Christmas Entertainment at the Piano

Hannah is working so hard at her piano practices, lessons and playing this year yet she still knows how to have fun too.  As you can see by these pics…sometimes more fun is had than practice accomplished.

She can play with her toes

and her chin!

Once she gets her sillies out we can normally proceed with a good practice.  We’re consistently practicing 5 days a week, most days before school and this is a much better time for both of us!

This little performance highlights not only my hard working little girl’s progress but also her fun, outgoing, adorable personality that I love so much!

A Perfect Mother’s Day from Start to End!

Hannah woke me up Sunday morning with a sweet ‘Happy Mother’s Day!’

She ran downstairs and brought her card and gift back up to our room.  Check out this amazing envelope and card she decorated for me!!  After piano practice Saturday she spent quite a bit of time in the basement.  I had no idea there were so many stickers in my teaching box!!

My girlie, proud of her handiwork.  And so should she!

After church we went to Nana and Papa’s for lunch.  Hannah made these cute little lists for Grandma and Nana.

Happy Mother’s Day Nana!

At supper we met my parents for our annual Mother’s Day dinner.  There were just 4 of us this year but we had a wonderful time together!

Hannah and Grandpa both love cherries.   We enjoyed dessert at a local yogurt shop.  She teased him that she was going to share one….nope!

Hannah and I shared an absolutely amazing day together!  Oh how I love my girl and cannot thank God enough for allowing me to be the Mom of the most amazing little girl in the entire world!!!

I love you Hannah XiaoFen!!!  xoxoxo

It’s the Small Things That Still Make Me Smile!!

I just went in to check on Hannah and a smile graced my face as I gazed at my most precious gift.  She was sweetly sleeping on my pillow rather than her own which is something she hasn’t done before.

As I moved the blanket I could see why she’d moved and the smile grew.  She’d carefully tucked in all her ‘fwiends’ on her side of the bed.

A cute little moment to remember.  Yes, it’s the small things that make me smile.

A Day of Fun from Morning ‘til Night

Hannah and I enjoyed another great day together on Saturday!  I want to take the 4 days that I’m off and invest in her and spend a lot of quality time together.  Saturday was full of that and it was a treat!

Our morning started with a visit at one of my co-workers home.  The Easter Bunny had visited Terry-Lynne’s home and since her girls are now teens she’d invited her nieces and nephews and Hannah to help her gather the eggs.  We were all over that!

Here Hannah is scoping out some of the eggs and is excited to find ones with her initials on them.

Once the hunt started Hannah was off and running! 

She was so sweet as she met 2 new little friends, one of whose name started with an ‘A’ which is a letter she knows.  I could often hear her calling out ‘Aidan, here’s an egg for you!’  She’s fully 3 and has her moments of ‘me’ for sure but much more often she’s a sweetheart who is great with the kids around her!  I often hear comments about her sweet personality and truly God has blessed her with this and in turn I am forever blessed to have her as my daughter!!  I still have moments of ‘pinch me’ all the time as I am Hannah’s Mommy!

The Easter Bunny had some fun hiding places!

Oops!  Clean-up by the fence!  Together we made quick work of this and she was off and running again.

Thanks so much Miss Terry-Lynne!  We had a great time at your egg hunt!  Thank you for inviting us!!

When we got home Hannah had me in splits with her plastic egg emptying style.  Truly….why would you do it any other way?  What you hear at the 35 second mark is exactly what I talked about earlier in the post.  Hannah’s true little loving heart shining through.

Hannah’s bucket ‘o candy and this is after I snagged a bit of it while she was napping. 

I knew she’d have more candy than she’d we’d ever be able to eat so I purchased very little for her hunt and some from this one will be hid again.

Hannah has also enjoyed playing with the plastic eggs.  In the past day she’s played with virtually no other toy and we’ve played many imaginary games with these little plastic eggs.  Here she has something set up and as I waited she looked up the instructions for the game on her LeapPad.   Heh!!

Yes…still pinching myself!!!

Christmas Morning 2011! Two is Such an Awesome Age!!!

After beginning our day in the upstairs hallway reading the Christmas story in Mommy’s Bible and in one of Hannah’s books we made our way downstairs.  I love how excited she was!!!  (Smart cookie too!  She quickly recognized the M&Ms candy cane in her stocking as the same gift I’d given my piano students this Christmas.  Can’t get much over on her any longer!)

LOL!  If you listen carefully to the beginning of this one you can hear what she’s looking for.  So cute!  Also, love how excited she got with each and every gift that she opened!!

