McDoniel Family

Little Artist

2012-01-27T11:03:00.000-06:00

Hannah loves to be creative and drawing is no exception. Even after taking some art development for children in college, it is still amazing to watch it unfold before your eyes. It doesn't seem that long ago that her chalkboard was filled with random scribbles and shapes. Now, she is drawing people and even Mickey and Minnie. Her drawing above is her family including Olivia (she is in Hannah's lap).

Chillin' with her Snack

2012-01-24T17:53:00.000-06:00

After such a hard day of work and play at school,
Hannah is so tired that she can't even hold her snack bowl with her hands.

So Very Blessed

2012-01-23T11:33:00.000-06:00

We received our CD from our session this past December with Katelyn from Blessed Photography in Lubbock, TX. She met with us to photography my family for my grandparents' 60th Wedding Anniversary. She did a fantastic job, especially with Hannah! She was definitely a ham for the camera! My immediate family met with her first at the Texas Tech Campus. It was a bitterly cold, cloudy morning but we had a lot of fun. From there we headed to the Overton Hotel across the street to meet with the rest of the family for pictures and brunch to celebrate. Here are just a few of my favorites from the morning:

My Grandparents

My parents with Miss Hannah

My immediate family

Uncle Jonathan and Hannah

Aunt Jamie, Tyler and Hannah

The Mason Family

Hannah with her Great-Grandparents

Ping Pong Painting

2012-01-22T19:46:00.000-06:00

Today, we had a lot of fun painting with ping pong balls! Hannah loved taking the balls, dipping them in the paint, and rolling them across the paper. The art project had accomplished another project as well. The ping pong balls are part of the new discipline strategy that we are trying. When Hannah makes a good choice, she gets to put one in a jar. When the jar is full, she earns (a small) something special that she picks out. This time she picked to have popcorn as a treat one day! We picked the words, "Good Choices," because they are emphasized in her bible class every week as well as here at home. We are hoping this will help with some of the problems we have been having lately and it was a fun art project today!

Be Our Guest

2012-01-20T17:30:00.000-06:00

After a quick trip to check on Olivia (ok, there is rarely a quick visit to the OB's office), we headed to the mall for lunch, did a little shopping at the Disney Store, and then to the movie theater to catch Disney's Beauty and the Beast. The theater was a Dine-In theater so we ordered a brownie sundae and cupcakes to split between the three of us for dessert. It was a great day!

Special Delivery

2012-01-19T22:25:00.000-06:00

"I still not feeling better."

2012-01-17T09:27:00.000-06:00

Our sweet girl woke up not feeling well this morning. When she is sick, I let her lay on the couch all morning, watching movies with her pillow and blanket. This morning, when I woke her up, the first thing she pitifully told me was, "I need to lay on the couch." After each show or movie ends, she will tell me, "I still not feeling better," so she can watch another one. Sometimes, I think she thinks it is a treat to be sick so she can watch TV all day (which we don't normally do)!

This picture is from last night. She went into Olivia's room and went immediately to this storage ottoman/ bench I made and said, "Picture me!" She may be getting used to me taking pictures again all of the time!

Into the Wild

2012-01-16T16:25:00.000-06:00

This is crazy January weather! It was 70 degrees today! We took advantage of the beautiful day and headed to the zoo (we love our annual passes!). Hannah loves going to the zoo, especially so she can take pictures of all of the animals with her iPod Touch. She "pictures" all of the animals and even Mom and Dad. She does like to scare us though when she is a little too reckless with holding the iPod over the rail to get a picture!

"Wow. Impressive wingspan."

Hangin' Out

2012-01-14T10:49:00.001-06:00

Hannah loves hanging out with her family,
especially with these two guys!

Uncle Jonathan is painting Olivia's nursery today. We love having him around, and he is definitely wrapped around a certain three year old's finger! Hannah is keeping him entertained by talking nonstop.

Bedtime Ritual

2012-01-12T20:31:00.001-06:00

Every night before she goes to bed, Chet always reads Hannah a Bible story. After the story, Hannah decides what she wants to say thank you for in her prayer, and we pray together as a family. Most of the time, she says thank you for her family, her friends, her school, Bible class, or sometimes what we happened to do that day like seeing the animals at the zoo. Then we tuck her into bed. Occasionally, we will yell "I love you!" back and forth until she bursts into giggles. No matter how crazy the day (or she) has been, this always makes me forget. No better way to end the day!

Recreating Memories

2012-01-11T08:41:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite pictures ever of Hannah is this one taken on Christmas Day in 2008. She was nine months old and we were in Walt Disney World. We found Chip and Dale hiding in a corner of Disney's Animal Kingdom. Hannah just thought it was the funniest thing to be in between the two chipmunks and sat there with a huge grin on her face.

Fast forward almost three years. We just got our Photopass pictures back from our latest trip in December to Walt Disney World and I found this one. I had forgotten all about it! We found Chip and Dale again decked out in the Christmas gear in front of the same gazebo. Chet told them about the picture that we had done before and they immediately grabbed Hannah and sat her between them. I love watching my girl grow up with these fun memories!

Decorating Olivia's Nursery

2012-01-10T17:27:00.000-06:00

When I have a few spare minutes, I have been working on getting Olivia's nursery together. Hannah loves to help me! She has already sorted through her old baby clothes, proclaiming, "Ah, this is cute!" for each one. Today we started working on a fun mural to hang on the wall. We don't really have a specific theme in mind. I found a turquoise blue and pink paisley fabric that I have been decorating around. It matches a stuffed pink and blue paisley Tigger that we found in Walt Disney World on our last trip. Lots of bright colors and pretty patterns. You can see a little of the crib skirt behind Hannah. I'll post pictures once it is all finished!

Mini Cake Boss

2012-01-09T17:15:00.000-06:00

It has been a cold and rainy day today! Hannah spent the afternoon making play-doh birthday cakes. We are all very excited that school starts again tomorrow!

Sewing Like Mom

2012-01-08T11:55:00.000-06:00

I have been sewing most of the day for Olivia's nursery and Hannah decided she needed to as well. It is amazing to think it has been four years since I prepared the nursery for the precious little baby in the picture frame. Now she is excitedly helping me do the same thing for her little sister!

Olivia Kate

2012-01-06T17:45:00.000-06:00

We got to see Ms. Olivia yesterday on a 3D/4D sonogram. What an amazing experience to be able to see her sweet little face! She was a bit camera shy for some of it, covering her face with her hands but she warmed up and gave us some great pictures.

She looks a bit like Hannah with her cute little nose and other facial features. However, if you ask Hannah who she looks like, she responds with, "She looks like Olivia Kate!" Hmmm, I think we said the same thing about her when she was born!

She is already on track to be off the growth charts just like her big sister. I am currently 29 weeks and she is measuring a few weeks ahead of schedule in her height and weight! The Sneed genes are kicking in!

Already sucking her thumb!

Isn't technology amazing!? More importantly, isn't our Creator amazing!?

Picture me!

2012-01-06T10:43:00.000-06:00

Hannah normally would prefer I not take her picture, but today she wrapped Curious George around her waste and said, "Picture me!" When she does want her picture taken, she will tell me that I have a set number like five (no more, no less) and she will determine the place and the pose.

Proud Big Sister

2012-01-05T19:52:00.000-06:00

We got to see Olivia Kate this morning on a 3D/4D sonogram. What an incredible experience! The regular sonogram is always so awesome to see, but to really see her face was so much fun. I'll post the pictures soon so you can see better. She has the same cute little nose that Hannah has!

Chet thought it was a great way to spend his birthday today!
Happy Birthday, Chet! Love you!

"When I'm Six"

2012-01-04T16:25:00.002-06:00

Not the best quality picture, but I couldn't help but post it. I love the look of pure happiness on her face. Hannah has asked us multiple times for a new puppy but we just can't make it work with our "on the road" lifestyle. We have told her, "When you are six, then we'll talk about getting a new one." (Which means in three year old thinking, "We'll get a puppy when I am six!") In the meantime, we just have fun with Pepe, Nana and Papa's dog!

Getting Ready with Mom

2012-01-03T17:06:00.000-06:00

Hannah loves getting ready with me in the mornings. She combs her hair and puts on her "makeup." We have quite the conversations when she is in there with me!

Kinect Fun

2012-01-02T19:13:00.001-06:00

Hannah received a couple XBox Kinect games for Christmas including Kinectimals.

Love hearing her big belly laugh as she teaches her cheetah to do something!

Photo Project 365

2012-01-01T17:17:00.001-06:00

I have never been one to really make New Year's Resolutions. Striving to be better in all aspects of my is something I hope I am continually doing all year long and not just the first month of the year. I do have one goal for the year and that is to learn how to use my camera better and just to take pictures of daily life.

It is become a habit to only take pictures for special occasions like holidays and birthdays or when we are on vacation. InstaFriday has helped capture some of the little things in between but even on "normal" weeks of work and school, those pictures are rare. I want to be able to remember the things that we do daily and not just her running up to see Mickey (although that is an awesome memory, too!).

There are versions of this all over the internet. My goal is take a least one picture a day for the next year and to blog the photo daily. Of course, I will continue blogging all of the special events, but now there will be things to see in between (which should make all of the grandparents happy!).

Here is today's photo. Love that sweet smile hiding under the box!

Happy New Year!

Christmas Wrap-Up

2011-12-27T20:49:00.000-06:00

We had a great Christmas weekend! We kicked it off with the Candlelight Christmas Eve service at church (which was incredible as always!) and had a great time with my family on Christmas day after Santa came to visit us.

Getting ready to put out the Reindeer Food. We talked about spreading it out in the grass for the reindeer, but she decided it would be best in a pile right outside the front door.

Modeling her new Muppet pajamas that Buddy the Elf (on the Shelf)
left for her Christmas Eve Morning.

Hannah asked for new blocks like Mamaw has (aka Duplos) and purple Chapstick from Santa this year. Santa happily granted her wish with this Lego table along with pink and purple princess Chapstick in her stocking.

