Is it Anenome or Anemone?

Did you know Hannah reads? She started all on her own about 1 month ago. She loves to sound out small words of 2-4 letters. It started with recognizing her name (which she's done for over a year now) and then writing it (which she started doing successfully about 2 months ago). Then, she'd see BYU on everything & yell, "Mommy, Daddy, that's the college you went to!" Yesterday, we even read a simple book together, taking turns reading every other word.

How did WE do it? WE didn't. No formal lessons - just Hannah's pure curiosity & love for learning. She asks for information every day, saying things like, "tell me about outer space," "tell me about the tsunami that flooded Japan," "tell me about traffic cones," "tell me about car jail (the impound - don't ask me where she heard about that)," "tell me about the sun." Many times, I find myself at a loss for answers, as I get confused as to how many planets are in our solar system and if the earth orbits the sun or the moon or if the moon orbits the earth that orbits the sun or any which way. But, we try to give factual answers to the best of our abilities. I'm not sure why I say "our abilities" because Logan actually knows all of those answers with more detail than the average intelligent person. So, it's really me forgetting those lessons from grade school. I forgot them on purpose - outer space creeps me out! And while we're on the topic, the ocean is creepy, too. Eww - sea creatures & the deep, dark waters. I have chills.

Anyway, just wanted to give that update. Later, y'all.

Sibling Love

Hannah looooves Hoss. She kisses, rubs, dotes, oochy-koochy-koos in his chubby little face and tries to squeeze his guts out on a daily basis. This, of course, prepares him for survival of the fittest. I can't wait for the day he horn-swaggles her!

The "Driving" Movie

On Saturday night, the man planned a little trip for us to the drive-in movie, or as Hannah calls it, the "driving" movie. We saw Kung Fu Panda II and Thor - both decent movies. The best part was the air mattress bed, blankets, pillows & snacks he prepped for us. What a guy! It was so much fun to snuggle up with all four of us on a beautiful, clear night. Hannah loved it. Both of the kids fell asleep after the first movie. Thank goodness, too, because it was a late night!

So, as promised, here's a pic of Hoss's new little toofer. It's on the bottom left (his left) & could be mistaken for a glare. I can see his two middle bottom under the gums, but they're holding out. Looks like his top two might be in before those, since they're a lot more visible below the gums. Fascinating, I know.

Back Up & Running

So, what's the deal? Where have we been? My computer's hard drive CRASHED!! Yes, it's a Mac. Yes, my belief that Macs are eternal creations has been completely deflated. So, while we're still waiting for the computer to be resurrected, we finally uploaded all our photos to the lappy and will run from here. Of course, it's no different to you. But, for me, I'd rather be working on a larger screen. That just sounds spoiled.

So, Hoss is sitting up now. Can you believe it?! He cut his first tooth last week and it's not even one of the most common ones. It was his left lateral incisor, for all of you who know what that is (Lark). Pics to come tomorrow. Also, he gets on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth - a sign that crawling will come soon. He does roll quite a bit but hasn't mastered traveling too far. He's pretty laid back and content as long as he's had his morning, afternoon and evening cuddle. So cute.

A few months ago, Hannah was really showing an interest in piano. I began teaching her some basics, like the location of middle C on the keyboard and all other C's. She also learned where the A's are located. We did some rhythm and pitch games. She's kind of lost interest now, which is fine. Maybe she'll want to continue down the road. Two weeks ago, Hannah started writing her name correctly without help. Just two days later, she really surprised me. One afternoon after lunch, we were just coloring and, as usual, without any expectations, I wrote "mommy" and "daddy". Together, we sounded the words out. I followed that with a few more words, which she sounded out herself. I lost my breath and thought, surely she's not reading! This has to be beginners luck! I wrote a few more words and tested her every day following with different small words (3-4 letters, simple sounds). We added the "oo" sound and the fact that two p's sound like one "p". I tell ya what, she's got it down.

The man & I are doing well. We love our new place and have been enjoying the yard. It was really overgrown and we're slowly making progress. We've pruned the peach tree and rose bushes, dug out and planted a little garden, which is dying (yay for us), and have been teaching a girl down the street how to mow lawns. She came to our house a few weeks ago and asked if she could mow it for $10. We agreed to let her and after she left, we realized she forgot to cut the mow strip and left lines of uncut grass between nearly every row. Haha. Classy. Yes, that's our lawn - the one with stripes of tall grass and a million dandelions. So, last week, we let her come back and offered tons of pointers. She's a hard worker and did a much better job. We totally support kids working hard for money & not mooching off their parents. Sorry Mom & Dad. I did have a job when I was 15, but I still mooched. I couldn't spend MY hard-earned money. Preposterous!

So, that's what we've been up to. I PROMISE new pics in the next 2 days!

Orlando Magic

"(singing) We're ghost-es...we're ghost-es....hehehehe. (talking) I like to play puppet, You, too, Diego? Ohhhh, yeahhhh...Look, mine is full of animals. Not full of animals. Not full of animals because it just has two. Two. (singing again) This is you. This is yoooouuuu. This is how you do 'W,' this is how you do 'Y--.' This is how you do 'B' for caterpillar...(rocket noises. hissing. more rocket noises)."

As I began to write this post, I heard Drama in the other room singing & talking to herself. I never quite know what's going on in her head. So, I eavesdropped and recorded it above. Silly kid.

Oh, and her drawing from nursery on Sunday was described by her as "silly ghost-es."

Anyway, the Man went to Orlando last week for a business trip. OoooOhhh, a business trip. He's so grown up. So, while I was home having a pity party with the kids, he was training, soaking up the sun, enjoying palm trees and a quiet hotel room. Lucky guy.

So, one of my "girls" (college roomies & sisters forever) lives in Orlando. Before the Man left, I asked him to call her, Scoot, and visit her. He & Scoot are good friends. They had communication classes together in college. So, guess where they go? Disney World! Here's a pic from a video they sent me from Epcot Center. Oh, & her name, Scoot, was a nickname we gave her back in college because she rode a scooter. She's so much fun!

Thank goodness he's home now. We missed him so much. In fact, when he got home and Hoss first saw him, his face turned instantly to the saddest little pout you've ever seen as he stared straight into his daddy's eyes. Drama kept asking, "Is Daddy going to leave again? Is he?!" Poor kids. We're thankful he only had to leave for 1 week. I count my blessings.

Caricatures

She's a regular Picasso! Well, these are probably more recognizable than Picasso's portraits. The first was described by Drama as "panda friends playing with a ball."

I would like to add that while she was sketching the first panda, I heard her make some comment about Spongebob to herself. Note the resemblance between these pandas and the aforementioned square, insanely annoying, yellow sponge. Here's a little reminder of what he looks like.

The second sketch here is "Mommy." Notice the long eyelashes, delicate fingers and carefully-combed hair. It's my spitting image.

Fried Chicken N' Grits

When Daddy came home tonight, I was browsing the internet for craft ideas in an effort to make my home some kind of cute - it's currently no variety of cute as the walls are bare & the living room furniture can't seem to find a permanent home on any certain wall. He sat down next to me just as I was looking at some vase filled with layers of white beans and rice. He made some joking remark. The next craft was a frame with twigs glued in it. Another, a garden border made of wine bottles. As he stands up to leave the room, he pops his hip, throws his hand up on his waist and, in a Paula Dean-esque accent he adds, "In this one he-ya, Ah glued M&M's to a rolla'skate an' spray painted it gold - shabby chic & comfy cute." I know, deep down, his true identity is a 60-something southern belle.