My Forever Girl

My girl. She pledges her love to me day after day. Often she tells me that she never wants to get married. She wants to stay home with Mommy forever and ever. Which is fine by me! I think I should try to record her saying that, so that when the teen years hit I can remind her how at one time she thought I was the best thing ever.

Somehow or other, Hannah has it in her head that we will be having a baby soon. Awhile back Tony said something about organizing the basement so that when the time came we would have the option of moving the toys down there. I guess she heard that conversation and it stuck with her.

The other day she told me she did NOT want me to have another baby because she didn't want her toys to go to the basement, she wanted them to stay in the toy room. I assured her that it would not be that way for sometime because the baby would sleep in Mommy and Daddies room at first. That eased her mind for awhile.

Soon she wondered, where would the baby go when it got bigger? Well, if it was a boy he would sleep in Alex's room and if we have a girl then she would sleep in Hannah's room. Well, it seemed that would work "Only if she doesn't snore! If she snores, she cannot sleep with me!" OK Hannah, but Mommy does NOT have a baby in her tummy so we have a long time to worry about that. To which she replied, "Are you sure? Your tummy sure is getting bigger!" Thanks sweetie;)

Soon enough her mind was reeling with questions again. Now she wanted to know if she could get a bunk bed if the baby was a girl. I told her we would wait and see. Then she told me when we take down her bed just to put it in a box and save it for her. That way when the girl gets married, we can take down the bunk bed and put her bed back up! You know, because she is never, ever getting married.

I like the way you think little girl! You can stay with Mommy and Daddy as long as you want. Maybe we could sign a legal agreement stating that you will stay away from boys all together while we are at it. Or you could just freeze time and stay my little girl forever.

You Capture: Lines

Lines...lines....lines. This was a difficult challenge for me, my creative juices just were not flowing. The only thing I could come up with for You Capture was my blinds. Every time I looked up and saw the light streaming through, I thought it might make a nice picture.
Not the most awe inspiring subject, but it works just the same. Here is a different angle, don't mind the ahem, dust. It seems maybe I should have dusted before I took a picture of the blinds.

Head over to Beth's to see some great captures.

Christmas Card Outtakes...

I decided to go with "simple" for our Christmas Cards this year. By simple I mean, buy a card where you just slide a photo in. Actually, I decided that two Christmases ago (2007) and ended up not sending out cards, so I still had the cards to use. Regardless, I thought it would be a cinch to take a cute photo of my kids! Ha, who was I kidding? I knew that I was setting myself up because it was before nap time and my little Mr. was a grump, but I still thought I could pull it off!

It actually started off that he was in a good mood and Sissy was grumpy.

Then it switched to Sissy being happy and him being grumpy. Somewhere along the line I may have threatened them that they wouldn't get to go to Grandma's house unless they both smiled for the camera! It may or may not have worked.
I may or may not have called Grandma and left a voicemail in front of them stating that Zander couldn't go to her house because he wasn't listening.

I may have gotten a few good shots.
I will reveal my top three picks at the end of the week.

You Capture: Food

This week's You Capture was food. This Thanksgiving my Mom asked me to bake "a few pies or something." I had high expectations of capturing all these beautiful photos while I was baking. Except then I forgot, until I saw Beth's tweet that you capture was up. I was all, crap! Guess I will just show you the finished product.
A snowball cake.

Snowball cake, with pumpkin crunch in background.

Of course, a pumpkin roll. It was my first time baking all of these and I had two little helpers. Both helpers were quite upset when they found out they had to wait a whole day before they got to sample all their hard work. Hannah even asked if we could just taste one of them and take the other two to Grandma's. I like the way she thinks! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

As always, head over to Beth's to see more captures.

You Capture: Autumn

This weeks You Capture is Autumn. Autumn is probably my favorite season, except for the fact that winter is shortly behind it. I love all of the beautiful colors. It amazes me that we get one last colorful look before the dreary gray winter comes.

The kids and I went on a walk the other day and these are two of my favorite pictures from the walk.

Of course another reason to love autumn is pumpkin seeds!

We can't forget adorable kids and their pumpkins.

To see more captures or to play along, head over to I Should Be Folding Laundry.

Wow!