Hannah was very cautious on Christmas morning. It took her a few minutes to realize that Santa left the table and blocks for her. After sending Winnie the Pooh down the slide one time, she was ready to play!

Merry Christmas!

Anniversaries and Weddings

2011-12-23T20:00:00.004-06:00

We spent last weekend in West Texas celebrating many happy marriages. First, we headed to Lubbock to celebrate my grandparents' 60th Wedding Anniversary. We had a great time celebrating with my grandparents, their kids and spouses, and my brother and sister at a brunch at the Overton Hotel in Lubbock near the Tech Campus. Before the brunch, we met Katelyn from Blessed Photography. She came over to Tech and the Overton Hotel and took a ton of pictures of our family. If you need photography services in the Lubbock area, I highly recommend Katelyn! Because of the photo session, I didn't pull my camera out much at the brunch but did get a few of Hannah enjoying Christmas with my grandparents back at their house later that afternoon. I will definitely share some of our pictures from Katelyn when we receive them! Happy Anniversary Nana and Grandpa! We love you!

Chillin' after a long, fun day!

Playing Wii with Mamaw. Grandpa even joined in on the fun!

After Lubbock, we headed down to Midland for Chet's brother's wedding. We enjoyed getting to spend time with Chet's family and are so happy for Randy and Emily! It was such a beautiful and sweet ceremony!

Chet with his parents, brother and sister

Randy and Emily chose the date for their wedding because it is also
Jim and Judy's anniversary and Bobby and Jennifer's anniversary.

Hannah loves playing with her cousins!

Christmas Cookies

2011-12-23T16:12:00.001-06:00

No InstaFriday this week... I've been using my big camera all week!
Today, Hannah and I made cookies for Santa with plenty of extra for us!

It has been a crazy, busy week! I will post the pictures from the rest of the week soon!

InstaFriday

2011-12-16T15:37:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since I have done an InstaFriday! Here are just a few of the little things this week that have made our life perfect:

Our little elf, Buddy, made his appearance right after we got home from Disney. One day, we found him hanging out in the fridge. It must have reminded him of home! :)

Every year, Hannah and I decorate a gingerbread house together. It is always a lot of fun and we eat more candy than what gets put on the house!

Last weekend, we went to downtown Grapevine with Mamaw and Granddad to see their Christmas lights. They always have a fun display every year with animatronics and lights choreographed to music.

On Sunday, we headed down to Cleburne to see Cousin Kayden as Susan in Miracle on 34th Street. She did a fantastic job as she always does and even took Hannah to meet Santa. It was her first time to meet him! She told him that she wanted chapstick for Christmas.

Chet went to Des Moines, Iowa this week for the premiere of the documentary, The Gift of Life. Chet was one of the featured stories in the documentary that explores the sanctity of life as a moral issue. For more information on the documentary, you can read the blog entry right before this one.

Chet met many interesting and passionate people at the premiere including Governor Mike Huckabee. Governor Huckabee is the host of the documentary.

Many of the Republican Presidential Candidates were in attendance as well including Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich.

The stories he tells me of this night are pretty amazing and fun. I am sure he will have more to share on his speaking ministry blog soon.

The Gift of Life

2011-12-14T09:01:00.004-06:00

Chet is headed up to Des Moines, Iowa today for the premiere of the documentary, The Gift of Life. The documentary, hosted by Mike Huckabee. explores the sanctity of life as a moral issue and looks at the lives of individuals who were nearly the victims of an abortion, but through God’s grace were spared.

The Gift of Life

Chet's parents did not know that he would be born without arms and would have never considered abortion even if they had known. His story is about the doctor who delivered him, and, after heroically saving Chet's and his mom's lives, decided on his own that if Chet's body was as 'mangled' on the inside as it looked on the outside, then it would be better if he didn't live. The doctor did the minimum suction and lay Chet off to the side by himself. Today, Chet speaks out not only against abortion but especially against selective abortion. Some parents decide to abort their children because they may not be "perfect." Not perfect can be anything to physical disabilities to Down Syndrome to even not being the sex that they were hoping for. Chet's message is that we can't know what the future holds for anyone. Nearly 32 years ago, who would have known that we would be married with a beautiful daughter and another on the way. You can see from the other entries on this blog that he has a full and happy life regardless of how he looks on the outside.

Late last summer, the film crew came to our house and interviewed Chet and shot some footage of our family together in our home and at a local park. We previewed the finished documentary a few days ago. It is an amazing film. Pro-life is often a negative term in today's culture, conjuring images of picketing, anti-abortion ads, and even killings of the doctors performing the abortions. We love how this film challenges you to look beyond the deaths and see people and lives. Every life is valuable no matter how not perfect we may think it is. Contempt for any life, whether that be for the unborn baby, the mother deciding to get an abortion, or the doctor performing it, is not how we, as Christians are to believe. Maybe if we stop hating and judging, and love as we are taught to do, then more precious babies will be saved and more people will come to know Christ.

I am so proud of Chet and the message that he shares with thousands of people each year. I would love to be there with him but we couldn't make it work with my pregnant belly!

Here is the trailer for the documentary:

http://chetmcdoniel.com

We just found out that you can watch the event tonight (Wednesday, December 14) at 7:00 Central on C-Span 2. Link: http://www.c-span.org/Events/Abortion-Campaign-Finance-Topics-at-Candidate-Forum/10737426276/

The Last Disney Trip as a Family of Three

2011-12-13T16:47:00.000-06:00

I intended to get these pictures up last week, but we have been very busy! Here are a few highlights from our last trip to the Walt Disney World Resort as a family of three:

Hannah loved visiting the characters decked out in their Christmas gear and we had a great time at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.

Hannah was picked to be one of the kids that marches with the "animals" at the Festival of the Lion King show at Disney's Animal Kingdom. She knew that is was a possibility at the end of the show and was ecstatic when she was picked! She looks like such a big girl here!

Of course, we had breakfast with the princesses.

All of the little princesses are invited to parade around the restaurant with the princesses at one point during the meal. Hannah was so happy to join Mary Poppins. (We are not really sure why she was at the princess breakfast but we loved seeing her!)

We got to meet Jake from the new Disney Channel show, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, for the first time during this trip!

One our favorite things during Christmas at Disney's Hollywood Studios is the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. Over four million lights light up the street and are choreographed to "dance" to Christmas music. It also "snows!"

Spinning with Daddy on the Teacups (I used little Olivia as an excuse not to join. Hannah likes to spin the teacups really fast!)

Hannah got a new Minnie dress on our trip and Minnie loved it!

We had dinner with our favorite friends from the 100 Hundred Acre Woods.

On our way out of town, we stopped to have breakfast with Lilo and Stitch!

We had a great time on our trip and are looking forward to heading there with our two girls next fall. I think Chet has looked into every possibility to get us to a Disney Destination before then (we try to avoid the summer)! We just bought the Xbox Kinect game, Disneyland Adventures, so that will have to do for now!

Mickey and Minnie (and Minnie!)

2011-12-05T16:58:00.000-06:00

We are back home from our two week vacation! The first week was spent in Gulfport, MS in a condo on the beach with Chet's family for Thanksgiving. We had a great time there! Since we were already halfway there, we decided to head down to Walt Disney World for one more vacation before little Olivia makes her appearance.

We love Walt Disney World at Christmastime and had a wonderful time doing all of our favorites plus Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, the Candlelight Processional (retelling of the birth of Jesus with a full orchestra and mass choir), and seeing all of the beautiful holiday decorations. It was a great last vacation as a family of three and we can't wait to visit again next fall as a family of four! (This will be the longest we have gone without going to a Disney Destination since Hannah was born but totally worth it!)

I am still sorting through photos, but here is a video that Chet took during one of our visits with Mickey and Minnie. They loved that not only was Hannah dressed as Minnie but that she was carrying a Mickey doll.

Hannah is very excited...

2011-11-15T15:44:00.002-06:00

Hannah is very excited to announce that she is definitely going to have a baby sister! The sonogram confirmed it this morning!

And her name will be.... Olivia Kate

If you ask Hannah, it is always Olivia Kate and not just Olivia. We took Hannah to our sonogram appointment this morning. She has been begging to go with us for a couple of months and we decided this was the perfect one for her to join us. She was so excited to see "her baby" on the TV screen. Hannah had a big smile on her face the entire time. At one point, Olivia reached out her hand like she was "waving" and Hannah waved back. I am so excited to see my two girls interact and the love they'll have for each other as they grow up together.

We decided to make the whole day a fun family day. After the appointment, we headed for a special lunch at the Rainforest Cafe (Hannah's first trip there). After lunch, we walked around the mall, did a little shopping and found this adorable baby Rapunzel dress at the Disney Store. Hannah has one just like it! Before we left, Hannah stuffed a baby pink bear just for Olivia at Build-a-Bear.
Such an awesome day!

Boo to You!

2011-11-01T13:38:00.000-05:00

Hannah had a great time trick-or-treating this year! Sunday night, we headed to Mamaw and Grandad's church for their Trunk-or-Treat. We love doing this every year! Not only is it a fun way to spend time with grandparents, but we love seeing those that are so special to us from their church (and ours when we were kids)!

Our little Rapunzel this year.

We stopped at Nana and Papa's house first to trick-or-treat.

Mamaw and Grandad-
I think Hannah ended up with most of the candy from their bowl!

Yesterday, we headed to the zoo to take advantage of the beautiful weather.

Hannah was being such a goof and would only make silly faces when I wanted to take her picture.

We didn't trick-or-treat last night around the neighborhood, just to Hannah's friend's house across the street. We stood in the driveway handing out candy while Hannah and Reah visited each other's house back and forth all evening. If they weren't together, then they were yelling to each other across the street. Definitely more fun than walking door to door! Plus, we got rid of half of the candy we collected the night before!

InstaFriday

2011-10-28T06:58:00.001-05:00

Lots of fun this week after Hannah and I finally recovered from a cold/sinus infection that knocked us both down for about a week. No fun! Here is what we have been up to this week:

Waiting for Dad at the airport.

Reminds me of my brother and I waiting for our Dad

to come home from his business trips when we were little.

