Wishing you a Merry Christmas

Huh?

I'm not a number person. If I think really hard, I can remember my x7 tables, but I really have to think about it. I survived Geometry, but hated the Algebras, was so traumatized by Pre-Calc that I gave up on math for the rest of my life (with a tiny exception of Math for Elementary Majors -- ahhh a math I got!). Numbers and me just don't gel, which is partially why Kevin was balancing my checkbook when we were back in the "just friends" stage of things.

It is no secret that Kevin gets numbers. I think his brain operates on a different field that mine because he totally gets them. Can memorize any number (and remember it! me, I'm lucky I know my social, let alone my kids, my husband's, my license, my credit card, etc. etc.). Adds in a way I can't do even with a calculator--in our poor, college, newly wedded stage he would subtotal our grocery cart, including tax and come out almost exactly (freaky!).

It is also no secret that we pretty much view Hannah as a lot like me. Yes, I know, don't pigeonhole a child. But the girl is loud, energetic, klutzy and prone to hysterics. She also has curly brown hair and square chin. Yep, that's me. We know she has some of Kevin in her, she is much too musical not to. We also recently discovered that there is another way she might be a lot like her dad.

Last night we were doing high fives after bath time (first one to brush their hair! first one into pjs!). I decided to switch it up and do high tens. Hannah loved it and I started counting by tens as we smacked. "Ten... Twenty... Thirty..." After 30, Hannah joined in and basically did the rest by herself. At that point, we asked her to do it again, which she did, making only two mistakes (which is not flawless, but still 80%--ohh, look at me do math!). I then asked Kevin when he taught her to count by 10s. He hasn't, ever. We also know she doesn't do it at preschool. So, we asked her and she replied, "I just figured it out." So, she heard me start it and figured the rest out by herself? She then eagerly said, "can I count to 100 for you?" I reluctantly agreed (do you know how long that takes?) and she then proceeded to count to 112, at which point she got bored. I will say that one morning, her aunt Kara did teach her how to count to 100, which Kevin and I have reinforced a time or two, but nothing major. But enough for that? I then remarked to Kevin that she seems to just get math and he reminded me that she has memorized her doubles addition facts through 5 (so like 2+2) and can add single digit numbers. All this just left me feeling a bit perplexed and a bit guilty -- I nurture her language development, help her with her nightly reading, encourage her writing/spelling, but I utterly neglect numbers with her. So, if I didn't neglect numbers, if I actually took time to sit down with her and work with her on them (and she is so eager to work on them), what would Hannah do? Do I have a future human calculator on my hands, much like the one I married?

Quotes up above...

Not sure if anyone noticed the quotes up above, but Abby's struck fear into Kevin... :)

It's been awhile...

Today is Alisa's last day of school for a couple weeks, so she will probably post sometime soon, but I (Kevin) saw how long it had been and thought we'd just say hello...

In the last month we've had visits from Grammie (in California), my family for Thanksgiving, and entered the busy season of Advent and preparing for Christmas. It has been extra challenging this month with both of us working and the girls having fevers, etc. and trying to juggle childcare. But in about half an hour, when school gets out early today, we will have made it through essentially the first half of the school year.

All in all, I would say it has gone pretty well- it is nice when the regular schedules of the week actually all play out. It is nice to have time at home with our family all together after 4:00 most days, where before Alisa would head off to work after school and we were always juggling one of us being at home. The girls really enjoy the babysitter they go to and the other kids there- we are very greatful for such a wonderful situation for them.

I also get to enjoy my day off (Friday) with just the girls (and just Abby in the morning when Hannah is at school).

Anyway, be looking for some new posts soon, but for now the girls say hello!

Abby's 2 year pictures

Yesterday I took Abby in to get her 2 year old pictures. It was supposed to be a family day, with Hannah getting 4 1/2 year old pictures too, but as is our luck lately, Hannah woke up with a fever, tired and an irritated stomach. So, instead of putting off Abby's pictures (which we did once courtesy of the swine flu), we decided to take her before they become Abby's 12 year old pictures.

Abby was a doll all afternoon (which, considering the 3+ hours spent in the car is saying something) and the only hiccup to our day was when Abby decided that she just wanted Mommy to hold her for the pictures. Luckily, a bit of rarely used parent cookie bribery got her smiling and cooperating like a champ. The ladies taking the pictures remarked at the end that for a child who was being difficult, she sure took some sweet pictures.

I'm sad that Kevin and Hannah couldn't join us (and trying to figure out when we can do Hannah's pics), but glad Abby and I, along with a new friend from church who came along for the ride, went. Plus, I got Starbucks. (And will get it again on Tuesday when I go to a conference and again on Friday when I pick my mom up from the airport and again on Saturday when Kevin and I leave my mom with the girls and go on a full day date and again the following Wednesday when I take my mom back to the airport.... sad how I map my life around my next fix. I'm pretty sure that qualifies me as an addict...)

I just scanned in Hannah's 2 year old pictures.... funny how I choose red for both of them without knowing it. My conclusion is, after looking at these 2 pictures, that they have different coloring which makes me think they are very different, but that their face (smile, nose and chin) is very similiar, despite different head shape.