Hi! Remember me? I know it has been a LONG time. I really do not have an excuse other than we were busy enjoying our summer and I kind of hit a blogging funk. Sorry I neglected you so long;)
There is so much to update, so I am going to have a list on here and cross it out/link to the posts over the next few days weeks!

• Hannah's trip to see Dr. Pauli
• Hannah's birthday post
• Birthday party
• Hannah's first loose tooth
• Trip to the zoo/stroller
• Alexander's birthday post
• Face painting

Hmm, that is all I can think of for now. I know not much content on this post! It is a start though.

Lose the Loose

Hannah's tooth has been loose for weeks upon weeks. For a little girl who is anxious to lose her first tooth, it seemed like it had been loose FOREVER! The following is how it finally came out. I took a million pictures of this event, but luckily enough for you I narrowed it down to just four.

One night fresh from a bath, Hannah told Daddy that her tooth was really, really loose. So we all gathered around her as Daddy tortured her tried to pull her tooth.

She was a little bit scared, so she held Mommy's hand. She was worried that it was going to hurt even though that little tooth was only hanging on by a thread.

Daddy's big fingers had a hard time grabbing that tiny little baby tooth. So eventually we called it a night. The next day (August 26) while sitting at the table with Hannah I asked her if I could wiggle her tooth. I twisted it one time and out it came.

She was so excited to finally lose the tooth that had been loose for so LONG. The end.

A Whole Hand

I know I start out every birthday post lamenting the fact that I cannot believe how old my "baby" is, but it is so true. How can my girl be 5 already?! It is unreal. Where does the time go? Which is funny to say because there are days that literally drag on and I am ready to pull my hair out by bedtime. However, the next thing I know another year has passed.

Things I want to remember from the past year:
You are still such a swimmer! You love the water and if it were up to you, you would swim every day all day! You have recently began swimming under water. I think maybe we should invest in swim lessons for you.

You are also so social. You love to play with your "friends" and cousins. In fact in the mornings I will often find you looking out our front window to see if any of your friends are outside. As soon as you spot one, you get so excited and beg to go outside.

You still love to sing and dance. In fact when we say your bedtime prayers it is usually done in form of a song! You just make up your own beat and dance to it. I love how you are constantly dancing or singing. We are hoping to find you a dance class this fall so that you can continue to do what you love.

You have started not only dressing yourself, but picking out what you want to wear. You come up with some crazy outfits! They do not always match, but to you they do! One day you wore two totally different patterns that both had flowers on them. Your reasoning was that you were going to be a flower girl, so you needed to wear flowers! You also almost always have some sort of scarf or headband as an accessory. For this reason, some people think you are going to be a fashion designer when you grow up.

One of your greatest loves is dogs. You have never taken an interest in playing with dolls, but you have so many stuffed dogs that you LOVE to play with. You just love Fuzzy Bones and all of the neighbors dogs. You are so gentle with them and loving. It still surprises me that you never had a fear of dogs even after you got bit. I know that I have a major fear now. I always have to stop you when we "meet" a new dog because you just want to get right down there and give them hugs and let them kiss you. It makes me so nervous! Sometimes when we are outside playing with the neighbors, you will ignore all of the kids and hang out with the neighbor's dog Clyde for awhile. Many people think you are going to be a veterinarian one day.

It is so amazing to see how much you have grown and changed over this year. You are my baby girl, and yet you are getting older right before my eyes. Often times you tell me that you do not want to get married. When asked why, you will respond that you want to stay with Mommy forever. Which is perfectly fine by me. You are such a strong, stubborn, spunky girl. I know God has some big plans for you. Really, it doesn't matter what you decide to become one day as long as you are happy.

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Love,
Your Mommy

A Dog Gone Good Time

It was no surprise that Hannah chose to have a dog themed birthday party this year. Although once again it was a last minute change. Pretty much since last year she has been talking about how she wanted a Hannah Montana party. I found a cute guitar cake stencil to use, as well as cute favor and game ideas. Then shortly before the party she decided on puppy dogs. It fit her well and we had a lot of fun doing it.

We had a great turn out for the party, besides most of my family not coming:( All of our neighbors (with kids) came, most of our small group, and some family. It was a little crowded in the house, but it was worth it.