Except that now you watch people walk by instead of going all the

way to the gate and watching the airplanes go by.

Not quite as exciting but still fun!

Having fun at the Disney Store!

(No, Bullseye did not come home with us!)

We found a cute little cupcake bakery near our house.

Hannah decided she wanted the cupcake
that also had an Oreo on top!

Fall Festival this week at school.

We opted to dress cute for Halloween rather than wear a costume.

Her costume is a little cumbersome and difficult to get off and on.

She'll get to wear it to Trunk or Treat this weekend, though!

We had a fun Girls' Day Out while Dad was gone.

We went shopping, had Sonic Cherry Limeades (Hannah's favorite),

and played mini golf. I much prefer Hannah's way to play.

Just do whatever you need to do to get the ball in.

Even if that means swing backwards or between your legs.

A $2 Shower Curtain Liner, Sharpie markers, crayons, and a few cars

equal hours of entertainment. We used the markers to draw our town.

Hannah colored it with her crayons. Great for those rainy days!

Thank you Pinterest for the idea!

It's Fall!

2011-10-27T17:45:00.000-05:00

I have to share this precious picture of our super cute girl. Today was her Fall Fest at school and she had a great time playing all of the mini carnival games. Hannah is also very excited for Trunk or Treat this weekend and can't wait to get lots of candy!

InstaFriday

2011-10-14T09:28:00.003-05:00

Rather than bore you with what actually happened this week (countless hours in the car and loads of laundry sitting on the floor that still isn't finished), here are a few pictures from our trip that I (or Chet) snapped with our phones.

Hannah played mini-golf for the first time on our trip and loved it!

Hannah loves the characters!

We love that she has full conversations with them!
She always thinks of one question to ask
each one while waiting her turn.
It usually has to do with asking where another character
is that is from her movie.

So excited to be here!

Sweet cousins!

Duffy, Mickey's teddy bear.
We saw him at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.
There wasn't anyone else in line so we
got to play with him for a few minutes!

So excited to meet her newest favorite duo, Phineas and Ferb!

"Hey, where's Perry?"

Two little Rapunzels meet the real Rapunzel.
Rapunzel ran up as soon as she saw them, exclaiming, "My Girls!"
They had the best time!

If you remember the post where Flynn Rider wasn't
allowed to be anywhere near Rapunzel last time we saw her,
you'll know how far Hannah has come!
She allows the boys and princes to be in the photo,
but she will not stand next to them!

Ready to play at one of our favorite attractions, Toy Story Midway Mania!

Two sweet Alice in Wonderlands!
We had breakfast with Alice and the Mad Hatter that morning.

Sweet Ariel ready for breakfast with the princesses.

The Longest (Working!) Vacation Ever

2011-10-12T17:21:00.001-05:00

Three nights of driving through five states,

Three fabulous nights on board Disney Dream cruise ship,

with many of our wonderful agents for our annual meeting and playtime
including an awesome day at Disney's Castaway Cay,

One relaxing night at Disney's Vero Beach Resort,

Five nights at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando for the

CareNet Pregnancy Conference (with some down time spent at WDW!),

Six nights at Disney's Contemporary Resort spending time at our favorite place with some of our favorite people (Chet's sister and her family were able to join us!),

One night on the road to Montgomery, Alabama,

One fun night spending time with Chet's cousins and preaching at their church the next morning,

Two more nights driving home to Texas =

Three weeks on the road making one incredible vacation, two tired parents, and one happy three year old who can't wait to go back, four large loads of laundry (after two mid-trip) and a ton of pictures ready to upload to my computer and relive the memories.

Until I can get pictures posted, here is one of our big, three year old on her first day of school that I forgot to share. (She went one day before we left and was so excited to get to go back yesterday!)

InstaFriday - Special Edition

2011-09-09T09:06:00.002-05:00

What a crazy amazing week it has been! The camera crew here this week to shoot the documentary was not the biggest highlight of the week (though it was an awesome experience!). Here is what we have been thinking about this week (and the last twelve weeks!):

Tiny diapers...

Tiny clothes...

Tiny shoes...

Tiny Mickey ears...

Tiny arms and legs on our 12 week sonogram...

Because this sweet girl is finally going to be a big sister!

And she is even more excited because our sonogram

tech is 85% sure that it is going to be another girl!

(Which has been her request all along!)

We'll know for sure at our 20 week sonogram in November.

We cut one picture off of our strip of sonogram images for Hannah to keep with her. She loves to show it off and told her baby dolls one day, "This is a picture of the best baby!" She is always asking, "What week is it?" (Week 12) and, "What is the baby doing right now?" Melts my heart!

We are all very excited! We have been praying about adding to our little family for two years. The doctor told us everything looks great! We got to see the little one kicking and waving at us during the sonogram and heard the heartbeat. Such an amazing experience!

This little one is due to make her debut on March 22. Hannah's due date was March 17 and was born on March 6. We love March babies!

We have a name picked out but we aren't going to announce it until we know for sure it is a girl!

Wild Animals and Documentaries

2011-09-07T17:15:00.001-05:00

We've been enjoying the cooler weather after being stuck inside after this HOT summer! Last week, we headed to the zoo and, today, we headed to the park. Hannah has changed so much, even just in these last few months. I love having conversations with her and hearing some of the things that come out of her mouth. It is so much fun to see the world through her perspective!

Hannah has Meet the Teacher tomorrow and then starts preschool next week, just in time for us to head out of town again!

Fun at the zoo...

They have an old Wells Fargo stage coach that kids can climb on. Hannah jumped on and started singing, "Oh, the Wells Fargo wagon is a coming down the street..."

Fun at the park...

Today, our living room was taken over by a documentary team that came to interview Chet about his story. (It is very nerve-wracking to know that your home is going to be the set for a major documentary! Thanks, Mom, for helping me get it ready!) The documentary will focus more on the positives of the Pro-Life movements rather than the negative like the picketing and killings. It will tell the stories of pro-life survivors. The documentary is being produced by Mike Huckabee. All we know right now slated for release sometime in November. We'll let you know when we know more details.

After the interview, they wanted some background footage of Chet with his family. Hannah was a little camera shy at first, but then become our little ham. After a few shots around the house, they wanted to head outside to the park. Hannah had no arguments with that! We stuck around after they were finished and played for a little while.

Love these two!

InstaFriday

2011-08-26T09:19:00.000-05:00

We've had such a fun week!

One of our supplier thought it would be a good
idea to package their brochures with this turquoise paper
that had been shredded and crinkled.

Hannah was acting very bored that day
so I showed her how she could make a person with crazy hair.

Sixteen people and two hours later, the boredom whining had disappeared!

It is just about time to start our countdown
to our next Disney adventure!

We headed to the zoo on Wednesday.
We were all starting to get a little stir crazy.

We went first thing in the morning before it got too hot.
Schools had just started this week so nobody was there.
It was great!

Hanging out in the Wells Fargo stagecoach.

Watching the sharks with Daddy.

Hannah loves to take pictures with her iTouch.
When we head to to zoo, she takes a photo of
every single animal we see.

There is a little toddler/ preschool area (in air conditioning) that we
have never been in because it is usually too crowded.

Hannah had a blast climbing up in the silo and playing the games.

Have a great week!

InstaFriday

2011-08-19T10:23:00.000-05:00

We've had a lazy week since getting home from Kansas.
It is too hot to get out and do much of anything right now.

I couldn't resist this picture leaving our hotel on Sunday.
Princess suitcase, Ariel backpack, baby Ariel in her arms...
she is all set.

(Can I tell you how much I love that she is
able to carry her own gear now?!)

We stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner on the way home.
Hannah decided she needed to test one
of the many rocking chairs on the porch.

Movie night...
Princess spaghetti for dinner,

then watched Cinderella with her own Prince Charming

So sweet!

Have a great weekend!

Under the Sea

2011-08-19T10:14:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, we headed up to Wichita, Kansas. Disney recently closed its run of Disney's The Little Mermaid on Broadway. We were so disappointed to hear that since we saw the show in Denver about four years ago when it was being previewed prior to opening in New York. We loved it then and couldn't wait to see it again!

We found out that Disney was doing a couple of regional tests of the show to see if it would fare well as a National Tour and one was being done in Wichita. Not only was it just five hours away, but this particular theater was putting on one performance where three and four year olds could attend. And the theater is attached to a Grand Hyatt that gives us super rates as travel agents. How could we not go?

We had a great weekend! Hannah loved the show. We knew she would. Not only does she love Ariel, but she is already a huge musical theater fan. She was so blown away that a little kid played the part of Flounder and went around singing, "She's in love" (song written for the musical) for the rest of the afternoon.

We made it an all-Ariel weekend... Ariel pajamas, Ariel doll, Ariel backpack, etc.

These pics are from the theater's page...
Hannah thought it was so funny that the jellyfish looked liked umbrellas.

"Kiss the Girl"

Ariel and Scuttle

Hannah decided that we needed to order ice cream from room service.
(I think she may have had some help from Daddy!)

InstaFriday

2011-08-05T07:42:00.033-05:00

Just a couple of pictures this week. Disney released a huge special that has kept us busy most of the week. We did send Daddy away one evening to work so Hannah and I did get to sneak in a little bit of fun, girl time.

Hannah picked mac 'n' cheese for dinner and we watched the Princess and the Frog.

We sewed.

And we painted toe nails.

Have you tried these yet? Sally Salon Effects. They are basically stickers that work like nail polish. They come in a ton of fun colors and designs. Hannah loves to have her toes painted so I thought she would love these. I picked out the hippie flower design for her to try and she hasn't stopped talking about them. Not exactly made for tiny toenails but we got them to work. They are super cute!

Have a great week!

InstaFriday

2011-07-29T09:29:00.002-05:00

What a fun week! We didn't do anything really different, just had a great week spending time with the family. Here are the little things this week that made our life perfect:

We received a large shipment of various items

for the travel agency this week.

Ten boxes in one day!

So we built a fort!

Who needs a jungle gym when Uncle Jonathan is around?

Hat Day at school this week!

Swimming is always fun,
especially when Uncle Jonathan gets to join us!

