A Conversation with Grandpa

Last night Grandpa Snow was helping Luke put his pajamas on. My parents had been working with him a bit to change his own clothes. So while Grandpa was waiting & waiting some more on Luke, Grandpa told Luke that he needed to learn to change his clothes before he got to drive the truck. (Remember Luke is my little truck lover). Luke's response was "drive truck first".

How about Now??

Ok, the first picture was from Japan near Kadena AFB. The next two pictures where from the North Shore of Oahu Hawaii.

Here are two pictures from somewhere that I'll be spending more time than Hawaii. :-(

Yoshino Cherry Trees

A nearby town claims itself as the cherry blossom capital. Today we made an appearance at the Cherry Blossom Festival. Thought you might like just a glimpse of these trees in full bloom. Beautiful! in my opinion.

Just a Nice Evening

We had a beautiful evening here last night so the kids got to play outside for awhile.

Luke is just learning to peddle his new tricycle. Before getting on under Grandma's supervision, he wanted to be assured that she wouldn't let him fall. He did take one little tumble later in the evening, but he gets more confident each time he sits on it - that is becoming more often. He definitely liked going downhill and could be seen getting off and pulling it up the slight incline in our backyard.

Hannah enjoyed pushing our lawn mower around the backyard. She made us laugh, though. She doesn't like to change terrain when she's walking. I originally thought it had to do with stepping down, but now I don't think so. Last night, she would not go from our cement patio slab to the grass. There is virtually no step between these two items. However, every time she wanted to go to the cement to the grass, she would come to a screeching stop, whine a bit and do a little dance hoping that someone would assist her to the grass. Oh, did that make us laugh. She eventually would get help and be on her way again.

Andersonville National Historic Site

Today my parents, the kids and myself headed to the Andersonville National Historic Site. I've quoted part of the brochure below to give you a summary of what happened there. It is beyond my imagination how as many men survived this Civil War POW camp that did. the top picture is a big portion of the 26 1/2 acres that housed 32,000 men at it's peak. That is not much space for so many people. Our time there, was quite eye opening and humbling.

"Andersonville, or Camp Sumter as it was officially known, was one of the largest of many Confederate military prisons established during the Civil War. It was built early in 1864 after Confederate officials decided to move the large number of Federal prisoners kept in and around Richmond, Virginia, to a place of greater security and a more abundant food supply. During the 14 months the prison existed, more than 45,000 Union soldiers were confined here. Some 13,000 died from disease, poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding or exposure. "

Another Clue

Just so you know, I (Kim) am not with the photographer :)

Where in the World?

Happy Easter!

My best attempt at getting them to both look at the camera at the same time and in the amount of time I had. Hope all of you had a wonderful and meaningful Easter!

He Is Risen Playdate

On Good Friday, Luke and Hannah had a special playdate that morning. One of the ladies in the military wives' Bible study that I attend is also part time staff for Campus Crusade for Christ in the military ministry. Anyway, she had all of us with little ones over for a special Easter Egg hunt. The first one was a hunt for the Resurrection Eggs. If you aren't familiar with these, they are 12 Easter Eggs and in each one is a symbol that represents part of the true Easter story. She then used these eggs to tell the kids the story. I had been using a kid's book to tell Luke this story, but he really LOVED the story using these teaching eggs. He actually won a set as a prize and I think we've used them three times since then and each time he is enthralled. Hannah is quite attentive as well.

She then followed it up with a typical Easter egg hunt just for fun, Easter snacks and just a fun play time. Luke also really liked their little boy's room - his paradise of trucks, trains and all that moves.

I'm so thankful that it was an enjoyable, yet a meaningful morning for them especially, Luke.

Please

Hannah's best attempt at saying "please", it does usually involve food - in this case m&m's.

Subject to Change . . .

. . .but, I certainly hope not. Chris came home for lunch a couple of days ago with our new location--our tentative, possible, unofficial new location (In other words, this is a good possibility, but could change when he gets his official orders in a month or two). Sometime this summer we will be headed to McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas. We think it will be a good location and a good fit for us. We'll keep you posted as we know more.

Need That

This afternoon I was quite disappointed about something and it resulted in tears (not uncommon for this girl). Anyway, Luke and Hannah were watching me since I couldn't get it under control. Luke was trying to take care of me, though. He got out my make-up and told that me "need dat". How could I not smile and say, "yes, Luke, Mommy needs that".

