Our Biker Babe

Well, despite searching high and low for a quality brand second hand 16" bicycle (no characters allowed!!), Hannah's wish for the new pink polka-dot bike with basket from our locally owned Schwinn store came true! She is quite enamored with her new bike, as well as her groovy helmet. Hannah especially likes the basket up front; she talks about taking family bike rides to the Farmer's Market with Bun-Bun along for the ride, and how she'd like to carry fruit home in the basket, too. Sounds perfectly dreamy, if you ask me.

This is Hannah riding her spiffy new bike away from me.
Amelia, who recently inherited Hannah's old tricycle, wants a "pink hee-mat," too.

Nifty basket, right? That's what sold her.
Hannah did pretty well for her first few spins this week. She just rode back and forth on a straight piece of sidewalk, part of a circular path around our fave park. We're still working against her natural desire to drag her shoes on the ground to stop, as well as completely taking her hands off the handle bars and lunging for Mommy. Not good technique. We'll get there, though!!
All too soon...

The Lawn Mower

See that red button on the left? That is a really important button. I know this, now, after attempting to start my lawn mower. By pulling the pull cord. Twenty-plus times. By then, I was ready to 'kick start' the lawn mower with some actual kicking, or at least some gratuitous, colorful verbiage. I almost went ninja on Ryobi. Seriously, it almost got nunchucked.
But instead, I burst into tears and went inside to call my husband and ask him, "Why can't I start the lawn mower? I'm holding the yellow handle down and pulling the cord, and it just won't work! I know I'm doing it right!"
He called me back. Several hours later. Several hours after, thank God, the lawn mower miraculously started the twenty-third or twenty-fifth time I pulled the cord. Thus, I mowed the lawn, and came inside to discover not so much a blister, rather a large piece of skin, falling off my thumb. But I digress.
And Hubby says, "Did you try pushing the button on the front of the mower?"
I replied, "What button? What button on the front of the mower?"
Hubby, "The red button on the front of the mower. You're supposed to press it before you begin pulling the cord. It, like, gives the engine the little kick of gasoline it needs to start up on the first pull."
NO. I did not know this button existed. Perhaps the person who gave me the tutorial on how to use the lawn mower before he left for Virginia forgot to point out and explain the little, red button to me. Glad we got that settled.

Luckily, that was last week. This week? I seriously kicked my lawn's butt. :) On the 2nd pull!

Scenes From a Park

Utilized this nifty lil' feature on my pocket digital camera for the first time ever. Didn't realize it had sound.
(We do own an actual video camera, but I can't figure out how to upload the home movies. I tried reading the instruction manual, but it may as well be written in Japanese. So I'm just going to pack it up and make Eric deal with it after the move. Hannah's first dance recital, from last May, is still on there waiting to be shared with the grandparents. That's just sad.)

Hannah:


Hannah has completed crossing the monkey bars, but during times I didn't have my camera out. She seems to forget that simple fact every time we go to the park. She is always asking me to help her across, and I am always reminding her that she can do it by herself. So I agree to help, but only if she makes it to the second bar all by herself first. We learned a new word this week: persevere.

Amelia:



Amelia is funny at parks. She likes to climb up onto equipment, and then start yelling, "Ow! Ow!" once she's up there. So I help her down, and she climbs right back up. She acts very sensitive to the touch of the equipment. She used to like slides, but she's since grown afraid of them. They are always 'too hot' now. Even when they're not. Amelia likes to jump off of everything, though, even the landings that are like 4 feet tall and should not be jumped off of by someone her size. I prefer when she liked the slides.

This Week's Random Bits

Eric left for BNCOC/VA 2009. We dropped him off at Louisville Int'l Airport early Sunday morning, and then the girls and I drove straight to St. Louis to spend a few days with my Grammy and extended family. My younger cousin Sarah was having a BBQ to commemorate her graduation from high school. I used to baby sit her. I distinctly remember a time when she was 4, and explaing the ways of the big, wide world to her little brother John (then 2), and she'd say, "It's a cinch, John. This is how you're asposed to do it." And now she's old enough to vote and go to Ole' Miss. Sheesh.
Miss Amelia's mullet is long enough for piggie tails nowadays....

While in St. Louis we decided to visit the Saint Louis Zoological Park. If you're in town, I highly recommend it. It is a spectacular zoo! We spent about 4 hours there, with precise directions from Miss Hannah Bee to view the lions, tigers, flamingos, zebras, sea lions and hyenas. We missed the hyenas, but made up for it by seeing some crocodiles, kangaroos, wallabees, hippos, rhinos, etc...