Have a great week!

InstaFriday

2011-07-22T09:02:00.000-05:00

Only a couple of photos this week. It has been kind of a crazy week! We released a new Client Management System this week for our agents that Chet build entirely by himself. It was very exciting for us and our agency because it is tailored to our needs as an agency unlike many of the boxed programs that are out there (and it saves us money!).

We did get to go see the new Winnie the Pooh movie this week. It was so cute! Definitely a must-see if you have little ones or if you just love Winnie the Pooh. I found this little ceramic statue of Pooh on clearance (for $2) for Hannah to paint.

Hannah doesn't nap anymore but she does have to play in her room quietly each afternoon. It allows me to still get work done and it is good for her to have some quiet, alone time. Sometimes, she still falls asleep. Usually, she plays with her babies, reads books, or plays in her kitchen. Almost everyday, she emerges when the timer goes off, as Minnie Mouse. Sometimes we see Belle or another princess.

Have a great weekend!

Redecorating

2011-07-20T20:16:00.002-05:00

This Summer is one of those rare times where we are actually home for several months in a row. I took advantage of the slow pace to clean out, reorganize, and redecorate some things around the house. Here are a few of my projects from this summer.

This one happened more out of necessity. Ants invaded our pantry, so I needed to take everything out to clean and figure out where they were coming in. While it was empty, I painted the walls with some leftover paint from the living room (tan), put in new shelf liners, and lined the front of the shelves with a bright, blue ribbon. I love how much cleaner the pantry feels now.

In February, I painted our formerly red kitchen a spice green. The paint color is called Basil which I thought was fitting for a kitchen! :) I liked the red, but it was a lot brighter than I intended it to be and needed some help.

This is my favorite part of the kitchen. Each of the little frames contains our family "rules." They all center around being thankful, using good manners, to be beautiful on the inside, reminders to encourage and love one another, reminders to create, dream, and imagine, and to always keep God as the center of our family. The rules just aren't for Hannah, but our reminders for everyone in our family. Her timeout chair is under this. (You should be able to click on the picture to make it bigger so you can read them.)

Our entry way needed some help. It was very bare and bland. Basically an afterthought. I painted it the same green as the kitchen because they are connected. I added the large mirror to help add some light and space to the area. The bench is made from an old coffee table. The black sign is my Subway Art. Originally a Pottery Barn knockoff, several versions have since popped up across the craft and decorating blog world. I made ours reflect some of our favorite Disney places. This area is right across from our office.

This little mouse kept popping in my pictures today!

We were so grateful to my cousin to letting us borrow her nice coffee table, side table, and sofa table. Since she has her own house now, she was ready to use them again. That meant rearranging our own furniture. I needed an area where I could sew and work on crafts so it isn't taking over our kitchen table.

The sewing table belonged to my grandmother, who taught me to sew. I cleaned it up a bit, added new hardware and removed a couple of doors that were falling off. Now it works for me to use as my sewing table! This area is just off the living room so I can work while Hannah is playing.

The sweet little mouse appeared again!

This is part of the furniture rearrangement. Hannah received her art easel for Christmas and now it is between the dining room and living room. I love displaying kids' art but I am not a big fan of clutter on the refrigerator. I found this great idea to take empty frames one day while browsing Pinterest (If you love saving pictures and ideas from the internet, you should definitely check it out!) Hannah loves having her art on the wall and I love how much color it has added to this corner of the room.

Last November, I redecorated Hannah's room, but I was never thrilled with the light fixture. It was the old globe that came with the house and was dark and dingy. I made this out of quilting hoops and ribbon after seeing a similar one on another website. (Don't worry, the ribbon doesn't come close to the lightbulbs!)

One more of my sweet little mouse.

InstaFriday

2011-07-15T09:21:00.000-05:00

How is it Friday already? I really did intend to post other pictures this week. Here are just a few of the little things that have made our life perfect this week...

Hannah loves her baby dolls and is allowed
to have several in her bed to sleep with.
But I think it may be getting a little out of control...
what do you think? :)

We love to be crafty and creative at our house!
Hannah has painted a couple of the dollar
wooden birdhouses found at WalMart or JoAnns.

We dropped Dad off at the airport this week,
and headed to IKEA with Mamaw, Aunt Jamie, and Jamie's Tyler.

Hannah is an expert at trying out every chair,
opening every cabinet door, and,

of course, testing out the slides and toys.

I painted our bedroom this week.
It was a dark chocolate brown. I loved it when we first painted it.

It was very cozy but, lately, it was beginning to feel too much like a cave.
I wanted a happier color. Now it is a light blue. I love it!

Hannah started her summer camp this week!
Two days a week for four weeks at the same school
where she goes to preschool. She was so excited
the first morning that she ran into the office proclaiming,
"I am going to school today!"

InstaFriday

2011-07-08T13:39:00.004-05:00

Most weeks, I end up taking more pictures with my iPhone camera than I do with my nice (yet big and heavy) camera. I recently downloaded the Instagram app, a photo tool on the phone that takes the photos in a square format and applies fun filters to them (they look like old Polaroids). The pictures aren't the best, but it is more about the content than the quality of the photo. It is just a fun and quirky way to share the little things in life that make our life perfect.

I got the idea for InstaFriday from another blog that I follow occassionally, Life Rearranged. It is a silly way to document the everyday moments and share what we’ve been up to (and a great way to keep the blog updated a little more than once or twice or month!)

Here's what we've been up to this week...

Swimming with cousins on July 4

followed by fireworks from our driveway.

These girls are just precious together. Best friends.

Love shopping with this girl. She collects her "favorites"
up with her and always needs her purse.

We have been cleaning, organizing, and decorating
during our quiet, stay-at-home summer.
The most recent project: Hannah's office. Cost: >$20

Made from an old desk, other pieces from around the
house and a few things from the dollar store.
(I'll post better pictures later.)

Hannah loves her mini travel-agency.

It is in our office so she can "work" while we are working.

You should hear the phone conversations she has with Mickey!

Hannah has ended the week with the croup.

Not a fun way to end the week.

Her annual check-up was scheduled for this morning anyways.

We have been preparing her all week for the visit to the doctor.

Since she was so brave and did so great at the doctor,

we headed to Target (as promised) to pick a new baby.

Of course, she isn't feeling too bad since
she is dancing to the music in the aisles. :)

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-18T20:51:00.000-05:00

So blessed by these wonderful dads in my life...

my husband,

my Dad,

my father-in-law,

and my Grandpa.

Happy Father's Day to each of you! We are so blessed to have you in our lives! Love to you all!

Four Years

2011-06-11T21:12:00.000-05:00

I realized today that we have had our blog now for four years (and three days). As I look back over the last four years, I am amazed at how much we have accomplished, all of the adventures we have had, all of the ups and downs.

We started this blog as a way to keep family and friends up to date with our journey to adopt a little boy from Vietnam. About six weeks later, we found out that we were pregnant with our Hannah. Since then...

We both quit our jobs at the other travel agency (at about five months pregnant!) and started our own Disney-focused travel agency. Our company has grown more than we ever could have imagined, but more importantly, we are happier than we ever were at the other agency. We love having the freedom to "skip" work for the day to go to the zoo with Hannah. We have an amazing group of agents that are as Disney-crazy as we are (if not more!).
Chet resigned from his worship minister position at the church in Irving to pursue his speaking ministry full time. Even more doors opened up when a travel client contact heard what Chet was doing and was working for a Speaker's Bureau at the time. Now, Kyle works as Chet's manager and we are so blessed to have him and his family in our lives. (We just wished we lived closer to them!) God continues to bless us in this ministry providing more opportunities for Chet (and his Dad) to speak to all different types of events. They (and sometimes Hannah and I join them) travel across the country to speak to pro-life ministries, corporate events, churches, universities, and even a few government offices. We are so blessed by these events and uplifted by meeting people with their own stories to tell.
Our sweet little girl was born in March 2008 and is now a happy little three year old. She blesses our lives more and more each day. She makes us laugh with her sweet sense of humor, loves to dance and sing, do crafts with Mom, and play house with her babies. She plays computer games with Daddy, loves going to school and to bible class, and loves to read. She loves to play outside (as long as there are no bugs!), swim, and spend time with her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We thank God for her every day!
We have traveled to Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and have been on more Disney cruises than I keep up with. We have visited Baltimore, Hershey, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C, Denver, Nebraska, Nashville, Kansas City and Wichita, St. Louis, and many others that I can't think of right now. With speaking and traveling for the travel business and vacation, there is a rarely a time that we are home for the entire month. But I wouldn't trade our life for anything. We have created amazing memories and feel that Hannah (and us, too!) learn so much by being out in the world and experiencing it rather than reading it from a book. We love meeting new people, talking with them, and are blessed by their stories.
This one is a hard one to write as not many know this. We have struggled with fertility these last four (plus) years. After struggling for over a year, we decided to look into adoption. Just a few short few weeks later, we got an incredible surprise. We have been trying for a little brother or sister for almost two years now. On Hannah's third birthday, we found out that she was going to be a big sister. One month later, we discovered that the baby had stopped growing and I was trying to miscarry. The loss of our little one is still a daily struggle for me only made easier by my sweet husband, precious daughter, and relying on God. Please pray for us as we continue on this difficult road.

Thanks so much to all of you "involved" in our lives by reading our blog! We are blessed by each one of you.

Here is a picture of my sweet girl at the Grapevine Botanical Gardens. We headed out there a few weeks ago on that one random day that was only 80 degrees! Perfect day for walking around, feeding the fish, and playing on the playground.

Arboretum

2011-05-17T17:45:00.000-05:00

Now that school is out for the summer, we are going to try to do at least one outing a week to experience some fun and different things around town. We live in such a large city with so much to do, yet, we haven't done much more than the zoo with Hannah.

Today, we headed to the Dallas Arboretum. They are having a fun exhibit right now with Fairytale Castles and Peter Rabbit's village. It was such a beautiful day to be outside. Hannah loved walking through the castles and the houses in village that were made of flowers.