The infamous ‘underpamts’.  You can see in this pic even though it’s blurry that she was happy to receive these and it seems to have set things in motion.  She’s asking to use the potty more often and is ready to begin potty training.  I was going to wait until late Jan when we had a Saturday at home but I think Monday is going to be the big day!
Let it snow!
Minnie Mouse pj’s
A new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD
A Leap Frog LeapPad was my main gift to her.  It’s designed for ages 3-7 but since she’ll be 3 in just 2 short months (whaaat???) I decided we’d give it a go!  She’s done wonderfully with it and already knows her way around it playing games, watching videos and even using the camera!

LOL!  Love how she blends into the sea of Christmas wrapping.  And, that one lone gift still under the tree.  She was so excited to play with some of what she’d already received that it sat there for a good hour until she was ready to open her final gift.  I wanted her to have time to enjoy her gifts rather than open everything before the playing could begin.  Guess it’s one of the perks of it just being the two of us.  It gives us lots of time to take Christmas morning at our own pace and do what works for us.  Fun!!
And…if you’re not already bored to tears with all the videos in this post, here’s just one more.

Merry Christmas from my adorable little sweetie and myself!! (Note to self – make sure to take a pic of us together on Christmas day next year!  Oops!)
And yes, I still pinch myself all the time because I cannot believe this amazing, fun, wonderful, precious, sweet, beautiful little girl is my daughter!  Truly God has blessed in ways we cannot measure!  Oh how I love her!!!!!

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And….HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!  May 2012 be an amazing year for you and your family!!

Precious Moments

Saturday evening we were out for a final shopping trip before flying home the following day.  The evening was a little cool but the draw of the cart over the van just meant we wore our jackets and bundled up with blankets for the return trip to the house.

As we were preparing to pull out of our parking spot an ambulance with lights flashing and sirens blaring drove by.  From behind me I heard the sweetest little voice say, ‘Pway Mommy.’  I looked back to see her snuggled into Papa’s lap (much like the pic above) but this time with her little fingers interwoven and head bowed, ready to pray. 

We took a moment to pray for both the person who needed help and those that were rushing to provide it.  We’ve done this sometimes in the car as an ambulance has rushed by us or we’ve passed an accident scene.  That night it was Hannah who reminded me that it was a time to put others before ourselves and pray for them.

‘…and a little child will lead them.’

Isaiah 11:6b

One of the Best Parts of my Entire Day!!!

Oh how I love her!!! 

Daycare pickup is one of the very best parts of my days!  Not only does it signal the transition time from work to home but it’s the beginning of our evenings spent together and oh how precious they are!  Some are filled with swimming lessons, shopping or visits with the grandparents while other evenings we hang out at home reading, playing and just enjoying being together.

This is the amazing moment that happens every single day when I pick Hannah up at daycare.  Today my speedy gal took a minor tumble on the way to the door but this quick video captures her to a T!  She’s fun, loving, full of energy and runs everywhere!   I’m so happy that I thought to capture this special time of the day as truly it is amazing and I am forever blessed that it is my arms my sweet baby girl is running to and I am the ‘Mama!’ she is excited to see!!

PS – Ange’s face is fun to watch when Hannah takes her tumble.  I wonder how many times in a day she sees this happen?  I know it’s often here as truly my baby girl has 2 modes – run and sleep!

Sometimes....

...my heart is so full of love for my amazing Hannah XiaoFen that I think it's going to explode!!! I can feel my heart full to overflowing with love for her and just hold her close; drink in her amazing smells; look into those beautiful, loving eyes and my heart feels like it's going to burst!!! Ahhhh....LOVE!!!

This happened again yesterday. Were we doing anything special at the time? No. In fact we were wandering around Wal*mart and suddenly I was overcome with emotion and found it hard not to cry right there wandering the aisle between the bakery and veggies. Once again I was amazed at how deep my mother's love is for her and how fierce it is! I would do anything...ANYTHING....for this precious little girl. My daughter. My love. My life!

Oh Hannah, Mommy loves you more than you'll ever know and more than words can express! Thank you God for the love we share!

Mmmm...Watermelon!

Just a few adorable pics and a video taken a few minutes ago of XiaoFen enjoying some watermelon! Guess a bath is in order tonight.
Painting with watermelon juice on her tray


Good to the last drop. Juice was literally dripping off her chin. So cute!

This video isn't super exciting but pretty adorable I think. I love watching Hannah embrace new tastes and watermelon was new last week.