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the decor (I was a little busy running around doing all the last minute stuff) so for now I will just tell you about them. I found dog dishes at Target in the $1 aisle. So I bought one for each of the kids and wrote their names on them with a paint pen. Then I put coco puffs in them (dog food) and sugar cookies cut in the shape of a bone on top. When the kids first came in we had a station for them to make a dog collar, licorice with fruit loops. The cake was in the shape of a dog face and then I made cupcakes with paw prints on them.

Games: A few weeks before Hannah's party we were at a neighbors party and they were getting ready to play pin the tale on the donkey. Hannah kept saying that she did not want to play. I could not figure out why because she had played all of the other games up to that point. She asked me if she could just watch. Then she asked me where they kept him at. Who? The donkey, is he outside? It was so funny. She actually thought there was a real donkey that she had to try to pin a tale on! After explaining to her it was pretend and showing her the picture, she was ready to play.

Of course she wanted to play pin the tale at her party. I tried to find a pin the tale on the dog, but couldn't so we were stuck with a donkey. We also had a barking contest and a pinata.

Hannah with all of her loot!

Her big gift from Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa Fries, Grandma and Grandpa Lauck and Uncle Matt. We are looking forward to using that this summer!

You Capture, Summer

This weeks challenge over at I Should Be Folding Laundry was summer. When I think of summer I think of hot lazy days at the pool. Unfortunately we no longer live by our parents who both have a pool, so we now use sprinklers. (Note, not as much "fun" for me this way!) Since I just used pictures of the kids in sprinklers, I had to move on. The next thing I thought of was ice pops! We LOVE ice pops at this house.
I love the colors and the lines! To see some more great captures head over to Beth's!

You Capture - Nature

This week's challenge was nature. I did not have to go very far to get some fun pictures. What is that nursery rhyme? Mary, Mary, quite contrary how does your garden grow? These pictures were all taken from my flower garden and they are SOC.

I had to include our 'mato plant because the Tater was just so excited to see that we had 'matoes growing!!

Head over to I Should Be Folding Laundry to check out some great captures!

On a totally unrelated note, I know I have been kind of absent from the blog lately. It seems I am kind of in a funk. I have a ton of stuff to write about, but the words are not coming. Yesterday it was all I could do to get my weigh in post up and it was not very wordy. Anyway, be on the lookout for three or four posts coming soon (probably after the weekend).

Weigh-In Wednesday

GO TEAM NAVY!!!!

Well, this past week has been fairly good for me. I have not done the best working out, but I have done pretty good eating. Still I managed to lose 1/2 a pound! Yay!

My goals for this coming week are to actually get up before my children in order to exercise and to continue eating healthy.

You Capture: Feel

Feel. When I first saw this challenge I was a little stumped. Feel, maybe feelings...nope that won't work. I mulled it over for awhile, then it was like a light bulb went off in my brain. Feel. Blankets! My kids love to feel their blankets!
Hannah is a picker. She picks at the seams when she is falling asleep.
While Alex loves to feel the tag.

Unfortunately the other shots did not turn out! I had the wrong settings on, so when I took a shot with their face included it was a little blurred.

Head on over to I Should Be Folding Laundry for more Captures!

Hannah's Story Part Two

We finally got to see Dr. Pauli!! For those of you who do not know, Dr. Pauli is on the Medical Advisory Board for LPA and has several articles published about dwarfism. In fact, he is a renowned specialist in the dwarfism community!

Here is what Dr. Pauli had to say about Hannah:
He was quite excited to see her because he thought she would be somewhat of a "medical mystery" due to her past. Her FGFR3 gene was tested for achondroplasia and hypochondroplasia when she was younger and it was negative. So either she is one of the very rare individuals with some other mutation in FGFR3 or she has hypochondroplasia, which only 60% of individuals with hypochondroplasia have an identifiable mutation in FGFR3.
He reviewed her past x-rays and CT scan. He noted that the CT showed her foramen magnum to be small for average height children, but quite large compared with standards for achondroplasia. The features he saw on the x-rays are intermediate between those classically seen in achondroplasia and those that would be most consistent with hypochondroplasia. Due to the fact that she has had no medical issues related to achondroplasia, he thinks that hypchondroplasia may be the correct diagnosis in her.
He did a complete physical exam on her, noted all of her features and said based on the combination of her radiological features and clinical characteristics, the appropriate diagnosis would be hypochondroplasia. He also said that if we wanted to find out if this was the correct diagnosis we could pursue other testing, like sequencing of the entire FGFR3 gene. However, he also said that we could just wait since the primary justification for molecular confirmation relates to Hannah's reproductive risks rather than medical issues. So, I think for now we are just going to wait and accept her clinical diagnosis.
He went on to explain that there are far fewer issues with individuals with hypochondroplasia than those with achondroplasia. We have 4 things to watch: growth, ears/hearing, respiratory characteristics (some develop sleep apnea) and bowing of legs. He also mentioned that there has been some research showing a correlation between hypochondroplasia and learning disabilities, however in his words, "She certainly does seem to be cognitively normal."
We were quite pleased with Dr. Pauli and his knowledge and look forward to seeing him again in the future!

