Happy 6th Birthday, Hannah Elizabeth!

6 years ago today, our lives forever changed on so many levels...

• We became parents of a precious baby girl.
• We became a family of 4.
• We learned just how powerful prayer is.

 

On the day of Hannah's birth, things could have gone terribly wrong. In most instances, things do go terribly wrong. You see, I had nearly a complete abruption with her...

 These are very commonly fatal, as was the case with my little brother on 12/9/01...

 The fact that she survived with no issues. The fact that I had no major issues. Those are miraculous...

 Hannah Elizabeth is our miracle.

 She has brought so much love and happiness to our family...

 

She amazes me daily with what she comes up with. Her imagination blows me away. Her memory and knowledge of everything is incredible.

She is the best daughter we could ever ask for...

 Her love for anything living is precious. She loves horses with every ounce of her being, much like her mother did when she was little! She adores babies and little children. She is so very compassionate and caring...

Hannah Elizabeth,

I am so very proud of you! You are so very special to me - you are my only daughter! You are the only one I can take to paint nails or play with hair or play dress up.

Just like I do with your brothers, I cherish every single moment together. Every single thing that you do.

As I type this, you are creating words on the floor to create a hopscotch game. You had the idea to make the words. You have a zest for learning that I have never seen. In fact, we have you an entire year ahead of your peers! You, Hannah, began Kindergarten at 4 years old!
 
Hannah, I love you to the moon and back a million, zillion, and one time!

XOXOXOXO,
Your Mommy

Musical Beds...

I went to bed at 11:00...

At 12:00, I woke to Daddy coming to bed...

At 12:42, I woke to a 4 year old crawling in bed with me. After he settled and realized he was not getting chocolate milk, I was able to fall back asleep...

At 1:54, I woke to my almost 6 year old trying to crawl in bed with me. It was quite the ordeal when I explained that she was not able to get into my bed because her brother was already in there. She finally gave in and made a pallet on the floor. Minutes later, the aforementioned 4 year old decided he wanted out of my bed and onto the pallet. When this decision was made the almost six year old began to sob because the 4 year old touched her covers. The situation was resolved and all fell asleep...

At 3:10, the 4 year old crawled back into bed with me. However, when he crawled into bed, he messed up the covers and this required me to crawl out of bed for a 3rd time in 4 hours. After a few minutes he settled and I was able to fall back into an exhausted slumber...

At 4:40, an almost 8 year old, came into my room. He looked at my bed, tried to crawl in. When he realized this would not work, an attitude kicked in that required Daddy's intervention. He finally settled on a pallet on Daddy's side of the bed...

At 6:25 all were up and ready for the day...

One day I will miss this; until then, I will remain exhausted and enjoy these fleeting moments of their childhood...

Joy Is...

Watching your kiddos play in the sprinklers on a warm *still* winter day...

 

 

 

Listening to your oldest talk about when he gets married to his CCD sweetheart...

Getting your nails done with your sweet daughter...

 

Snuggling with your 4yo baby as they drift off to dreamland...

Spending time with the love of your life...





Being surprised by your siblings and parents for your birthday...

Watching your kids do something they so enjoy...

 

This is what joy is!

Learing IS Fun!

Today I finally listened to some friends and turned to our computer for schoolwork...

At first, I was hesitant as to how they would take it. Would there be our usual fights about not doing school, or needing a day off, or doing xyz, etc - there is ALWAYS some excuse! However, today I was shocked!

I opened up Reading Eggs and had Robert and Hannah take a simple test to see where they were at. They then continued playing the 'games' not knowing that they were learning! Each of them played for about 45minutes with absolutely NO complaints - only the occasional, "Mommy, I love these games!" I dared not tell them they were learning/doing some school work!

Then came math and I opened up IXL Math. It is different from Reading Eggs in that you determine where your child is at. You are also the one guiding them as they go. Whereas in Reading Eggs, you must master one skill before you can progress to another. Regardless though, each kiddo had a fabulous time!

After I PULLED them away from the computer and made them go outside, they thanked me for letting them take a day off from school! Little do they know....