Before and After....

Before...

After...


I need to get a picture of it when it is dry. The curls are now huge! I guess because all the extra weight is gone. What prompted this move? It's actually been something that Dolan and I have been talking about for weeks. Hannah refuses to leave hair ties in, rubs food in her hair, and chews on her hair. It was time to say good-bye. We kept the "first" haircut pony-tail. It measures 7 inches! WOW!

We've adopted!!!

We are adoptive parents!

We received the phone call a couple of weeks ago. On the other end was a desperate plea. They needed to find a good loving home for these babies quick. That's right! BABIES!

Well, we picked them up and fell in love! Bright blue eyes! Imagine! We are going from brown eyes to blue! This will take quite a bit of adjustment but so far everything is working out. Hannah absolutely loves them and is extremely protective! She also likes nurturing all four of them.

Our barns and out buildings are going to be mice free before too long! Imagine! No mice! What a thought.

*What? Did you think we were talking about human babies?

"The Babysitter"...

The weather was absolutely beautiful this morning. Hannah and I headed outside to play, camera in tow. Hannah was in quite a pleasant mood this morning. Here are some pictures of her playing with Izzy the cat and some "pity!" yellow flowers. As you can tell by the photos, Hannah enjoyed pulling the flowers off of the stems.

Hannah with Izzy. We jokingly call Izzy "the babysitter". While outside, we can always find Hannah just by looking for the cat. She will follow him everywhere! Izzy does a great job of leading her to safe areas to play.

Hannah had to smell the flower. Don't let this photo deceive you. She had already separated the flower from the stem.

I have to explain. This is Hannah doing the "Itsy bitsy spider". The sun had just come out and was drying all the rain!
Flower popping Hannah!

I love this smile! I actually caught her off guard so she didn't have her weird smile face on.

Hannah's hat...

I am amazed at what a "girlie" girl Hannah is. She loves to dress up, wear hats, necklaces, bracelets, and carry hand bags. This was one of her hat moments.

Her smile is a little wonky as well. She goes into weird smile mode as soon as she sees the camera.

Monkey see, Monkey do...

While Jasmyn was covering and decorating textbooks Hannah wouldn't leave her alone. So Hannah got her own paper and colors.

Monkey See...

Monkey do...

Whatever you can do...

I can do better...

And this is Hannah being very protective of her "buke".

Dilemma...

Back in January Jasmyn had a series of tests done to try and figure out what was causing her to have migraines. They didn't find any cause. She will just be a person who suffers with migraines. We have accepted this and moved on...until recently. We had found a medicine that actually made her migraines tolerable. The doctor had been giving us samples of this medicine. Since school was about to start I had to actually get a prescription filled so that she could take her medicine at school. I went to the store to pick up her prescription only to find out that insurance won't cover it. They say that this medicine should only be used as a last resort. They will only cover it after we have tried other, less potent medicines. So the doctor was informed and we received a different prescription. Friday, Jasmyn ended up with one of her really bad migraines that made her nauseous and not able to function. She had took her new prescription and it was absolutely no help. So, home from school she went. I am at an indecisive point right now. I know that the school requires a prescription to be in a prescription bottle with the child's name on it, but right now I am really wanting to just send her to school with the samples in her book-bag so they are available to her, but then we run into the chance of getting in trouble. I would purchase the prescription but without insurance covering the cost, it would be way out of our price range at the moment. What am I to do? I don't want her to miss a day of school every week or two because of these. I also don't like seeing her in that much pain. No parent should have to watch their child suffer so.

Creative...

Jasmyn has traded in her crayons, markers, and colored pencils for computer programs. She has discovered the world of "Photoshop". She had asked me what I liked for style one day while she watched me playing on "photoshop" and then she disappeared. About 30 minutes later I received an e-mail from her with this enclosed. A career in web page design is in the making.

Ugly flower...

Wednesday I finally got around to putting the canopy top on Hannah's bed. What was a little task turned into a full day of work. While putting the top on I decided I might as well do a full deep clean including shampooing the carpet. Since I had to move the furniture to shampoo, I just decided to rearrange her room. While I was in the process of moving furniture I decided her room needs to be re-painted. At least where I painted on the flower and the butterflies. While shopping for paint at Menard's today I decided I might as well change the whole color of her room as well. As of now, the idea is to paint the walls a nice sage green and have a light pink stripe. We picked up the paint today, and depending on how I feel tomorrow, I shall get on that project. Wish me luck. (I have a habit of changing my mind too much.) This is the canopy all put together with top and curtains. You can see my nice ugly flower on the wall. Ugh!

Hannah looking at the flower.
Happy about her bed!