You Capture: Family

I haven't been very "inspired" lately so I did not participated the past two weeks with You Capture. This week I am back on board with the challenge of Family. Or in my case: children since I neglected to take a family shot! Here are some of my favorites from this past weekend. Ironically these happened on the same day. Grandma was here and took the kids to playland and it was sooo hot. So, when we came home we hopped in the sprinkler.
Stopping long enough for a picture...hurry up Mom there is lots to do!

I should mention that Alex climbed all the way to the top in order to go down the big slide and guess what happened? Yep, he freaked out and yours truly had to go rescue him!

Sprinkler fun!! I had a hard time picking these. In most of the shots you can tell Hannah is singing and dancing!

Taking a moment to enjoy the mud!

Head on over to I Should Be Folding Laundry to see some great captures!

Somebody Loves Steel Cut Oats

So much so that he has to try to get every last drop out of the bowl.

Not snotty nose above, just the milk that was in the bowl, also doesn't it look like he is holding an imaginary spoon? I know the photos are overexposed, way to bright, but I wanted to get him holding the bowl up so I didn't have time to think about lighting.

Weigh In

I have a major headache right now, so I feel like I can't make complete sentences let alone form a paragraph so I am going to do bullet point this week.

• I think setting the goals really helped me
• I did stay away from the sweets :)
• I almost lost 2 lbs...
• However I gained 1 lb last week, so really I only lost 1/2 a pound!
• Somehow that breaks me even for the challenge
• My starting weight and ending weight are pretty much the same
• I only have 10 weeks until the wedding
• I didn't do so well with the shred
• I am going to keep the same goals for next week
• This time focusing on shredding!!
• That is all

Forgot to link up: Head on over to the Sisterhood to be inspired on your weight loss journey!

Is He Still There?

Hannah has recently taken an interest in the fact that Jesus is always with you. She has started asking questions...all sorts of questions. Here are a few of them:

Is Jesus with Grandma? Alex? Daddy? Fuzzy?
Why doesn't Jesus live in Fuzzy's heart?
Does He see me when I am in the bathroom?
Does He go with me when I go upstairs?

On and on the list goes. However, the other night she didn't want to go upstairs by herself. When I questioned why, she informed me that she was scared that He was going to follow her again. LOL! Then a little bit later she told me that she was didn't want Him to follow her anymore.

I don't think she really understands the concept!

Weigh in Wednesday

So....
Where to start? I guess I'll just jump right in. I gained this week. (Hangs head in shame.) That's right, I gained a pound!! Not exactly what I was going for, but I'm sure it is just muscle right? LOL! Last week I wrote out why I wanted to lose weight; which is great but I think I need something a little more concrete. Like some goals. For the first week I wanted to keep them simple so I can reach them;) So here are my goals:

• I am aiming to lose 2 pounds this week
• I am going to do the Shred everyday
• Run at least 3 times this week
• No sweets (for the week)

Onto the new week. Let's see how many I can cross off my list.

I NEED YOUR HELP!!

Not to be overly dramatic or anything, but I do need your help in deciding about my decor. What do you think? Is it too much blue? Do you like the arrangement? I know I need to fill the other two cubbies and I am wondering if I need more with the diffusers. Also, you can't see the candle holders since they are on the top shelf, so I am wondering if I should buy bigger holders that you can see. Decisions, decisions! Tell me what you think....because I am so indecisive that it took me three weeks just to pick out what I have! I don't want it to be another three weeks before I finish it.
You can click on the picture to make it larger. Also, I feel like I should mention (from my husband) that he has been begging for a new TV! One that will fit in the hole better and you know that has a flat screen. Also, I will post a full room before and after very soon!

