Hannah is Three Years Old!!!

Our Hannah Elyse is 3 years old. She is such a darling little girl. She makes us laugh multiple times per day. I want to share with you some of my favorite things about her.

Hannah's favorite songs at bedtime are Amazing Grace, You are My Sunshine and I Love My Hannah. She has loved these songs since she could talk and she has us sing 2 of them every single night.

Hannah loves her paci. She used to have two pacis and she would suck on one and play with the other in her hand. We have weaned her down to one pacifier and she only gets it at bedtime. We have decided that we want to take her paci away before we move her into a big girl bed because we don't want her screaming and chasing us down the hall for it every night. So...lately the big theme in our home is getting Hannah excited for a big girl bed so she will chose to give her paci up. If she doesn't give it up soon, the paci is going to start breaking...you can bet that will be a sad sad day.

Hannah is a social little girl. She will talk to people in stores and other public places. She likes to tell people her age and her name and her sissy's name.

Hannah LOVES her big sister. She wants to be with Madeline almost all of the time. And she wants to do everything Madeline does. She has become quite skilled at pushing Madeline's buttons - so skilled that she can immediately reduce Madeline to tears or whines. We're working on this little interaction at least 5x a day lately.

Hannah can boogie-down. She knows how to do the cha cha slide and she loves to shake her booty. She's a tiny little thing but she can sure dance!

Hannah is learning how to pray. Lately she likes to pray that God will help her friends breathe "God help Laney to breathe, help Zachy to breathe, help Hallie to breathe, help Camryn and Brooke to breathe" and on and on. She also likes to pray at meals "God help Ma-line's food, mommy's food, daddy's food, my food, mommy's food, ma-line's food, daddy's food and my food. amen"

Hannah is a very clear communicator. She has been talking clearly since she was 2, maybe even before. So we get lots of fun little glimpses into the mind of a toddler.

Lately, Hannah's favorite saying is "That's not FAIR". Luckily she realized quickly that the saying isn't going to fly in the Giles house and that she sounded pretty funny saying it in such a whiney tone. So now when she says it she totally dramatizes it and then cracks up laughing.

I should ask Chris and Madeline some of their faves about our darling. I'll make that a later post. For now, here are some pics of our celebrations of our little girl's birthday.

We had Vacation Bible School the week of Hannah's birthday. VBS ran from 530 to 830 pm every night. So we had a little celebration for Hannah with our neighbors after VBS on her birthday. Jakob and Jakson and their mom Janet live next door and were able to attend (Karl was out of town on business). Aly and her mom and dad, Kevin and Amy, were able to attend too. Hannah felt so loved :)

The weekend after Hannah's birthday, we went to Nana's house for a swim party. Papa was sick and Aunt Chrissy was out of town but they got celebrate with her in St Louis (pics of that trip will be posted another day).

I didn't get pics of everyone with Hannah but I can promise she is a very loved little girl. Hannah, you have so many people who love you and you bring sunshine to all of us. We love you Hannah Boo.

Hannah Modeling

I remember when Madeline first gave me a little modeling photo shoot - she was about 3 years old.
This is Hannah's big debut. Isn't she a doll??

 

Slip N Slide?

Madeline left home the other night to play on a slip n slide at a neighbor's house.

She came home looking like this:

I'm glad Chris had the brains to put her in a grungy outfit! I'm wondering if there was truly a slip in slide or if they just created a track of mud in our poor neighbor's back yard. Either way, looks like she had a blast!!

Madeline's 6th Birthday Party

We had such a fun time for Madeline's 6th birthday party! I have a severe shortage of pictures but it's because I was having too much fun playing to stop and take pics of everything. We had 14 kids at our house, some from school and some from church. The kids decorated their own cupcakes with colored icings, M&Ms, Skittles. Then the kids split into two groups and each had a turn to play Pin the Nose on the Clown and Twister. Madeline opened her gifts and we ended the night with a dance party which the kids LOVED. They danced so much! It was adorable! I wish I had it all on video. Here are a few pics from the evening...

My oh My - Madeline is SIX

(confession: ok, so Madeline turned six years old in February. but we've been so busy laughing, playing, learning, working and serving that I haven't had time to post this blog).


Some highlights of Madeline's 5th year of life:

March 2009 - our visit to St Louis! Featuring: Papa, Aunt Jo, Nick, Chrissy, Elli, Hannah Mommy, Ralphy, Ralph, Joe and Madeline And another pic from our trip to the Lou: Ralphy, Elli, Madeline Chrissy and Hannah

Brooke and Madeline taking a mud bath

Kiddie Park was a blast!! Featuring: Hannah, Madeline and Vadin

Art time with Daddy

Play time with Daddy -

When Madeline was 5, the girls loved to pretend they were puppies (hence, the lolling tongues)

Madeline's first new neighborhood friend, Aly.

Madeline's first day of Kindergarten!

Aquarium during our dear friend's visit. Featuring: Connor, Madeline and Ashlin

A welcomed visit from Aunt Joy, Uncle Mick and Ritz

Under the exam table in our pediatrician's office waiting for the Dr. Dr Mayberry and Madeline have had a tradition of hide and seek since Madeline was about 2 years old. Now Hannah enjoys carrying on the tradition :)

Madeline helping Nana eat a chocolate mess for Nana's birthday. If you ever visit the Marketplace, you've got to have a mess!

So excited to have Courtney and Francesca to our house!

Madeline and Gunner at the pumpkin patch

Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sa Rembo Chari Bari Ruchi Pip Perri Pembo's Mom

Grandparent's day celebration!!

We were so happy to have both Nana and Papa here!!

Madeline and school buddy Jacob at the Thanksgiving Feast

Cheerleading: Sidney, Leah, Madeline, Lindsay, Abigail and Kaylynn

Ready to play in the snow

Celebrating Becca's birthday with Aunt Manda

Celebrating Becca's birthday: Michael, Madeline, Becca, Hannah and gold bear

We had so much fun in Madeline's 5th year of life. As you can see, we have a very smiley girl on our hands. She has become so responsible and caring. She has matured and learned so much this year and we are very very proud parents.

Someday (soon maybe?) I'll post pics of her birthday party.

Hannah and her buddy Camryn

I caught some cute pics of Hannah and her friend Camryn during a play date a few weeks ago and thought I'd share them here. These two are sweet friends. They are kind to each other and they share easily. We are grateful to have Camryn and her family in our lives!!!

SPRING

Isaiah 58:11 The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.

Oh how I love having a new home!!

This is our first spring on El Paso and we've had a planting frenzy.

Our tree in the front yard is as full and green as can be...Chris planted grass in the back yard - our first attempt to fill in some very bare spots...

and we started our first veggie and fruit garden!

We planted strawberries, sweet corn, cucumbers, squash, carrots and two varieties of tomatoes.

We have all been excited to go out daily to water the plants and see how they've grown. Chris and I have never had much of a green thumb so the plants we see growing are truly miraculous to us. If the plants actually yield some edible produce, we'll be thrilled!

We ordered a flat of vinca for our front garden and should be able to plant it this coming weekend. Our hostas in the backyard are large and beautiful. We probably ought to split them next year!

I hope you're enjoying the season!! I love how the fresh air and warm sunshine work to brighten my spirits. Much love to you and Happy Spring!!!