Poor Short People

It's hard being short. When Bobby showed me this song I laughed so hard!! So I thought I would share it with you guys. Just scroll down and stop my Playlist music and enjoy the video!!

The Best Daddy Ever!!

Well I think Hannah/Samuel and I are tied for the best Daddies ever. My dad is totally awesome. He's very smart and crafty. He's got a good sense of humor and he adores my kids. What more could I ask for? Bob is just as awesome. He's so much fun to be around. He jokes around a lot and is always willing to play with the kids. Hannah likes when he comes with us to McDonald's because he will go through the Play Land with her as many times as she wants.

Bobby is a genius (in case you didn't gather this from my earlier posts!) so I never worry about homeschooling our kids. If I don't know something we'll just all learn it from Bobby! He's so fun to be around and the kids adore him. They run to the door when he gets home from work. He plays the fearless games that I won't - like tossing the kids high into the air or jumping around on the beds. He always has the patience that I sometimes lack. I'm very very thankful for Bobby - as my husband and as the Father of our children.

For Father's Day we let him sleep in ... he's been getting up super early for his summer class as well as working two jobs. Finally the kids couldn't resist any longer and went to wake him up. Hannah had picked out the sweetest card (and signed her name all by herself) that she wanted to give him. After that we headed off to lunch and to pick up some last minute things we needed for the grill-out we were hosting at our house. My sister and Tim came as well as my parents, Bob, Tommy, Emily and Joan. It was so much fun. The food was delicious and the fellowship was fun :-)

Sammy & Pops have fun playing outside.

Bobby & Sammy snuggling.

My Dad opening the gift & card we picked out for him.
I didn't manage to get a picture of Bob & Bobby together. But I did get one of my sister and me with our Dad.

Crazy Week!

So this past week has been crazy and super busy! Right now we're scrambling around like crazy in an attempt to clean the house and the yard so we can have my family over to grill out for Father's Day. But I thought I would take a minute to post about our week (now that I've finally had a chance to catch my breath!)...

Monday began with Bobby & Hannah being sick. They caught what we thought was a 24 hour bug that was going around but apparently we were wrong. Bobby was actually on the road to recovery. Hannah, on the other hand, became feverish - with a temp of 102. So we gave her medicine and she immediately wanted to go to bed. She slept almost five hours straight. Eventually I woke her up so she could try to eat and drink something and so I could give her a bath. She stayed up until bed time and managed to eat a little. The next morning she was completely better.
I also woke her up so she could see the beautiful blue bird that had been trapped in our heater since Saturday. We could hear it in there scratching around but I was too nervous to open the heater without Bobby home (in case it escaped into the house). Every time it would scratch around Samuel would run over ands start banging on the outside of the stove. So we opened the front door and then the heater door. It took a few minutes but eventually the poor little thing cashed in its 'Get Out of Jail Free' card and flew away. Hannah was sitting on the couch and saw it leave. Sadly I don't have any pictures of the gorgeous little bird :-(

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Tuesday morning Hannah was 100% better and begging to go to playgroup. She made some little girlfriends her age at gymnastics and wanted to go to Sertoma to play with them. We spent about 2 1/2 hours there before we came home for lunch and naps. It's almost too hot to do anything outside!! After naps we headed back down the mountain because my sister had asked us to come over to swim and grill out. We had so much fun swimming and playing. Plus the food was good - grilled BBQ wings, brown rice and a delicious salad. We were all exhausted when we went to bed that night. ..............................................................................................................................

Wednesday we went to Gymnastics and I brought Samuel along. Bobby surprised us by coming too and we all went to lunch afterwards. Hannah wasn't as graceful this time around but she still had a lot of fun. She was in a different group with two new girls and another little boy. Samuel was very excited watching Hannah and wanted to join in the vault exercise. Perhaps we'll sign him up for the Mommy & Me tumbling class for his birthday.