Skip to Walter, resting in the backyard after an intense game of fetch. Our dog is awesome.

Here are my girls being read to by my Grammy. This scene warms my heart. The girls adore her, and Amelia would run around her house calling, "Gammy! Gammy! Gammy, Gammy!"

A family picnic lunch at the Louisville Waterfront Park right before Eric left. Amelia's chowing down on a cookie from the Homemade Pie and Ice Cream Kitchen. Yeah, they sell cookies there, too. If you're in town, I highly recommend it. I didn't get too many pictures of this day. But we ended the afternoon taking an early supper at the New Albany Brewing Co., Eric's pick. Awesome pizza.

Me, in front of the camera... er... sort of, for a change. Road trip!
Once in St. Louis, I was able to visit a Hobby Lobby for the first time ever. Oh. My. Goodness. It was heavenly. I spent my whole allowance on lots of little crafting 'wants.' Oh, yes... By the end of summer, all my projects should be crossed off my craft to-do list and looking good. Of course, it'll all just go directly into a moving box, but I'm so excited for our next home!

Amelia didn't really like getting wet by the sprinkler. She prefers baths and pools to showers and sprinklers.

And here's a Little Tykes thing, off the curb, which we will utilize for the remainder of our time here in Kentucky.

Hannah Bee running around our yard back at home, utilizing the awesome sprinkler Mommy found on the curb at the end of last summer. Woohoo!

At the zoo... love that face... love that girl...
And Miss Hannah Bee will begin swim lessons next week! This particularly excites Mommy, as I distinctly remember almost drowning as a child. Twice. I know my girls mostly swim in the bathtub at this juncture, but alas...
Saving the best update for last: Eric discovered, shortly after arriving to BNCOC/VA 2009, that his graduation date (and therefore, his return date) will be bumped up by 2 entire weeks! He is expected to fly home on either July 2 or 3, instead of July 17. FABULOUS! Obviously, we are quite excited by this, as we do so like him.
M'kay, that's about it I think.

This Week's Random Bits

I attended my first, and last, Ladies' Night Out with my group of FRG gals here this week. I hated to take off during one of the last weeks Eric and I will have together for a while, but... I needed to take off during the last free nights I'll have for the next 8 weeks. Plus, these are wonderful ladies, and I don't get together with them nearly enough.
We went to a charity event at the Melting Pot in Louisville to benefit St. Jude's Childrens Hospital. The food... oh my goodness... Have you been to the Melting Pot before? I had not. Oh. My. Goodness.
Ladies in Kentucky party in hats. Regretfully, all I have are baseball caps, which clashed with my kitten heels.

Hannah is very devoted to journal time lately. She has three little notepads that she's constantly 'writing' in, though don't let her catch you calling it a notebook: it's a journal. It's fantastic to watch her deep in thought, 'writing.'

Amelia during some family drawing time. Can you tell I trimmed her mullet? A whole inch! She looks like such a little lady now!

The weather is sporadic this week. We take advantage of outside time when we can. At least, with 'inside time' comes more craft time. I seem to remember a special Hallmark Holiday approaching... The girls were very excited to craft some cards this week. Hannah, with encouragement, signed her name in all of them, too. She refused to learn how to write "Grandma." Sorry, Grandma!

A little gardening! We planted some sunflower seeds in a backyard bed, and a few Super-tunias and seeds in our baskets and one large planter out front. We're keeping it really simple since we're moving at the end of summer. Other than our hanging baskets, all of our outside planters (3 large and 6 small) were discovered last winter on someone's curb. Again, I practically jumped from a moving vehicle to claim them, and I distinctly remember a phone conversation with my sister as I'm standing at the gas station, vacuuming potting soil off the floor of our trunk because one of them tipped over on the drive home. But that only cost me 4 quarters, so who gets the last laugh? Mwa-ha-ha!!

