(i have no good recent pictures of brooke because they are all on my old computer, so i am using the ones from our session before christmas :) anyway...
tonight i was working with brooke on her letters. she, at one point, has known them all. but like anything else, you don't use it, you loose it. so for the last couple of days we have been reviewing them. i wrote a "D" on the paper (which she knew yesterday). she said that she didn't know what it was. so i told her that it says "duh, duh". then i asked "which letter says duh, duh" she then pointed to the D i had drawn on the paper and said "that one." brilliant folks. she is brilliant.
over valentine's weekend (yes, i realize this was quite awhile ago...) jack and i went on an amazing overnight marriage retreat in myrtle beach. (the church put a description on their blog, which has pictures) the retreat was amazing... very life/ marriage changing for us!! they plan to have this once a year... and we will be there!! since we were out of town, nana and poppy came in to watch the girls. we had heard that there was the possibility of some snow. we hear the possibility of snow several times a winter and it almost NEVER actually snows! so, we gave the prediction is due consideration and headed out. as you know, wilmington did indeed get quite a bit of snow... several inches. ahhh *sigh* here are some pictures of the girls and the snow via nana and poppy :)
as you can tell from the title... madeline sat by herself. now i am not saying that she is sturdy or anything. i would not leave her by herself sitting (which is why she is sitting on the changing pad... it is nice and soft!). and she did fall over shortly after this, but she sat long enough for me to get several pictures! still she is sitting :) yea! madeline!
i know i haven't had any "-isms" lately. part because hana doesn't really say them anymore. i guess because she is getting older and no longer says things that are "innocently funny". brooke is taking up the slack. so i have been saving them up for a little while. the pictures to accompany this blog are from the park. we went to the park saturday when the weather finally took a turn for the warm. it was bea-utiful! i am SO ready for spring. ok drum roll... the -isms...
hana-ism
one afternoon the girls were on the way out to the back yard to play, hana asked if i would come out with them. i told her that i needed to stay inside but i could watch them from the window (i was making dinner). she turned and said "this is your time to be alone, sometimes mommies need time to themselves"... yup. now if only i wasn't spending that time cooking dinner and cleaning up!
brooke used to say that things were my-noying instead of annoying. so i started saying the same thing, to be funny. so the other night i told hana something was my-noying, to which she said "ANnoying mom!"
brooke-isms
we are working on brooke not sucking her "rock star" fingers anymore. to that end, i gave her a frog blanket thing with a frog head and a body of a blanket. i told her she could suck on the tags and have the frog for comfort. i was putting her to bed one nap and told her not to suck on her fingers, to suck on the frog. to which she said "when you leave the room and turn out the light, i suck on my fingers." nice.
sometimes we tell brooke that she is not big enough to do something. later she will say that when she gets bigger she will do it. when we ask her when she is going to be bigger she will look at her wrist and say "20 minutes."
we taught the girls some football terms to impress friends at the super bowl. now brooke (or hana for that matter) will blurt out "boff sides" or "iwlegal bok in the back"
last night brooke asked if after she ate her dinner if she could have some chips. i told her that if she ate everything on her plate she could have a chip. she then re-peated "chipSSSS".
the girls rode their bikes one lap around the park (about a mile)!hana had fun playing (we ran into one of her friends from school... the kid in the back ground)hana hangingbrooke loves to swing!so does madeline!! her first real swinging experience :)
we finally got all of our car situation worked out :) we got our tax money (although the "durango money" still remains tied up in our bank account) and found a great van. it is so similar to the first van that i loved (that we sold to get rid of the payments). it has just about everything the old one had, except the dvd player, and minus the payments! (it is a grand caravan instead of a town and country... but still the same) jack also got a great car. his is really nice and also loaded... and both are totally paid for!i also wanted to share how much brooke's hair has grown... even since christmas. yesterday after her bath, it was so curly!we also got the saucer back for madeline... she loves it!