While Hannah was doing this...

and this...
Samuel was playing in the cubby holes!
Wednesday evening Bobby was playing with the kids while I worked out on the Wii (I highly recommend EA Sports Active for anyone who has a Wii - it's awesome!!). He noticed a rash that was starting on Samuel's little body and we decided we'd keep an eye on it. It didn't look too bad and he's very sensitive to things so we weren't overly concerned. But like I said, we were keeping a close eye it...

This is supposed to be Hannah's chore but Samuel loves to vacuum!!

Hannah is pretending to be the Ghost Light from Cars. Not sure how having a bag on your head makes you a Ghost Light but okay.
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Thursday morning I took the kids swimming at OSP for a few hours. We ended up eating lunch with my niece who's a lifeguard there and then we came home for naps. That afternoon we played outside on the trampoline. I noticed Sammy's rash looked worse Tues. morning but it didn't get better or worse as the day went on. It was dark pink splotches all over his torso, face, and legs. He didn't have a fever, his breathing was fine, he wasn't itchy, he was eating good and playing - not at all grumpy. So I decided that if it wasn't gone by Monday I would take him to the doctor.


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Friday we went to lunch with my Mom & sister. Bobby surprised the kids by coming too. That morning Sammy's rash looked better and I thought he was on the road to recovery. After lunch my Mom & I decided to go shopping. By the time we got to K-Mart Samuel's face had turned dark pink again. So I called the pediatricians office just to talk to a nurse. But she wanted me to bring him in right away (luckily we were right down the road from the office) so they could check him. Diagnosis: Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. It's highly contagious and normally very uncomfortable but we were blessed in that Sammy has a really mild case. He doesn't have the fever and blisters in the mouth that normally go along with it. All I can do is keep him cool and comfortable and give him Zyrtec for itchiness. As long as he's inside and cool he looks good. The minute he goes outside and gets hot he turns dark pink again. The doctor seems to think that he got it from Hannah or Bobby who (as you remember) were sick earlier in the week. It can be really mild in adults, or they can show no symptoms at all, and still spread it to kids.

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Saturday Bobby had to work at Stinky D's so he could be off Sunday for Father's Day. I had to take the store so I could get some things for our grill-out. Then we went to Captain D's to eat supper with Bobby. After we got home we made Mini-Smores, which were so delicious.
Honey Maid graham crackers + Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme + Hershey's Mini Milk Chocolate Chips = Sticky sticky yuminess

As you can see, Samuel throughly enjoyed his Smores. When I gave him a bath I found marshmallow creme in his ears!!
I'll post about Father's Day later :-) I think next week we'll just stay inside unless it's absolutely necessary to go outside!! And I think we're going to avoid large groups of kids too ;-)

I almost forgot - last Sunday we took the kids to see Up 3D. It was awesome!! I love that Hannah & Samuel will hold hands when crossing the road or walking somewhere together.

1st Day of Gymnastics

Today was Hannah's first day of gymnastics and she was so excited she couldn't eat her breakfast!! I signed her up for the 3-4 year old class at Upstate Gymnastics in Pendleton. I think she's asked me every day for the past two weeks if it's time for her to go to her class.

I love her little pink leotard. It's an XXS!

We got there a little early because I had to pay them and fill out the paper work. So Hannah was watching the Mom & Tot class, which got her really excited, so she asked a million times if it was her turn yet. Bobby surprised us and showed up for the first 20 minutes or so before he had to go back to work.

Waiting somewhat impatiently for her class to start.
They started the group out by sitting them in a circle so they could do their stretches. While they were trying to get the kids situated Hannah walked right over to the mini trampoline and starts jumping!! Hannah was pretty good at the stretches but there were a few she couldn't get the hang of. At one point the instructor was showing them how to stretch their wrists by "rolling up tacos" to which Hannah exclaims, "I don't like tacos!!" Bobby & I laughed so hard :-) Then they broke the group up into fours because there were 14 kids and four stations for them to do (so there was actually one group with only two kids). After so many minutes they rotated to the next station. Hannah was in a group with two little girls - Gracie and Anna - and a little boy - Drew.

