June 2017

You would think now that school is out, we would have more free time.  WRONG!!  This month has been super fun, but crazy crazy busy.  So thankful that our church offers lots of amazing programs and that my schedule allows me to help and volunteer.

A few days after school got out we did VBS (Vacation Bible School) at church.  Our theme was "Short Circuit, Rewired for Life"...think lots of robots and gears.  The girls had a fantastic time learning about how God made us special and wants to be our friend.  I worked in the preschool music and story room again, think this is year 4 in that room.  It's the best room ever, and working alongside two good friends makes it even better.

We had a few days off between activities and headed up to AR to visit Nathan's family.  We had a great visit and Daddy even pulled out some old games and puzzles from the garage for the girls.

 Daddy joined the puppet show at the church he grew up at.

 We also had some NOT FUN things happen this month. Our air conditioner broke and was unable to be repaired. =(  So we spent two very HOT weeks with no AC while getting 3 companies out to give us quotes for a brand new system.  Thankfully everything is fixed now and our house no longer feels like a sauna. 

Week three was music camp for elementary age kids.  This week is always super busy and chaotic, but it is so much fun!  We had 170 kids that learned an entire musical in one week.  Most of the songs were scripture so lots of God's word was hidden in our hearts.  Since I was working, Abigail got to participate as well even though she was technically too young. She learned all her words and motions so she got to perform in the program on stage too. Hannah decided to audition for a solo and she was part of a quartet on one of the songs.  Super proud of her! She also took a craft class and a dance class. It was an amazing week and I'm so glad I got to participate. Our church photographer Jack Hess took these great photos.

 LOTS and LOTS of kids worshiping God!

Hannah singing with her quartet...other singers not pictures. 

Crafts from class 

Tambourine dance

Last but not least, this week is Preschool Music camp.  Much less intense than last week!  This year Hannah is too old to participate so she has been my assistant.  The older kids (4 and 5 year olds) rotate through my room and two others and by the end of the week they have learned 6 songs.  Then they sing them for their parents on the last day.  This is my 4th year to do this camp and I think it's my last.  It's has been lots of fun though!

3/12/13

Last month began with a special treat for Hannah.  Our local Chick-fil-a hosts a Daddy Daughter Date Night in February for Valentine's Day.   Next year both girls can go since Abigail will have enough teeth to eat with.  =)  This year there was a photographer that brought props and took a picture of each dad with his "date."  LOVE this!

In last months post I wrote about Hannah memorizing Colossians 3:16 and posted a video link.  We also posted that link on Facebook and it was shared by LOTS of people.  It got sent to our pastor and they watched it in staff meeting.  They contacted us and asked if they could show the video in the service.  We said yes and they showed it in both services on Feb 24!  They showed the video within the first 15 minutes of the service so Nathan brought her in to see it and then took her back to her classroom.  She seemed to think it was neat.  Definitely a proud parenting moment!

I'm almost afraid to say it, but sleep issues have finally taken a turn for the better!  Hannah will occasionally wake up to potty in the middle of the night, but it's not every night.  And she's been doing better going to sleep as well.  We were constantly trying new tricks or rewards to get her to go right to sleep and not play or come out of her room 52 times.  Hannah has 2 or 3 stuffed animals that "sleep" on the big bed in her room since she still sleeps in a toddler bed.  One night Nathan took one of the animals and set him up on the dresser.  He told Hannah that Wrinkles was going to watch her and see if she could go right to sleep.  For some reason that worked, so Wrinkles now watches every night.  =) We'll see how long it lasts.

We made a Fruit Loop necklace with Grammy a few weeks ago.  Hannah wasn't sure at first, but then had lots of fun.  She enjoyed modeling her necklace when she as done, and it's also been a great snack.  Gotta love those fun activities that also work on fine motor skills.  Shh don't tell!  Here's some cute pictures!

Hannah enjoys letters so much that we've slowly started working on writing.  We thought we'd start with the letters in her name, since she can tell you how to spell it.  She figured out capital H all by herself.  A friend of mine teaches kindergarten and recommended not teaching your child to write their name in all capital letters. So I showed her the rest of the letters in lower case.  She can finally write them all.  Hannah still needs help knowing where on the page to write the letters (she wants to write them all over or on top of each other), but with a little help she can write her name.  Go Hannah!

And enjoy one of my favorite pics!
 

2/12/13

Hannah is definitely a three year old.  Most of the time she's very sweet and cooperative, but she most assuredly trying to test her boundaries.  =)  She really is a sweetie and is usually a very good helper.  She likes order and actually enjoys cleaning up her (and Abigail's) messes.  Hannah has also enjoyed helping my mom with her last few photography challenges.  Don't you just love this!

Sadly, her sleep issues haven't really gotten much better.  She will occasionally sleep all through the night, but more often than not she's up once to go potty.  Of course the nights she sleeps Abigail is up crying or the phone will ring at 2am (really annoying!)

I know I've said it before, but Hannah is such a great big sister.  Abigail ADORES her and follows her everywhere.  And in typical one year old fashion she wants to play with the toy Hannah has.  For the most part Hannah is REALLY REALLY good about sharing and will usually give the toy to Abigail and go find something else.  (And Abigail will then want that toy too!)  Hannah loves to give Abigail kisses and now that Abigail is trying to walk Hannah likes to hold her hand.  Is this not the sweetest thing!



Hannah still loves to learn and has recently started spelling out letters on things.  Of course she doesn't know she's spelling, she just says the letters, and then asks what the word says.  I think there are only 2 or 3 lower case letters she doesn't know and she known her capital letters for a LONG time. 

Hannah is also fascinated by Bible verses (can you hear me shouting HURRAY)!  She is constantly asking us to tell her what things say and read them to her.  If she finds out the words are a Bible verse she will ask us to read more than normal.  And her ability to remember things AMAZES me!  Our church recently launched a big program to get everyone reading scripture daily and not just on Sundays.  They've developed an app and everything.  Each reading plan is 40 days long and we're doing 8 plans throughout the year.  Each plan will also have a theme verse that the church staff is encouraging everyone to memorize.  They have business cards with the verse on them to assist you.  I put my card by my computer so I would see it everyday.  We are working on Colossians 3:16 and my plan was to memorize a phrase a day.  Hannah noticed the card (she notices everything) and asked what it was.  I told her it was a Bible verse and then read it to her.  Well she asked me to read it 5 or 6 times a day for the next week.  Needless to say that DEFINITELY helped me learn it quicker.  And by the end of the week she could hold up the card and "read" it to me.  I think this makes verse number 8 that she has memorized.  I could go on and on about how much this excites me, but I'll stop (for this post anyway).  =)  Nathan video taped Hannah saying this verse so click you want to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whWebX7yeZo