Halloween 2011

A little late posting, but better late than never.  Here is a photo of the kids from Halloween with my mom and dad (aka- Zombie).  The weather prevented us from going outside the year (more than just a steady drizzle, it was a steady, heavy rain!).  We opted for Crabtree mall.  The candy wasn't as good, but we all stayed dry!

Something special from my special boy!

A note like this means everything!  It made me feel over the moon happy and appreciated.  I happen to think he is the best son in the world, so his feelings are certainly reciprocated.  He is a GREAT son!  Thank you Davis, for the sweet note.  I love you.

Pop Pop Painting Hanna's Fingernails

This photo says it all...just precious!

Happy Birthday Hanna!

Our baby turned 4 last weekend!  What a fast year, but it has been full of blessing and progress.  Hanna's English has really improved.  She is having full conversations, no longer speaking with single words to let us know what she needs.  She loves school, is fully engaged in speech therapy, sleeping better and is out of pull ups (for some time now, actually).  We are so proud of her and how she has adjusted to all the change she has experienced.  As parents we focus on keeping the family going, and probably take for granted how well she has acclimated to our family.  We celebrated her birthday at Gymcarolina this year with cupcakes (yes, her favorite).  What a good time and we thank all of our friends who came out to celebrate with us.  It was that much more special because they were there. We give glory to God and thank him every day for a healthy, happy family.

Happy Birthday, Hanna.  We love you so much!  Here are a few pre-party shots I was able to capture of her outside in her birthday outfit.  (Thanks, Oma!  It was a precious outfit.)

Here are a few shots from the party.  What kid doesn't like to jump on a trampoline, fall into a pit of foam, and roll around?

Warm up session before the fun begins...

She sure does love the Happy Birthday song and all the attention.  I could eat her up!

Happy Birthday to you...

Seis & Football

During dinner I asked Davis if he would like to go outside and throw football.  He said "yes!" but little did he know I did it to get out of playing Wii.  It's not my favorite.  Seis decided to join us and it ended up being a full on tackle game.   Me, Vince and Davis against Seis.  I wish I had a video to post of how quick and swift he was.  He would even jump to catch the ball and duck between legs with the ball in his mouth.  It ended up being lots of fun and Davis now thinks he has the best dog in the world!  Here are a few shots of them relaxing at the end of almost a full half hour of running and tackling.

Cherub Choir AND Children's Choir

This year has been one of adjustments for the parents, not the kids.  We have really settled into having a busy life with kids activities and homework!  I'm not complaining, but I will tell you that it takes a few weeks to get your groove.  I have learned a few things recently.  I know the last minute we can leave work before being late, whether we should eat dinner before or after an activity, whether we should do baths in the morning or evening etc.  Each week our efficiency is improving.  With that said, the one day we don't have to worry about all those things are Sunday evenings at 5pm.  It's that time the kids go to choir practice.  A Sunday practice is how I justify breaking my rule of letting the kids be involved in more than one activity each, at a time.  This is Davis' second year in the children's choir, and Hanna's first year in the Cherub choir.  They both did great and I am super proud of them!  Here are a few shots of them during their performance.  You can probably tell Hanna was a sponge to all the attention I was throwing her way from the front pew.

What A Girl Wants

If you know Hanna, you know she makes her wants very clear.  She is already having opinions about what she wants to wear, what she wants to eat and most recently, how she wants to wear her hair.  Pig tails are her new favorite.  She has worn them all week.  I have to get to Target to get matching rubber bands!  I have so few matching sets.  I snapped this picture this morning while we ate breakfast at Chick-fil-A.  Gotta love her!

Student of the Week

Davis made Student of the Week and he was thrilled!  The theme in his class is Hollywood Red Carpet.  There is a special reward each day of the week for the student of the week and it ends with star sunglasses and his name on a star in the hall of fame.  Here is a photo that I was able to catch of him with his hand touching his star (his name is there, but its hard to tell from the photo).  We are so proud of our student of the week!  Way to go Davis!

Davis' first Soccer Game

Today was Davis' first official soccer game with the YMCA.  His team is the named the Saber Cats and today's game was against the Panthers.

He has played soccer since he was at Primrose (Kinder Kixx program).  That mostly involved skills training and no games.  We put him in the Lil' Kickers program in Morrisville after he graduated from Primrose and we were impressed with the skills he knew from his time participating in Kinder Kixx.  Mainly because it was part of an extra curricula we signed him up for, it was during the school day so we never saw what he learned in that program other than we kicked around in the back yard.  It was clear he wanted to play games at Lil' Kickers when all he wanted to do was hurry through the skills training to play the scrimmage game at the end of the session.  We figured it was time to sign him up for another league when he kept asking to play soccer.  We wanted a program that would have actual games.  We have been pleased with the Y program so far.

Davis did great today, hustled the whole time and even scored the first goal of the season!  He was very proud of himself.  As were we.  Here are a few shots from the game.

Hanna obviously prefers the iPad to the game.  Good thinking Oma!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

My sister in law recorded Hanna singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in the car on the way back to our house today for my brother.  She got her lines mixed up a bit, but its precious anyway.  Davis also gave a shout out to Uncle Nick at the end of the video (after being busted with his thumb in his mouth).  Enjoy!