Hannah & Gracie wait for their turn on the bars.
The first thing Hannah did was the bars. They did three different exercises: 1st they were just supposed to hang there, 2nd they were supposed to bring their knees up to their noses and last they were supposed to bring their toes up and touch the bar. Hannah was very good at this which isn't surprising b/c she's always hanging off things like a little monkey. When it was time to bring their knees up to their noses, Hannah immediately did it without the instructor reminding her what she was supposed to be doing.

The instructor helps Hannah on the bars.
After that they moved on to some simple mat exercises and finished by walking across the balance beam. I couldn't really see how Hannah did with the mat exercises because the balance beam was in the way but she did great walking across the beam. Of course the teacher was holding her hand but still!!

Walking across the balance beam!
The third station they went to was the vault. They were supposed to run and jump on the vault board twice before climbing up on this really thick beam. After they walked across the beam I'm not really sure what they did b/c I couldn't see from where I was standing.

This instructor helps Hannah get onto the beam.
The last station they went to was my favorite. It was like a little obstacle course. First they tumbled down an inclined mat. Then they walked across some uneven padded "stones". After the stones they twirled ribbons while walking across a balance beam. From the beam they jumped on the mini trampoline (which was what Hannah was really looking forward to). They finished the course in the bird's nest. It looked like an upside down thimble that they could sit in and rock back in forth. This was Hannah's best station besides the bars.

Hannah jumping on the trampoline.

They finished the class by forming a circle, putting their arms around each other and singing a song. Every one got a bunny stamp on their hand and a coloring page to take home. Hannah was so sad that it was time to leave and wants to go back tomorrow.

The group song. Hannah is next to the little boy in green.
I was really surprised at how quickly Hannah warmed up to the different instructors. She can be a little shy sometimes but she always listened and tried to do exactly what they said. Her only problem was being a little too excited. She had a hard time staying seated and waiting her turn but at some point during the class every one of the kids did the same thing too. I can't blame them - it all looked like so much fun!! I can't wait to see what they have planned for the kids next week!

12 Years Have Come and Gone

Well "little pest", you've done it!! I am so very proud of you!! We love you so much and pray that the Lord will give you wisdom as you start on the next chapter of your life. We will always be here for you - no matter what.

I love you!!
Aunt Stubby

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~In case you're wondering, my oldest niece Jessica graduated from Walhalla High School this past Friday. Wow! I remember when she was a little butterball running around our house. Now she's "all grown up" and through with one adventure and is about to begin a new one. I'm so excited for her!!

Walhalla Class of 2009
"Greg Daddy" and Jessica. Now who do you think she looks like!? (I still say Papa Jordan)

I love these guys!!

Jessie & Granny James (Granny looks so thrilled doesn't she?)

Greg (Jessie's dad), Jessie and Bonnie

I finally managed to get a picture with Jessie. You'd have thought she was a celebrity with all the pictures they took of her!! :-)

Bonnie & Madison

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Saturday after graduation we all went to lunch at Applebee's to celebrate. I love when my family gets together. We're so loud and so much fun!!

The Clark Clan

The whole gang - look at all those girls and only three guys!

Madison, Jessica and Bonnie

Hannah & Samuel

Wow, I just realized that I haven't been updating you guys (or should I say the three people who read our blog?) on Hannah and Samuel's latest achievements. So here goes...