You Capture Week Nine

This week's challenge was expression. I chose the literal definition of facial expressions. This was my favorite shot. I might upload a few more later on, but I don't have the time right now!
Sad.
I'm sooo hungry. That is what I hear all day long! This shot was taken right after I told her that she just ate breakfast and did not need a snack yet. Sigh, life is rough when you are four!
As always, head on over to I Should Be Folding Laundry for more captures!

Weigh in Wednesday

• I almost didn't weigh in today.
• I really was not motivated all week long to exercise.
• So I did not exercise and I ate a bunch of junk.
• Somehow I managed to not gain weight.
• I feel like I am not taking this seriously.
• Do I really want to lose weight? Of course.
• Am I willing to sacrifice in order to do so? Apparently not.
• Thankfully, I realize that this is a journey, a marathon not a sprint.
• I am used to losing weight pretty easily.
• It is hard to realize that I am getting older and my body does not work like that anymore.
• I decided to make a list as to why I want to lose weight:

1. I want to look good in my sister's wedding
2. I want to look good for my husband
3. I want to look good for myself
4. I want to fit into my clothes again
5. I want to be at a reasonable weight before I get pregnant again
6. I want to stop being paranoid about the way people see me

You Capture Week Ten

Joy. That was this week's challenge. Of course I put off the challenge once again! Mainly because it was hard to come up with something to represent joy. My children bring me joy, so I figured I would snap shots of them. However, I wanted the the joy to be evident on their faces. So what brings them joy? Here they are doing two of their favorite things combined: playing with Daddy and jumping on the trampoline.

This picture just looks awesome. Tater is doing her "split-jump". Unfortunately you cannot see the joy on her face because her crazy hair is in the way!

I took this picture a couple of days ago. It helps me to remember to stop and enJOY the beauty around me.
Hop over to I Should Be Folding Laundry to see some great captures!

Just Had to Share

I thought that this was so funny that I just had to share it with you all! Since we have experienced a heat wave the past few days Hubby has been complaining that he couldn't find any type of sandal. He thought for sure that they were buried somewhere in the basement where he would not be able to find them until summer was over. I knew that I remembered seeing them since we moved and I also knew that I should probably look for them for him. However, I never did and when we were out shopping last night he bought two new pairs.

Imagine my surprise when I was putting away laundry today and looked down and saw this:
Upon further inspection this is what I found. Not one, but two pairs of sandals! Hahaha.

In his defense there was a towel that somehow missed the laundry basket laying over the shoes that were blocking them. Other than that I did not move a thing! Hilarious. Love ya Babe!

Catching Up

I realized that I have not really posted much about the kiddos lately so I thought I better give some updates on them. I really need to do an Easter post, but that will have to come later! For now here is a picture of us all dressed up.
Tater is doing great. Not much "changing" going on with her. She continues to get smarter by the day and I am constantly bombarded with questions throughout the day. Most of which I have no idea how to answer! I usually stumble along to the best of my ability, which is usually followed by a long list of whys! She keeps me on my toes, that is for sure. She is quite the fashion diva...only the fashion makes sense to only her. I have long ago decided not to fight her on what she wears. She gets to decided what to wear even if it evokes quite a few stares when we are out and about. This past weekend when it was 80+ degrees outside, she thought for sure that she needed to wear her hat and gloves.

Zander is also growing and changing so much everyday. One of my favorite things that he does right now is to tell me secrets. He comes up and makes the whispering noise and at the end whispers secret. It is so cute. He just loves to play outside and is all boy, let me tell you.

Unfortunately he is cutting his two year molars right now and it has really changed his disposition. I couldn't remember Hannah being so fussy, so I looked through my archives to see if I had written anything. Sure enough I had. Turns out she was fussy, I just must have blocked out that part! I am also a little concerned with how he turns his right foot in when he walks. When we originally asked the pediatrician about it she said they usually don't do anything about it until the child is 3 or 4. However, it has gotten much worse since then so I think we will be bringing it up at our next visit.