Holidays on the iPhone

Since I don't carry my camera with me everywhere I go, I like to look through my iPhone to see what story my pictures tell.  Here are some of the pictures I took over the holidays.  We took 3 trips to see family starting in Nov when we went to California.  Then in Dec. we went to Colorado and finally to Birmingham.  It was quite a bit of traveling, but we had a blast.  Hannah was delighted to see her cousins and grandparents and enjoyed all the play time she had!  It was a joy!

 After Christmas in Birmingham, at Build a Bear with her bear "Snuggie."  We have never been to Build a Bear, but it was a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed it.

 At Sephoria doing makeup with her cousin.  Somehow Hannah came out looking bruised.  Maybe its because they were using blue and purple eyeshadow as blush.  Silly girls!

 On Christmas morning.

 Christmas Eve at Aunt Laura's house with sweet cousins in their matching pjs.

 In mid December we flew with Papaw and Granny to Colorado to see my brother and his whole family.  What a fun trip it was!  It was short but we enjoyed every minute of it!

On the airplane flight out to Colorado.

The whole family together.

My sweet Hannah loved the snow.  She enjoyed making tracks in the snow and making snowballs.

 Sweet cousins!

 We went to this fun little tea shop for lunch one day and then to a fun little shop after.  It was a great Sat. afternoon trip.

 Twister for the kids.

 For Thanksgiving we went to San Francisco to see Gramma and Grandpa.  We had a nice, quiet time there, which was such a blessing.

 Hannah in her purple outfit from Gramma.

 Hannah and I enjoyed our plane flights together.  Jason was on a different flight, so we got some girl time.  I have to say, flying with a four and a half year old was delightful.  It was so much easier than in the past and quite enjoyable.  She loves flying, especially since I let her pick whatever drink she wanted when they came by to serve drinks.  A rare but special treat!

At lunch with Gramma.

 At Pier 39 in the city.

Riding the carosel in the city.

Jason and I by the Golden Gate Bridge.

So, there is my iPhone recap of the holidays.  We had a blast!

Joy

For Christmas my sweet husband blessed me with a new camera lens.  I have absolutely loved using it (though I need to learn more about it).  On several occasions I have tried to use Hannah as my subject but my sweet 4 year old usually has better things to do than to smile into my new camera lens.  So, these photo session usually turn into something like this...



That's OK...I then turned the camera to our sweet Molly, who in her aging condition is a bit more compliant.  Isn't that such a sweet face!  Molly doesn't get the blog attention like Hannah does, but this sweet pup has been such a joy to our family.  Hannah loves her to pieces and she is the most faithful friend.  We love our sweet Molly!

Hannah decided she could get in on the action with Molly.  Our 2 sweet little ones!

These sweet faces bring me such joy!  We truly are blessed and I am deeply thankful!

Up next...a holiday recap of Thanksgiving and Christmas....I am a bit behind!



Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Christmas Season

We have had a lot going on this Christmas season.  Between activities here in Waco, traveling to Colorado, and daily work and life we have been quite busy.  However, we have really enjoyed how much this season also means to us.  Hannah really seems to be understanding more about why we celebrate Christmas and it is a joy to hear her express the meaning behind Christmas and to hear her pray fervently and thank God for sending Jesus.  Also, we have enjoyed time with friends and family which is always a joy. 

Hannah always enjoys time spent with her Daddy.  

 Hannah and her best little friend, David, who are just so sweet together!

We are soaking up these days together!

Ballet Recital

Our sweet ballerina had her first ballet "recital" this week.  I loved it because they didn't do anything different than they do each week.  They called it a "parent observation" and just did their weekly stretching and dancing.  If wasn't stressful or scary for Hannah, just fun!  We had some good friends come along to watch our sweet Hannah and we all enjoyed dinner afterwards.  These are truly sweet days she Hannah grows into her own delightful little person.  We sure are proud of this little ballerina!

Self Control

Most people who spend any time with our Hannah Banana know that she LOVES, LOVES, LOVES her red blanket.  It was given to her by her Gramma when she was about 6 months old.  She, to this day, finds comfort, joy, and peace with her sweet red blanket.  You might also know that when she holds her red blanket she immediately sucks her thumb.  She began at a very early age and never stopped.  We eventually just let her do it since her red blanket and sucking her thumb was her way of soothing herself to sleep and even comforthing herself when she was upset.  It was actually quite cute to tell you the truth.  Here were some sweet pictures of her when she was younger...

 Sleeping on Mommy and Daddy's bed.

 Flying in Papaw's airplane.

Hanging out in California with family.

Well, up until last month, Hannah was still sucking her thumb any and every time she held her red blanet...even at 4 1/2 years old.  We then took her for her first visit to the dentist.  She has a full teeth cleaning and she did great!  However, the dentist told her that her teeth were quite bucked from sucking on her thumb and he even showed her how they don't touch when she bites down.  He showed her how his teeth touched and how Mommy's teeth thouched when we bite down.  She seemed a bit taken back by all of this talk (even though Jason and I had told her about this multiple times!).  He didn't come right out and say that she should stop but he told her that eventually she would need to stop if she wanted to teeth to not get worse.  



 When we got in the car after the dentist visit she announced to me that she was no longer going to suck her thumb.  And, I will tell you that my child has the self-control of an ox, because she has not stuck her thumb in her mouth once since then!  She still LOVES her red blanket, but she just holds it close now without sucking her thumb....HALLELUJAH! 

 

I really was so proud to see such determinition and self-control in her at this age!  And, I can already tell in one month that her teeth are correcting themself some.  Does this mean we can stop saving for braces...um...maybe not!