Hannah's Happenings

January 2019

Hannah's winter outfit during ballet practice.

January 2019

Moana showing the snow

January 2019

My balaclava makes a tube-top dress.

June 2018

I just love her laugh, her smile, and the clothes she puts together.

June 2018

This is Mom pulling off an awesome "do"

June 2018

Sometimes she puts an outfit together that just melts my heart. 

June 2018

Always coming up with something.

June 2018

Anytime someone gives Hannah stickers, she finds creative places to put them.

March 2018

Hannah loves her Ritter.

March 2018

Always making me smile

February 2018

Thirsty in the middle of sledding.

January 2018

I love how she puts outfits together herself. They juts crack me up. I have no idea where she gets this from because it certainly is NOT me or JB.

December 2017

Yes, that is three skirts. Did you even know this was possible? Who THINKS of this stuff?

December 2017

Enough said.

September 2017

I love this picture of Hannah. It is so her.

September 2017

I'm not sure what is funnier -- her wearing Joni's glasses or the deadpan expression on her face.

September 2017

Seriously. All her idea.

July 2017

JC Penney's is going out of sale by our house. I scored $543 worth of kids' clothes for $124!! The girls loved having the same clothes!

July 2017

While unloading our new guineas, Hannah showed up outside in a blue sparkly shirt and a blanket because she didn't want to go upstairs and get pants.

July 2017

Photo courtesy of my niece Grace -- Hannah wearing Grampa's duds.

May 2017

Photo courtesy of Linda!

May 2017

Photo courtesy of Linda!

May 2017

Photo courtesy of Linda!

May, 2017

We rent to "run" to the garbage dump and discovered it didn't open for another hour. So we stopped at a park. Hannah had just thrown something together, but we still had fun!

May, 2017

This green bow caused quite a stir. I put it in her hair and just thought it looked adorable. It's a little big for me, but I still just loved it. She did not want to wear it, and I decided to go to war for the bow. I won.

May, 2017

Sunday church attire. A pretty dress and crocks. Why not.

May, 2017

On the way back from church, she got one of my play necklaces stuck between her teeth. We had to pull over and have Daddy work it out. This came just a few days after she got a drapery cord wedged in her gums.

May, 2017

A necklace on her head makes her a princess!

May, 2017

Playing (and breaking) our friend Linda's red nose from Walmart.

May, 2017

Camping injury.

April 18, 2017

This picture is such a great snap of Hannah. She picked this outfit on herself (now that pants are her style again). She rolls the pants herself too and gets it just right. This picture just SCREAMS who she is -- such a little girl and a grown up all in one. 

April 18, 2017

Playing hide and seek with Auntie Rita and Grama Joni.

I just absolutely LOVE this picture.

April 18, 2017

She did this herself before bed. She then pretended to be asleep but fell asleep like this all night.

April 18, 2017

I told Hannah to go inside and put on some summer clothes. (She was wearing pajamas.) This is what she came up with.

April 2017

April 2017

I promise. She came up with this all on her own.

April 2017

A new friend brought some dresses to pass on to Hannah at school. She had to change immediately!

March 2017

This is so her.

March 2017

An applesauce spill.

March 2017

Joni asks Hannah why she doesn't wear pants.

March 11, 2017

A very cold day. Time to get warmed up.

March 4, 2017

She is crying because I have told her we can't wear the Cinderella dress and Dora the Explorer cape (held on with clothespin) to the grocery store. Here's a video of us discussing this costume. She wears this nearly every day for at least a portion of the day.

March 5, 2017

She refuses to wear pants. So when I told her she MUST put something on her bottom half, she opted for a pajama dress worn like a skirt. She wore it like this most of the day. 

February 2017
I'm just not sure I can accurately convey how these two pictures made me feel. These were taken over the course of just twelve hours. These are so my girl. She is truly one of the funnest, most challenging, most incredibly smart and sweet and sassy kiddo. She has been asking me to "talk like a queen" lately. So I have to talk in a very "royal" voice and address her as my princess. Ooodles. That's how much I love my children -- and my Hannah.

