Have I mentioned how much fun this girl is!? :)

I love this time of year...there's always so much going on and I love being able to see family you don't get to see during the rest of the year and just being able to celebrate and take time to be thankful. This time of year can also be very hard for many even when you count your blessings. Last year at this time Hannah was 2 months old and we were trying to get everything unpacked AND set up for Christmas in a new home. I lost my job last year at this time which meant we lost our house too...shortly after we moved Adam was laid off for almost a month...all this set things in motion to be very hard for us leading us to where we are now. But I am thankful.
It has been a very difficult year...it seems no one has been left untouched whether financially, emotionally or both! We have lost friends to illnesses, we have seen family struggle with things you wouldn't wish on anyone...but at the end of the day we have each other. We have our health right now and we are still able to celebrate Christmas and the season. We've grown to appreciate little things even more this year and realize how important it is not to take those things or people for granted. And we have Hannah...who is an absolute joy. She is so in awe over everything...it makes me smile. I love walking into her room in the morning or after a nap and hearing her cheerfully say "Hi!" She's so sweet and friendly. We'll be in a store or out somewhere and everyone she sees she greets with an enthusiastic "Hi!" She has so much love and wonder. I am so blessed to be her mama. I am thankful and blessed by the family and friends we have around us. I am blessed by our ever expanding families!!!
So Merry early Christmas...I hope that even though times are rough right now you have many things to be thankful for at the end of your day!

People Person

Thought while I had a second I'd update...so Hannah is cute as ever! I know I'm slightly biased as her mother but she is so much fun! She LOVES people! She's wary of those she doesn't know in a different environment but if she knows the place and she's with Adam or I she warms up to people very well! She thrives off of being around people and being the source of entertainment. She's really into giving out hugs and kisses! She loves babies of any kind and will hug her doll babies and any baby she sees in a book! She LOVES to read! Hannah can sit in your lap and read all different kinds of books but her favorite are the "Peek-A-Boo" books.
I am beyond excited to see Christmas thru Hannah's eyes this year. Last year she loved the lights on the Christmas tree but I'm excited to see her absolute excitement over every little thing! She's such a hands on girly that loves to see and touch everything! Christmas for Adam and I will be worlds more fun just watching her experience it all! Oh we love her!

New Pictures

I took a ton of pictures of Hannah for our Christmas card the other day. Some of them turned out to be pretty good! Here are a couple. I'm afraid to upload more at a time because dial up doesn't like lots of pictures. (I HATE dial up!) I only wish I had a wonderful nice camera to do more with but they turned out ok! She's such a cutie!

I thought those were socks!

Yesterday found Adam staying at home with Hannah for a good chunk of the day while I got out to do some things. It was kind of a welcome relief as I'm sure we both needed a break from each other and I knew she'd do great with Adam, he always does great with her. I got home yesterday evening and after she woke up from her nap Adam brought her out and I noticed her socks...I started to giggle! I asked Adam where he had found those and why they were on her feet!? He asked why I was giggling and I said, well whatever works! But those are baby mittens not socks! He had grabbed a pair of white and green striped baby mittens and put them on her feet! Which is totally fine just funny. He says "Well if they're mittens where are the thumbholes!?" The best thing was he says, well they work! Those babies stayed on her feet all day through playing outside, running around and two naps! I died! Leave it to a dad to pull out the un-obvious and make it work! So if you're looking for socks that stay on all day and keep your babies feet warm...baby mittens are where it's at! :)

I just want to point out...

That Hannah's hair looks SO different now from thos pictures below! It's longer and is SUPER curly! It's gorgeous! It's kind of crazy and hard to do much with right now but it's got ringlets in the back that are adorable when she wakes up and has just taken a nap! LOVE her!

Hannah Pictures....

Oh man life has been so busy! I don't know what on earth possesed me to think things would slow down! So I've been seriously slacking on the putting up of pictures and posting...but here are a couple I took of Hannah at the begining of October...I realize it's now November but I promise to get more updates and more exciting news up soon.....for now here are some fun pictures.
Tonight thanks to my sis' boyfriend a bunch of us get to go to the Jason Mraz`concert which I am SUPER excited about! He's been around for years and I've always loved him but now Adam's been getting in to listening to him and his new songs. So tonight we get to go out to the Schnitz and hear him!!!! And a major thanks to Gram and Pops who are watching Hannah for us tonight so we can go. Not that they mind! :) Hannah obviously thinks the world of both of them! So we're super excited for tonite!

