5 Years old!

It's hard to believe that it's been 5 years since I first posted about the arrival of my sweet little girl:

Hannah has grown into a beautiful, smart, inquisitive, soft-spoken, shy, sweet girl. She has melted my heart since the day I held her.

She will start kindergarten this fall and she's so thrilled. She is excited to learn  how to read and count to 100.  I think she will do great in school, once she gets past her shy nature.

At 5 years old, Hannah loves playing with little magi-clip dolls (small barbies), she loves swimming (with and without floaties), will not be seen in anything except a dress, is a wonderful big sister, kind to others, loves crafty things and writing "notes" to her friends, and playing outside.  She enjoys riding her bike (with training wheels) and her scooter.  She seems so grown up at times, but is still my baby girl who wants to be held sometimes.  She will only wear night gowns to sleep, and sometimes a t-shirt, with a skirt.  She doesn't own a pair of shorts and would live in her bathing suit if we let her. She does not like winter and the bulky clothes that come with it.

Hannah is still in Mothers Day Out once a week.  We are taking a break this summer and are getting geared up for the long days of school.  I'm afraid it's going to be quite a shock to this night owl/late sleeper, but my prayer is that she adjusts well.

Hannah's favorite food is chicken nuggets - with ranch. If I ever ask her what she wants for lunch or dinner, it's nuggets. She likes yogurt, strawberries, chex-mix, fruit snacks, raisins, mac n cheese, boudain, cheetos, chocolate chip cookies, gumbo, pizza, apples with no skin, bananas, corn, peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, pizza lunchables, & CANDY!  She is a decent eater and the older she gets, the more she is willing to try  new foods. I'm hoping we can get more vegetables in her diet!

Oh Hannah, my precious girl.  We have called you our "big girl" ever since you were about 18 months old, and those words are becoming oh so true.  You are growing up. Time is passing quickly and I'm sad that I'll never have those toddler years back with you.  You make my life brighter and I sure laugh when I'm with you.  Your gentleness makes me smile and I pray that the Lord will use your reserved personality "behind the scenes."  I think you and I are getting past the "butting heads" stage and  we are becoming friends.  You have learned to reason and I just have fun with you.  You are a great little partner for me and I love having you by my side each day.  I'm sure going to miss you when you are in kindergarten next year.  I'm not sure your brother will enjoy getting pedicures with me! I wish you could stay little forever, but it's been an amazing joy for me and daddy to watch you grow.  As we sit here, on your 5th birthday, we see so much excitement in your eyes. You are so excited to be a year older. Although we are sad that the years are passing, we are so joyful to see you grow into a beautiful  young lady. We are so very, very proud of you, Hannah Kate!  Daddy and I are your biggest fans.  Love you BIG, BIG BIG!!

Easter Weekend

Wes had Thursday and Friday off before Easter so we headed to the beach for the weekend to meet up with my parents and our kiddos, who had been staying at my parents all week. I sure enjoyed the break, but I missed those little rascals!

It was great weather and the kids enjoyed some special treats from the ice cream man a couple of times. 

The water was pretty chilly, but that didn't keep Ethan from running crazy and splashing in it.  He would come up shivering, but go right back and do it again.  Love this spunk!

Hannah drew this in the sand and said it was a jellyfish.  It though she did a good job!

We headed home from our fun time at the beach on Saturday to be back for church on Sunday.  We just love our church and the "community" we have there and didn't want to be anywhere else on Easter.

Sunday evening the Hayes crew came over and we hunted eggs. I was too busy helping kiddos find eggs to snap any pictures.  It was a fun time! 

Uganda friends

The PCM Uganda choir has been in town for a few weeks and we have been able to spend some time with them.  It's always amazing to hear them worship. They are so grateful and so in love with Jesus. It's so encouraging.  We had the honor of hosting Godson & Mathew in our home last week. It was a lot of fun.  Both are quite good at playing guitar. 

We had some down time with them during their stay and I took them bowling.  This was a completely  new adventure for them.  They had never heard of bowling, but they caught on quick and were really good at it...with the help of the bumpers on the sides!

We brought the boys to Orange Leaf to have icecream and they were pretty amazed that you could choose any flavor of icecream you wanted and then it just came out of the wall. It's so fun to see their expressions!

I just love these boys. They are so kind and polite and are just all around sweet.

They said for the cost of our icecream, they could have bought a new dress shirt and dress pants in Uganda.  Talk about put things into perspective.  So glad we are party of this awesome ministry!