February 2017

When you ask your daughter to please change out of her Batgirl costume so that we can go run some errands. And she comes back downstairs dressed like this. Yeah. Pajamas. What's worse? Batgirl or PJ's for errands?

January 2017

December 2016

Getting warmed up to go see the piggies on the farm

September 20, 2016

 Swimming at our friend Michelle's house

September 13, 2016

In her new bed. Sleeping Hannah style.

August 31, 2016

Hannah has started coming downstairs, in the middle of the night, and sleeping on the couch. We don't hear her come down and don't know when she does this. We just find her the next morning sleeping on the couch. Not sure what to do about this.

August 2016

Hannah uses socks to decorate herself. That is ONE sock she is wearing on her feet.

August 2016

Finding Hannah has painted on her own.

July 2016

Hannah manages to get her seatbelt undone, shirt off, and then seatbelt redone while I am driving.

July 12, 2016

Hannah is always inventing something new that she is that day!

July 15, 2016

Helping us move pallets. Well, getting int he way mostly.

July 15, 2016

Every time I ask her to smile, this is what I get.

July 4, 2016

Yes she put her bike on the table!

July 3, 2016

At long last, Hannah has found something she likes to do (other than just wander around and get into things.) She still won't read many books (although when she does she likes Fancy Nancy) but she is doing puzzles! So wonderful to have something she loves!

July 3, 2016

Hannah came down the stairs like this and when we all acted scared, she said, "I'm sorry I scared you. It was just me."

June 26, 2016

Quick bike ride before bed.

 June 25, 2016

Stay calm ... and fingerpaint

June 6, 2016

The kids did an art project, and Hannah wanted to join them!

May 15, 2016

Going shopping with Daddy.

May 2, 2016

May 1, 2016

April 22, 2016

April 17, 2016

Randomly wearing her sister's church name tag on her forehead and spitting out two Connect Four pieces she had in her mouth.

April 2016

Hannah is off to work (this is a game she loves to play with me!)

April 2016

Hannah returns from work

April 12, 2016

Daddy was taking her out to run errands. Hard to believe but she put this ensemble together totally by herself. Ha!

April 12, 2016

Morning play time!

 April 11, 2016
Cake at the park. This was moments before she tried to put a piece in her mouth that had been in the grass and ended up with a mouthful of ... grass!

 April 5, 2016
Wearing her brothers shoes randomly.

February 20, 2016

February 9, 2016

Hannah has been VERY into reading ... and VERY into "Fancy Nancy." She always picks out girly books to read -- princesses and pink books (and sometimes Mickey Mouse)

February 8, 2016

Showing off her new rings (a present from Grama Di)

January 11, 2015

She created her own dance to the ABC Mouse intro tune. (Her brothers have been teaching her how to play!)

January 9, 2015

Those are mittens on her feet.

January 4, 2016

Don't ask.

January 3, 2016

Yes that is her having climbed up on the dryer to find her own bows for her hair. (Which she removes promptly after putting them in so I am not sure the point is.)

January 2, 2015

Unloading this dishwasher in her choice of attire.

December 25, 2015

With a bunch of her Christmas presents on at one time!

December 21, 2015

December 18, 2015

In preparation for Star Wars, she is wearing her Princess Leia headband from Ms. Patty!

December 16, 2015

December 15, 2016

December 14, 2016

Taking a break after all that getting dressed nonsense!

December 12, 2015

What you do with your stickers from Trader Joe's!

December 11, 2015

Decorating Christmas tree in safari hat and flowery tutu

December 10, 2015

Out of the bath tub clothes including skirt under her dress and two different shoes

December 9, 2015

For some reason she likes to show her belly lately whenever I try to take her picture

October, 2015

Hannah wearing my socks -- which she put on all by herself.

I have decided, as best I can, to include a photo of what Hannah is wearing on any given day. I can't possibly take a picture of everything since she changes clothes dozens of times a day, but I want to remember these pieces she puts together. (Why she lifts her shirt every time I ask her to take a photo is still confusing me.) These may also just include silly predicaments I find her in.

