Thanksgiving

We were blessed once again this year celebrated Thanksgiving with both of our families. We started the day at Jason's parents' in Owosso.



Both kids were fairly healthy, except for runny noses, and ready to for the big day.





Jason's grandpa joined us for the feast.



Hannah did great sitting up at the table with the adults. Of course, the highlight of her meal was the turkey cookie that she got to eat as a reward for going potty.



Little Buddy hanging out with a full tummy.



After our first meal of the day, we joined my family for phase 2 in Frankenmuth. It was so nice to be with my entire family, including all of my immediate family and my cousins. After dinner and dessert, we all had it out in a competitive game of Trivial Pursuit, circa 1981. I think after going around and around the board, we finally just called it a tie.




Says it all...

5 Years

On November 26, Jason and I celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary.

We celebrated pretty simply.

Take-out Chinese on fine China after the kids went to sleep. (My parents took the kids for a few days earlier in the week as an early gift.) As we reflected on the past 5 years, we were amazed at how quickly the time has gone and yet how many things have changed...

Our parents have become grandparents...

Our faith in God and each other has deepened...

We have lost ones who were very dear...

We have found a new church, new jobs...

We have treasured our longtime friends and added new ones...

We have been through good times and bad, mostly good...

And we wouldn't change a thing.

Making progress

Potty training continues, even at Grandma's house...

She actually is doing really well, telling us when she needs to go. If we could just get over this fear of pooping on the potty, we'd be all set.

Santa Parade

We've watched the GR Santa Parade on TV for a few years, but this year we thought that Hannah was old enough to enjoy it in person. Since it was only 33 degrees when it was time to go, and Jack had a bit of a cold, my mom stayed home with him while Jason, Hannah, my dad, and I headed downtown. We arrived about 45 minutes before the start of the parade and found a great spot on Fulton across from VanAndel Arena.

The sun was out, so we figured it would warm up fairly quickly, but boy were we wrong. It was soooo cold!! Since we had some time before the parade started, and it was "colder than a dog's nose" as my dad says, my dad took Hannah to get hot chocolate.

Hannah's first hot chocolate was a HUGE hit. I think she was supposed to share with Papa, but that didn't happen.


We discovered that the new mittens that I got Hannah were cute but not very practical. She had a hard time keeping them on, but she didn't seem to mind.


Hannah really did enjoy the parade, especially collecting all of the candy (although the mittens made that a bit of a challenge!).

One of Hannah's favorites.

Of course, Jason's favorite.

About 2/3 of the way throught the parade, there was a HUGE gap. Since we'd been outside for about an hour and a half and were all freezing by that point, we decided to pack up and head out. So, no, we didn't see Santa, but Hannah didn't even seem to notice. I think she was ready to thaw out, too.

Hair cut

Hannah's hair has gotten so long. It's almost to the middle of her back! However, the ends were getting a little stringy, so last week, I took Hannah to her have it trimmed up.

All week long, I pepped Hannah up about the spinny chair, big mirror, and pretty cape that she'd get to wear. My hair dresser Stacie got to do the honors.

My mom went along with us and was a big help, showing Hannah pictures to help keep her head down while Stacie worked on the back.

Hannah did amazingly well, barely moving the entire time. We ended up taking about 1 1/2" off, and it now looks much better!

Craft time

Instead of wasting Jack's morning naptime, I've decided to try to make it more of a constructive learning time for Hannah (or least attempt it anyway!). Up until now, about the only artsy activity she's done is coloring in her coloring books. Since I'm not crafty at all, I looked up some ideas and thought this one was doable for both of us. I glued a tree trunk to a piece of paper and cut out leaves. I then let Hannah glue them and stick them to the tree. She LOVED it! I discovered that she's very methodical (go figure with 2 parents who are engineers) and lined all of her leaves up in a perfect row down the trunk. When she was all done, we proudly displayed her artwork on the fridge for her to show Daddy when he got home.

I think craft supplies will definitely be on the Christmas list this year!

Two Peas in a Pod

I was getting breakfast ready one morning, I laid Jack on his blanket for some tummy time where I could see him. Hannah had laid down to play with Jack, nothing unusual about that. As I was getting everything together, the kids were "playing". When I looked up, much to my surprise, this is what I saw:

I'm sure it was ALL Jack's idea :-)

32 months old

Oh my, oh my do we have a 2 1/2 going on 13 year old on our hands these days. Here's the latest on Hannah:


*She is Miss Independent and likes to do everything on her own. If you help her with a task without asking, she will undo everything you've done and start over.


*Drama, drama, drama. She can spontaneously break into tears over the smallest thing without skipping a beat.