*Sigh*

I feel like today is going to be one of those days. I'm trying hard not to be overly negative about it but I'm already stewing over something, I don't feel real awesome and I am SLEEPY. For the past week Hannah has decided to start waking up most usually at 4 a.m. only to lay in bed and fuss and screech and yell until someone (me) comes in to check on her and then she's happy and ready to play. Since we are adamant that while in bed and during sleep time unless it's an emergency that's where you stay I end up back in bed listening to her screeching and fussing for 2 or more hours until she conks out about the time we would normally get up. That just makes the whole day seem off. And now today she's trying hard to find any excuse NOT to sleep so she took an unusual 30+ mins to soothe herself to sleep for her nap and then with the dogs up here howling like coyotes (again *sigh*) she woke up only 30 mins into what would normally be a 2 hour nap...so now she's down there making noise and ready to be up...and I really just feel like crying. Again...the day could improve but right now I'm not feeling so optimistic....

Mmm SOUP!

I LOVE this time of year! It inspires me to cook new yummy foods and bake new yummies! One of the ways I think Adam and I compliment each other is in cooking. Adam is phenomenal at finding ingredients we have laying around and whipping up something delicious! I keep saying he needs to open a restaraunt! Cooking for him is a release. It doesn't phase him at all to come home and start cooking something for dinner. For me while I like cooking I'm such a perfectionist that I feel like I need to have hours to do something good enough and also I feel uninspired most times. I'm the kind of girl who - while I LOVE food - could eat nothing but brown rice for days straight with nothing in it. Adam is the kind of person who says, ok if we have to eat brown rice for a week how can we make it different every time? I do more baking. I could bake and bake and it makes me feel good. I don't necessairily eat all I bake but I love to do it and I'm always trying to find new ways to do something different with an old recipe. The other thing I do and love making is soup. I could eat soup every day!! I am always up for new yummy soup recipes. Ones you make on the fly, ones you thrown in the crockpot and let sit all day...MMM! LOVE IT! This recipe is one of Adam's favorites and I started making it last year. He's already made special requests on how to make it so I've made it several times and each time it's different but SO yummy! So if you're needing a good comfort food this is a delicious soup that doesn't take long at all Enjoy:

Potato Cheese Soup

Peel and quarter about 3 lbs of potatoes (I usually do more so we have lots of leftovers)

Place in a large pot and barely cover potatos with water

Chop up some celery and either chop or shred (I prefer) carrots and onion and let boil with potatos

Once potatos soften enough to mash with masher do so, do not drain water

Add milk a little at a time til you reach the consistency you want soup wise

Add cheese according to your cheesy tastes. (The recipe from Adam's mom calls for Velveta...I tend to think Velveta is something in the disguise of cheese but Adam loves it and it does melt down nicely...so I usually use half Velveta and then half another kind of yummy cheese.)

Cook some bacon (Again Adam says there can never be enough bacon in this soup so go by personal tastes) and sprinkle on and stir in and serve!

Sorry for the simplistic recipe with no actual measurements but that's kind of how we cook...we eyeball everything! ALSO if anyone has any yummy pie recipes I'd love to see them. Adam can't get enough of pie and I try to bake as many as possible this time of year!

My Quirks...

I've been tagged by Bethany! I don't know if I want people knowing how weird I possibly am bu here goes:

1. I love showers. I think if I could I would take 3 or more a day just for the fun of it. And the water has to be scalding hot! Since having Hannah I've started the routine of having a quick as can be morning shower to get the basics done so I can look presentable and then after she's in bed I take a really long super hot shower right before I go to bed. Ahhh...I love it!

2. Part of me thinks it's ridiculous how much time and attention we spend on celebrities and their lives...and part of me cannot tear myself away! It's an addiction really. I could buy five magazines that all appear to have the same information but I'm sure one is bound to have someting juicier on a celeb.

3. I don't think I can remember a time in the last some odd years where my toes have not been painted. It can be the dead of winter and I still keep my toes painted every month or so...because I wear shoes out but usually at home my feet are bare so it's pleasant to see them looking colorful and pretty!