Miss Hannah-Bee and me at the park. She refused to let me work the camera here, but I actually quite like her picture. Between the two of us, we almost have an entire face.
This girl cracks me up! We've celebrated her 5th birthday three times in the last two weeks. Basically, we find whatever baked goods we have in the house, pop some candles into them, and sing 'Happy Birthday' to the whole family after dinner. We decided to leave the cloth celebration banner pinned up in the dining room in anticipation of yet another 'birthday.' At this rate, it may remain up until Amelia's (real) 2nd birthday!
Eric has officially started BNCOC this week. I forget what this particular acroynym stands for, as there several. Hundred. Let me ask the DH about this ASAP. Anyway, the gist of it: it's a 10 week training school for soldiers once they've been promoted to Staff Sergeant. They take lots of classes, like leadership, Army history, sexual harrasment prevention, etc. It's exciting stuff.
Regardless, we are lucky that the first two weeks of this course take place right here on Fort Knox. So Eric will be able to come home each night, and will also have Sunday off. But the remainder of his BNCOC will take place at the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base in Norfolk, VA. He will be gone from May 17 - July 17. We are not exactly looking forward to this, but it could be a lot worse.
And that is this week, in a nutty nutshell.

Spring Break 2009

Here's a picture of my feet on the spring break of my dreams....
a sandy beach...





And here's a picture of my feet, on the spring break of my reality. A sandy... sandbox. In the backyard of our not-so-exotic Kentucky home. *Sigh*
(Yes, I am so pale I match the 'white sand' in the sandbox. And I'm in desperate need of a pedicure, no? I try to stick with a more natural look, but have sadly inherited my father's feet. And while I'm sure he's glad they don't look feminine, me... not so much).


But we are fortunate enough to be enjoying 70 degree days with gentle breezes and lots of outdoor time this week. The girls have been thoroughly enjoying their sandbox, our replenished supply of bubbles and sidewalk chalk, and eating snacks outside at our little picnic table.... The girls spent some time picking 'flowers' in the front yard with Mommy and Daddy watching on and reading.... We also logged plenty of time at our favorite parks getting good and dirty...
We have had a pretty darn good spring break this week!!
Happy Spring Break!

This Week

(ignore the slight snot-nose here, please. it was one of those times where it became dried before you even realized it was there,
and she wouldn't let me do the 'lick my thumb and wipe it' trick. shameful.)

We have been experiencing gorgeous weather this week! Needless to say, we've been spending a lot of time playing outside and blowing bubbles, taking wagon rides, going to the park, etc.Hannah showing us her latest trick! She even dangled with no hands for a few seconds!

Hannah wanted to take a picture of us. So, in a rare moment, the parents on the other side of the camera.

Hannah looking ever so precious at breakfast the other day. The girls are on a big breakfast kick this week; every day the girls gobble up two bowls of Nature's Path flakes each! Which is Mommy and Daddy's favorite cereal right now, as well. Needless to say, we're having trouble keeping the pantry stocked.
One of our crafts themed around "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." Hannah wrote her name on the circles, one letter per circle. Then, she glued them in order onto a piece of construction paper, and added a face and antennas. Amelia needed Mommy to write her name and draw the face, but she very much enjoyed playing with the glue.
We also tried this craft from "No Time for Flash Cards" where you use cookie cutters dipped in paint to make shapes on your paper. Our cookie cutters are cheap plastic ones (Dollar Tree-- they were 6 for $1), so while we weren't quite able to identify every animal, it was still fun.
After a little while, and by that I mean 4 minutes, the girls just wanted to finger paint anyway.
Hannah has gotten fairly good at writing letters. Maybe half the alphabet? Either big, little or both. The only word she writes is her name. And our little lefty has started switching hands on me lately! Strange. She has a few 'sight words' she can read: 'a, I, no, on,' and 'all.' Hannah also is showing a natural propensity for math. When we are eating multiples of an item, say grapes, we will use subtraction as we eat. "I have seven grapes. If I takeaway one, that leaves me... six!" It's awesome to see children learn through simple play, with no stress or strict agenda.
Amelia has also made some huge strides in her vocabulary recently! In the last week, she has added the following phrases to her repertoire:

"I wu you!"--I love you!
"Boo!"--blue, or really any color. She will point at other colors correctly if you ask her to, but verbally identifies them all as blue.
"Na-na!"--Hannah! (this generally has a negative connotation)
"Dee-du, Mom."--Thank you, Mom.
"Okay, Mommy."--Okay, Mommy. (she replies to everything I say to her with this phrase)
"See Amy!"--Show me my dang picture, woman! (as she's pointing to the digital camera)
"Tickle me, Daddy"--Father, would you please engage in the sport of tickling me for my amusement?

Leaps and bounds, I tell ya!

