New Kid in Town

This morning Hannah and I ran a few errands and one on our list was to get her hair trimmed up. I think it looks so much better. She had hair that never fell out after she was born that was getting pretty long. Underneath, she had short hair where the rest of it was filling in. It didn't look horrible, but this looks so much better. The stylist cut it so it was all at least going the same direction. Eventually, I would like her to grow it out a bit. We're just working on getting it all the hair on the same page for now. We had to make sure she was ready for her 1 year pictures!

Truck Adendum

Maybe I was wrong as to what Luke would do if he found Hannah sitting in his beloved dump truck. Tonight, that very thing happened. Instead of getting upset, he took her on a ride. She thought it was great fun and was delighted. The only thing we had to watch was how fast he took her zooming through the house. Unlike the rides Daddy had given him in the truck, we made him take it rather slow with Hannah as his passenger.

Luke also combined his two loves yesterday - his pillow (aka "bed") and his truck. It made me laugh when I saw him reclining in the "bed" of it.

ps. Hannah's pajamas are too big. So, if you are wondering why her leg is just dangling off the end of the truck, it's simple because her leg isn't even in it.

Ba-Moo

This is a new word for Luke. Actually, it's a couple of words he's used for a long time combined together for a new definition - thunder. Honestly, we have not had much rain let alone thunder the entire time we've lived here. So, the thunderstorms of the last couple of days are definitely a new experience. We've probably heard more sonic booms from F-15 flyovers than from thunderstorms. Anyway, Luke keeps saying "ba-moo" each time it thunders, which cracks me up. We tell him it is "boom", but he continues his insistence that thunder is "ba-moo"!

Don't Tell Luke

If you didn't already know, Luke LOVES his trucks. He has several, but I didn't feel bad adding to his collection this Christmas since he plays with nearly all of the ones he has. This "toughest mighty dump truck" was one of his new additions. Anyway, Chris had put Luke in it a time or two, but this afternoon after Luke went down for his nap, Hannah got a ride. She thought it was great. However, this would not have happened if Luke would have been around to protect his precious truck.

Our Gift to You - Merry Christmas

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I'll Be Home for Christmas

But not in my dreams! YEAH!! Chris made it home last night after two months in the desert. He was delayed nearly 24 hours from his original time of arrival. Maybe that made us even happier to see him. Usually, we would have met Chris in the hangar when he arrived, but instead of flying in, they arrived by car (long story & even longer trip!) so we just met him at the squadron building. Luke was waiting for Chris by the doorway. When Chris walked in, he went right to him, but he didn't get overexcited like I thought he might. Instead, I would say he was speechless and didn't want Chris to put him down. After the initial fun of seeing him wore off, he just kept saying "Daddy, Daddy" for most of the evening. Hannah didn't really know what to make of him, but she went right to him. When we got home, she was excited because I think everyone else was excited. Yes, I was so glad that Chris was home. I got rather out of sorts those last 24 hours of just waiting. Everything was done - Christmas shopping, most of the wrapping, cleaning and cooking - done. So, I was just waiting. It's good to have him home and just be together again!

Saturday Afternoon Treats

We kind of had an extra free day this weekend. This morning, we went to the mall to check out if there were any early deals. There were not, but there were quite a few people there. I am not the procrastinator in the family so I do no understand this phenomenon of waiting until the last minute to do my Christmas shopping. That would be way too stressful. Instead, I enjoy taking the last few days before Christmas to take it easy and enjoy being with family.

So, I think I've come full circle. This afternoon after naps, we did a little activity of making some Christmas treats. Since chocolate covered pretzels are one of my favorite snacks, maybe this activity was a little bit for me, but Luke enjoyed helping and also the end result of eating the treats. Anyway, I tried to keep it simple. We melted the chocolate in the microwave and then, Luke helped me add the pretzels to the chocolate. Eventually, he got into covering them with the chocolate and laying them on the cookie sheet. I let him add sprinkles just to give him something else to do. Plus, I thought they made the pretzels look even more tasty. We had a good time. Yes, there was a bit of a mess, but it was quite minor compared to what it could have been. I think it makes it more fun to eat them to know Luke helped with them.

