preschool orientation

today was hana's preschool orientation. we went in, met her teachers, got some paperwork, and looked around the room. it should be a nice year, she has a couple of kids in her class who were in her class last year. at least there were some familiar faces. she played and enjoyed herself.

if anyone feels lead to contribute to the "hana relief" fund... let me know :)

i didn't get any pictures while we were there.

but here is one of hana getting ready :)

a little play time before we went :)

we did have one incident before we left. i mean i was only not looking for a minute! the toilet paper roll never stood a chance! who knew brooke had it in her?!



preschool starts next wednesday. i can't believe that the summer is over. and what a summer it has been...

read it

i don't usually recommend books. i have been reading a lot lately and this one is by far my favorite. it ranks right up there with Redeeming Love, My Sister's Keeper and The Notebook. although this is not a chick-book. i did learn a lot and it touched me.
it is just a great book. read it!

clouds = rain... even at the beach

so we decided to head to the beach today since the rest of the week didn't look to promising weather-wise. when we got there the sky looked dark and ominous. but hey, we were already there, we paid the parking meter... we were sticking it out. after an hour of running and playing. the rain did in fact, being to fall. we hurried to the car and didn't get too wet (which is really not that big of a deal since we were in our bathing suits!)

brooke pre-rain in her sun-clothes :)

hana with the rain in the background

the sky telling us the rain was coming... we didn't listen :)

at least we got to spend a couple of hours out of the house :)

outside play

this morning we played outside (until the rain rolled in). i, of course, had my camera. here are some of the pictures.

millie holloman photography

today was an adventure! being that i stalk millie's blog, when i saw that they needed a family today to "learn" with, i emailed them as quick as i could! we got the confirmation that they wanted to use us and the adventure was born. our shooting location was downtown. i was so excited!!
what a day it was. i have two words for you: hard work!! this takes away any aspirations of wanting my kids to be models (not that we have agencies knocking down our doors or anything, but every parents thinks their kids can model. right??!).
the shoot was from 12-2. not the ideal time in the daily schedule for 2 young girls. but i did my best. luckily jack was able to meet us on his lunch hour for the first part. the girls were good and cooperated (for the most part). we bribed hana with a milkshake for good performances. it worked really well. she listened and followed (most of) our directions. brooke was ok. she did well for being 16 months and sleeping only a portion of her regular nap.
all in all it was a hard working 2 hours but (i know it will be) totally worth it!!!

I will of course post the pictures when we get to see them!!!

oh and here is a link to millie's blog if you want to check out her work. she is quite amazing!!

"God showed up"

to borrow a line from forest gump... "God showed up". after my post entitled "lost". i had a bit of a heart to heart with God. i cried and told him that i didn't know what i was supposed to be doing with my life. i had plans, good plans, (at least i though they were good) and they were changed. so i didn't know what to do. God please show me what to do!!
literally 2 minutes after my screaming match. my friend carrie beth called. she said that she was going to put me on a reference form for the counseling ministry at church. my first (and honest) response was "because i need counseling or because i could help with counseling?"
she chuckled and said that i could help with the counseling of other women. i said "alright".
i have never in a million years thought about counseling other people. never. but if this is where God wants me i will go. a million miles out of my comfort zone. but i will go. i emailed the woman in charge of the ministry (who i went to college with and know well) to let her know of my interest. i have not heard anything yet (but this was just yesterday and apparently jack and i need to work on our patience because we have had LOTS of practice lately).
now, i don't know if this is the "answer" for me. i don't even know if it will work out at all (that is totally up to God). but it has made me see that what i am doing now is good. no it is great. i am a wife and a mother and that is how it is supposed to be. the rest will work itself out. that may be helping other people in counseling or something different. i don't know and that is ok.
so i just wanted to let everyone know that i am not lost anymore. i may not have all of the answers, but i do have the first turn :)

park

the girls and i headed to the park this morning. it was a nice time complete with walking and playing. not a bad monday.

hana swinging (where she is not supposed to)


brooke


brooke playing

paige

while i am sharing things. i wanted to add that i named the baby.
paige.

i was reading a book during everything and the main character's name was paige. it is a nice name. so there it is.
paige.