My favorite picture from the day! Hannah has a habit of not looking at the camera if I ask her to smile. I was able to snag this with the promise of a Cherry Limeade from Sonic, her favorite treat!

We'd love some different ideas and suggestions for fun things to do around Dallas/ Fort Worth with little ones (as well as friends to join us!).

Walt Disney World Highlights

2011-05-14T18:16:00.000-05:00

As always, we had a wonderful time in Walt Disney World last week, maybe, even more so than usual. This was a much needed time for us to get away and reconnect as a family, to recharge, and to escape from the reality of life.

Hannah received this Cheshire cat as a gift from Alice in Wonderland. We were waiting for the afternoon parade, and a few cast members brought this to her, telling her that Alice wanted her to have it. Definitely made our day, and especially Hannah's. She showed her cat to everyone, proud to say that Alice gave it to her.

Love this picture!

Of course, we saw all of our friends, including the princesses.

We rode all of our favorite rides, plus a few "new" ones. Hannah rode Splash Mountain for the first time. She is finally tall enough for it. We couldn't get her to ride the whole week until we decided we could do one more ride before we needed to leave. She was so brave and only cried a few tears of relief after the last drop. She proudly tells everyone now that she rode "the big hill!"

Disney always has beautiful landscaping, but this time of year is no exception. Epcot hosts a Flower and Garden Festival every spring and this was my first time to go. There are beautiful flower arrangements, a butterfly house, and topiaries of several favorite characters throughout the parks.

Hannah keeps telling us that she wants to ride "it's a small world" tomorrow. Or maybe she'd like to go to Disneyland tomorrow. Or tomorrow we'll go watch the Tinker Bell parade. She keeps telling me to fix the countdown so she can take off the circles so it will be time to go again. If only it were that easy! :)

School Program Follies

2011-05-13T14:20:00.001-05:00

We made it back from Walt Disney World (pictures coming soon) just in time for Hannah's end of the year program and last day of school. She loves singing and dancing and did a great job in her program this year... until she saw me taking a picture! After that, she clammed up. Sounds a little bit like last year's program. Next year, we'll try to hide a little better and maybe she'll make it through the entire program!

Playing her trombone before she spotted us.

Walking out at the end of the program... this look means,
"Mom, I can't believe you are taking my picture again!"

Hannah and her best friend. They are the only little girls in their class (for the second year!). She is not going to be at the school next year and will definitely be missed. Hannah may be ruling the class as the only girl next year!

Sharing Traditions

2011-04-24T17:14:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter! We headed to Cisco, Texas again for the annual Sneed family reunion at Lake Cisco Christian Camp. It is always such an amazing weekend and such a blessing to reconnect with aunts, uncles, and (many) cousins that we usually only get to see once a year. I believe Hannah is part of the fourth generation of this family that has been getting together since I was a baby. It started with my grandparents generation: six brothers and two sisters along with all of their kids and grandchildren.

It was always so much fun going there year after year while growing up. We'd meet up with cousins and have a blast exploring the camp, hiking, and hunting Easter eggs. I will always treasure going to my great aunt's farm and singing hymns together as a family by the bonfire. I love being able to share with Hannah the strong family connections and the rich Christian legacy that this family has passed down to each generation.

Hannah had a blast at "the camp." She made fast friends with her cousins and spent almost the whole weekend outside, covered in sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and dirt.

Having fun with Uncle Jonathan!

Hannah and her Aunt Jamie playing basketball

Hunting Easter Eggs in the old Chapel

Almost all of the "little" cousins right after the egg hunt.
I have many pictures that look just like this from when we were kids.

Hannah and Zoe... they were good buddies the whole weekend.

I am not sure of the technical relationship, but their grandparents are first cousins.

A Magical Moment

2011-04-06T17:28:00.001-05:00

In "Disney language," special moments that happen in their parks, resorts, or on their ships are described as Magical Moments. They are typically moments that you don't expect, they take your breath away, make you choke up, and usually make you a Disney Fan for the rest of your life.

We saw all of the characters multiple times during our week onboard the Disney Wonder. It is Hannah's favorite thing to do when we are at any of the Disney Destinations, especially now because she loves getting them to "sign their name" in her autograph book. She loves running up to them, handing them her book, giving them BIG hugs, and chatting with them. Many of the characters love seeing her! They give her big hugs and kisses, make hearts with their hands, and (those who can) chat with her for several minutes. (I imagine they get tired of the screaming and pushy kids (and parents)!)

During this cruise we experienced something new that we had never even heard of before. On the last night, all of the characters come out to the lobby for a "Till We Meet Again" meet and greet one last time before all of the guests go home. During dinner that night, we received an invitation to meet with the characters prior to "Till We Meet Again" for a private meet and greet with about half a dozen other families. It said because they enjoyed visiting with your family so much that the characters wanted one more chance.

We were expecting Mickey, Minnie, and maybe a few princesses but were totally blown away with who showed up! We got to see Mickey & Minnie, Daisy & Donald, Goofy, Stitch, Peter Pan & Captain Hook, Ariel, Snow White, Tiana, Cinderella, Belle, as well as several pirates and other characters from the stage productions onboard.

The event was a big dance party and started off with Anne Marie (from one of the shows, Disney Dreams) taking Hannah's hand and pulling her into the sea of characters to dance and mingle. We were blown away with the whole experience and were thrilled to see that not only were the characters excited to see Hannah but they also knew her name. Hannah loved every minute of it and had a hard time settling down for the night afterwards. Not only was this the highlight of our cruise, but it is an experience and a Magical Moment that we will treasure for a long time.

Hannah and Anne Marie, the main character from the show, Disney Dreams. The award-winning show is a must do when on board the Disney Wonder or Disney Magic. As you can see, Hannah was a little in awe with the whole experience. Anne Marie grabbed Hannah by the hand at the beginning and took her into the crowd of characters almost faster than we could keep up. She was so sweet and hung out with Hannah through most of the event taking her to other characters she wanted to meet.

Chatting with Snow White

Hanging out with Belle

A big bear hug from Mickey

Loving on Minnie

Minnie taking Hannah to meet others

Hugging Daisy

Playing with Stitch

Cruising the Riviera

2011-04-06T16:43:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago, we headed west for a wonderful vacation onboard the Disney Wonder. We cruised out of Los Angeles to the ports of Cabo San Lucas and Puerta Vallarta. It was great week of relaxation and a chance to "unplug" from the world for the first time in a long time.

Hannah had a great time deciding which character she wanted to visit with next. We saw all of the princesses at least twice, Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale, Stitch, Donald, Daisy, Pluto, and Dopey (and probably others I can't remember at the moment!)

During the cruise, we went to a Princess Tea Party (of apple juice and chocolate chip cookies) with Snow White and Dopey who taught the little girls how to "properly" drink tea. Hannah loved it!

My parents were able to travel with us and we loved having them with us, especially Hannah. She thought she was pretty cool to have all four of us to herself.

Three Years Old!

2011-03-07T11:48:00.000-06:00

Our girl turned three years old yesterday! We had quite the weekend visiting Aunt Jamie for Spring Sing and celebrating with my family there and then celebrated with Chet's family last night.

One Day Old

One Year Old

Two Years Old

Three Years Old!

On Friday, we had a girls trip out the American Girl store for Hannah's birthday. I found this cute matching outfit for Hannah and her baby and we surprised her with it on Friday morning. We ate lunch at the American Girl Bistro where Jill (the doll) had her own high chair and cup and plate. Hannah thought that was just the neatest thing. Then she had a lot of fun shopping in the store later and spending her birthday money on new outfits for her baby dolls.

On Saturday, we headed up to Oklahoma City for Spring Sing and we celebrated with my family in between shows. Hannah's only request for her cake was for it to be pink. So I made a strawberry cake. I found a cute idea to make edible tea cups online one day while killing time and remembered how much Hannah loved riding the teacups in Disney World and how much she loves Alice. So I took the idea and ran with it and came up with a Mad Hatter's Tea Party Birthday Cake. (I have been watching Cake Boss too much!) Hannah loved it which is all that matters!

Happy Birthday, Hannah Jane! We love you so much!

Spring Sing!

2011-03-07T11:20:00.000-06:00

We headed to Oklahoma Christian this weekend to catch my sister in Spring Sing. Spring Sing is the big show every year where all of the Social Service Clubs pick a theme to parody with host/ hostess songs in between. The theme this year was TV Reruns so we saw shows about Mr. Rogers, Blues Clues, Cops, and Minnie Mouse and heard songs from Sesame Street, Friends, CSI, Full House, and the Wonder Years. We had a blast watching my sister in the Freshman show as Blues Clues and seeing my former club, Gamma Rho, as Minnie Mouse.

And for old times sake... Spring Sing was always one of my favorite times of year when I was at OC.

Me and my friends Lisa and Christa. Christa and I were Whos from Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I think Lisa's club did some kind of jungle theme that year... ?

Countdown!

2011-02-26T20:57:00.002-06:00

We love counting down the days to big events and vacations at our house. The anticipation and planning is almost as exciting as the event and vacation itself. We've always done digital countdowns on our computers but Hannah is old enough now that I thought it would be fun for her to be able to help "mark" the days off. Plus it is a great way for her learn her numbers!

We actually have two countdowns right now. The first is that this sweet girl is going to be three next week! Birthdays are a big deal for her right now. We talk often about when all of the family birthdays are and she has been able to tell us her birthday is March 6 for several months now.

To help her know when March 6 is, I came up with this easy countdown. Every day we take off one clothespin, count the pins, and write the new number.

Our other countdown is for our next Disney Cruise. We are heading in a few weeks to Los Angeles to cruise the Mexican Riviera and for a couple of days in Disneyland. We are excited about this trip because it has no "business meetings" and is all fun. We are also really excited because Mamaw and Granddad (my parents) are coming with us this time!

I had so much fun making this countdown. It is a mini-muffin tin with magnetic circles. Every morning, Hannah takes off one circle to reveal a little treat like a few M&M's or mini-Vanilla wafers. As she gets older, I plan to include clues about our upcoming vacation like the resort we are staying at, if we are going on a cruise, etc.