*She loves her brother. The first thing she asks in the morning is to kiss Jack. This morning when I went into get them up, they were both laying nearest each other in their cribs, and Hannah was "petting" Jack's head through the slats.


*She is learning her manners. She is getting very good at saying thank you and excuse me. We're still working on please, but she's getting it.

*Some of her common phrases are "Just mine." and "You carry it. I have full hands." (usually when I have an armload of stuff and she is carrying only a thing or two).


*Potty training is going all right. She is getting better at telling us when she needs to go.

*She gets herself mostly dressed, although from time to time we have flashbacks to Criss Cross from the 80's with her pants on backwards.

*She's really starting to develop an imagination. She likes to change her baby's diaper (including putting on her diaper cream), put her in her carrier, and put her in the grocery cart to go to the grocery store. She's also big on playing The Polar Express (surprise, surprise) and regularly tells me she lost her ticket.

*She got kicked out of her high chair now that Jack is using it, so she's eating with us at the table. We still need to get her a booster seat, so until then, she's on her knees.

*Now that it's getting dark out earlier, bedtime has moved back a bit. She's usually in bed by 7:30. Since it's also getting light out earlier, she's up around 7:30. She still takes an afternoon nap most days as well, although if she misses one from time to time she still does all right.

*She is a good eater most of the time, especially if we give her any sort of dip. She'll even eat raw onions!

*She loves to sing and is putting more and more lyrics together. Her favorites are Jesus Loves the Little Children (or Red, Black as she calls it), My Favorite Things (we regularly hear "so bad"), Do-Re-Me, and Jesus Loves Me.

*She really enjoys reading stories from her Bible. Her favorites are David and Goliath and Zaccheus. I think she likes these b/c I've also taught her the Sunday School songs about these stories that I learned when I was little.

It seems like in the past couple of months, Hannah has really transitioned from a toddler to a pre-schooler. She's grown up so much and is doing so many "big kid" things now. Time really does pass so quickly. We're thankful for every day with her!

Playing outside

Mmmm!

Tonight's menu - mashed and slightly diluted avacado.


Going in for the taste.


From his response it appears he likes it.

I think we have a winner!

Birthday

Jason has class on Tuesdays, and since my birthday fell on a Tuesday this year, we celebrated on Sunday instead. Jason was so excited to give me my present. He knew it was the perfect present (and on clearance, too!). To my surprise, he and the kids got me a mixer! In addition to the nice present, Jason also got me a cake and a beautiful bouquet of flowers.



Since it was just the kids and I on our own on my birthday, we packed up after naps and headed to Frederik Meijer Gardens in the afternoon to enjoy the beautiful day.

To our surprise, the staff was hard at work getting the Christmas trees up and ready for the holiday season. Needless to say, Hannah was overjoyed! (sidenote - Notice the bag over Hannah's shoulder. She had to carry her little diaper bag over her shoulder with her the entire time we were there. She wasn't even wearing diapers but just needed to have that bag. Such a girl!)


Hannah insisted that I take a picture of her next to the "sleeping lady in her jammies."

Again, another picture Little Miss insist I take. Lately, she's big into either telling me when or when not to take her picture.

Mr. Mister enjoying the fresh air.

Walking into the Children's Garden like she owned the place.

Me and my little guy on Mama's special day :-)

Hanging out in the robin's nest.

On our way out to visit the "giant neigh neigh", Hannah had to stop and get a picture on Mr. Meijer's lap.

A beautiful angle of the big horse, don't you think? I did think it was striking to see it's size in comparison to Hannah's little frame, though.

A goodbye kiss on our way back.

When we came back inside, a woman was taking a picture of her 2 sons in front of this tree with decorations from Japan. She looked to be of Japanese descent, so it made sense that she'd take a picture of the boys there. Hannah then had to have her picture taken in front of the same tree right after they were done.

And another "take my picture" shot.

After the Gardens, we made a stop by Panera for dinner. All of our afternoon activities made for one tired boy.

Rollin'

Mr. Jack has been rolling from his tummy to his back for about a month now. In the past few days, he's started rolling back the other way. Does this mean he's officially mobile??


Mr. Jack this morning. We laid him down on his back to sleep last night. When I checked on him before I went to bed, he was on his stomach. Then, when I went in this morning, he was back on his back, turned 180 degrees from the direction we laid him last night.


On his way over...


...and there go the legs.

He's working on sitting up on his own, too. Our little guy is turning into a big guy before our very eyes!

Dress Up

Yup, it's finally happened. Hannah's discovered that she can dress Jack up like her very own baby doll.

Notice the fashionable headband.


Of course, it wasn't long before Sissy had to wear it herself. I'm sure this won't be the last time that Jack gets subjected to her imagination!