.lost.

things have been a bit difficult for me lately. you see i am lost.
me, the planer, has no plans.
i had plans. before getting pregnant i had plans. i knew the things i needed to do to get to where i wanted to go. i knew where to turn and how fast to go. then i got pregnant. screech halt! u-turn. well ok, now i have new plans. still plans, just a different direction. a new destination.
halt again. no more destination.
now i have no where to go. i need my map. there is no map. so where do i go? i know it is here somewhere. i just haven't found it yet. i am lost.
i just need a few road signs to find my way...

help me Lord. help me find my way.

mayfaire concert take 2

friday night, hana and i went back to the mayfaire concert. we made it into a special hana and mommy night. we got special (very healthy) snacks for the celebration ;) it was a great time!
we met up with friends to add to the excitement. everything about the night was good, the weather, the lack of bugs, and the company... all good! yea hana and mommy night!

we started the night with some good fruit... look how well hana is sharing!taylor snacking on the fruit solo

the couple sitting in front of us had a dog... hana would not leave them alone! she pet the dog so many times. ahh the poor couple

she also did laps around the couple
(maybe i was wrong and she will be an olympic runner)

let's not forgot some dancing... how cute!

one last shot of hana... studying the world!

final swim lesson

today was hana's final swim lesson. sigh.
i was thinking back over her swim history. at the beginning of the summer, she didn't really like swimming. she certainly didn't want to put her face in the water. her favorite place to be was on my arm. she couldn't do anything by herself.
enter kj and her wonderful lessons. now 6 lessons later, hana can swim! she goes, willingly, under the water. she can actually swim, under the water, from one place to another. she can swim from me to the steps, from the steps to me, from me ( or the steps) to the wall. she can even jump in the water and start swimming all by herself! it is an amazing transformation. who knows, she might be our next (female) michael phelps. wink. wink. chuckle.

blowing bubbles

learning to kick

swimming fro kj to the steps

thank you to those who made this olympic moment possible. kj for taking a chance on an unknown kid... and mary for being the corporate sponsor :)

fit for fun

since the heavens have parted and the torrential rains are falling, we thought it would be a good idea to head for an indoor play area. the girls needed to run and i needed to get out of the house. so we headed to fit for fun! we were not the only people with this idea. the place was packed! we did run into some friends, which was a nice addition to our outing!

brooke loved driving the cars

so did hana

hana got to play in the balls (and take out anyone who tried to stop her:)

and become da vinci once again

*let me add that all of these pictures were taken with my old camera... you can really tell the difference!*

painting

yesterday before lunch, the girls and i decided to head outside to do some painting. i thought it would be a chance for both girls to enjoy themselves. not so much... brooke is not quite to the painting stage. she wanted to stick her fingers in the paint (it is not finger paint... so probably not a good idea) and eat it. oh well. hana enjoyed painting while brooke played in the playhouse :)

da vinci at work

my girls

hana

brooke

saturday morning playtime

saturday morning, while everyone was happy, the girls and daddy got in some good quality playtime. aided with only a red blanket and some imagination, the trio had a blast!

hana and daddy poked their heads out to take a quick picture

yea!

everyone had fun

especially brooke

brooke was flying high with daddy

i just had to add this picture i took of all of us on the way to church... not that everyone was looking or anything :)

concert at mayfaire

we made our second trip to mayfaire to hear the wonderful singers. it was nice seeing some friends. it was a bit warm and the bugs enjoyed our tastiness. but over all it was a nice time for the kiddos to run off some steam. (you can tell i am using the new camera... the pictures are so clear!)

hana dancing the night away

taylor taking in the world

taylor and jimmy bonding

the snacks were plentiful

friends and snacks :)

hana and brooke time

more snacks ;)