December 2015

We started the month with our choir and orchestra Christmas concert.  The elementary choir always sings a few songs, so Hannah got to participate as well.  And my parents came to the concert so both girls got to listen....a first for them since Mommy and Daddy are always on stage playing.
(photo credit: David Alvey)

Poor Hannah missed a few more days of school.  Her only symptom was fever but it would not go away and lasted 4 days.  We're glad she's feeling better and didn't share her germs.

The preschool choir also did a little Christmas performance where they sang 5 songs they learned this semester.  No singing photos, because Mommy and Daddy were both busy helping since that's the choir we work with.  They were so cute and Abigail loved getting to sing on stage.  They did have a photo booth set up in the lobby.  (Photo credit to David Alvey)

I'm happy to report that Domino has been a very good boy with the Christmas tree.  I was REALLY worried that he would try and climb it, knock it over, take off all my ornaments, etc.  So glad that has not been the case.  He is very interested in the ribbon on the packages though.  =)

We have enjoyed Hannah's break from school!  We've baked goodies for neighbors, had some friends over the play, met Daddy for lunch, puppet shows at the library, and just played at home.  We also made a gingerbread house with Grammy, lots of coloring and played at the park one afternoon (when it was warm).

Last month I mentioned taking photos for our Christmas cards. We actually got quite a few good photos.  My mom does such an awesome job. These are just two of my favorites.

We also continued our tradition of taking pictures of the girls by the Christmas tree at night.  This photo session did not go as well....it took two tries before we actually got anything good.  Once the girls were ready to cooperate we got several cute photos.  Only posting a few favs though. This is my mom's beautiful tree and living room, not mine.  =)

Hannah is SIX

I know I say this every year...but seriously where has the time gone.  This sweet girl can't be SIX already!!

 The 4 of us went out to dinner the day before Hannah's birthday to celebrate.  Then last weekend we celebrated with my family....hence this post being late.

Hannah loved her Pinkalicious cake, yummy dinner, and is having lots of fun playing with her new doll Emily Rose.  We opted for a less expensive doll since she is young and to make sure she will really play with it before spending big bucks on American Girl!

November 2015

We've officially hit the crazy busy season at our house.  Gearing up for Christmas concerts at church means lots of extra rehearsals.  It also means time to start planning a Christmas card photo session with my mom. So thankful for her and all her hard work, think we got some cute pictures.  Cards coming soon.  =)

Hannah had the whole week of Thanksgiving off school and Nathan took vacation days too.  Nice to have some time to spend together.  In addition to taking Christmas pictures we also went to the zoo.  Then the rain came and we enjoying playing at home and putting up Christmas decorations.  LOVED having both girls home!

The church children's choir did their concert before Thanksgiving.  They did a great job!  It was so fun to watch Hannah sing and see how much she's grown up.  The choir performed a musical and then some of the small group classes performed, including Hannah's puppet group.  Nathan got a video of the puppet performance but the file is too big to include here.  So a picture will have to do.  These are black light puppets and Hannah is the pink snake in the bottom right corner. (Photo Credit goes to David Alvey, church photographer)  She knew all the words and motions to the songs. (Photo Credit goes to David Alvey, church photographer)

Speaking of Hannah growing up, she lost her first tooth.  And by lost I mean, it was truly gone.  It wiggled for about a week and was hanging by a thread.  She would NOT let us pull it.  My parents came to see Hannah's program and asked to see her wiggly tooth.  She opened her mouth and realized it was gone.  My guess is she swallowed it.  She wrote a letter to the tooth fairy and was so surprised the next morning.  She found a note from the tooth fairy saying she would look for her tooth and to enjoy a new pencil and some money.  Hannah said "Mommy I thought the tooth fairy was imagination, but she's real and she left me a present!"  Her only exposure to the tooth fairy was in books so she thought it was pretend.  So fun to see her excited!

Still can't get used to the toothless smile!

October 2015

Wow October is already over....time flies!  It is finally starting to cool off a little so we've enjoyed much more time outside this month.  We've visited several parks and even the zoo.

One Friday we took a walk to the college by my parents house to feed the geese and turtles.  Abigail had lots of fun!  The last photo was taken on our walk...she loves sitting on that little rock.

My mom and I also took Abigail to the Arboretum to see all their pumpkins.  Lots of fun, but the actually pumpkin village was swarming with people.  Thankfully there were some other less popular spots to get some pictures.  We were sad that Hannah didn't get to join us this year.

Speaking of Hannah....she is still enjoying school.  We had our first parent/teacher conference and her teacher only had good things to say.  My favorite was "Hannah is helpful and kind!"  Just what mommy and daddy want to hear.  =)  She had her first illness and missed almost all of this school week.  Glad she is feeling better. Hannah is also doing a puppet class as part of choir at church.  They are learning how to operate a puppet and will "perform" one song at their program in November.

I was super excited not to have to come up with a Halloween costume this year.  Our Minnie (and Mickey) ones still fit from last year and the girls wanted to wear them again.  I was ALL over that!!!  We went to my sister's church Fall Festival last weekend and hope to trick or treat our neighborhood tonight if it doesn't rain.  No new costume pictures this year...but here's one from last year to enjoy.