Easter Egg Hunt

Yesterday afternoon, we took the kids over to the base where the chapel was sponsoring an easter egg hunt. It was actually quite nice. They had it in the school playground, which was perfect because people could really spread out. They had free hot dogs, chips and drinks for everyone along with face painting, carnival games and inflatable toys. Luke loved the later. He wasn't too sure to begin with, but once he was in, he was all about playing, climbing and going down the slides. He was also excited about the fire truck, but you can't tell anything about his level of excitement from the picture. He always talks a lot about fire trucks and we actually see quite a few around town (not sure why), but when it comes to sitting in one, he gets a little scared. His reaction to the truck was similar to Hannah's reaction to the easter bunny. I kept referring to it as the bunny. She has one in the car that she just loves so I think she was associating it with that one. She would wave at it and kept watching it, but when it came time to "talk" to him, she didn't want to have a thing to do with him. I guess who can blame her - whose ever seen a human sized bunny?! We ended our time with the actual easter egg hunt and then headed home. Luke wanted to stay and play, but it was already well past his naptime and he almost fell asleep on his way home.

Success

Well, we may have had success at least on a limited level yesterday with Hannah sleeping in her toddler bed for the first time. It took Chris nearly an hour for her to stay in bed and I think it may have been out of sheer exhaustion that she gave up. However, she did a good job of making us laugh while she was working on this short nap. After nearly 5-10 minutes of her being in her bed, she nonchalantly made an appearance in the living room. When Chris told her to go back to bed, she just looked at him. Oh yes, she finally went back after Chris held to his sternness, but it just made us laugh. Chris also found her in the next room getting a book. Chris had her get back in bed & she looked at the book for about 20 minutes. At one point, Chris went and layed on the floor beside her bed. He said she would look at him and say "Dada". Then, she dangled her foot out the slats saying "Dada" followed by a hand out the slats doing the same. Eventually, she leaned over the railing saying "Dada" and at one point, leaned too far over and actually fell out. Chris's response "get back in bed, Hannah". I'm sure I'm not doing the whole scenario justice, but I think you get the point. We'll see what happens during naptime today.

Another Sign of Spring

I don't know how I missed this sign of spring since it is literally e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e right now. Here's another hint, everything is coated in a fine green dust. OK, that probably gave it away. Yes, it's the pollen. We noticed it a couple of days ago on the cars. Luke even cleaned off the slide at the park today (dark shorts show signs of pollen). Today, it's infiltrated our home. It's a beautiful afternoon here, but very windy. We should have known not to keep the doors open, but you just have to when the weather feels like this. The result is dust all over everything. You can even feel it when walking bare foot on our tile floors. Usually, this doesn't bode well for someone with severe allergies like I have. I'm so very thankful, though, that I'm still feeling pretty well right now - oh, so thankful!

Spring Cleaning

So here is my first "official" post on the family blog. I just figured out that you can have multiple authors on a blog. The eBay bug has gotten me and this is my garage sale/spring cleaning extravaganza (electronics need only to apply). Somehow I doubt anyone is interested but you can check out the auctions here. Every time I walk in the garage I find something else that might grab a few bucks on ebay. I can only muster the energy every 5 years because it can be a hassle packaging and shipping everything. No eBay horror stories yet. I'll keep ya updated.

Signs of Spring

Spring is springing here in our little corner of the world. Actually, it's been in the works for nearly a week now. The ornamental pear trees were the first to show that spring was on it's way. I mentioned that we went to see the peach trees in bloom last night. That was neat to see. I think we missed the peak time by a little bit, but I'm not sure if we were a bit early or a bit late. It didn't help that it was rather cloudy as well. Our grass is starting to also turn a bit more green. I also put shorts, t-shirts and a skirt on Hannah today along with their sandals for the first time. I guess I've deemed it warm enough to wear such attire. I guess we could still have a bit more of winter, though. It was only a week ago that we had our only winter weather of the season - five minutes of sleet (yes, the five minutes I chose to put gas in the car!) and just a touch of snow that didn't amount to anything. Just to give hope to my northern readers, I do think spring is headed your direction.

Night Out

Last night, we took a few hours just in the community. We started with dinner at Burger King. We went there because they have a really nice outside playground and it was a nice evening. The playground is pretty large and it is not too high. The kids enjoyed their chicken nuggets and then played hard at the playground. Luke loved running in circles over the suspended bridges and then would go down the slides on his stomach. He would start at the top and say "1, 2 go" and then slide down. He just couldn't get enough of this running around. Hannah also enjoyed the playground and I was actually surprised that she did so well on it. I put her on a little slide a couple of times. She liked that and would just sit at the bottom. Later, when she was climbing around, she went to the spiral slide (not the shortest one in there), laid on her stomach and slid down all by herself. (I was standing within arms reach because it did scare me a bit). She thought it was fun and did it a couple of more time. After playing for quite some time, we drove to a nearby peach and pecan orchard to see if the peach trees were in bloom (they were!), but they had another playground there that everyone enjoyed. Obviously, Luke liked the display tractors that you could sit on and they both liked the merry-go-round (Hannah's first ride). By now, they were more than tired and it was time to head back home. It was a nice two hours out of the house.

