Pirate Girl - Aaargh!

This year Hannah went as a pirate girl for Halloween. Her costume turned out pretty cute. She loved the boots and the sword!

It was pretty funny watching her at each house. She'd go up with her plastic pumpkin for her candy in one hand and her sword in the other. Most houses would tell the kids to pick something out of the bowl. Well with her hands full that presented a problem. So what does she do? She hands the home owner her sword then picks out a piece of candy and then turns to leave. Can't tell you how many times I heard, "uh.. Hannah you forgot your sword" along with the home owner still holding her sword. Pretty funny!

We had a good time. She lasted about two hours before she started to get really cold. She refused to wear a coat that would cover too much of her costume or her tights (not pirate looking enough). At least it wasn't raining. We'll see next year if she listens to Mom. :)


Don't mess with this pirate girl!

Kitty O'Lantern?

After our trip to the pumpkin farm we had to carve the pumpkins. This year Hannah was more help especially in the pumpkin gut scooping department. She did a pretty good job! After she got all the guts out she asked John to carve her a Hello Kitty pumpkin - not exactly your usual Halloween fare. There was much discussion on whether it was possible to carve something that resembled Hello Kitty. Determined child + doting AND creative Dad = a pumpkin that actually resembles Hello Kitty. Good job Dad!


Great big gobs of slimy pumpkin guts...


Examining the guts.


Almost got it...


Did it Mom!

Pumpkin Patch Pickins

Ready Mom? This year Hannah offered to "drive" the wheelbaroow at the pumkin farm because I'm not supposed to lift too much weight yet since my surgery. She didn't do too bad but after a couple of near misses, I had to take over.

We went to Schilter's farm again to pick out our pumpkins. It's a great place to get a pumpkin. Only problem is that Hannah thinks she has to have a perfectly round and clean pumpkin. This makes pumpkin picking pretty difficult. After much hunting and a little whining, she finally settled for a pretty round pumpkin and agreed that it might be ok if we washed it. :)


The great pumpkin!


Stiking a pumpkin princess pose next to her almost perfect pumpkin.

The littlest Mermaid

We enrolled Hannah in swim lessons a few weeks ago. She started in the polliwog class and quickly mastered the class requirements and moved up to the guppy class. Guppies is a little more challenging though and she is a little afraid of swimming across the pool on her own. She has an instructor that teaches with the perfect balance of support and pushing the kids to see that they really can do it.

Hannah is learning to do the crawl stroke and is trying to master side breathing. She is getting the breath thing down but still have a little ways to go on the kicking. Right now she translates big wild kicking with staying afloat not realizing that small efficient kicks are going to be what keep her up and moving forward better. We're working on it. :) Shouldn't be too much longer before we have a swimmer on our hands. We've come a long way from the little girl in Ethiopia who cried in fear everytime she saw a swimming pool. Keep going baby girl you are doing great!


Hannah, little kicks!


Hannah practicing her breathing.


Bubble arm.


Breathe!


Look Mom, I made it!

Trick or Treats, Treats, Treats

Grandma and Grandpa sent an early Halloween treat box. Hannah loves getting mail and packages and this one was definitely a treat. A disguise, books, sticker magnets and pleanty of treats along with a really cool card. She loved it all! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa, you guys always put together the coolest packages. We had one very happy little girl!


Who is that girl with the mustache?


Goofy Girl

Birthday Boys

We got together at one of our favorite neighborhood pubs to celebrate the guys birthdays a couple of weeks ago. It was great to see Matt and just have time together as a family. Of course Hannie loves any excuse to have a party. :)Happy birthday guys! You are both wonderful men and Hannie and I blessed in more ways than we can count to have you in our lives.



Matt, Hannah and John