My Girls

These are a few pictures of Hannah Beth that one of my best friends and neighbor, Sue, took for me. I cannot figure out how to make them bigger, but I think they turned out just precious. Hannah is wearing the exact same dress that Hayley wore in her one year pictures too.

Here is Hayley at one.

Oh my girls! They are just precious. I was so excited when I found out that I was having another girl mostly because Hayley was going to have a SISTER! I love my sister dearly and we have such a fun relationship, so I was so thrilled that Hayley and Hannah were going to have each other just like Holly and I. A shopping buddy for LIFE!!

Miss Hannah Beth's Birthday Party

The pictures say it all. We had a wonderful time celebrating our baby girl with great friends and family!

1st and 235th

Hannah Beth you are ONE year old today! How can a year possibly go by so very fast? I blink and another moment has passed, but oh how fun it has been to watch you grow this past year.

So what is the 235th for you may ask? Well, that is how old the Marine Corps is today. That's right. Our sweet bundle of a baby girl wrapped in pink was born on the same day the Marine Corps was established in a Tavern in Philadelphia. Only seems fitting since your Daddy is one of the few and the proud. We got SEVERAL "Oorah" messages from all our USMC friends the day you made your arrival.

So now that you are a big ONE year old, what are you up to these days.

Let's see!

You are pulling up on EVERYTHING and you love to play play play! If I pick you up off the floor while you are in the middle of something, you fuss and yell. I think you are going to have an opinion on all things and you will definitely let us know how you feel. You will stand in your pack n play and just jibber jabber while pointing at things around the room. It seems like you are giving us all a speech about how things should be.

You have four teeth now, two on the top and two on the bottom. I have given you pieces of cheese, peas, fruit puffs, bread, yogurt melts, and pieces of banana. You have loved all of them, but you still really like baby food. I have tried stage 3 foods with you and so far so good.

You love to wave and say "Hi" to everyone. Every time a car passes while we are playing out side, you smile and wave. You are becoming quite the social butterfly and just love watching all the big kids play. You even mimic Mama and pretend you are on the phone by putting your hand up against your ear and chatting.

When it is time for a nap or bedtime, you lay your head on my shoulder and say "Ni Ni" to me and anyone who is around. I cuddle you up and we go rock in your chair. You have started to give hugs and love to give kisses. You pucker your lips up and make the "MMMMMMM Ah" sound when you go in for a kiss. So so sweet.

You are picking up on more signs now, which is so helpful when you try to communicate with us. "All Done", "milk", and "more" are standard signs that you can do, and we are working hard on the signs for "please" and "down".

You still love for me to sing to you and it always seems to calm you down. "The Wheels on the Bus" is a favorite as well as "Jesus Loves Me". You will sit and let me rock you forever while I sing and read to you. Some of my favorite times of the day are rocking you in your room.

Hannah Beth you bring such joy to our lives as this family of 5. You are such a sweet blessing and can't wait to watch you grow this next year. We love you to pieces baby girl!

Happy 1st Birthday.

BOO Y'all!

What a fun time we had celebrating Halloween this year with our neighbors. A little chili dinner and scavenger hunt was put together before the trick or treating festivities began. Here is Hannah with one of her cheesy grins. LOVE!

Strawberry Shortcake (aka Hayley)

Superman (aka Luke)


Me, Renee (our host), and Sue
Great neighbors and friends

Tinkerbell (aka Hannah Beth)

One of many attempts at a group picture!

Madness!

Headed out to get some CANDY!

S.S. and the cutest monkey I ever did see!

My little Man of "Steele"

Bloggy Kind of Day

Hayley is home sick with me today. She has a cold and is running a low grade fever. She has watched Nick JR. all morning and colored a few pictures in between. I let her use my sorority lap board to color, and she is in love with it. That lap board has moved MANY times in its 14 year life span. I used it to grade papers when I was teaching and now my budding artist can use it for all her crafty needs. Yikes, my lap board is 14 years old.

It has been a good day to catch up on my blog, so I posted 4 things today not knowing when I will get the chance to sit down and post again in the next few weeks. I also spent some time mastering my cupcake skills this morning for the Halloween party at Hayley's school that she now does not get to attend due to a 100.1 fever at 2:00 this afternoon (24 hours fever free before you send them back to school). Boo. Oh well. I did save a few for us. Hope the kiddos in her class enjoy them.

Happy Halloween everyone.

Another Teacher?

Chris and I come from families of educators:

His Mom, my Mom, his sister, my brother, and my dad.

Oh, and me. It has been 8 years since I have been in the classroom. Wait! I take that back. I am in a "classroom" teaching my children everyday. 8 years since I have been in a public school classroom as a teacher.

Anywho, this week has been spirit week at Luke's school and Tuesday was dress like a teacher day. He kind of fits the bill, doesn't he?

Mr. Bailey, his principal, saw him in the hall and told Luke that they could be twins they look so much alike. Totally made his day.

I think he looks pretty handsome!

But I am biased.

I Think They Like Her

When we found out we were expecting Hannah Beth, I tried to come up with a fun way to tell the kids. I had grand ideas of them opening little presents that would be from their soon to be baby sister/brother. I thought about coming home with a bouquet of pink and blue balloons to share the news with them. And then morning sickness hit with no mercy and we had to tell them why Mommy was not feeling well ALL THE TIME!

They were both very excited and wanted to know if he/she was coming tomorrow. The whole "we have to wait 9 months" concept didn't really click. We measured time with holidays, and they began to understand a little better. "The baby is coming after Halloween (please Lord, not on Halloween) but before Thanksgiving (oh please, don't let me be 2 weeks over due, Lord)," were phrases heard in our house from April until Hannah Beth arrived on November 10th!

I wasn't sure what kind of reaction I would get from them because it had been just the two of them for nearly four and a half years. They are buddies, best friends, and someone coming in and disturbing their "thing" and also taking time from Mommy and Daddy was going to rock their little world a bit. I was more concerned about Hayley than Luke. Luke was still going to be the only boy, but Hayley was about to have share her princess title and I wasn't sure she was going to handle it well. She surprised us all with an amazing heart for her baby sister and how helpful she was with Hannah.

Both Luke and Hayley, have been the best helpers. They play with her, sing to her, read to her, have contests to see who can make her laugh more, and just plain LOVE her. Hannah Beth is one lucky girl to have such an amazing big brother and big sister.