HANNAH BANANA
We discovered on our past two trips that Hannah does not need the safety rail on her bed anymore. She never even came close to falling out of the bed at the hotel so once we got back Bobby made the decision to take her rail off. She was actually very mad and didn't want us to take it down but she got over it!
She has become very affectionate with Samuel. She's constantly hugging him and kissing him - to the point that he starts fussing and shoving her face away. When she hears him waking up from his nap she will run into the room and stick her face up to the crib and start talking to him.
She's been doing this for a while now but she can also dress herself. I just have to turn all of her clothes the right way so she can just pick them up and pull them on. The other day she used the potty and came back into the living room. I noticed she had put her panties back on all by herself ... but they were inside out!! It was so cute.
By far her biggest accomplishment has been writing the entire alphabet! I will write a letter while explaining how to write it and she'll copy me. She still has trouble with 'F' 'G' 'Y' and 'Z' but she's doing really good. She can write her name, Papa and Mama - which stands to reason since those are pretty easy letters and they're repetitive. She still writes her letters way too big to the point that she can only fit two or three letters on a page but it's sweet. I know she'll get the hang of writing so I'm not worried.
Hannah has also been working on phonics. I checked out a Leapfrog video called "Alphabet Factory" (or something like that). It had catchy songs for all of the letter sounds so now Hannah goes around singing, "The A says... every letter makes a sound, the A says..." Samuel will even make the sound for the 'A' and the 'B'!! Sometimes she'll say, The 'C' says (insert C sound) and cake starts with 'C'. So does cheese. So on and so forth." I can't believe how much she's growing and learning. I'm excited and sad at the same time. It's hard watching my sweet little girl go from being a cuddly little baby to this sweet little girl who is smarter than most three year old kids I know!! But at the same time I'm excited about all of the things she has learned and will learn.
Hannah is very attentive and hears and remembers more than I give her credit for. My Dad has been teasing Hannah about going to see the Hannah Montana movie and Hannah very indignantly responded, "No Papa. She is not a lady. She's not a good role model!!" Once when she was at my parents house my dad was playfully trying to get her to watch Hannah Montana. But she refused to watch it because she knows that we don't want her to!!
She loves reading books, going to the library, My Little Ponies, Spongebob and playing outside. She's been very interested in planting and growing flowers/vegetables. She knows what all of our flowers are and she knows what everything is in Bobby's vegetable garden. Hannah has also become very inquisitive asking what things mean (what does poky mean?) Her favorite question is, "Are we going to ____ or not?"

"Are we going to talk about Samuel or not?"

SAMMY LAMBY
Our little buddy is almost "potty trained". He can say "pee", "poop" and "potty." He normally says "potty" when he needs to go and when he's done he'll say, "I pee. I pee." I've been letting him wear underpants during the day and pull-ups at night and when we go out.
As I said earlier he knows the phonic sounds for 'A' and 'B' but he also knows 'A' in sign language. He actually knows a lot of signs - more, food, drink, hat, stars, lights, book, ice cream, sleepy, blanket. He knows A LOT.
He's really taking off verbally as well. He can say hat, drink, food, bath, bubble, button, cheese, truck, car, bye bye, stink, shoe, feet, icky. He's starting to use two word sentences but I can't think of any right off hand. He's really becoming a little parrot. Whenever we're leaving Wal-Mart he will immediately point to the "greeter" and yell, "Ticker! Ticker!" (wanting one of those smiley face stickers.) Oh and he loves to say, "I ticky."
He loves Hannah and she can make him laugh better than anyone. We'll be in the car and she'll sing some silly song that she's made up and he will laugh so hard. On the rare occasion that he doesn't laugh Hannah will actually get mad and demand that he start laughing! He follows her everywhere and wants to play with everything she plays with. Sometimes this frustrates her but you can tell that she secretly likes it.
He likes to watch Cars and can say "car" pretty good. He has Lighting McQueen jammies and will point at them and say "Car" over and over. He also loves to play outside, he loves all of our animals and likes to dance. He's so independent which is the total opposite of Hannah. He wants to feed himself, get down the steps by himself, etc. He will get so mad if you help him. He's been trying to climb up onto our couch and recliners but hasn't gotten the hang of it yet. Hannah, being the sweet big sister that she is, will come over and give him a boost by pushing his butt until he's finally on the couch!!

It's such a blessing to be home with them every day. Our house is hectic, loud, crazy and FUN!! It takes us a good hour to get ready to go somewhere, an hour to eat meals, and at least an hour to get ready for bed time but I wouldn't have it any other way. We get the most compliments on Hannah & Samuel and it's such an encouragement. Hannah & Sam are smart, fun, pleasant, obedient, loving and lovable. I'm just very thankful that the Lord has blessed us with these two beautiful babies and has given us the wisdom to "train them up in the way they should go."

Check back soon for more updates :-)