Peek-A-Boo

Hannah was being such a ham tonight at dinner. I thought I would share with you peek-a-boo Hannah style. She thinks it's a fun game and loves the attention and response you give to her. It is the regular game of peek-a-boo, but Hannah style involves putting your hands somewhere between your eyes and ears, occasionally on your forehead and sometimes on your cheeks. She does get both hands involved, but they may not always be over her eyes. She did get them there a few times, but most of the time they were in the general vicinity. I did try to get a picture of her, but each time she would get her hands moved before the camera went click. Plus, she was eating so I'll spare you the details.

All Was Quiet

This morning I was trying to get some things done around the house. I was doing it with very few interruptions or little hands and feet to work around. It was that almost "too quiet" sound that many parents know about. Anyway, upon further investigation, this is what I found. Luke & Hannah were both camped out in front of their bookshelf quite content with looking at books. They stayed this way for quite awhile. Yes, eventually nearly half the books were dumped on the floor, but that was easy to pick up. I'm thrilled they are interested in books and hope that interest continues. Luke has just started showing more interest and will sit through a few stories especially if they are Curious George or have trucks in them.

Baby Steps

Hannah is still in the learning process of taking her first walking steps alone. She loves her little push behind toy. She can even swing it along the floor when she needs to navigate obstacles and has even been known to lift it off the floor. So, she is making progress, but doesn't want to be too risky in letting go of the steady hands that hold her. She also thinks she is pretty big stuff if you hold one of her hands and someone walks beside her. She grins with her little tongue stuck out in concentration proud that her little legs are "walking" getting more steady over time. Anyway, Luke is dying to help her walk by holding her other hand. However, Hannah doesn't want anything to do with her big brother's help. I'm not exactly sure why, but it may be for the best. I think he would go a little fast and he is a bit unpredictable as to when he would let go of her. All of that to say, it is still pretty cute and I love the fact that her big brother wants to help her out.

It's That Time of Year . . .

I think my children may be learning a trick early. I think Luke & Hannah have been peeking into their gifts. OK, really, it's just one of Luke's gifts. Anyway, I have the gifts wrapped & under the tree for the festivities a week from tomorrow (is it possible that Christmas is nearly here?!) Luke has a couple of gifts, large Tonka trunks - a dream toy for our little guy, that just aren't square and do not fit into gift bags. So, little by little one of the trucks is getting opened. It started as just a small tear and then Hannah found out that the paper would tear if she poked it. Then, Luke would tear it just a little and so on and so forth. It's not all the way open, but might be if the behavior continues. So, I think I'm going to have to resort to a garbage bag. No, it's not festive paper, but it might keep the "secret" just a little longer.

I do have to say, though, that most of the other gifts have been left alone as well as the tree. So, no coal in my little boy and girl's stockings :)

Aunt Karen's Visit

Luke & Hannah's Aunt Karen , my sister, visited us for a long weekend. We had a great time of just being together. These moments are too few and far between, but we had a good time. Luke & Hannah loved their Aunt. They had been around her before, but this is the first time that they got to spend some good , quality time with her. Luke especially took a liking to all of her love & affection. Karen & I also got to spend a bit of time to ourselves Saturday afternoon. Even though we didn't do anything too special, it made for a memorable afternoon.

One last thing, kudos and a big thank you to my brother-in-law, Joe, who took care of all four of her little ones all weekend. I know this is a sacrifice, which I deeply appreciated!

Silliness and Shoes

I have mentioned before that Luke is very into his shoes. He is getting better, though, at not having to wear them all of his waking hours. One of his next steps should be for him to be able to put on or take off his shoes. I just got him a new pair and they should be quite simple for him to do either of those activities. Anyway, I was busy doing something and when I finished, Luke had put his shoes on (not fastened, but one step at a time). I was so happy and praised him for that. He promptly lifted one of his legs and shook his foot flipping the shoe off his foot. Then, there was no way that he was going to do it again for me. He was determined that I must put the shoe on. I think the only reason the other shoe didn't get flipped off was because he was standing on that foot. I guess I will have to wait a few more days for him to work on this some more.

Succumbed

I think I've succumbed to laziness in keeping this blog up to date. However, I'm quite good at giving excuses for not writing more often such as the following.
- We've just had typical days of running errands, taking naps, playing at the park and just hanging out together.
- I don't have much to write about
- One of little ones usually wants to join me at the computer each time I sit down to get something done.

