H3 Turns Five!

On September 10th, my little H3 turned five years old. Oh my, how she has grown up over the past couple years!  She is a smart little cookie who seems to delight in getting into trouble this first year at school. Her energy and enthusiasm for everything that life holds continue undiminished.  She is all things girlie, loving dress-up, pink and purple, dolls, and Lego Friends.  And at the same time, her favorite activities still include building things with her dad, taking rides on the tractor, banging on the drums (I say banging, because I can't really call it playing yet), and anything that involves tools --hammer, drill, etc. She loves music and dancing, AWANA and movies with popcorn. At all times she gives me a run for my money, so to speak. It takes every bit of energy I can find to try and keep up with her. With H3 in the family, life is never boring. We love our sweet girl!

Working on decorating

She approved of the balloons

Grandma and H3 eating homemade pizza for dinner with Doritos, H3's favorite

The requested cake from Sam's Club. Normally, I make her cakes, but this child has been eye-balling this particular cake for months, and since it was $12, I figured we could swing it. She even made friends (way ahead of time) with the young lady who decorated it for her, and was announcing to all who would listed that Kimmy was making her birthday cake.

Loving the hat from Grandma!

She wore it while she opened every present!

My dear H3, I am so thankful that God has given us the privilege and responsibility of raising you. Please don't forget that God made you to be you. Even now, I see you doing things that make you stand apart from other kids. You choose to not go with the flow, and in many cases, I'm proud of you for that. My biggest prayer is that you will make the most important decision of your life and submit that strong will of yours to Jesus and let Him mold you to be a dynamic powerhouse for His kingdom. Your Daddy and I love you, and He loves you even more. No matter what.

Love, Mommy

Gearing Up and Off We Go!

We spent the last couple weeks of August on the run, trying to get ready for the school year to begin. During the last week before school, I tried to make sure that the kiddos enjoyed plenty of time outside for free play and fresh air.

H3 and I also needed haircuts.  I took H3 to a cute little salon for kids called "Divas N Dudes." Each salon chair has its own tv and kids can either play games or watch a movie. Some chairs are designed like cars. The waiting area had a train table and a little kitchen for munchkins. Best of all, the haircut was still only $16 for such a fancy arrangement!

All pretty!

We started off the first school morning with chocolate chip pancakes.

All ready for school! (That's a black bow on the left bun in her hair.)

I consoled myself with a good cup of tea.

H4 celebrated H3's first day of school with a peanut butter/blueberry jam sandwich.....

along with broccoli and teething on a carrot. I should specify that she had a cute yellow dress on, but I had to take it off her to protect it from the blueberry mess she made.

H1 decorated a yummy cake for my birthday. That would be a whipped peanut butter buttercream frosting.

H3 thought it looked rather tasty. She was right!

Week 1 of school was pretty rough. H3 had some issues adjusting to the rules and structure, as well as the general interaction with other kids her age. Despite that, she said she was enjoying her class and making new friends.  By Friday of last week, things were starting to improve. Today went pretty well too, so I have hope for things to go more smoothly in the future. We shall see!

My parents arrived this past Saturday and are staying through Thursday. We celebrated H3's birthday today and I will post pictures of that soon, hopefully!

~H2