Entering into a new walk of life...

Today is Jasmyn's first day of Junior High. It is absolutely amazing how fast the time goes by. It feels as if just the other day I had walked her into her kindergarten room for her very first day of school. Both are momentous days not only in her life, but in mine as well. I cried that first day, and as I sit hear typing this I am fighting back a tear. I can say that this time is easier, not because of age or years, but because I now have Christ and I know that He is in control. Jasmyn also proudly proclaims Him as her saviour. She is in the best hands possible!

Jasmyn as she was waiting for the bus.

This is...

***AN UPDATE: After doing the "potty-training" thing I realize that Hannah is just not ready...I guess I have to live with her taking off her clothes and diapers throughout the day. She does use the potty-chair, but she doesn't let me know ahead of time that she needs to "go". I guess it was just the timing on my part. She did manage to potty in it 3 times yesterday. :)***

a small chair with an open seat over a removable pot, for use by a child during toilet training. Otherwise known as a "potty-chair".And this is...

a person who toddles, esp. a young child learning to walk
(Hannah).

Who used her Potty-chair for the very first time tonight!
YAY!!!
Hopefully it wasn't a fluke and she will continue.
She was very surprised at herself when she did "go"...
her eyes got real big, her lips puckered as if wanting a kiss, and tried to see herself "GO".
When she finished she had to look at her "Pee-Pee" then she clapped and said, "YAY!"
What a big girl!

Giggles...

Saturday Hannah enjoyed her first carousel ride! She giggled the whole time. She laughed so much and so hard that she had other people laughing with her. She also had other parents watching her rather then their own kids! She is such a silly goose!
I didn't bring my camera, but I at least had my phone to snap this picture of her!

We all had a blast at the fair. What a fun time!

Jasmyn news...

Jasmyn had her 7th grade physical today. She has been cleared for all sports with no restrictions. She says she wants to go out for volleyball. I hope that she does. While she was with the doctor, he noticed a few things. First was a mole. It is very irregular in shape and has three distinct colors as well as rough texture. He asked about it and I had to tell him that it is fairly new. It as only popped up within the last three years. So now a biopsy is scheduled. Second, he is concerned about her "tremors". This was brought up when she was being tested for her migraines and since the CT scan came back normal it was pretty much a closed case. He wants to re-examine and hopefully find the cause to these tremors. She hasn't always had them. I would say that the first onset that I noticed was around third grade. Jasmyn would have been about eight years old then. The tremors seem to get worse the older she becomes. Jasmyn now has to do a fasting lab. If the blood work doesn't show anything then Jasmyn will be referred to either Lincoln, Omaha, or Denver for a pediatric neurological work-up.
Went in for a sports physical and came out with a list to get checked out. We are grateful that we are getting all this checked out. As far as everything else goes Jasmyn is healthy.

A Campin' we did go...

We finally did it! We went camping! Our church had a baptism-picnic-camp-out over the weekend and after a lot of iffy-ness on our part we finally decided to go. What sealed the deal was that Kevin, one of Dolan's friends, said he was going so immediately Dolan wanted to go. We had an absolutely great time. The only exception was sleeping on the ground. We are now talking of getting an air mattress. Hannah slept wonderfully despite the wet conditions. There was a lovely breeze when we settled down for the night so we left the windows and doors open. At some point it started to rain at night and Hannah got a little wet. She slept right through it! Hannah also learned exactly what "HOT" means. She stayed away from the fire but kept calling it "pretty!". The Lantern must have been even more pretty because she just had to touch it! Dolan kept telling her "NO" and even slapped her hand but it did not deter her. She had to find out the hard way! The rest of the night she kept showing me her finger and saying, "Hot. Owie." She enjoyed playing with all the older girls. Jasmyn had a blast swimming in the lake! She slept well but kept talking in her sleep. She sat straight up and said, "STOP! Stop hurting me! That hurts!" And then started hitting her sleeping mat. That was only one of her sleep outbursts. All in all fun was had by all!

Our tent! Dolan ended working late Friday so me and the girls went up early. We set up the tent with the help of a friend! Thank you Ed!!!

Hannah enjoying a snack on the table that I put together for her.
Jasmyn reading her magazine.
Pastor Marshall and our new Associate Pastor Kevin during the Baptism.
'All around the fire ring

Round and round she goes

where she stops

nobody knows.

Hannah stole the show!'

Jasmyn in the lake.

Hannah wanting in.

Hannah and her new best friend Halsey. Hannah chose Halsey Just out of the blue Saturday morning to be her new BFF! Hannah would not leave her alone! Halsey was such a great sport.

