (most of the time) but it also makes me sad that she doesn't want/need me to do many things for her anymore. It is also a bit scary for me too since independence and freedom in an almost 3 year old means she is out in the backyard playing by herself before I realize it. Aside from my fears or hesitations, Hannah is loving her independence. I am just praying for grace from God to allow her this (within reason) without being so controlling...YIKES, did I just say that outloud!?!? Yes, I have found that lately, especially with potty training, I am realizing that I like to be in control. When things are out of my control I find that I get easily frustrated, impatient, and quick to anger. God is slowly reminding me though that He is ultimately in control of our lives. I pray that these gentle reminders from God will allow me to be patient, calm, and slow to anger during this time. I know that this sweet, growing girl needs a Mommy who is full of the Holy Spirit and can show her love and support as she grows. Obviously I am aware that these things come from God alone, so I am praying that He supplies me with these things in abundance according to His word.

I am so incredibly thankful for Hannah and for all that God is teaching me through being her Mommy. I feel so blessed by her!

Movie Fun

Tonight, Jason, Kelly, and I took Hannah to see the movie How to Train Your Dragon. She LOVED it! It was a blast too since she enjoyed it so much. I am not kidding when I say that she sat motionless on the edge of her seat for THE ENTIRE movie. I was a bit concerned to take her tonight since we saw the Princess and the Frog a few weeks ago and she was all over the place. Given, it was nap time, but she could not sit still for the life of her. Well, not tonight! I believe that she has her Daddy's taste in movies since she enjoys a good action movie. This movie delivered that too. It had a redeeming plot to it and she loved watching the dragons fly. Anyway, she would probably give it 5 stars. I love that she seems to really be growing up and able to enjoy these things with us. It is such a joy to me for us to do these family things together. I am so thankful to God for movie nights like tonight!

In other news, while we enjoyed the 2D version of the movie, Jason enjoyed it in 3D. That is because he watched it while on vicoden. He has had strong enough back spasms for the past 36 hours that they have basically rendered him unable to walk or move much at all. It was really bad! We ended up going to the doctor this morning, and the doctor could SEE ridges on his back from the spasms. At first he thought Jason had sculiosis (he doesn't) because his back muscles were that contorted! He is feeling a bit better now after getting some medications and he is able to walk, but still hurting some. So, aside from some comical things that have come from his mouth and his enjoyment of the movie in 3D, I am praying that things are on the mend for him.

A great kid friendly recipe

A preschool Sunday school teacher at our church shared a fun, kid friendly recipe with me last Sunday so Hannah and I tried it this week. It turned out really well, so I thought I would share it with everyone. In true pioneer woman fashion I took some pictures of the fun as we cooked. This recipe calls for the following ingredients:
A can of flaky biscuits
Canned fruit coctail (or fresh fruit)
Cinnamon/Sugar mixture

I had some fresh fruit on hand, so I decided to use that instead of the fruit coctail. The final product is less sweet than if you use fruit coctail, but I liked it better. We cut up strawberries, kiwi, bananas, apples, and grapes into small chunks.
You then split the biscuits into 2 pieces (which is why you have to buy the flaky kind...they split easily). Place one part of the biscuit into a greased muffin pan. Scoop a spoonful of fruit onto the biscuit bottom. If you so desire, you can sprinkle some of the cinnamon/sugar mixture on top of the fruit.

Cover the fruit with the other part of the biscuit.

Sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar mixture generously over the top of the biscuit.

One can of biscuits made 10 treats. Here they are before they were cooked.

I cooked them according to the package directions and they came out golden brown...beautiful!

Hannah enjoyed our treats and I liked that they were a sweet treat without a ton of sugar.

Besides splitting the biscuits, which I did, Hannah really did most of the work by herself. I love being able to make things like this that allow her to "cook" independently. YAH for a fun new treat to make together!

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.