Sickness & Ballet Conundrum

 "As a mom, one of the best things to have are friends who love and cherish your child just as much as you do." 

Friday night I was in a conundrum. My mother-in-law was very sick. JB had to work. On Saturday we had our first HUGE dress rehearsal for ballet which I was supposed to be helping with. (I am doing hair and a lot of management with the young kiddos downstairs.) The only problem was that Isaac was VERY sick as well, and Hannah didn't seem to be doing well either.

My cousin's wife, Hannah Grace, offered to take the sick kids to her house as she had sick kids too, but I just didn't feel good about this option. I really wanted the kids to be home in their own beds when they were sick. My father-in-law was also willing to help, but Grama was sick too, and I felt that was too much for him.

I needed someone here who wasn't too afraid of getting sick and would love my kids and take care of them like a mom would. 

I texted my good friend Anni who lives in Knoxville and offered a babysitting job. She's a school teacher so she wasn't too worried about getting sick. And so she came. And she played all day with Hannah (who ended up feeling totally fine) and took care of Isaac (who stayed on the couch all day.)

They also did some dressing up with Arabelle:

I'm so blessed in my life to have community that stands alongside you when you need them most. This has been an incredibly trying month for us between family drama, John's work drama, and the ballet. 

But awesome people make the journey so manageable!

We Bought a Farm: Who Needs CrossFit?

Today was one of those farm days that literally ... 

kicked

my 

butt!

Here's my truth: 

Ever since I have started farming, I honestly just can't imagine exercising any other way. 

Don't get me wrong. I understand why people do exercise other ways. But for me ... now ... I can't imagine exercising without my farm included. 

My LIFE is like CrossFit. Except I am doing exercises that need to be done on the farm. 

And so I have been thinking about this fact.

Why don't people stop doing Crossfit and instead just find a local farm and help them do hard labor work on their farm? Farmers would have free labor and exercisers wouldn't need to pay money to exercise.

(I'm semi-joking here but not really.)

I'm also amazed, as the above video shows, by how much I have learned about trees and nature and all that kind of stuff. Listen to how smart I sound on this video!

#Icantbelievethisismylife

We Bought a Farm: Wonderful Winter

 "I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, 'Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again." Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

It was supposed to RAIN all day. No SNOW forecasted. Only it's a tad colder than they thought it would be and so we are getting snow. Lots and lots of thick, beautiful, flakes of snow.

Videos don't do it justice, but we tried:

And then Moana decided to model in front of the window the snow outside -- again, pictures don't cut it -- but I do love showing my cutie pie. 

In this first picture Hannah is wondering if I can "see" the invisible straps that hold up her top. "Can you see them Mama? Does it look like I don't have anything holding it on?"

And this picture below captures the faces Hannah gives us when she gets a little punchy/spunky/silly/funny:

Mothers in Waiting

 

I don't even know what to say or how to say it. 

I just know that when Crystal Bowman first contacted me, asking for my help in bringing together women whose hearts had broken by infertility, I didn't give it much thought. Sure I'd help her. Sure I knew a lot of women who had dealt with this. But this still had a long way to go. It had to be written and find a publisher and be accepted and then be printed. 

(I honestly didn't really think it would happen.) I know how these things go. Crystal warned me too. Getting a book published isn't a little thing. 

So now, many moons later, to be holding this book in my hands? My emotions are swirling. I curled up on the window seat in the corner of my kitchen and begged God for the kids to be quiet for a few minutes longer so I could keep reading. 

I read the story of our Grama Joni. I read the story of the four little boys she lost. 

I read the story of my new friend LaShea. About the biological children she never held but the adopted sons that grew just as closely to her heart. 

Then JB came home. He saw the book. He told the kids, "Your Mommy wrote a chapter in this book!" And they seemed excited. And they asked if they could read it. And I said yes knowing that it might elicit a lot of questions about the time that they never existed and I only dreamed that they might.

I still dreaming of writing "my own book" but truly, this amazes me. To see the purpose in my pain. So many years have gone by since I started this Blog and started penning my pen.

And now I get to see my pen on paper. 

I'm smiling,