Dance! Baby Dance!

I've been waiting to post pictures from the recital until the video is ready to upload too.... However, Kevin, who is in charge of that project, has had some issues downloading (let me tell you, I am very tempted to get something like the Flip Ultra Video Camera). But, in the interest of appeasing grandparents (and aunties), here are the picture. Video to follow?

**to be upfront, the pictures are from her dress rehearsal -- I could get up very close to snap them and, during the actual dance, Kevin was video taping so someone had to hold Abby.**

As the pictures, and hopefully soon the video, show, Hannah had no hesitation with performing. She gladly danced, without any stage fright. I thought she was very brave -- but then, Hannah is the kid who lives for the children's sermon because it is her chance to be upfront in church, whereas I refuse to do lead a children's sermon because I am too chicken.

Her class. Yes, two girls are twins. The little girl on the right end is her good buddy Lilly

T Ball Pictures

Next week will bring out last T Ball games. It has been a fun month (plus a few weeks) long journey into the world of organized kids sports - finding time for night practices, doing post game snacks, juggling game time with church meetings. Hannah has enjoyed it, although I can't tell you that she hasn't sat down and picked grass through a couple dull innings (fielding isn't very exciting in the t ball world). Kevin has enjoyed coaching and, in my biased opinion, done a fairly good job at teaching the kids how to hold their bat and what position their feet should be in to throw a ball (now, I know Uncle Kirk could probably do a better job at this, but Kevin does do good at using kid language). I can also tell you that from my own observations a successful T Ball game is just like a successful classroom -- good crowd control.

Here is a picture of *most* of the team. Youngest team in the league. 7 preschoolers (2 of whom are the very youngest you can be to play, Hannah and another boy), 3 kindergartners and 1 2nd grader. Inexperienced but extra cute.

Our little Super Star! Notice the pink bat that goes so nicely with the blue shirt.... Mommy might have coordinated. :)This summer will provide Hannah with some more opportunities to do organized activities. In June she will go to a Mega Sports Camp VBS put on by a local church that Kevin sweetly volunteered to do the basketball section of (I think it has more to do with playing basketball than anything, but I don't want to downplay his good intentions). Hannah will technical be too young to go, but, with most of her preschool buddies going and her daddy there, I think it will work out just fine. She also will be doing swim lessons at the next town over's pool for 2 weeks, before a more informal beach swim lesson that our community does (I can't just see my baby jumping in a lake to learn how to swim with nothing more formal to back it up). Swim lessons should come in handy because, based on what I hear, kids just live at the beach during the summer (lack of anything else to do?). Not much of a beach babe myself, but hey, for something to do, I guess I'll invest in a good cover up. She will also be attending a VBS that our church and another church are jointly putting on. This might sound like quite a lot, but, unfortunately, they overlap just a bit and are all in back to back weeks. All of which makes for a very dull August!

Abby, through all of this, will be the good little sister tagging along but not allowed to participate. Poor kid.

Smart Baby! (And big sister!)

Abby is, of course, a brilliant baby. I know you most likely think I am biased, but here is proof.

Excerpt from a conversation tonight as I was putting her to bed:

Me: one
Abby: two
Me: three
Abby: four
Me: five
Abby: six

Now, we have not coached her on this, but the other day Kevin said that when he was counting for Hannah (you know, the "get over here before I get to #"), Abby filled in for him. Tonight I just wanted to see if he was making things up or not -- he wasn't. Maybe Hannah getting in trouble is helping Abby learn her numbers.

The girl's vocabulary has also gotten ridiculous. I'm glad I quit keeping track because there is no way I could keep up (which, if I remember correctly, is why I quit at 18 months with Hannah). A few new examples: "do me now" (quote at top of blog); "thirsty"; "my shoes" (she loves labeling who things belong to--"mommy's chair", "daddy's shirt", etc); "two, two!" when begging for more stories; and just about any object noun (things, friends, but not so much places). She's started doing two or three word phrases, but I'm bracing myself for the coming of sentences, at which point, between the two girls, there will be nonstop chatter. Poor Kevin will never get a word in edgewise (he might claim that has already happened).