All of that to say, I'm going to once again try to keep it a bit more up to date letting each of you in to maybe even some of the not so eventful aspects of life.

I'm DREAMING of a White Christmas

"Dreaming" is a good word for it.

Winter has never been my favorite season of the year - actually it's my least favorite. However, I have to say that there is something about snow that I miss. Yes, I'm usually good with one snow and it's great when it's around Christmas. Then, I'm ready for my favorite season of the year - spring when the world seems to come alive again. So, I guess I'm admitting to all of you northerners who are in the midst of some nice winter weather, that I'm just slightly jealous of the snow that you're getting. However, if you ever want to get away from it all, we'd love to have you come a visit sometime. Does 75 degrees sound good?!

Electronic Woes

Yesterday was not my day to be electronically savvy. It all started in the morning when I dumped my phone in the tub. Yes, most of you are probably remembering correctly that it's not been that long ago when my phone went through the washing machine. The short version of the story is that I was giving the kids a bath and trying to talk to Chris at the same time. Before I knew it, my phone had slipped off my lap (yes, not the best place in the world to put it) right into the tub. I rescued it before it even hit the bottom, but it still was "broke" for a few hours. Thankfully, it is now back in working order.

Later on yesterday, I attended a women's Christmas dinner at church. Rumor had it that it would be a nice event. So, I decided to take our camera. Well aware of what had happened to my phone earlier in the day, I did wonder if I was being too risky in taking our nice camera to this dinner. Thankfully, nothing happened to the camera while it was away from home. However, I did forget to put the memory card back in it after sending some pictures to Chris the last time. So, no pictures from me for this event. I'll have to rely on some others for those.

So, hopefully, I can be a little bit more aware of my "electronic surroundings" in the near future!

We Need a Little Christmas

Today was the local Christmas parade. We had heard that it really wasn't that big of a deal. However, after today, I would beg to differ. They had over 150 entries and it lasted for nearly 2 hours. It was your typical local parade, but there were some entries that stuck out to me. First, almost every school that was represented had some sort of jump rope team. They had to have been tired. It's a bit of a long parade route and they looked a bit tired by the time they got to us because we were towards the end. Second, there were a couple of interesting organizations. One was the Middle Georgia Koi Society. I found that a bit odd for this part of the country. It wasn't to be out done, though, by the Middle Georgia Galactia Society (Star War fans I think - at least that was the way they were dressed). Last, but definitely not least, we had the belly dancers dancing to Christmas music. Thankfully, they nearly all had on long t-shirts so no bellies were actually seen. Yes, these are the things that stuck out to me, but there were many typical entries that made it feel a bit more like Christmas. I also have to say that it didn't "feel" like Christmas since it was about 60 degrees, but I really enjoy parades at that temperature.

Star Struck

Yesterday, we spent the morning in a nearby town doing some Christmas shopping and eating at the food court in the mall. While we were there, the Subway hosted their spokesman, Jared, for some publicity. We did get to see him. Plus, he was in our local Christmas parade to day.

I have to say, though, this has renewed my thinking that stars of any kind are just people like you and me. However, some people go a little over the top in their view of them. For instance, before Jared showed up at Subway there was a gentleman who I think was just a mall patron was video taping everything even the workers just making sandwiches doing their job. Oprah was also in town recently. Word has it that some of the places she visited were just some local places and not that popular, but now their businesses are going crazy. Plus, people are requesting to stay in the exact room that Oprah stayed in. I guess I just don't get it.

This past summer I read some books where a movie star wanted to be just a regular guy and how basically he couldn't be. It really got me to thinking about stars and their lives. It makes me a little sad that it is so hard for them to be regular people just like they really are. So, to come full circle, seeing Jared made me think about all of that again.

Neighbors

We have been very blessed by some of our neighbors. Nearly every week day around 4:00 pm you can find us either at one of the neighborhood parks or in a neighbor's backyard playing. It's also nice to have some friends in our life who know and experience the military life. A couple of these families are even in Chris's squadron. Anyway, today we went to the parade and met up with several of them. I just wanted to share some of the people that see us on a regular basis.

ps. If you're wondering where Hannah is, I'm holding her while taking the picture. She didn't really want to sit still for the picture and I didn't really want her crawling in the street.