Hannah loves taking off one circle! She jumps out of the bed in the morning and runs to it first thing. Sometimes the promise of taking off a circle is the only thing to get her out of bed in the mornings. I also made Christmas circles to use as our advent calendar.

We have a big week coming up! We are heading to Oklahoma Christian for Spring Sing to watch my sister in the Freshman Show. Their theme is Blue's Clues. I am also excited that my Gamma girls chose Minnie Mouse this year for their theme. So appropriate!

Our girl is also turning three. For her birthday, my mom is taking Hannah (and me, too!) to the American Girl Store in Dallas. More on that soon!

"Turn around, turn around, turn around..."

2011-02-14T09:17:00.000-06:00

Last night, we took Hannah to see these guys, the Imagination Movers. For those of you without little kids, they are a band that play kids' music with a rock edge. Meaning they play kids' music that Mom and Dad actually enjoy listening to! The Imagination Movers also have a tv show on the Disney Channel where they play their songs and use their imaginations to solve problems.

Hannah loves the Movers and we do, too! We were already impressed with them and their story, and were even more so last night. We loved watching the guys come out into the audience, not afraid to dance and interact with the kids. We were also impressed that they ended their concert with, "God Bless."

Hannah had a great time at the concert! She was a little star-struck for the first half, but really got into the music during the second half!

Mickey the Snowman

2011-02-12T12:01:00.000-06:00

Fun with Characters

2011-02-07T11:31:00.001-06:00

One of Hannah's (and Mom and Dad's) favorite things to do in Walt Disney World is to visit the characters. We love planning meals with them so we can spend more time with them without having to wait in line!

Breakfast with Tigger, Pooh, Alice & the Mad Hatter, and Mary Poppins

A hug from Goofy during the parade.

Breakfast with the Princesses

Marie, from Aristocats

Dinner with Farmer Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale

Disney's newest character, Duffy the Bear. He is Mickey's bear that travels the world with him. Thanks to Disney's marketing (and fun money from Nan and Pops), Hannah has her own Duffy now.

Breakfast with Mickey, Pluto, Lilo & Stitch
(These are some of my favorites from the trip... love her expression!)

Tell Flynn Rider to "Go Away!"

2011-02-07T11:10:00.001-06:00

Hannah loves Disney's newest princess, Rapunzel, from their new movie, Tangled. She has the dress, several Rapunzel dolls, coloring books, and soon we will have the movie. So, of course, we needed to meet Rapunzel while we were in Walt Disney World.

The Rapunzel Meet and Greet area is really cute! Several families are let in to the area at a time. While you are waiting for Rapunzel to come, the children are invited to a large table in the middle where they can color a picture. Then Rapunzel comes out with Flynn Rider and they dance around the table with the children. Then it is time to meet Rapunzel and Flynn!

Hannah has a thing about meeting the princes and other boys. She won't go near a princess if her prince is with her. She won't talk to Aladdin, Peter Pan or the Mad Hatter. Hannah so wanted badly wanted to meet Rapunzel until she realized that Flynn Rider would be there with her. After waiting for over an hour to see her, we wanted to this to go smoothly (and she was wearing her Rapunzel dress!). Thankfully, the cast members understood and had Flynn hide behind a gate when it was Hannah's turn. Hannah had her eyes closed until we told her that he was gone. She opened her eyes and ran to Rapunzel!

Sailing on a Dream

2011-02-06T12:10:00.003-06:00

Because of our status with the Disney Destinations as travel agents, we were invited to their annual Earmarked conference. This year was even more special because it was held on Disney Cruise Line's newest ship, the Disney Dream. Our cruise was a preview cruise.

The Disney Dream is a beautiful ship with many magical touches that you can expect from Disney. Hannah and I had a blast exploring when Chet was in his meetings all day.

Hannah loved the Enchanted Pictures that were scattered all over the ship. The pictures come to life when you wave your hand, animating the picture in the frame. In this photo, the picture comes to life and you can drive the ship to find the treasure.

Dancing at the Sail Away Party.

Since we were on a preview cruise, the ship wasn't full so the lines weren't as long. We got to see all of the princesses twice!

Since Hannah isn't quite three, she wasn't able to visit the kids' club by herself yet. The nice thing about sailing with Disney, is that we can visit the clubs with her anytime we want as long as we stay with her.

Hannah loved climbing on Slinky Dog and putting together the giant Mr. Potato Head in Andy's Room. She dressed up as Snow White in Pixie Hollow and played with the monsters at the Monster's Academy of Monster's Inc. Belle even came to play with the kids in the club while we were there. Oh, to be a kid again!

Our favorite restaurant on the ship was definitely Animator's Palate. The decor is inspired by an animator's desk. During the meal, Crush the turtle from Finding Nemo swims around the restaurant interacting live with the guests. Hannah still talks about eating with Crush.

Enjoy our day at the beach on Disney's Castaway Cay.

Hannah was so cute with the characters this trip. This was the first trip that she wanted all of the characters to "sign their name" in her autograph book. She'd hold open her book and run to the characters as soon as it was her turn.

I love listening to her conversations that she has with each of the characters. She asks Belle where the Beast is. She told Sleeping Beauty that the prince got the dragon for her. My favorite this time was that she wanted to tell Mary Poppins, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." We had breakfast with her before our cruise and Hannah was so star struck that she didn't tell her. After she left, she exclaimed disappointed, "I forgot to tell Mary Poppins supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" (Hearing her trying to say, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, is funny in itself!)

A Very Merry Unbirthday

2011-02-05T22:04:00.001-06:00

On our recent trip to Walt Disney World, Hannah discovered a new favorite ride... the Mad Tea Party tea cups! We had avoided it until this trip, but she spotted them and told us that she wanted to ride.

Luckily, for Mom and Dad, Hannah can only spin the wheel a little bit at a time. A little bit of dizziness is totally worth it to listen to our little girl giggle and squeal as we whirled around!

Chet and I reflected this trip about how much our trips have changed since Hannah was born. When it was just the two of us, we'd sleep til 11:00 and stay at the parks until midnight. The thrill rides took up most of our itinerary and we'd eat at the restaurants that maybe weren't so kid-friendly. I love those trips that I took just with my husband, the time that we shared together and the memories that we made.

Now, as parents, we are loving this style of vacation just as much. We mostly allow Hannah to tell us what she wants to do. We are usually out of bed and in the parks by 9:00 am. Our itinerary is mostly spent in Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom riding "it's a small world," Dumbo the Flying Elephant, and Mad Tea Party. She has us riding attractions that we had never experienced. We eat breakfast with the princesses and dinner with Mickey. We love sharing these experiences with her and making new memories.

More pictures coming soon...

Santa came to see us!

2010-12-27T09:17:00.002-06:00

Hannah only asked for one thing from Santa this year, Playdoh in her stocking. She jumped out of bed Christmas morning when I went in to get her, exclaiming, "Santa came!"

Christmas was so much fun this year! Hannah knew exactly what was going on for the first time this year and enjoyed counting down the days until Santa came. We had a great early Christmas with my family and then celebrated on Christmas day with Chet's family.

(The dog in the video is Sam, my parents' dog. We were 'dog-sitting' for them over Christmas.)

Decorating for Christmas

2010-11-28T10:00:00.005-06:00

Princess Tea Parties

2010-11-08T19:56:00.004-06:00

Every once in awhile, I get the "itch" to do something creative. With Chet out of town this last weekend, I took the opportunity to work on Hannah's room. We put together her "big girl" room about a year ago, but it was definitely still a baby's room just without the crib. Now that she is older, it was time to add more of her personality (and storage) to the room.

Hannah and I had a lot of fun doing this project together. We headed to IKEA after dropping Daddy off at the airport and picked up the bookshelves and curtains. Everything else is stuff we had around the house or already in her room. I put together the bookshelves and hung the curtains up while she was at school. As soon as she walked in and saw it, she said in amazement, "Wow!" Every time we'd add another touch she'd exclaim, "So beautiful!"

Her play area with kitchen set, dress-up clothes, and other toys.

Her "princess" bed as she has named it. (And her pink Christmas tree she picked out!)

Reading Corner

Dress-Up Center

As you can see, Hannah loves her room! She loves cooking dinner for her babies (especially in her princess dresses).

Trick-or-Tweat

2010-11-02T10:27:00.002-05:00

We had a great weekend! Hannah loved getting to trick-or-"tweat" and learned very quickly how it worked. We have been talking about it for a few weeks getting her ready for the big day. When asked, "What happens when you say 'trick-or-treat'?" She'll tell you, "You get chocolate!" That's my girl!

We started our weekend at Boo at the Zoo at the Fort Worth Zoo. Hannah decided to be a fairy that day.

She loves the carousel!

Watching the giraffes

On Halloween night, we went to Trunk-or-Treat at my parents' church. Hannah decided to be Alice in Wonderland that night. After a practice round with Mamaw, Hannah took off like a pro going up to everyone and holding open her bag. By the end of the night, her bag was so full she couldn't hold it up anymore! She definitely had a blast!

Taking a break for chocolate!

Fun at the Park

2010-10-28T15:47:00.002-05:00

Hannah and I headed to the park this afternoon after school to enjoy the beautiful day. (And to burn off energy after her Halloween party at school!) She decided to be fairy for her halloween party today, but the wings didn't make it to the park.

We have a busy, fun weekend coming up. We are heading out to the Fort Worth Zoo for Boo at the Zoo and then Trunk-or-Treat on Sunday. We'll see who Hannah will be on Halloween night, but I am guessing that she will choose Alice in Wonderland.

Our Normal Obsession

2010-10-19T10:46:00.003-05:00

As much as we travel to the Disney destinations with our business and for vacation, we often hear, "Why the obsession with Disney?," "Do you ever go anywhere else?," "Hannah is so lucky to get to go so much," and most recently, "When is your daughter going to realize that going to Disney so much isn't normal?" Most of the time, we laugh it off saying it is part of the job and we enjoy it. But that last question has been on my mind this week. Normal?