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Not to be outdone by her sister, Hannah the other day read the word "sat." I've got to admit, when I figured out that she knew pretty much all her alphabet (plus sounds because I can't bring myself to just teach her the letter names in isolation), I started working with her on sounding out c-v-c words (consonant-vowel-consonant words like sat, tip, ect). I know it is not to the point where she is reading, but I figure she likes trying and why not? If she is ready for it, she'll get it; if not, think of how ready she'll be in a year when she gets to kindergarten.

A (Practically) Done Bathroom!

I say practically because we need to buy a toilet paper holder (we didn't know if we could get rid of the yucky built in one when we started) and need a matching trash can and soap dispenser. Besides that, it is done!

view from the outside

We just adore our new sink -- so beautiful (really, who thought I would ever care about what a sink looks like?!)Because the pedestal sink has no storage, we added a shelf to store towels and toilet paper. Plus a hook for extra towel room when we have visitors
Nice, new, beautifully tiled shower

Now, no amount of remolding could re-size the bathroom, so, although it is much more spacious, taking pictures in it is still difficult and must be done in parts.

Pictures of what we had to start with.... doesn't do justice to the walls which were stripped of wall paper and painted (leaving every seam showing), or the mold around the bottom, or the gaping hole in the wall behind the sink with their creative plumbing or the floor with laminate tiles what were not done squarely, but it does give you idea of the awfulness.

** the bathroom's main work was completed weeks ago, once they started it took less than a full week, but just recently have we finished up our part (new towel bars, cupboard)

Add on...

An add on to the post below...

Who knew it could freeze in mid-May? I thought we were safe!

However, the garden must be protected from this weather anomaly.

Happy Mother's Day!

This weekend we did our best to celebrate Mother's Day (and family time after a week of various trips -- me to Cali for a long weekend, Kevin to Boise for a church conference). The puking kid did put a damper on things -- and prevent us from participating in the Colorama Rodeo/Carnival that is the town's main event. Still, Hannah's illness was minor and the weather was nice.

For me, Mother's Day weekend always seems to be all about the garden. Maybe that is just the way my mom enjoyed celebrating it, but to me, it isn't complete without getting your hands dirty. So, we planted our vegetable garden. Really, we made our vegetable garden since two weeks ago it was just a weed patch on the side of the backyard. Kevin did some major back-breaking work with the hoe, I picked out rocks, we dumped in "cow poop" (as Hannah likes to call it) and organic compost and shaped it into a garden. Our goal with planting was all very cost oriented -- what do we eat the a lot of, that cost a lot of money, that we can grow ourselves? So, we have laid out a large section for green beans (the bush kind, not the pole), two types of squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, broccoli (we'll see if that works), bell peppers, what will hopefully be two rows of lettuce and spinach and tossed in carrots (an experiment) and strawberries (will they compare to the Central Valley of CA strawberries? most likely not...). We are also planting rosemary, basil and cilantro (if we can find it) in pots to save space. This is all a wild experiment -- the biggest garden we've ever attempted, but just a start up to what will hopefully be a double in size garden next year.

Planted in the ground already are the tomato, strawberry and broccoli plants, along with seeds for lettuce, spinach, carrots and green beans. I've also tried seeding inside, in tiny Dixie cups, our two types of summer squash, cucumbers and more green beans. Seeding is a new adventure, one I should have started earlier but didn't think of till May (next year I'm starting in April). My cucumbers and zucchini are growing great, but I have major concerns for my green beans. We'll see -- this is all such an unknown.

As the garden grows, I'll post more pictures (hopefully ones of big, red ripe strawberries, yummy green beans and beautiful salads with carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes).

Hannah also made me a special gift for Mother's Day at the preschool. The kids went to the local hardware store and built birdhouses. Hannah is so proud of hers and did a great job keeping quiet on what it was (I knew it was pink due to the paint on the jacket that will now never come out).

Kevin also gave me a book, called The Green Book, which is full of easy, day to day type changes that we can make to be more environmentally conscious. I am loving it already and will most likely subject you, the blog reader, to the ones I find most intriguing.

