My heart is full

I can't tell you what a joy this little one been to me lately. My heart truly is overflowing with love for her. Now, don't read into that statement that we are without behavior or discipline issues. Afterall, we are all sinners in need of forgiveness and God's grace. But, I just find such a joy in being around her. God has truly blessed Jason and I with a daughter that is funny, caring, loving, smart, and strongwilled (AHEM!). I am truly thankful to be her mommy and for her to be my daughter.

After dinner craft

The cost of 4 bags of beans - $4.00
The cost of glue - $0.98

Spending an evening with family and friends making pictures out of beans - PRICELESS!

I think after dinner crafts might have to become a more frequent occurance around here!

Striped cutie

I love cooler weather so our cutie can wear these adorable tights with her brown boots!

Bring on fall/winter...I love it!

Rewind

These pictures were taken Halloween weekend when Gramma was out to visit. They were so cute though, I had to share them. At the carnival we went to, they were selling these homemade tutus with bows, so Gramma bought one for Hannah. She loved it! This was the photoshoot that occured when we got home to try the tutu on.

Our last week

Hannah and I have had a full week. Gramma came to visit last Thursday and stayed the weekend with us while Jason was out of town. We had a great time with her while she was here. On Sat. night we went to a local school carnival at "Aunt" Kelly's school. It was just down the road from our house and Hannah loved it.

Hannah with Gramma and Kelly.

This bottom picture is an action shot of Hannah throwing a pie. What, you might ask, is she throwing a pie at?
Well, "Aunt" Kelly of course! Since Kelly teaches P.E. at the school she was signed up for a 30 min slot in the pie throwing booth. I had to think LONG AND HARD about whether or not we would participate in actually throwing a pie at her. But, since it all goes to benefit the school, it clearly was done for the kids...right! YAH, we love you Kelly! I just hated to have to throw a pie or two at you. *Wink, wink*

Hannah spied the horses immediately when we parked the car. She was determined to ride them too. The hilarious thing was that these horses are from the ranch we went to for Hannah's birthday. Which means, guess what horse was there taking children for horse rides???? The one who threw Jason off!!!! Oh, yes, the infamous Lilly was there giving sweet children rides on her back! Thankfully, Hannah rode a little pony, which made this Mom feel better about the whole situation.

Here is the infamous Lilly! Looks dangerous doesn't she! I am sure Jason wishes she looked more like a bull so his story could go that much further. Read the full story of that day here.

Just wanted to share some sweet pictures of our Hannah.

Weekend away

Last weekend, Hannah and I had a girls weekend away from home. We first went to Grandmother's house where we spent the night. Hannah loves her great-grandmother and we enjoyed many laughs and delicious blueberry pancakes for breakfast. My Grandmother has a beautiful little canal behind her house that is gorgeous to walk along. Hannah took some bread to feed the ducks, but we didn't find any...so she just opened the bag and ate the bread herself. Silly kid!

Searching for the elusive ducks....

My sweet, beautiful Hannah! After Grandmother's house we headed up to Papaw and Granny's house to spend the night.

We got to ride this great little train at the local park, which was a new experience for Hannah. She enjoyed the ride but had a VERY firm grip on her Papaw's hand the whole time. Let's just say she is a bit cautious the first time she does some new things.

She and Papaw enjoyed some hay bale jumping together.

Hannah and Ganny enjoyed a meal and a special moment together at the kids table. Granny is such a good sport to always join the kids at the kids table.

Hannah also got to play with her cousins Ava and Ella. She and Ava are only 3 months apart and get along so well. It is such a joy to know that they just pick up right where they left off last time. So, we had a great weekend all around! I sure do love my family and my sweet time with Hannah.

For now, I think I figured out the problem with blogger. FYI, don't post your pictures in the size right out of your camera...you will eat up space quickly and run into the problem I now have. So, resize your pictures to about 60% of the full size before you upload them and you will save yourself the headache I now have.

Blogging question

I have plenty of posts to share with you....but I am unable to upload pictures right now. AAARRRGGG!!! Which brings me to my question for you all.

Has anyone been told by blogger that you have reached your limit with pictures? I was told that I have to purchase more space from picasa web (which is blogger/google's web photo service) in order to continue posting pictures.
Has anyone else had this happen? Anyone have any other ideas for me?

I promise to figure this out soon.

Fall fun

We went to a local farm today and had a blast! The weather is absolutely gorgeous today which made it that much better. This particular farm is about 20 minutes away from our house but we had never been there before. Hannah loved it.

They had rubber duck races with these long troughs and water pumps. There were about 15 of them and the kids could race their ducks to the end.
Hannah was very excited about this cow train. She rode the last one in the back and loved the VERY bumpy ride. Me, not so much!

Hanah was chillin out on the hay ride.

They also had bounce houses, a corn maze (which we didn't venture into) and other things. I was so pleased that it was not expensive to get in and they sold food that was seriously cheap. It was a nice change to feel like you were not ripped off to enjoy this place. I can't wait for next year when we can go back.

Belly Pen

The other day Hannah and I were working on making a birthday card for a birthday we were going to. When I grabbed a black marker for her to use, she quickly told me that we had to use a different marker because that one was "the belly pen." After some laughter on my part, I had to tell her that the pen was indeed a regular pen even though she associated it with being a "belly pen." The reason why she called it that was entirely Jason's fault. One day, he got the smart idea to let her write on his belly. So, now that black pen will forever be known as "the belly pen."

Hannah's blank canvas on the before shot.
Jason doesn't have any "mom" tattoos, but this is pretty close. So, Mimi, you are now inked on Jason...at least until the marker washes off.

Hannah said this was a drawing of herself.

The finished product thanks to the "belly pen" and a willing 3 year old artist.

Invigorated

Fall is finally here! I am LOVING the fact that it is cooling off significantly here and we are enjoying open windows and lots of time outdoors. In so many ways, the fall weather has left me feeling invigorated. I don't know what it is about changing seasons, but it has done my heart good. I love decorating for the fall and feeling the cool breezes in the morning. All of these things have left me feeling refreshed. I feel renewed to tackle parenting (which has been better lately since behavior has improved) and to get out and do more things outside. The TX heat is so awful here that we spend much of the summer indoors...bummer! So, it has been great to get outside again. I think Hannah can tell the difference too. The change in attitude in me and the renewal she gets from being outdoors.

I am so thankful to God for this time of renewal that has come from the changing seasons. Man, I love the fall!

While we won't be swimming much outdoors anymore I thought these pictures of Hannah were cute.

We have spent a lot of time on the swings in the backyard. Hannah is getting the hang of using her legs to swing herself. It is a slow learning process, but we are working on it.

We also had a week full of grandparents, which was awesome! My grandmother (Hannah's great-grandmother) came down on Friday to see us. It was a great visit and Hannah loved showing Grandmother all of her toys and basically talked her ear off. Thanks for visiting grandmother, it was wonderful!

We also got to see Papaw and Granny twice this week which was awesome! Since they live 2.5 hours away, seeing them twice in one week is a treat for us. Hannah, of course, enjoyed seeing them as well and had much to share with them. Thanks for visiting Papaw and Granny, we loved seeing you!

So, all in all, this season has been delightful! God is so good!