So You Wonder What I Do All Day?

This is my normal morning routine...get Hannah breakfast, make coffee, catch up on the "news", take a leisurely shower, get dressed, then start the day. Yeah, right! However, I do occassionally get a moment to hang out on the compute for a few minutes.

Schoolwork

Any of you who know Hannah knows how much she loves, loves, loves her schoolwork. Every day she asks for some kind of work to do. She wants scissor work, color work , letter work, number work or just plain schoolwork. She will color, cut, paste, write up to 15 pages a day. I have to stop her there or she will use up her entire schoolwork workbook in a day! It is amazing. Now she wants to learn how to read. Crazy little lady!!

Chalk

Hannah likes to color with chalk on the back patio. Ms. Beth gave her the sidewalk chalk for her birthday, and it has provided many hours already of outside entertainment. Today, Hannah decided to make a picture of David. He is the circle with legs and other features. Then she added Mommy, Daddy, Jeremiah, Hannah and Chris (David's best friend). As you can see, we are all just floating heads. Guess we just didn't stack up!

Packing up

Hannah was watching over David's packing. I don't remember getting old enough to have a college student for a son. The movers will be here tomorrow to collect his stuff. I guess there is no turning back now.

OK, I just have to tell this story...

It was almost 5:30. I was just getting ready to start dinner. Hannah was already hungry and had been eating some almonds. I gave her a few, then she came back for some more. Next thing I know, Hannah is crying and Jeremiah is saying something quite hysterical.
"What?!" I yelled from my position in the kitchen. They had been arguing all day, certainly this was just a matter of who was sitting where on the couch...again!
"Hannah just put an almond up her nose!" was the reply. Now that had me hopping. I grabbed Hannah and looked up her nose...nothing. I brought her into the light...still nothing.
"Are you sure?" I questioned Jeremiah.
"I put an almond up my left nose," Hannah replied through her tears.
Being that I could not see the almond, I had to assume that it was way up there, so I figured that she could try to blow it out. I held a tissue over her nose, pinched the right side closed, covered her mouth and...nothing. No air flow at all. Try again...same thing and I still can't see it. Great.
Keith is not home yet, so I call his phone. "Are you still at work?" Kind of a silly question being that I called his work phone.
"I'm leaving now, " he replies. Hannah is still hysterical while I explain what has happened. It looks like a trip to the ER for us. (There is no urgent care or after hours clinic here.) It only takes Keith about 10 minutes to get home. I have put Hannah's shoes on, given instructions to the older boys and tried again to have her blow the almond out of her nose. Still nothing.
We pile in the car, and head for LRMC. Keith explains to Hannah why she should not put things up her nose, and I try to calm her down. I try again to get her to blow it out again...still nothing.
Once at the ER, we check in and are advised of a "very long" wait. By now it is nearly 6:30. She still can't breathe out of her left nostril and I still cannot see the almond culprit. Minutes tick by. Some patients come and go while we wait. Almonds are a very low priority. Seems stitches are too. We meet a young girl who came in about an hour after Hannah who hit her head on the bed and has a cut about an inch long. Well, at least they have each other for company. They gladly trade stories as we wait.
At about 9:30, we see some friends from church with their newborn (another victim of lack of urgent care and the fact that it takes a couple of days to get kids enrolled in the system). They just need a bilirubin level checked. After keeping us company and seeing how long the wait really is, the decide that he can wait until tomorrow and take their leave. Alone again and Hannah is really getting grumpy. The almond is still not to be found and she still cannot breathe out of her left side. We begin to wonder if we are ever going to be done. I have heard of these extractions sometimes taking hours and we have not even started.
Finally, it is our turn and 10:30 at night. We are 5 hours post almond stuffing. We make our way to the ER stretcher. "The doctor will be with you in a few minutes." I am glad to be here and not in the waiting room, but am not looking forward to what lies ahead. The lighting in here is pretty good. I have Hannah tilt her head back so I can see. Sure enough, there is an almond visible. Visible! Wait...I hurredly grab a tissue and have her blow again. Viola! An almond!
Now I feel a little silly, yet relieved at the same time. I carry the almond to the front desk, and explain to the staff what happened. The doctor comes in to check he nose and all is clear. We sign our discharge papers and are led out of the ER. At least we have cleared the room for the girl who still needs her stitches...

Legoland - Day 2

Wow! What a day! God provided us such awesome weather these past 2 days. Today was bright and sunny - downright hot! At least it was good for the water rides that it was really too cool for yesterday. Betwen the two days, we managed to see and do everything at least once.

David and Jeremiah on the rope-pull ride. Notice who is doing the work and who is messing around! Just kidding, JB was just taking a break to pose.

Hannah and Jeremiah in the water at the SeaLife exhibit. OK so, it wasn't as cool as Underwater World on Guam, but hey, we are in the middle of Germany!

David being a good sport about holding Hannah's bag. Not every young man has the confidence to sport a Dora backpack!

Legoland!

I feel like we are in a picture of "Where's Waldo?"

Hannah and Mommy on the airplane ride. Hannah insisted on the green airplane. Good thing we were first in line!

Can Jeremiah pull the sword from the stone? Not when it is bolted in. Hey that's cheating!!

David and Jeremiah by Einstein. Yes, everything here is REALLY built out of Legos!

Hannah! This was at the Lego factory where we got to see how Legos are made.