A multi-talented girl

Last Wednesday Hannah went to dance at 2:30 and, at 6:00, had her first T-Ball game. Never being a really girlie girl (couldn't stand pink till Hannah started wearing it), the fact that my girl plays ball is more than okay by me. Still, the day just had this odd, juxtaposition feel to it as Hannah dressed for dance (when she goes to dance, her outfit MUST include a skirt or it just doesn't count) and then for T-Ball.

Here is the little ballerina

A bit of attitude
My T-Ball star

Can you see her in the field?


Playing 3rd base

Team picture (if the team looks little, that's because it is. Somehow, our team is the youngest with the highest concentration of preschoolers on it -- I think we've got about half of Hannah preschool on the team!

Picture Time!

We have tried, to the best of our ability, to take pictures of our girls at their birthday and their half birthday (their half birthdays line up with the other's birthday -- very convenient!).

Here is Hannah in her 4 year old pictures (looks kind of Dorothy Wizard of Oz-ish).

Hmm... what is she plotting?

Hannah continues to be a cute little girl with an over abundance of personality and spunk. She is the life of any party, but also prone to over doing it. Her quickness of learning has me scrambling and excited about her future reading (I vainly hope that her learning to read will help her learn to sit still for more than 5 minutes). Her favorite books are the Junie B. Jones series (which we read every rest time) and The Jesus Storybook Bible (we read this every night--she is on her 4th time through the book she loves it so much) which I think is by far the best children's bible out there and has really taught Hannah so much in terms of needing to be saved from our sins and how Jesus accomplished that. Hannah, at this point, refuses any picture books for rest or bed time but will only allow to be read these two things. If I want to read her a picture book, I do it at another time (seems so strange!). However, both books teach her so much in terms of comprehension and listening skills (and theology) that I am more than happy to read them to her.

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Miss Abby just had her 18 month appointment with the doctor. She weighs in at 24.5 lbs (51%) and is 31 1/4 inches high (33%). Different from Hannah who has been long and lean since she started walking/running. Also, she continues to be our "fair headed" child by having hair that, while brown, is light in color and a complexion that does not always look tanned. However, I feel quite comfortable now reporting that her eyes are a hazel/brown.

She had a ball getting her pictures taken -- too much fun smiling for the camera.

At 16 months I complied all of her vocabulary into a post. Here is the list at 18 months: [the first 35 words from pre-16 months] Mama, Dada, Hannah, yes/yeah, no, more, kitty, here you go, moo, baa, quack, shoe nose, mouth, eye, thank you, baby, night night, hi/hello, cookie, uh oh, bowl, Elmo (what she shouts when she wants to watch a movie), book, read, ow, blueberries, meow, cheese, sister, boo, bath, bagel, wow, bye, [now the new additions] mine, Abby, up, hurt, down, Abigail, off, bite, gate, eyebrow, neigh, milk, soft, jacket, surprise, cute, sissy, breakfast, necklace, yucky, snack, chapstick, please, door, knock, jammies, bright, towel, go, me, Grammie, Emry (a friend), night night, apple, stop it.

All told, she added 35 words (phrases) to the previous 35, which, stayed on track of my prediction of her doubling her vocabulary in the two months. If I didn't stop at exactly 18 months this list would have been longer (and included such words as granola bar, her new favorite snack). She has also started adding two independent words together (such as "Mommy's water").

She continues to surprise us with her developing personality. She has gotten so much more outgoing and open with people, which delights all to no end. She also has a good balance of caution with daring -- she'll try new things, climb things, etc, but always with a dash of reason that leaves her forehead bump free and her knees free from scabs. The kid pretty much doesn't injure herself as she explores, which is completely different from her sister who still regular hurts herself in her need for speed. She also is really enjoying story time -- she DEMANDS (not asks) to be read to every time we rock her, frequently shouting "TWO! TWO!" till you read her two books (at which point, Kevin says, she keeps saying "TWO!" in hopes that you'll read her another -- can you tell that we have a policy of two books or two chapter pre-resting?). Oh David, by David Shannon, might be her favorite board book because she gets to say "P.U!" on one page.