4. Speaking of shoes...I think my feet are claustophobic! They just have this thing about being stuffed into shoes. And I LOVE shoes! Especially fun heels but I don't spend much time in them. I have a whole collection but when this time of year rolls around I try to put off wearing actual shoes as long as possible. It's a sock thing too...I just hate socks and shoes ON my feet! BUT they're so cute and pretty off.

5. Ok...I have this weird thing about even numbers. (And I'm not the only ones! Holly and Becca have the same problem!) Ok say I take a handful of M&Ms...I can't have an even number, most especially not the number 6. I can't get out of bed until the clock has more odd numbers on it or they add up to a good solid odd number. It might be a slight OCD thing....but it's kind of funny.

6. I have an addiction to other's blogs. It's sad but true. Some days if I have the time I'll check a couple times juuust to make sure that in the last several hours someone didn't have anything better to do with their time and wrote a cute little snippit of something or posted new pictures of their cutie bugs for kids...gosh you read all this and it seems I have no life! haha Sad!

Hannah's Wish List

So I've started thinking about what it would be nice to get Hannah for Christmas. Nothing over the top and she doesn't need lots of presents we just had her birthday and Adam and I long ago decided we wanted to make sure Christmas was about the right things not what you get in gifts. (I do understand she's not old enough to quite absorb this information yet) So I've been watching her and keeping an eye out for the kinds of things she might like so I can find something that she'll get the most enjoyment out of and really use for awhile...so far here are the ideas I've come up with:

1. A package of combs
2. Plastic Bags of any kind..grocery garbage just as long as she can walk around with it
3. Any box she can climb into and lay down in
4. Big boxes she can tip over and make a cave out of
5. A small bell
6. Bubble Wrap
7. Anything that appears to be breakable
8. A real phone...anyones that can actually dial out. She is apparently not fooled by the fake cell phones or the real cell phone that we no longer use so gave to her to play with
9. Any Peekaboo book
10. A box to push around and use at will for hoisting and climbing up on to things

These are just a few I've noticed so far. I'm sure by December there will be others to add to the list but for now it's pretty simple. :)

Ahhh Motherhood!

I firmly believe a good chunk of motherhood is putting out fires. I am completely in awe of those mothers who are single and working full time and/or going to school with one or more children with minimal if ANY help from the outside! Completely amazing! I could not even imagine. Obviously you do everything you need to for your children but...as much as we all like to complain about our lack of help from our husbands or significant others sometimes... I think we can all agree that some help trumps none at all!
From the begining Adam and I decided that even though it may be rough on us financially for awhile that I needed to stay home with any kids we have. This is something I've looked forward to because I believe God always provides a way and even when you think you won't make it (financially in this case) things have a way of working out one way or another. And it has definitely been rough on us financially since I've been taking jobs in the evenings so that if I'm not home at least Adam can be. But for right now I am officially a stay at home mom. You know....some weeks come and go and you think...man time goes so fast! And then there are weeks like last week where you are constantly putting our fires and stretching yourself thin.