A visit to kindergarten

Hannah will start Kindergarten int he fall (gasp! tear!) It's hard to believe that it's already time. She's been very excited to go and we have driven by her soon-to-be school several times.  A friend of mine has a first grader at the school Hannah will attend, so on Friday we tagged along to eat lunch with our friend, Caroline.  Caroline has a sister, Emily, who will also start kindergarten in the fall with Hannah.  Emily and Hannah are good buddies and also take dancing together. I'm already crossing my fingers that they end up in the same class.

Here's me and my baby waiting on Emily to arrive.

Before we headed to the lunch room to meet Caroline, we stopped at the super cute library.  It was decorated so cute and when I walked in I felt such a peace. It was weird, but comforting. 

After we checked out the library we headed to the lunch room.  I wanted Hannah to buy her lunch so that she could get the whole experience. This was such a bittersweet moment. I was so proud of this sweet girl for carrying her tray and being such a big girl, but I was tearing up inside because I just can't believe she's so grown up. 

Here is Hannah eating with her friends. This is such a foreshadowing of what is to come next year. 

Next we took a little tour of the school and Hannah got to see the gym. 

One of our last stops was the kindergarten hall. Hannah was ecstatic! She's SO ready to be here next year. 

This girl melts my heart. 

Ready for summer

We have enjoyed some warmer days lately, but we are back to our sweaters and scarves for a few more days.  We are so ready for consistent warm weather. I told Wes this week I was ready for it to be be in the 90's. He thinks I'm crazy, but I just love the Texas heat!

Hannah got a cute new swimsuit in the mail this week and she's ready to try it out at the pool!

Ethan has been playing in the dirt every opportunity he gets.  Every time I buy him something new for spring I think "I should be buying his stuff at goodwill because it's all going to get covered in dirt every.single.day this summer."

When we can't go outside, Ethan finds plenty of entertainment inside.

This boy wore this helmet most of this afternoon. Including in the car.

We have never been big toy buyers for our kids, except at Christmas and birthdays.  However, I'll admit, I've given into a few extra toys this wintery season to help with the home entertainment. On Saturday Hannah was begging to get an Elsa doll (from the HUGE move Frozen). Instead of just buying it for her, Wes and Hannah sat and counted all her pennies and dimes from her piggy bank (and the bottom of my car) and came up with just over $10.  Elsa was $13, so we had Hannah do some chores around the house to earn the extra money.  She was SUPER excited to make the trip to pick out Elsa.

She hasn't let Elsa out of her sight since Saturday.

And lastly, today was a GREAT day. Ethan has been going through and extremely, and I mean EXTREMELY fussy stage. Each day is a battle from sun up to sun down...Wes and I have just felt so sorry for him because it just seems like he just hates life..haha! Well, today this sweet boy was SOOO happy. It was a miracle..and and answered prayer. I didn't make him nap because I was worried he may wake up grumpy! I just enjoyed today so much!

Here's to hoping tomorrow is another HAPPY day!

McDoodles

We have been cooped up inside the past couple of days with icy weather.  Public schools were canceled because of road conditions and it's just been blah.  Monday was exciting, though, when Hannah slipped on the ice and busted her chin open. Luckily, the Dr. was able to glue it up and she didn't need stitches. 

Today was still cold, but bearable, so we headed to McDonald's to play off some energy and get rid of cabin fever. Ethan begged for icecream. Guess who got what he wanted?

Of course when Hannah saw this icecream cone as large as Ethan's head, she had to have one, too. At least she ate lunch before hers.

Sweet siblings. 

I'm not sure what Ethan's going to do next year without his sidekick when Hannah goes to kindergarten. 

I almost cried when I just typed that my baby is going to kindergarten. 

Love these fun days "at home" with my kiddos. 

Back burner

Blogging has obviously taken the back burner these days. I'm so sad, because I love my blog and reading stories from months ago. I'm not giving up yet. I'm going to try to be better! We have been living life...and we have been freezing. Someone started wearing big boy underwear. 

And failed. We are now in pull ups just to make me feel like we are one step closer. 

Hannah got a new swim suit and wore it around the house when it was 20 degrees outside.

On a warmer day, (still about 45) the kids played in a sand area in our backyard. This has become something they love doing when it's warm enough to go outside. 

On a warmer day a couple of weeks ago I got the kids dressed and took some pictures in the yard. 

This boy just has my entire heart. I get weak in the knees when I look at him.

And this girl. OH. MY. WORD. She's just beautiful to me and looks 12 in this picture.  Can't believe she's starting kindergarten this year! Life is about to change drastically. 

Here's wishing for warmer weather and more blog posts to follow!