in november jack sold his saturn to buy a dodge durango. he had always disliked the saturn and we decided that if he could sell a car (the saturn) and buy something else and not have to pay any more money, that he was welcome to do so. boy did i eat my words. he bought a not shiny black, loud, tall, manly dodge durango. after a few months he realized just how much gas a v8 uses and listed it on craigslist (for over twice what we paid for it). while we were away in myrtle beach 3 people called and were interested. so we arranged to have some people come by sunday and look at it. being that it was sunday and no banks were open, the interested people purchased western union money orders. they then drove off with the car (although we still have the title). that same day (valentine's day) as we were looking for a car to replace jack's we saw an ad for someone wanting a van in our price range. our plan was, at some point, to sell the ford van (i have always hated it) and put some tax return money with it and buy something better. so, we respond to the ad telling them the van's specs. they call literally 5 minutes later and want to come out and look at it. keep in mind that this is about an hour after we have sold jack's car. we only have one car sitting in our drive way... so we run to clean it. they come out and look at it, they seem interested and tell us that they will think about it and call us back the next day. now, on to monday. we go to food lion (where the durango people bought the WU money orders) to cash them. we then learn that no one cashes them, except one pawn shop... and they charge a 5% fee to do so. we then take them into the bank. the bank deposits them and will hold them for ELEVEN business days. so we have this money, but it is tied up in the bank. and we have ONE car. in the mists of finding all of this about WU, the van couple calls and tells us that they want to buy the van. um great. now we have ZERO cars. jack has, by this time found a car that he likes... but again, our money is tied up at the bank. so our plan... have the van people and the car guy meet jack at the bank at the same time. get the money from the van people and give the money to the car guy. all the while signing two titles over to the various parties. so that is where we are now. jack got another car (a really nice mazda millenia) and our money is tied up at the bank. luckily for us, we get our tax return money on friday. so until that i point, i sit car-less. ahhh the car juggling. and note to self... never use western union money orders... they are easy to buy but IMPOSSIBLE to cash.
a lot has been going on lately. since christmas i have had to wrack my brain to come up with new blogs. then in the span of a couple of days i have many new ones. it snowed! we sold jack's loud manly durango! and jack and i spent a glorious friday/ saturday in MB on a marriage retreat! (all blogs for another time). in this post we will focus on hana's 5th birthday. last thursday hana tuned 5! again, i can not believe that 5 years have gone by since i held her in my arms for the first time. but it has. she is five. she is wonderful and sweet and beautiful! since our kids only have parties every other year (brooke and hana's birthdays are way too close together to have a big party for each of them every year), this was not hana's year. so we met some wonderful friends for dinner at ci-cis (hana's choice). that is how her day ended. it began with presents, school, and jack picking her up early and taking her to monkey joes for some daddy and hana time. ok that is enough writing... here are the pictures!
early morning presents!the kingsisters! at dinner before everyone else arrivedmadeline's spot for dinner :)the kid's table at dinner!!... the girls... the boys!blowing out the cake :)noah enjoying some cakehana eating her yummy cakemore presents!!
thanks for coming to dinner everyone! it is great to be able to celebrate with friends!! hana is lucky to have such great friends and so are we!!
(yes i know, her actual birthday is tomorrow.) i can not believe that hana is 5! i am so not old enough to have a five-year old daughter! every year i re-live her birth... it was long and painful... but totally worth it. it gave us this sweet wonderful child. now, let's not forget that her first 3 (4) years were very trying. she drew on the walls... with poop. she drew on the closet door and dresser with markers, she had to have her diaper packing taped onto her at naps so she would not take it off. but through those trying years, hana grew into a wonderful child... girl actually. she is very willing to please, fun to be around, and helpful to her sisters. she has grown a lot. in fact her clothes are no longer in the baby side. she is now in a girls small. she is now in a full time preschool. she is testing well above her age. where has the time gone? it seems only yesterday we found out we were pregnant. but she is no longer a baby... she is a girl!
to add a hana-ism... i was letting the girls play outside while i was fixing dinner. on the way out, while closing the door hana said "this is mom's time with out kids. sometimes mommies need time with no kids." say it again sista!
i am not much of a writer. if you notice, most of my blogs are full of pictures and not many words. my sister is the opposite, her blogs are words and few pictures. (alas, i digress) when i heard this song i thought it is exactly what i would want to say to my kids as they grow... into their teen years and through college...
these are the words i would say (sidewalk prophets)
Three in the morning, And I'm still awake, So I picked up a pen and a page, And I started writing, Just what I'd say, If we were face to face, I'd tell you just what you mean to me, I'd tell you these simple truths,
Be strong in the Lord and, Never give up hope, You're going to do great things, I already know, God's got His hand on you so, Don't live life in fear, Forgive and forget, But don't forget why you're here, Take your time and pray, These are the words I would say,
Last time we spoke, You said you were hurting, And I felt your pain in my heart, I want to tell you, That I keep on praying, Love will find you where you are, I know cause I've already been there, So please hear these simple truths,
Be strong in the Lord and, Never give up hope, You're going to do great things, I already know, God's got His hand on you so, Don't live life in fear, Forgive and forget, But don't forget why you're here, Take your time and pray, These are the words I would say,
From one simple life to another, I will say, Come find peace in the Father,
Be strong in the Lord and, Never give up hope, You're going to do great things, I already know, God's got His hand on you so, Don't live life in fear, Forgive and forget, But don't forget why you're here, Take your time and pray, Thank God for each day, His love will find a way, These are the words I would say
(i have no good recent pictures of brooke because they are all on my old computer, so i am using the ones from our session before christmas :) anyway...