Toddler Time

We had some extra time at home this week so Chris and Luke put our toddler bed together (why it was apart is about enough for another post. Let's just say, they took it apart for our last move and it didn't need to be taken apart). Anyway, I'm trying to think ahead in terms of our new baby arriving this summer. Hannah will need a bed. Now, I do think Hannah is just a bit young to transition to the toddler bed, but I thought we could get it out and let her get used to it. So, this past week, that's exactly what we did. We got all the pieces out and some screws that fit it & put it together. Luke and Hannah watched a few minutes of tv on it while it was in the living room. Later that day, I moved it to their room where we put sheets and Hannah's quilt from Grandma Snow on it. She thinks it's pretty neat - so does Luke. He says it's Hannah's bed, but I find him on it quite a bit. Yes, we have tried putting her to sleep in it, but she doesn't seem to stay in it for much more than five minutes at a time. We definitely have some work to do before she has to be in, but I guess that's why we're getting an early start.

Need Vs. Wants

Luke has been having a word explosion. Nearly everyday, we hear him say a word we've not heard him use before. Along those same lines, he's also putting quite a few more words together. It's kind of fun to have a much better idea as to what he wants. Yet, at the same time, I think he's gotten a little bit more particular in what he wants since he can express himself. I do like having two year old conversations with him, though. One of his new phrases that makes me laugh now, but we will definitely have to work on this concept in the future is "need dat". I think we are headed in the right direction, though. In the last few days, I have heard a few "want dat".

Photo Album Update

February 2008 pictures have been uploaded here.

Seat Please

Hannah is very much into sitting down right now. It has struck me a bit funny the last two days as to what she considers a seat. I think her definition would be of any flat object at least 2 inches off the ground. She has used a pillow, a small toy piano at a friend's house, a coffee table book that happened to be sitting on the floor (of course she opened the front cover leaning it against the coffee table to make it "look" like a seat), our bathroom scale and some other random objects that you and I wouldn't think of as seat. However, I'm sure her perspective is much different from 29 inches.

My Brother

Today I had to take Luke to the pediatrician and of course Hannah joined us for the trip. While waiting, they had some cartoons playing in the waiting room. A few of the kids had lined up chairs in front of the tv to watch. There was one extra so Luke took his seat and joined them. After Hannah had scouted out the room, she pointed and Luke and said "Momma" and then went up to the back of Luke (yes, she picked the right one) and hugged him and poked him in the back. I thought it was adorable and wished I had a camera, but I'm not sure it would have done it justice as to what I saw and how I interpreted it.

Through the Mouths of Babes

Luke has recently had a word explosion. Hannah also actually has quite a few words she can communicate as well (ok, there may be 5 words, but that is more than Luke had at this age). I thought I would fill you in on a bit of it.

- "Momma": Hannah's word for Daddy (even though she can say "Dada"), Luke and of course me. Maybe she thinks it means anyone in the house
- "Baby": Any stuffed animal or doll that she has or wants. She's not too particular except when napping or sleeping.
- Church: Luke loves to go to church and asks us when we're going again. Unfortunately, he didn't get to go today when I had Bible study because he was sick
- Jesus: who we go to church to learn about
- "My Jesus": I told him the other day that his Uncle Joe teaches people about Jesus and this was his response

This is just a sampling of the ones that have recently touched my heart.

Sweet but Short

This past weekend we had the privilege of visiting "home" also known as Indiana. Each year Chris's college buddies have their annual supercross (motorcycle racing) gathering in Indianapolis. So, we all piled in the van, dropped Chris off to enjoy a men's weekend and then headed to see some dear friends. For as short of a time as we were in town, we actually got to visit with several people. Yes, some conversations were short, but it was much better than nothing at all. I must remember that! I also got to visit the church we attended while we lived there. I don't think I'll cease to be amazed at the size of it, but my heart was ministered to that evening. To complete the weekend, we (Chris had joined back up with us by then) headed to my sister's place in Illinois. This was the first time we got to see all of them in quite some time and see their new home there. We had a good time and it was well worth a few extra hours on the road. To top it off, we somehow missed the winter weather that entered the state just as we were leaving. What blessings!