September 2015

It may be fall, but it sure doesn't feel like it in Texas.  It's still hot, humid, and in the 90's.  It is at least slightly cooler in the morning.  Despite the heat our last official swim was Labor Day.  It gets just cool enough at night to make the water cold.  By our last swim Abigail finally had fun wearing her puddle jumper, before she was only happy if you were holding her.  Hannah had no fear this summer, she was everywhere.  And she LOVED jumping off the diving board.  Here's some swimming pics from various days this summer.

Hannah is still liking school, although she has a hard time remembering what they do all day.  I get a general idea if I ask REALLY specific questions. LOL!  She misses not going to Grammy's on Friday and isn't too fond of waking up early either.  But other than that, she's having a great time.  

Abigail is LOVING being the only one at home.  She does miss Hannah, but she is perfectly happy playing by herself and not sharing Mommy or the toys.  All our fall church activities have kicked off so we're gone about 3 mornings a week.  Both girls are enjoying church choir.  Hannah is upstairs now with the elementary kids.  Abigail is in the choir Nathan and I teach which she thinks is super cool!

A few weeks ago my mom wanted to experiment with taking some silhouette pictures.  They live right by a junior college that has a nice big hill.  So we headed down one night after dinner.  My mom didn't get as many good shots as she had hoped, but said she learned a lot.  And we both love these few!

August 2015

This post will be a little shorter since I just did a big school post about Hannah last week.  We have done a few other things this month that I wanted to mention.  It's still super hot so we spent time in the pool.  I promise there are more swimming pictures, but my mom spent her time editing school photos first.

We even had my cousin and her two boys over to swim and play.  So much fun!  Thomas finished his 2nd year of cello and he wanted to play for us and with my sister.  This concert was my favorite part of the day!!  Wish I had gotten video of the duet they played, beautiful!

We did have two days of really nice weather, a storm blew through that cooled things off.  Sadly our house didn't get much rain.  But we took full advantage of the cooler temperatures and headed to the park.

And I'll close with a few shots of the girls in my parents front yard.  They love all the flowers, benches, and the swing.  =)

First Day of Kindergarten

I still can't believe sweet Hannah is in Kindergarten.  She's grown up so much in the last 5 years, but she'll always be my baby girl!

I knew I wanted two different styles of school photos and my mom was kind enough to take them for me.  I am so so thankful for all the pictures she takes and the many hours she spends editing them.  So many precious memories I can look back on.  These first pictures are from our vintage school photo shoot.  My mom has an awesome friend that let us borrow all her antique things.  I think we ended up with almost 30 pictures, but here's just a few of my favorites!

I also wanted more traditional pictures of Hannah at her school and with her backpack. The first day of school is CRAZY!!!!  Lots and lots of parents and rushed for time, so we cheated and took them early.  We went up to school the week before and told Hannah this was pretend first day of school. LOVE how these turned out too.

We live about a block and half away from school so it's only a 10 minute walk, much better than sitting in the crazy long carpool line. =) Nathan was able to work from home the first day so he got to walk with us too. Hannah loves her sweet teacher Mrs Beckham and she's making new friends too.  It's been a great first week!

I'm still getting used to only having one child at home.  It's much quieter!!  And I keep trying to sign up both girls for childcare at various church activities and then realize I only need to sign up one.  Abigail seems to enjoy being the only one and having Mommy to herself.  =)

July 2015

I know I said it last month...but the summer is seriously FLYING by!  School is right around the corner and I'm not ready yet!  July has been busy with HOT HOT temperatures, swimming lessons, a visit from my cousin, and a trip to Arkansas.  One of our favorite things is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a, dress like a cow and eat for free.  I made costumes for us last year and they still fit.  =)

Miss Julia, the same sweet former student of my mom's, taught swimming lessons again this year.  Hannah's first few times in the pool with us did not look promising...she did NOT want to put her face in the water.  But she overcame her fear in the first lesson and has made REALLY great progress.  She is almost swimming independently.  Lessons are over, but we're still hoping to get in the water a few more times with her and practice what she's learned.

This was Abigail's first year to do lessons.  She also stared out really hesitant, not really even wanting to get in the water.  She's made good progress as well.  She has no problem going in now, blows bubbles, and kicks her legs too (not always at the same time though).  We're still working on floating, she is not nearly as relaxed as Hannah.  Both girls LOVE Miss Julia, she is so patient and sweet.

We haven't spent much time outside unless we're in the water....TOO HOT!!  But my sister, the girls and I, did take my cousin to the zoo while she was in town.  It was super hot, but overall a good visit.  Thankfully they had fans and misters set up to cool off.

We spent last weekend in Arkansas visiting Nathan's family.  We had a really good visit with his dad and sister (no pictures, his apartment is too dark), and had dinner with good friends.  We also decided to drive an hour north to visit the University of Arkansas where Nathan went to school.  He enjoyed showing us around campus.  The university has a neat tradition of carving the names of all graduates in the sidewalks.  The girls thought it was cool to find Daddy's name.

 All the above photos were taken with my phone, but my mom is slowly catching up on editing photos. These were taken in June.  Enjoy!