Yes, we do visit Walt Disney World a lot. Hannah has been eight times since she was born and is already directing us around the parks at two and a half. But who can say that isn't normal for us? With Facebook and blogs today, we are more in tune with the daily lives of our friends and family. There isn't one family that looks and does things like another. Our normal is that we both work from home with multiple trips for Chet to speak and to Disney. It is normal for Hannah to have a dad with no arms and who uses a wheelchair. I see families that go camping multiple times a year, families where both parents work outside of the home, families with children from different countries, families that love the beach, families where one parent has to travel for weeks at a time, families with five kids, and families with no children. No, these families do not look like or do things the way that we do. But they don't look like anybody else's family, either.

Why do we love traveling to Walt Disney World so much? We have always said that it is one of the few places we could go that it truly accessible. We don't ever have to worry about how we are going to transfer Chet's chair, if we are going to be able to experience everything we want to as a family. We love seeing Hannah's face when she meets her favorite character and when we take a ride on "it's a small world." Chet said something the other night that really struck me. When we are there, we are treated like a family. Walt Disney World is not only accessible and accommodating, but it is also inviting and accepting. I daresay, more than some churches we have visited.

Disney trains its Cast Members to respect and treat everyone as equals. When we are out in public, most of the time nobody acknowledges Chet. They will only talk to me even if it is about Chet, he is standing right next to me and he asked the question to start the conversation. We've walked into churches where Chet is to speak that morning and no one will speak to him until they realize that he is the speaker. We are stared at all of the time because we don't look like a "normal" family. That is not the case in Walt Disney World and the way it should be in our churches. Cast Members directly talk to Chet. We are just like every other family when we are there enjoying our time together and making new memories.

If "normal" is what we are to strive for, then we are going to miss out on some awesome experiences and miss the chance to meet some awesome people. Jesus certainly did not do what was classified as normal while he was here. On all of our trips, both to Walt Disney World and other places we travel to, we are able meet people from all over the country from all kinds of backgrounds. It is amazing how much ministry can be done on the sidewalk of Main Street U.S.A. while waiting for the parade to start. Sharing a passion and sharing experiences is a great way to get people to start talking.

Yes, we do go to Walt Disney World a lot and that isn't going to change. Yes, Hannah is a lucky girl but not because she gets to go see Mickey Mouse several times a year. She is lucky because she has a mom and dad who love her and love sharing experiences with her. She is lucky because her parents not only take her to church but are trying to teach her how respect others and act as Jesus would whether we are at WalMart or Walt Disney World. No, we are not a "normal" family but isn't that what should be striving for anyways in all aspects of our lives?

Alice in Wonderland

2010-10-05T21:20:00.003-05:00

People often ask us why take little ones to Walt Disney World before they can really remember anything. We reply that there is nothing like seeing the joy and amazement on their faces when they meet their favorite character or see the castle for the first time or take a spin on Dumbo. It is still real for them at this age, not make-believe or fantasy. Besides, it is as much fun for Mom and Dad to see her experience these things as it is for her.

Hannah loves Alice in Wonderland. We went to see Cousin Kayden as the March Hare in the play version about a month ago and Hannah has been obsessed ever since. We bought her the Alice dress the first day we were there and she wore it on three different occasions. (It might have been more, but it was beginning to smell!) We met Alice for the first time ever on this trip. Alice made a big deal about how they were dressed alike and Hannah just lit up. She was so excited to show her dress to Alice.

This is why we love taking our two year old to Walt Disney World.

Back in Texas

2010-10-05T20:47:00.003-05:00

Here a few more pictures from the rest of our vacation. We had a great time but are definitely glad to be home! Hannah hasn't quite figured out that we just can't get in our car and drive to Walt Disney World as we have been doing every day for the last week. I told her that we are planning to go to the zoo tomorrow and she said we would see animals from a truck (like one of the attractions at Disney's Animal Kingdom) and that she wanted to ride Mansion (Haunted Mansion).

From our cruise (or on Mickey's boat as Hannah called it!)...

She loved to look out over the balcony railing to check out the view.

A few more from Walt Disney World...

Mom and Dad decided that we would finally stand in the long (45 min) line to see Tinker Bell and the other fairies. As you can see, it was definitely worth it!

Hannah loves Sleeping Beauty and the other princesses!

And, of course, Mickey and Minnie!

From New Orleans to the Bahamas

2010-09-28T20:02:00.001-05:00

We've had a great trip so far! Here are a few highlights from the first half...

We enjoyed delicious beignets from Cafe du Mondes in New Orleans.

Hannah hopped on a Vespa at our hotel at Universal Studios.

Hannah was so excited to see all of the princesses again. Sleeping Beauty remembered meeting us when we were here in May.

Hannah got to meet Alice for the first time this trip. She is her new favorite right now.

We had breakfast with Lilo and Stitch before heading out to sea.

More pictures to come soon!

Keynotes and School

2010-09-16T11:47:00.005-05:00

Last weekend, Chet was invited (along with his dad) to be the keynote speaker at one of the general sessions of the CareNet conference. CareNet is a gathering of the administrators of pregnancy centers across the nation. Chet speaks at many of their fundraising events throughout the year, so this was a great opportunity for him to share his story and make new contacts. They did an awesome job, of course! Chet even had Hannah come up on stage at the very end for the first time ever. She did great until she realized that 1300 people were watching her!

The conference is held at different locations every year. Last year, we went to Baltimore. Next year it is in Orlando! :) This year, it was held at the Gaylord Texan Hotel which is only about thirty minutes from our house. We loved being able to participate but still sleep in our own bed. The Gaylord is a beautiful hotel with many fun things to do when a two year old is tired of sitting at the booth. Hannah also discovered how much fun escalators can be! We have never been on one with her before since we always need the elevator. There were escalators in the exhibit hall that occupied much of our time.

Escalators and trains: what more could a two year old want!

Hannah had her first day of school on Tuesday! She loved it, of course! We met her teacher last week and ever since, she has been bugging me about going to school.

First day of school last year! She has grown up so much in the last year! She looks like a preschooler now, not a toddler.

We head to Orlando next week for some fun with Mickey! This is our annual gathering with our agents and this year we are taking them on the Disney Cruise! We'll post as we can during the trip.

Quick Post

2010-09-12T21:53:00.001-05:00

Just a quick post testing to see how to post using our iPad. We had a great weekend at the CareNet Conference. Chet and his dad did an awesome job as keynote speakers! More to come soon!

Rainy Day Dress-Up Fun

2010-08-24T19:39:00.003-05:00

We took advantage of the break in the 100 degree temperatures today to play outside! Hannah loves to dress up with princess dresses and other dress up clothes. This is her Halloween costume (that we just found on clearance at the Disney Store!). I tried it on her today to make sure it would fit for our upcoming Disney trip and she wouldn't let me take it off!

My new favorite picture!

Getting blown away!

Play-doh Creations

2010-08-12T14:36:00.004-05:00

Things have been really quiet this summer! We have been able to stay home except for a few quick trips here and there. It will all start picking up again the first of September, so we are enjoying these last few weeks at home. We have also started potty training and have only had one accident so far today!

Since it has been so hot lately, we have had to creative and find some fun things to do inside. This week, we have been playing with Play-doh. Hannah loves it! She played for several hours this morning! We have also been enjoying Nana and Poppa's pool in the evenings when it starts to cool down some! Hannah loves splashing and swimming and is brave enough to jump off the side of the pool into my arms. Two weeks ago was the first time she had been in a big pool since she was an infant!

Here are just some pictures from playing this week. I love how her expression changes from picture to picture!

Future GleeK

2010-07-27T17:13:00.003-05:00

This is really for the grandparents...

Hannah loves to sing and sings and dances all day long. She knows all of the songs (with most of the words) from Disney's The Princess and the Frog and The Music Man. We have the Glee soundtrack in our car and she has learned many of the songs including Jesse's Girl, Jump, Don't Stop Believin', Keep Holding On. She is already singing the "ba da's" and does a little vocal percussion just like Daddy does. We love hearing her sing and she cracks us up with some of her renditions (some even include choreography). Here she is singing the Glee version of Jump (She gets a little camera shy through part of it).

Recent Happenings

2010-07-10T14:39:00.006-05:00

Not much has really been happening lately. We did just get back from Oklahoma City this morning. Chet's cousin asked him to officiate his wedding. The rain came and cooled down the air and then moved on so they could have their beautiful wedding outside. Chet did a beautiful job with the ceremony! We also took the opportunity to visit with my grandmother who gave us a bit of a scare on Wednesday, but she is doing great now!

Hannah loved the fact the Daddy was wearing a "Bow" and told him that all night. She learned by the end of the night, though, that boys wear "bow tights."

Our two year old still going strong at 10:00 PM!

Releasing her inner rock star! (from last weekend)

It's Summertime!

2010-06-08T11:44:00.002-05:00

Wrapping up May

2010-05-31T14:50:00.006-05:00

What a whirlwind of a spring it has been! We have been everywhere from Kansas to Hershey and Washington D.C. and then to Florida (and some places in between!). We just got home a few days ago for Orlando for the Heartbeat Conference where Chet was an exhibitor for his speaking ministry. The conference is for pro-life pregnancy centers across the country. The center directors bring various speakers in for their fundraising banquets. We loved getting to see friends from previous conferences and made several new contacts.

Now, did you really think that with the conference in Orlando that we weren't going to stop in Disney World? Of course not! We spent almost of all our spare time and even a few extra days there as the hotel for the conference was just five minutes from the parks.

We had a great time in Orlando. My brother was able to come down for a long weekend and spend a few days with us as well. Hannah loves having her Uncle Jonathan there with her and made sure that he saw everything. Here are a few highlights from our trip:

I love this picture because it shows her pure joy when riding "it's a small world."

Love that "tuto!"

Toy Story has become a favorite in our house, especially Jesse. Hannah was so excited to meet Jesse and Woody!

Our first experience with the princesses was the Princess Storybook Breakfast in Epcot. She loved it, even though she was too "star struck" to talk to any of them. Uncle Jonathan loved it because Princess Ariel thought he was a very handsome prince in need of a princess. :)

Hannah loves to bounce like Tigger! When we went to see him, she started bouncing. Tigger loved it and bounced right along with her!