The end of swimming and the end of our trip. We had a blast and will definitely do it again soon!

Who needs Martha Stewart...

When you have safety-pins?

It has always been difficult to find fitting clothes for Hannah. That is why you may see her a lot in overalls. She is a slim child and clothes are made for the "chunky" baby. I purchased this outfit a little over a month ago on sale and thought it would make a great cooler(compared to 100 degrees) day outfit. It met the requirement of having an elastic waist. Sad thing is, when I put it on her today, the pants fell straight down to her ankles. The waist of the pants never even touched Hannah's waist. This pair of pants wouldn't even fit a very "chunky" baby!

This picture shows how big they are. I am not stretching at all!

Pants not being held out.

A slight stretch.

Thank goodness for safety-pins! This is how I made them fit. Pretty funny looking!

The whole outfit put together with the modified pants.

Unruly?...

Last night we had a house warming party for our new associate pastor's wife. I loaded up the car with both girls(Jasmyn 11-very quiet in public and doesn't like to be noticed and Hannah 21months-very social and loves to be the center of attention), gift, and myself. We headed out and what was to be a fun evening with just the girls, turned out to be the most embarrassing night of my life so far. I say so far because with Hannah I'm sure there will be more.



I realize that by posting it here, it just gives others an inside view and adds to the embarrassment that was already suffered.



When we first arrive Hannah was all wound up. She ran in circles and literally circles around people squealing at the top of her lungs. I did allow this for the first couple of minutes due to the fact that the shower had not started and Hannah evidently needed to burn some energy. Well, when we started, Hannah refused to sit or be quiet. The more I came down on her, the louder she got. After a trip to the restroom for a little discipline, she did settle the tiniest bit. If I tried to get her she would run through the chairs to the other side of the room and then laugh loudly. At one point in time when the room was quiet she, being in the center of the circle of chairs, squatted and passed gas loudly and then laughed loudly at that! Hannah's behavior of loud energetic rambunctiousness lasted the whole evening. A couple of trips to the restroom and a try with time-out only seemed to make her act out more. She understands that Mommy can't discipline her as if we were at home while other people are around. That point alone is very frustrating!



Towards the end of the evening I had another woman tell me about my child. I will not specifically repeat what exactly she said but that in itself was just the icing on the cake. I went home crying to my husband both hurt and embarrassed.



As of a couple years ago(before Hannah), I probably would have thought, but not said, what this woman told me. I do have an older child who would be the first to tell you that her Mother is a very strict disciplinarian. I am just as strict with her younger sister if not more so due to the personality differences. But that is just it-it is personality!



Telling my husband what an evening I had and how our youngest behaved he laughed!!! He informed me that his mother told him numerous stories of a young Dolan who did the exact same thing and even as he got older continued to progress into telling crude "poop" jokes around adults to only go home and get his spankings. He then called his mom to ask how she broke him of that, explained how the evening went to have her laughing. Her response was to spank when they got home. Not very much help this case. We had the restroom breaks earlier.



I do want to add that I am extremely sorry for any of you who may have been there and was distracted by my "unruly" child. If any one has any suggestions as how to deal with an extremely energetic child who loves people and enjoys being in the spotlight please feel free to leave a comment. Again I apologize for the distraction.

Scene from a rear view mirror...

This peaceful moment brought to you by...

The Smith Family

Fun Filled Family Festivities...

We had a very fun evening tonight! Jasmyn was having a sleep over Last night and tonight so we took the opportunity to get out and do "something". We started off bowling, headed to Pizza Hut, to the park, and then a nice country road drive home with ice cream. Hannah took to bowling! Jasmyn and her friend Cassidy had a blast as well. Jasmyn on one game had two strikes. Dolan was making strikes as well. I got one. Not bad for people who do not bowl but once a year. And I have to admit, Hannah bowls better than her mother. I may have got a strike but when we were done her score beat mine!

Hannah carried her own ball and pushed it up the lane herself with minimal help from us(mainly due to the fact that she moved faster then us). It was a sight to see. This itty bitty girl bowling! Her ball would move so slow she would get tired of waiting for it to make it to the end of her lane that she would lie down to watch.

The above pictures were taken at Pizza Hut. Of course we had to get a picture of the 'Messy Monster' saying "cheese!" Below are at Barnett park. The kids all enjoyed the park except for the heat. Afterwards we all went for ice cream to cool off.

This next picture is Hannah telling me about the birds..."Ca! Ca!" (The sound that a bird makes.)

Hannah looking at the Geese.


I really like this picture of Jasmyn! She truly looks happy and she even knew the camera was out! What a rare treat for me!