Springing Forward

Well, Kentucky weather is unusually freakish lately. Even for Kentucky. Sunday afternoon we skipped grocery shopping to stay home and wait out the tornado warnings. Exciting stuff! Now can I please just go get the dang bananas and dish detergent??
We've had high's in the 60's this past week, with tomorrow forecasted to be a whopping 78 degrees! And, true to form, Wednesday will be back in the mid-40's. Nice. But we are certainly taking advantage of our springish days while we can....

Here's our little vegetarian, who has recently also sworn off eggs. She will, however, root under the table for any dropped raisins that Walter didn't get. Remind me to add 'children's vitamins' to that grocery list....

Hannah found a little purple flower in our front yard. It's probably a weed, but we were still excited to find signs of spring life.

Amelia playing in dirt. The girls adore playing in dirt lately. Forget the park! Give them shovels and any and all of my currently plantless pots with dirt, and they just go back and forth, shoveling to and fro... "planting" flowers. I look forward to planting a few annuals with them in May, when Kentucky is finally considered safe from freeze.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, the answer is 'yes.' Amelia did sample the dirt.

That hair is still crazy, even after a recent cut and even more recent brushing!

Hannah found 'treasure' at the field opposite our place. We spent some time running from pirates and trying to bury it. We also tried drawing a map to it's location, but Hannah is experiencing a desire to draw things beyond her years, and naturally, is frustrated by that. I've been trying to lightly outline things for her in basic shapes with pencil, allowing her to draw over it in color and elaborate. I don't know, is this wrong? I don't want to condition a perfectionist, but I understand that she can't yet draw what she sees.

Our Girls Are Fantastic

We seriously have the cutest daughters on the planet. Amelia was helping Mommy and Daddy clean up breakfast dishes this morning, and first she wanted, "Up!" Then... she wanted in the sink... Don't worry, Eric stood by to make sure she was safe while I ran to get my camera. And look at that hair! We're having to barrette it back now!

Our favorite tree, all winterized. It was a bright and blustery winter's day Thursday, and we just had to get to our park for some sliding, digging for treasures and jumping on the 'troll bridge.'

On the walk there, Amelia became aware of her shadow. She kept stopping and staring at it. Eventually, she began pointing at it, and telling me it was a 'baby.'

"There it is again..."

Amelia has had some funny, strange moments lately. First of all, she has learned some incredibly cute, new phrases to speak. "Tickle me!" and "Go eat, puppy!" which she loves to say to Walter after feeding him. She really likes to pour his food into his dish for Mommy. Also, at the park she was very curious about the taste of the outdoors. Quite a few times she would bend down, lean over... and taste a leaf... or our little shovel that we brought to dig for treasure...
I didn't need to persuade her not to lick anything yucky, or cold and metal. Luckily, she stuck with leaves and mulch, etc. Oh, my, can you just visualize "A Christmas Story" when Ralphie's friend's tongue gets stuck to the pole?! (I did, however, try to persuade her to taste a rather clean looking leaf again, for photo documentation. No luck.)

And here is our Hannah-Bee, ever sweet and graceful. The other day, I caught Hannah 'reading' an entire book to herself and Little Sister, just about word for word. Olivia Helps With Christmas (we have the entire series--I just adore that pig!) The thing that impressed me the most was the inflection in her voice. What a smart, sweet girl we have!

Warm weather for a day!

Last Thursday it was gorgeous out!  A whopping 50-some odd degrees and not breezy!!  We just had to get out and spend quality time at our park.  I'll admit, on 30-degree days when it's wet and windy, I'm less motivated to go outside.  We haven't logged in enough hours at our park this winter...  

Walter, our lovey boy.  He enjoyed chatting with a few pals on the walk to and from...

Hannah climbing up the curved ladder thingy, with her wild woman hair that cannot be tamed.  (She says she wants to grow it long.  But she doesn't like me putting it in pony tails, and I dislike it looking like I neglect her.  This is now an 'issue.')  

Amelia brought her "baw" to the park, and we tossed and kicked it around.

I attempted to get a recent picture of both the girls, together, smiling and looking precious.  Amelia wasn't feeling it.  Neither was Hannah's hair.  Maybe next time...

Let it snow!!

A little ornament I made with our extra Scrabble tiles, now that Walter chewed up too many vitals.... I think they're kinda cute...  Thank you, Hubby, for the glue gun!!

The girls by their snowman.  Hannah named him "Jackson."

Fresh snow!  Hannah was most excited about coming inside for cocoa afterward.

Amelia giving Jackson a little "pat-pat."  We used prunes for his eyes, and a carrot for his nose.