Urban Living

Wow! Life has changed a lot over the course of 2011....we are now living in an urban are...Washington DC.

Hannah is loving DC and adapting well to her new church nursery, room and big girl bed and overall has really surprised me at how well she has taken on all of the change. So many exciting opportunities have already happened...we got to see the White House...many monuments and eat Georgetown Cupcakes on the lawn of the Jefferson Memorial. There is so much to do and sooo little, EXPENSIVE parking. Weekends after 10am parking is free in most of the city...so we are learning how to get around.

We are still settling into our home and decorating! It is so different to be renting again ...I don't really see painting walls in my future for the next 4 years, but I am learning to bring in color though canvases and furniture. In our FL house the walls are still green, red and beige...so our light colored furniture that fit well against the background is being updated for the monotone base housing backdrop where EVERYTHING is the same egg shell color. My new favorite stain color is mahogany. And most of our decor is now in the powder blue family.

I can't wait to have family and friends visit and explore the city but for now I am enjoying this season of settling in and being home. My sewing room will be the next BIG task...so hopefully by next week it will be ready to work in...maybe I will post a before and after picture...we will see.

Run For....

Being active has always been a part of my life...in high school I played both volleyball and softball. Then in college I participated in intermurals. There is something about the feeling you get when you push yourself that satisfies. Temporarily of course, yet still a sense of accomplishment. I pray that Hannah enjoys being active. Yet I realize that without first being active myself I can't expect her to see this as important. Nutrition, exercise...these things can be FUN! Instead of renting a movie, we may go for a run. Three mornings a week we are choosing to go to an exercise class for mommy and baby instead of watching Sesame Street:) In light of this goal H also ran (rode in her stroller) for her first 5K! She did great! We plan to run in another October 2. My sister is training to run with us, so the pressure is on to start training for this one myself. The run pictured above we completed in 36 minutes...so we are going for a faster time this round.

This run is also important because it is a Run For New Life to remember and honor pregnancy and baby loss. We suffered a miscarriage in April and are running in memory of our lost pregnancy. Many of my friends here are also running in memory of many many sweet babies. Pray that this run will be a physical, tangible reflection that will help many ladies/families to continue to heal and experience grief in a productive way. It is being held at our church here so we are also praying for relationships to be formed and the gospel to be shared with many that are left without hope after their loss without Christ.

Ponytails and Gorillas

Putting the keys into the $4.00 yard sale house:)
I love good deals, especially the ones that entertain Hannah!

Her favorite book lately is "Goodnight Gorilla".
The gorilla steals the zookeepers keys and lets all the other animals out of their cages to sneak into the zookeepers home for the night...the gorilla "shh's" with his finger over his mouth...so the "what sound does the gorilla make?" is answered with a "shhhh"

Hannah's first ponytail! Can't believe how long her hair is getting!

Garlic Cloves

I did not grow up with a mom who is excited about being in the kitchen...I say that to preface any assumptions that you might have concerning my knowledge in the kitchen:) So, on with the funny story....

My friend Brandi makes this amazing pampered chef recipe for lemon chicken rings! We are having a play date tomorrow and I really wanted to make it. SOOO I got the recipe and when I heard "fresh parsley" and "garlic cloves" I was a little apprehensive...but I love this chicken ring so I was willing to try it out. I looked around at the commisary for the herbs...since I have NEVER bought them apart from the shakers in the seasoning isle I was lost! I asked the produce guy where to find fresh parsley and garlic..he pointed it out and I purchased two garlics and a bundle of italian parsley. I got home and after Hannah went to bed I was ready to mix up the spread...while I am mixing I am on the phone with Maw Maw, Steven's grandmother. I admitted to her that it was the first time I was going to use the garlic chopping gadget she bought me 2 years ago for Christmas and casually mentioned how I was taking the peeling off of the peanut textured insides of the garlic. I also mentioned how it would take quite a while to chop all of the smaller pieces for the spread, she realized what I was telling her and asked how many cloves I was putting in there. I said 2. She laughed and said each of the peanut things was a clove! I had NO IDEA!! I was about to put 15 cloves in there!!! I thought the "clove" was one of the big garlic things. Needless to say I am so glad I was talking to her while doing this and didn't ruin my delicious chicken ring!

LIttle Miss Sassy

Discipline is a huge goal for Steven and I as parents! Most of you would laugh if you were a fly on the wall during our conversations with her...we really want to try and communicate why what she does is wrong and point Hannah to God during this process. Lately it seems she finds it HILARIOUS to be told NO. She laughs out loud harder and louder when being told No than anything else! It is shocking to me that at such a young age she truly enjoys rebellion! While I want her to be a "good" child...I long even more for her to be a repentant child. We are studying a lot about the life of David and how his title "man after God's own heart" was not because he did all the right things but because of his reactions. He had an affair and had the woman's husband killed, he ignored problems among his own children and pushed them to ferment in their anger...yet when he realized these sins he turned to God and laid it at His feet! I pray Hannah is like this! Laying down her sins and even her desires for doing it all right, and sees God for who He is! In the mean time....my sassy little rebel will continue to have seeds planted in her thoughts about what it means to obey mommy and daddy, ultimately to restore fellowship with her maker:)

Back to BabyBootCamp

Back to babybootcamp this morning! It felt good to be back exercising...since my thyroid surgery I have been out of commission..nearly 3 months!

Hannah has been sitting in her hungry hippo toy all day waiting for it to start moving...she is supposed to be pushing it from behind and walking...she would rather ride:)

We cleaned out her 6-9 month clothes today...she is finally in 12 months sizes now that she is 14 months old. Honestly, I don't mind that she is a little thing:) She gets to wear her clothes longer!

I think her favorite Christmas gift was a talking tea pot with desserts and tea cups. She pours the tea into the cup and listens to it make pouring sounds and then puts the cup up like she is drinking...she even puts the cup up to her dolls faces! She is such a little girl! She also loves purses!! Just in the past two days she has kept one over her shoulder constantly!

One month down on the deployment, two more to go! Woo Hoo!

Goodbye AL

Tonight is our last night of dessert and sparkling grape juice, coffee in the mornings and watching the price is right. While we could do these things at home...they really are much sweeter when done in the company of Memaw! Hannah will probably take at least 3 nights to get used to falling asleep in her crib and not memaw's arms...but it's worth it for her to spend the time here in alabama. I am so excited to tidy up our house and take the tree down back in Florida and get back to Baby Boot Camp! We broke all of the rules this year...our tree went up in October and came down in...well, hopefully it will come down in January. The military life...there are no rules, except the ones in writing of course.