It was a great day. A little cool - I didn't even get to take off my sweatshirt. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer, so we will see. Keith and the boys rode the Bionicle and a few of the roller coasters. They are not exactly my style, so Hannah and I saw some shows and played on the playground. We did go on one water ride, and were thoroughly drenched! Hannah went with us and once I looked over and both David and Jeremiah were hugging her to protect her from the onslaught of water. What awesome big brothers!

Mamma Hannah

Hannah loves to play Mommy to her babies. We are in a hotel in Leipheim, Germany waiting to start our 2 day excursion to Legoland. Hannah packed a few toys and of course, her baby was one of them.

Aye, Aye, Cap'n!

Congratulations, Keith! As my wonderful husband recently said, "I will finally have the respect I once had as a Tech Sergeant!". Let us just say that life in the military as a prior enlisted Lieutenant is interesting...

Pinning on his Captain's bars

Cutting the cake

Graduation Night

There are a few moments in your life that you will never forget. Certainly one of them is graduation night. I can recall the anticipation of my name being called, moving my tassel over and finally being a high school graduate. Now, our oldest son has had the opportunity to do the same. We are so proud of him! He did a great job in high school taking 4 honors classes, 6 AP classes, and receiving an AFROTC scholarship. His Senior year he had nearly a 4.0! He did all this while obtaining his Eagle Scout Award, participating in Cross-Country and Track, playing on the praise team at church, and overall being an awesome guy. Who could ask for more. God has totally blessed him and our family!

As far as college plans, he intends to go to the University of Oklahoma and major in Computer Engineering. Lofty goals indeed!

Receiving his diploma!! (Sorry about the grainy photo - we had seats in the nosebleed section)

David and Chris (his best friend)

You know Hannah has to be in at least one picture!

The whole family

Practicing for College

When the sign says, "Free". Doesn't that mean I can have it all??

Bacculaureate

David coming down the aisle.

Hannah entertaining herself

David's turn to go up

Chris and David exiting after the ceremony

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Hannah is three years old! It is so hard to believe that the time has just flown by. Just yesterday we brought her home and celebrated her first birthday and her first steps. Now she is a walking, talking, crazy little girl!

Here are some things that Hannah can do:
She tells you her name is "Hannah 'Lizbef Fuwan Ross"
She knows ALL of her letters
She can spell "stop"
She looks both ways before she crosses the street
She likes to climb to the top of the highest slides and slide down
She is TOTALLY left-handed
She can write her name (almost)
She can hop, skip, and jump
She can ride her bike with training wheels (steering is optional)
She can put together 24 piece puzzles easily
She carries on entire converstaions. At her 3 year checkup, the doctor asked if she said 3-4 word sentences. She replied by asking, "What is a three or four word sentence, Mommy?". I guess she passed that test.
She knows who the doctor is and that she does NOT want a shot when she goes.
She is not afraid of the dark
She likes to listen to her Chinese music when she goes to sleep
She is completely potty-trained, even at night
She knows shat she wants, how to get it and voices herself clearly to make her needs/wants known.
She bosses the boys, the dog, the cat and anyone who will listen.
She does not share very well
She likes to change her clostes - several times a day if I am not careful
She cleans up her own room and toys
She loves to use scissors and asks for her scissor homework!
She loves books and wants me to read her a story
She still likes her milk "nice and warm"
She can count to 11 and add to 5 (sometimes 6)

Here are some pictures of her birthday party, Dora the Explorer style!

Hannah blowing out the candles with Eden watching

Hannah opening presents with Ashlynn

Hannah with the camera - a self-portrait!

Opening present with Eden

Luke enjoying some rice krispie treats

After lunch, games, presents and cake, it was time to go to the playground!

Will, Ashlynn, Keith, Eden, and Hannah on the teeter-totter.

The aftermath...

Sometimes you just need a nap...

Play Group

This year we hosted a play group at our house every Wednesday morning. Some mornings, it was just Hannah, me, another adult, and child. Some mornings there were 21 people at my house! Either way it was a great way for young Christian women to get together, swap parenting stories, encourage each other, and let the kids play. Thanks to all the ladies who helped make this possible!

Emma and Abby sharing some flowers

Sydney and Charlie

Hannah and Aubrey

The fake cry

There are some things that girls master that boys just do not see the need for. Take the fake cry for instance. Neither David nor Jeremiah ever saw the need to make themselves cry. Hannah, however, has this down to an art form!

Easter

I love Easter and the fact that we celebrae Jesus rising from the dead - conquering death and sin! How awesome is HE! I love Easter Sunday worship. It really makes me feel renewed.

We also enjoy some of the other Easter traditions, even when they are just different ways of having fun.

"For me?" "Is this for me?"

Can I eat all of that?

Ready for church. I didn't catch that Jeremiah made a face until we were all home and changed and Hannah was down for a nap.

After church, we had our friends, the Busseys over for Easter dinner and a little fun!

Sydney Easter egg hunting

Hannah finding some eggs, too.

Rock band - Daddies and daughters!

Now, where were the mommies? Making dinner, of course!

It was a great day of fun and fellowship...I love Easter!

Playground fun

Living next door to a playground can have its benefits. We do not have to buy a swing set, we don't have to walk to the park, there is always a clean potty, and when Hannah has friends over, there is always a place to go.





Photos courtesy of Jeremiah.

Loving on his sister

David...loving on his sister!

Being Cute

Cuteness abounds!