Bigger Friends

This morning, Hanna randomly asked me if her friend, Reagan, could have lunch or dinner with us.  I remarked, "Hanna, when we do go to Reagan's you never play with her."  She responded, "Well, that's cuz she plays with girl things."  Erik then asked how old Reagan was.  I said 3, but her birthday is in May so they aren't quite a whole year apart.  Hanna reconfirmed, "Reagan is 3?"  "Yes!"  I replied, to which Hanna said, "I think I need to get bigger friends.  I'm 4."

Question

If you had to create an account in order to read my blog, would you do it?  Either comment on here or go to facebook and let me know.  I'm not sure whether or not to make my blog private.

My Sweet Hanna

Today, we had the great pleasure of going to the zoo with several special people.  Hanna had so much fun running around with Marley and Jayson.  It was great to be with everyone.  Thanks girls for a great time!

When Meghan came home, she was in a bad mood.  So I took her to my room for some Mommy & Meghan time.  Once Hanna heard this, she started begging for some Mommy time.  I nicely reminded her that we had just had Mommy time ALL MORNING!  She was not satisfied with that, but she accepted it and off Meghan and I went.

Fast forward to tonight.  I had worship practice and Erik was home with the girls, getting them into bed.  I stopped at the grocery store on my way home, and as I was checking out at the register I received a text.  I opened it up to read this..."Hanna prayed...Thank God for making ma ma who is da best ever!"  I got tears in my eyes, right there in Kroger!

I love being my girls' mom!  God is so good!

My Baby Is Not A Baby

Today is Hanna's birthday.  She is officially 4!  I cannot believe it.  To me she is still my baby.  I am amazed how quickly four years have flown by.  So, Happy Birthday sweet Hanna!  You are one of the funniest kids I have EVER known.  I am so thankful that God has allowed me to be your mom.  You have brought so much joy and laughter into our home.  Your quirkiness, spunk, fun loving attitude is like no other.  You say some of the most off the wall things and I am always being told by people how silly you are.  Here are just a few of the things from the last few days that have made us laugh:

You were smacking your lips together and declared, "I'm clapping my lips!"

You rubbed the top of Jason's head with your face because you like how his hair feels.

You want to wear either soccer or basketball jerseys ALL THE TIME!  In fact, you have been known to wear more than one set at a time.  At one time, you had on 5 shirts and 6 pants!

You don't care if it's 100+ degrees outside, you'll wear a sweatshirt if you want!

You won't wear your flip flops all summer.  However, when I take you shopping with your birthday money all you want are the flip flops from Children's Place.  Go figure!

You say copporn for popcorn, hanatizer for sanitizer, and hamaburg for hamburger and I don't correct you because I think it's cute.

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET SURPRISE!  WE ALL LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH!

The First Full Week

Whew!  We have almost made it.  Today is that last day of a full week of school for the girls.  It has been quite challenging at times.  Meghan is having to adjust to a new schedule and how to be able to function peacefully in the afternoons.  Completely normal for one who has just started kindergarten.  I watched my two oldest go through a similar adjustment.  Alyson has for sure felt the loss of some freedom she had during the summer.  There are just not enough hours after school for everything she wants to do after homework is done.

I'm looking forward to next week to see how much progress we have all made.  In the meantime, my baby is soon to be turning 4!!!!  What?????  That's right, 4, on Tuesday!  It is so hard to think of my baby as not a baby.  I have had so much fun having a whole day with just her.  She is funny and can play for long periods of time by herself.  My favorite thing to do is pretend I'm doing something on the computer or read and just watch and listen to her play.  It is so completely sweet!  She'll be starting preschool soon, and then I won't have all these hours with her.  You would think I'd be sad (and I am a little bit), but I am so excited for her to be able to do what her big sisters are doing and to begin learning in a new environment.  So fun!

Well, I guess I'll write more about her on her birthday, so I'll quite now.  Have a blessed day!

A Very Exciting First Day

Today was Meghan's first day of kindergarten.  She waited so patiently yesterday to be able to have her day and I was amazed at how well she handled it.  She watched her two older sisters go off to school and never said, "That's not fair!"  Good for her.

So, many of my friends have posted pictures of their little girls, dressed in cute skirts and matching shirts with adorable shoes and little bows in their hair.  I couldn't help but notice the stark contrast of my little girl.  She had on her green capri pants with her blue Spiderman shirt and tennis shoes.  Her hair was back in a regular ol' ponytail.  I sorta laughed inside about that.

I thought I might cry when I dropped her off at school.  I did with my first two and sort of expected to with her, but for some unknown reason, I didn't.  Maybe it's because she was beyond excited.  I don't know.  I was so anticipating her homecoming so I could hear how much she loved it!  When I heard the bus stop, I looked out the window, and saw her running all the way from her bus stop to our house with one of the biggest smiles on her face.  I didn't really NEED to ask how her day was, but I did anyway.  Needless to say, it was fabulous!

A local church donated backpacks and school supplies this year, so today she got her backpack.  Do you know what she got?  A Spiderman bag!  Perfect!  After she told me about their hunt for the cookies the mouse stole and how she must walk in the hall, she asked me if she was going tomorrow.  Slight disappointment followed when I told her no, that it was Saturday and she would have to wait two more days.  Then, she got over it.  I am so proud of her and hope she keeps that love for school like her two older sisters.

A Very Frustrating Last Day

So, today was the last day of summer break for the kids.  Thank goodness!!!!!  Don't get me wrong.  I really do love these kids, but they were at their worst  today.  I got so frustrated with them that I ended up sitting outside on the front steps to cool off.  Kind of ironic since it was so HOT and HUMID!!!

Anyway, while sitting there, I hear Meghan say, "I just want to find out why mommy is mad."  Alyson yelled, "No!"  Meghan responded, "Maybe she just needs a good night's sleep."  I just about busted up.  I probably would have if I weren't so mad.