New Toy Story 3 Character, Lotso

Such a ham!

She looks like such a big girl in this picture with her ponytail and playing her games on my phone!

It is hard to believe she was this size the first time we took her to Disney!

(Six Months Old)

School Program

2010-05-13T14:55:00.003-05:00

Hannah had her last day of school and school program today. She did a great job singing and dancing through most of it until she realized, "Hey, there a lot of people watching me!"

We had the option of taking her with us or leaving her at school for the rest of the day after the program. We needed to leave her at school because of various appointments and thought we would have a problem doing so. When it was time for all of the parents to leave, the other kids in her class were crying. Not ours, she looked at us and said, "Bye, see you later!" We have been blessed with such an easy kid!

Chocolate Presidents

2010-04-28T12:25:00.005-05:00

Chet had a speaking engagement in Harrisburg, PA this last week. Since neither one of us had been up to the part of the country, we decided to make a vacation out of it. We drove up (yes, I know we are crazy to drive 50 hours in the car with a two year old, but that is why portable DVD players were invented).

We stopped in Little Rock to visit with Chet's college campus minister and his family. Chet spoke at his church on Sunday morning. We then headed to Nashville where we were able to visit with family and friends before driving the rest of the way to Pennsylvania. Hershey, PA is just outside of Harrisburg. We spent a lot of time (and money) there! Hershey was a fun place to visit, not just because of the chocolate, but it also a very pretty and tranquil town with a fascinating history. We also were able to spend some time with our friends who moved up there a few years ago.

Our first stop was the Hershey Gardens.
Hannah loves being outside and the flowers were gorgeous!

One of my favorites from the day!

Later we toured around town and headed to Chocolate World.
I love the smoke stacks and Hershey Kiss street lights.

Turning the wheel makes the chocolate come down. We had to pull her away from this!

Almost everything cost an admission fee at Chocolate World except for one ride that shows how the chocolate is made. Hannah loved this ride and is still talking about it. We rode it three times!

We then headed to Washington D.C. for a very short, just for fun trip. Hannah was so excited to see Kermit and Dumbo at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. She was not so thrilled to see the White House. We did get to go the zoo, but were a little disappointed at how many exhibits were closed while we were there.

Fun with Cousins

2010-04-10T17:16:00.003-05:00

Easter Egg Video

2010-04-05T13:03:00.003-05:00

I forgot to post this video with our Easter post. Chet decided to video our Easter hunt with our new Flip video camera.

Easter Eggs!

2010-04-05T12:04:00.005-05:00

We headed west this weekend for our annual Sneed family reunion at the Lake Cisco Christian Camp. My family has been getting together out there every year for Easter weekend since before I was born. It is something that we definitely look forward to every year and I love that I am now able to share this with my own daughter!

Hannah loves being outside so she was definitely happy!
She decided that she likes to play horseshoes.

A face of pure joy!

My sister is graduating this year from high school, so we took some senior pics out at the camp.

Here are just a couple of my favorites:

Normally we do our Easter egg hunt out at the camp, but we weren't able to this time so we had one at home on Sunday. Hannah was so excited! I love how serious she is in this picture.

Checking out the goodies.

Sometimes the only way I can get here to smile and stay still long enough for a picture is to sing "If You're Happy and You Know It."

"...then your face will surely show it..."

Birthday Celebrations

2010-03-30T15:36:00.005-05:00

In lieu of a party for Hannah's birthday this year, we decided to take her to see Disney on Ice that came through this week. Mamaw and Grandad thought this was a great idea as they had already decided to give Hannah tickets for her birthday. We had a blast! Hannah talked about seeing "Mickey's Show" all weekend! She even told her teacher at school as soon as we got there Monday morning!

Hannah in her birthday tutu!

Hannah's favorite movie right now is Princess and the Frog. We watch it at least once a day. She was excited to see Princess Tiana, as well as the other princesses.

Mamaw, Hannah, and Aunt Jamie during intermission

Princess Hannah and her entourage

Cracking up with Uncle Jonathan on the way home!

This morning, we took some of Hannah's birthday money and bought Zoo membership for the year. Hannah loves animals right now, especially the elephants. We love the idea of birthday gifts that allow us to spend time together rather than another toy to clutter her room!

Hannah is all girl! She loves to mimic Mama getting ready and insisted that she have "prippy" (pretty) toes before we left!

Watching the Giraffes

Checking out the gorillas with Daddy.

And of course, the favorite elephants!

Five Incredible Years!

2010-03-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

Five years ago, I married the love of my life! It has been a wonderful 5 years, with every year better than the last! Happy Anniversary, Chet!

(At our rehearsal dinner)

You know it is spring when...

2010-03-10T17:23:00.001-06:00

...neighborhood driveways and sidewalks become very colorful!

2 years ago...

2010-03-07T18:53:00.004-06:00

...this sweet little bundle came into our lives.

Now she is two! It is so hard to believe that two years have gone by so quickly.
(Yes, I know everyone says that, but it is so true!)

She was quite the princess on her birthday. She loves dressing up so I made her a tutu and princess shirt to wear on her special day. She has wanted to wear it all week!

We were actually in Texarkana yesterday on her birthday for a speaking engagement at a youth group conference. They found out it was her birthday and threw her a small birthday party at lunch complete with a very cute cupcake shaped like a dog and presents. Hannah loved being the center of attention! We were so amazed that they would do all of that for our girl, even though we had just met. It is a great testimony for the love that the family of God shares across the world!

After such an exciting day, we sent Dad back to church to speak one more time. Hannah finished out her being princess for the day watching a Disney princess movie, Snow White, popping popcorn (her first taste) and just having some fun girl time!

We decided to not do a big party this year, but to take her to the Disney On Ice show coming to Dallas at the end of the month. We'll share more on that later!

Disney World: Day 6

2010-03-04T16:59:00.003-06:00

On our last day in Disney World, we headed to Epcot, and...

...enjoyed yummy churros!

...danced with Mickey Mouse.

...melted Mom's heart.

...gave one last kiss to the mouse.

...had dinner with Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale at our favorite restaurant.

...couldn't be happier watching priceless moments.

Disney World: Day 5

2010-03-04T08:00:00.000-06:00

On Day 5 in Disney World, we headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios and...

...had a blast walking through the larger than life toys in the queue for Toy Story Mania.

...had fun hanging out with Micah!

...had lunch with the Little Einsteins,

Jojo, and Goliath.

...fell asleep on our way to the Magic Kingdom.

...and was so excited to be riding, "it's a small world" again!

Disney World: Day Four

2010-03-03T08:31:00.003-06:00

On Day 4, we headed to Epcot and...

...gave a kiss to Minnie Mouse.

...showed our shoes to Donald Duck.

...decided she needed to get some new shoes.

...had some fun with some great friends.

...tried unsuccessfully to get two toddlers to stay still long enough at the same time to take a picture.

...kissed Pluto.

Disney World: Day Three

2010-03-02T11:25:00.003-06:00

On Day 3 in Animal Kingdom, we...

went on a safari to see Hannah's favorite animal, the elephants!

...cheered up grumpy Eeyore with a hug.

...shared some love with Tigger.

...kissed a cricket.

...and strolled the Boardwalk with Daddy.

Disney World: Day Two

2010-03-01T20:00:00.004-06:00

I know I skipped a day, but my camera didn't come out much on the first day. So as promised, pictures from Disney World! We had a blast and loved getting to spend time with our Tennessee friends, the Fromans, who love Disney as much as we do.

On Day 2, we...

...had breakfast with Mickey and friends. I think these faces say it all!

...got a kiss from Pluto.

...met up with our favorite bear.

...learned that monsters like to "fist pound" it, too.

...rocked out with our Playhouse Disney friends.

...and beat Daddy in a wild game of Toy Story Midway Mania!

Little Mama

2010-02-17T15:45:00.003-06:00

We got out for a few minutes this afternoon to enjoy the beautiful weather! Hannah loves taking her baby for walks around the neighborhood. She is such a little mama. She always makes sure that Baby has her seatbelt on, the canopy (or hat, as she calls it) is down, and if a car comes by she tells Baby, "It's okay, I've got you!" (Which is what I say to her when she is scared.) I know she will make a great big sister someday (we are not saying anything with this comment)!

And now I must apologize in advance to all of the grandparents... we are not going to be posting pictures through out our upcoming Disney trip as we have done in the past. For the first time in five years, we are not lugging our laptop along with us! (Thank you, iPhone!) I promise, there will be plenty of pictures after our trip! Love you all!

There is no place like home...

2010-02-13T13:24:00.003-06:00

We spent the week in Johnson, Kansas, not too far from Dorothy's home in Liberal. It was quite the experience! Johnson is a very small town, only one square mile, but full of friendly people! Chet spoke three times; once in a church, at the high school, and for their pro-life banquet.

Hannah, as usual, was really the star of the show. She won over everyone and loved being the center of attention. She has really started hamming it up for the camera. Anytime she sees one, she will point to it and say "Cheese!" and will not stop until you take a picture.

At the high school, showing off before the kids came in.

We came home last night to beautiful snow. Hannah has been asking for snow since it snowed on Christmas and was so excited when I said we could go play.

And while there is no place like home, we are so excited to be going to our second home (and much warmed weather) next week! As Hannah would say, we are going to "Isny World!"

Sweet Cousins

2010-02-07T09:54:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, Hannah's cousin, Maddyn spent the day with us. They are only five months apart and have so much fun together! They played dress-up, read books, watched movies, and had fun pushing their babies around in Hannah's stroller and grocery cart.

Being a Princess is Hard Work!

2010-01-29T15:01:00.003-06:00

A Sprinkle of Fun

2010-01-23T10:01:00.002-06:00

What do you get when you leave a curious 22-month old alone for a few minutes with an easy to open very large jar of sprinkles within reach?

A very happy girl, a very colorful floor, and an empty jar of sprinkles (that used to be full)!

Hannah showing off her cool new sunglasses before school this week.