Too different

At this point, I know my girls are unique individuals. Yes, I've always studied Abby closely, looking for Hannah resemblances, comparing her to Hannah. I can't help it, I'm a mom and things like that are curious to me. (By the way, I have two older siblings and I think it is very safe to say that we are VERY different, with maybe the exception of some genetically inherited square chin and anal-ness.) The fact that they are both girls most likely makes this worse, although if one was a boy, I might be looking for differences to that I would then (falsely, I think) attribute to gender.

Nothing highlights my girls differences better (well, maybe their hair color) than bedtime. I got the joy of putting both girls to bed tonight (Kevin was off to a meeting-lucky!) and was struck anew by how complete opposite they are. Here is a breakdown of their bedtime routines.

Abby: First we turn on her music and noise machine. Next, we rock, she chooses two stories (at barely 2 years old, she names from memory the books she wants-and it is always changing!) for me to read her, we read and she drinks a little milk. I turn off the light and rock her for another few minutes (if it stretches out past a minute or two, she'll just go to sleep in my arms). I then lay her down in her crib, put her blanket on her, say "I love you" and leave. Most often, not another peep is heard till 7ish. If I check on her at midnight, she is in the exact same spot. Easy as pie. And her bed has NOTHING in it except her blanket (she recently evicted her lovey pig in an attempt to de-clutter her life, I guess).

Hannah: We sit on her bed (she won't let me rock her anymore :( ), normally (if she hasn't lost the privilege in the course of getting ready for bed) I read 2 chapters/books and she reads 1 of her level books. Then we pray (heaven forbid this goes in the wrong order!!) and sing a song. Finally, she climbs under the covers, I do the kiss routine (1 on chin, 1 on nose) which she then mimics back and we hug. I then turn on her noise machine and music and turn off the lights. The next part always leaves me hoping it goes faster. I go to the door, say "good night, I love you" and wait. This is when it starts. The "I love you too!" and "in the morning...." commands/requests. Then she normally remembers that her entourage/dolls are not arranged just so and spends the next few minutes making sure that they are put in just the right spot on her bed (3 on the left, 3 on the right, covers not over their heads). Then she repeats the commands. Next up is the blowing kisses -- 2 for me to put on immediately (sometimes with designated spots), 2 each for me to hold on to for daddy and Abby. Now, if all goes well, I can then make my escape, if not... well, we go back to the commands and requests, "good night, I love ya, see you in the morning" stuff. Of course, when things don't go well, I make my escape, only to have her follow me. Leaves me feeling a little worn out.

My girls have other differences (Abby doesn't frequently fall down and doesn't seem to be related to the Energizer Bunny), but bedtime seems to highlight them.

Pictures of Hannah at about the same age

My apologies to Hannah, I just had to post that picture.... :)

Hannah on her 2nd Birthday

Abby on her 2nd birthday

Sad how hard it is to find a picture of just Abby....

So, I want to hear what you think -- are my girls twins with different hair styles or barely related? (Funny sidenote: my sister was a blonde growing up, although her hair is now light brown... It amuses me that my girls seem to be repeating that pattern.)

Happy Halloween!

Some belated Halloween pictures. Must say, sad that we didn't use our camera more that night....

Hannah and Kevin's masterpieces

Princess Hannah

The Pumpkin Fairy and Princess Hannah (don't call Abby a pumpkin, she will correct you and Hannah is not a specific princess-ie Disney-just a princess... something she clarified frequently).

Some of the gang on Halloween night (some were hidden away or not yet arrived). We went to a friend's house for Halloween (they live in a population dense neighborhood, perfect for greedy children). A blast was had by all, including the 10+ children present.

See Kevin and Abby behind the Princess. Kevin was "Dam" employee (in our town, half the town works at the Dam).

Sadly, there are no pictures of me as Junie B. Jones. What a shame. (Can you hear the sarcasm dripping from my voice?)

Pictures from Abby's birthday

First of all, I'm very impressed -- I got 7 comments in less than 24 hours, which is more than my last few blogs put together. Nice to know that you are reading. :)

Second, still not caught up to the present day... But here are a few pictures from Abby's birthday weekend. Just so that you know, the party was the same day as the pumpkin patch, hence the striped dress. Honest, the kid has more than one outfit.

Abby's birthday party was very low key. Like I believe I have mentioned before, we figured this was our last chance to do so (next year she will be much wiser). So, we invited a family over, made homemade pizza (ohhh so good-we made a Whole Foods knockoff that Kevin and I have missed for 1 1/2 years-sausage, Gorgonzola and mushroom, yum!) and ate cake. The kids had fun with the pizzas, even if they didn't eat very much of their creations, we had fun hanging out with their parents. The cake was my first attempt at white cake (secret is almond extract-who knew?). Abby enjoyed it all thoroughly. The kid definitely understands birthdays.

The next day, a Sunday, I thought the girls were too cute to go to church without a photo op. :) I am enjoying the new clothes that come with the new season. Even Abby's hand-me-downs are fun after being put away for several years. Might I just add that hand-me-downs are the bonus of have the same gender 2nd child? Save a bundle on shopping, but when I do buy Abby something, I don't worry about price so much (after all, if she is only getting two new dresses for the whole season, who needs to hold back? of course, this probably loses some of my savings...).

My girls are also in a phase of obsessed with each other. I'd like to credit it to my superb parenting, although it is most likely just a stage in development. Abby wakes up asking for Hannah, Hannah can't go to bed without giving Abby a kiss goodnight. Today Hannah threw a fit at Sunday School because she wanted Abby to come with her (luckily, the person in charge of watching Abby just took Abs to SS and helped her do the project). Hannah is also planning the time when Abby can come to preschool with her and "see how it works" before Abby goes in the fall. Hannah has it all planned out how her and Kara (preschool BFF) will take care of Abby and help her out, but not the other kids, because they might not show her the right things. Pretty hilarious how mapped out Hannah has it.

The picture above is misleading. It is several weeks old and we are past the days of long sleeve shirt, no jacket. Yesterday I reminded Kevin how it was new tire time because the first snow fall could happen any day (in fact, it did on the Coulee walls-the mountain type terrain surrounding our community). We are having a longer fall than normal, but winter is really just around the corner. Not sure if I am ready for it yet...

Retrospective

Just a year ago....

(After I did my last post, I started wandering through last October's file and decided to post those pictures. Both girls seem so much older -- I swear Hannah has turned into a big girl in this last year.)

Girl's Trip to the Pumpkin Patch (awhile ago...)

I posted pictures of Hannah's preschool's trip to the pumpkin patch, here are pictures from our families trip to the pumpkin patch. I could post comments alongside the pictures, but I think my girls' cuteness speaks for itself. :)

I will admit right now that I am loving that brown striped dress of Abby's, which is why it has popped up in 2 out of the 3 recent posts...

Hint hint -- if I get comments, I might post my next backlog of pictures faster....

Preschool Pumpkin Patch

I don't claim to be doing these next few posts in any particular chronological order. I'm just trying to get them out there.


This is from Hannah's preschools pumpkin patch visit.

Don't they look like such great listeners? So attentive!

11 little pumpkins sitting in a row....

Is everyone looking?!

I really have been so pleased with Hannah's school year thus far. The kids in her class are delightful and she is making some good friends (like the girl at her side in the above picture). I was slightly worried about this because most of her good friends from last year went on to kindergarten, but it hasn't been an issue. She also has been doing more focused activities in preschool (well, focus is relative with that age group, but developmentally appropriate focused), with some emphasis on fine motor, which is an area where Hannah lags behind. They've also covered more letters and such thus far this year then they did in all of last year, which makes the teacher in me happy. At home I've been able to slack off on having Hannah do preschool prep stuff, knowing that she is getting it at school, with the exception of having her read every night from this great book set, Bob Books, which as someone who teaches reading, I think are fantastic. She loves reading and is showing great improvement. Being an obsessive bookworm, passing on a love of reading to Hannah, and seeing her read, is a great reward of this age.

Abby's 2nd Birthday!

Ahh, the much delayed post. It is a week late. I am dreadfully behind on posts. Somewhere there is a Hannah soccer post waiting to happen, followed by a Hannah's preschool trip to the pumpkin patch, along with a family trip to the pumpkin patch and then, lastly, a mini-Abby birthday party post.... All in good time my friends.

Abby turned 2 with slightly less fanfare than her first birthday was greeted with. Honestly, Kevin and I figured this was our last time for such a low key birthday--after this, the girl will wise up and demand friends and such at a party. Her main priority was cake. When told that it was her birthday last Thursday morning, she replied, "I want cake." I'm guessing that she didn't remember that presents are part of the deal, too.

We have my brother visiting for the week, which it was nice that he got to celebrate her birthday with us. Of course, the visit wasn't Abby-focused -- he and Kevin, who took a week off of work, installed a sprinkler system and did some landscaping in our front yard.

Due to the busy nature of our week, we decided to go along with Hannah's plan (her only plan for "special days") and go out to the "coffee shop" (what she calls our local fav, due to them also selling, you guessed it, coffee and espresso) for dinner so that her and Abby could partake of the celebratory mac'n'cheese. It was followed up by not cake, but pumpkin cheesecake and apple crisp (pretty sure Abs ate most of Uncle Eddie's crisp). We then took the party home where the following pictures were taken to immortalize the momentous occasion.

(I will admit to photo shopping the above and directly below pict--she had a few face scratches...)

Best sister shot I could get. Abby's expression is reminiscent of Hannah.

Notice the progression of Hannah in the following pictures.

First time Abby has gotten gifts and wanted to unwrap them. Previously big sister had enjoyed that job. Hannah is less than happy with the change.

Abby's Super Hero cape, given to her by Hannah, who thought of the idea all her own over a month ago.

Abby proves that you can enjoy (almost) all your presents at once.

Check out those shoes!

Hannah couldn't hold back for long... She did have to wait till Abby was getting ready for bed.