Hannah turned 1 October 3rd. It was weird but the whole week leading up to her birthday I could see changes taking place. It was as if her body and mind knew she was now a toddler! She got taller and grew out of her 6-12 mo. pants in a week, her hair got a LOT longer and curlier all of a sudden and I saw more little girl in her both in her looks and in her character and demeanor. For a 1 year old it doesn't take much for life to seem totally overwhelming. The three weeks leading up to her birthday we'd been packing our house up and getting ready to move in with my parents for awhile while we get back on our feet with the goal of hopefully buying a house this next time around and staying somewhere longer than a year. So we moved...which took her almost a full week to get used to. She'd wake up and not know where she was and would wonder why now there were extra people living with her! (I mean I'm assuming that, she obviously didn't SAY that!) :)
We made a bonzai trip last minute up to Washington the day after her birthday to go and support family and got back late Monday night. Car rides are never fun with little ones....especially little ones who have always detested being strapped into anything! (I mean from day one!) We got back and she had her 1 year check up which involved her 1 year immunizations which I went into with a lot of trepedation. Mostly because one shot was the MMR shot. (I won't go into my feelings on this right now) I firmly believe children should be immunized and I am NOT saying vaccines CAUSE certain disorders or disablities but I do know that a lot of times we group all these vaccines together and how can we be sure what works for one kid and what one kids body can handle another child's can!?
Hannah is a tiny little thing! She's gotten really tall but she is skinny! Very poportionate but she's only gained 3 lbs since her 6 mo. appointment! Things hit her harder. And I sometimes worry with her being 5 weeks early that there are effects we're still going to have to be on the lookout for! So anyway, she got her shots...all of them... and by that night was having a reaction to them. She'd always handled them well but this time she started getting a low grade fever. By the middle of the night she had woken up several times (And continued to) and at last check had woken up covered in sweat because of her fever. I continued to give her Motrin for kids and pump her full of water. The next day she still had a fever and it was climbing. By 4 that afternoon as I was feeding her you could almost visibly see her fever spiking. She began to shake uncontrollably and her hands, feet and lips turned a horrible shade of blue while she started breathing in a hyperventalating kind of way! Anyway...we have no explanation as to what that is or was because by the time we got to Urgent Care it seems the Tylenol had kicked in and she was feeling much better and her fever had completely gone away. From what I've read about and heard from other moms it seems like what she had was a type of febrile seizure in reaction to her fever spiking. (SCARY!!!)
Hannah is the kind of kid like both Adam and I were. Very stubborn, really wants to do everything she can herself but she's very loving and kind. She's a hoot to be around and is so much fun but last week I think her little world had so much going on she just didn't know what to do...I am working with her to try and teach her basic sign language so she can help ask for things she needs or wants. She's walking but regressed a bit since last week with being sick, but some of her frustration lies in that she wants to be down and walking but won't walk when you put her down so she gets mad (VERY MAD LAST WEEK!) when I won't put her down so she can crawl on any floor she so chooses! (Eww!) Being a one year old is hard! :)
Today by the time mid afternoon had rolled around it had been a day. It's this kind of day where you realize how much motherhood is about fires and putting them out...squashing them before they start or keeping them at bay. Hannah burnt her hand on the toaster yesterday as I was making her toast (she likes to try and lunge out of your arms) she leaned forward before I could catch her and stuck her hand IN the toaster on the hot metal part as it was toasting....(Lesson #1. What HOT actually means and feels like... CHECK!) This morning when I went to go get her she has horrible white bubbly blisters on her hands...so the aloe and cool water we ran over her yesterday did not keep this at bay. She had a good morning kept herself busy! Tried hard to get into the cupboard where all the cleaning supplies are at....had lunch - put most of it in her hair...*sigh* Realized during lunch that she had a NASTY sliver in one toe that was looking on it's way to being infected from crawling on the deck last night and losing her shoes...had to hold her down and pull it out! (Ouch!!!) Meanwhile I can smell something brewing in her pants...oh ok people...probably one of the WORST explosions ever. I mean everywhere. Guess that plum daddy gave her yesterday off the tree kicked in! Now everything that's moving has parts of the explosion on it...might as well stick her in the shower. Scrub her down...soap in eyes (SORRY!!!) Go to put clothes on her...realize dog is in the nasty explosion that was placed in the diaper pail and it is now all over the room *SIGH!!*...JUST when you thought you were done putting out fires...one pops up somewhere else.
:) I love being a mama that's all I've ever wanted to be...I know and knew it wouldn't be easy but some days you get to the end of and wonder how you are still standing! Hannah is a BUSY, independent girl but man she has a lot of love to give. I look forward to every day with her seeing things thru her eyes and getting her to try and experience new things and just getting to be with her. She definitely keeps you on your toes. Some days I think I'm ready for another kid more (or LESS!) than others. But it's weeks like this last one and days like today I think of that old addage... "It takes a village to raise a child..." and I have to wholeheartedly agree!

...More Pumpkin Patch Pictures...

For some reason the connection is being weird so I'll just post it in two parts....more pictures from Saturday! (Sorry some of these are random in order!)

This girl loves dirt!
Country girl!
Getting sleepy

The perfect end to a perfect day! Totally sacked out before we even hit the car!

Breakfast @ Shari's (whipped cream around the mouth!)
More fun in the hay!
One of my ABSOLUTE favorite pictures of Hannah with my dad. He was teaching her to put hay in her mouth like a farmer and this is SUCH a great picture!
This would have been cuter if she was looking!
Hannah and her Aunt Jen! (With cousin Kendyl who will be here come February!)

The Pumpkin Patch!

Saturday we re-started our yearly pumkin patch ritual! We were able to take Hannah this year which I was SO excited about! Unfortunately Adam had to work so he missed out on seeing his precious goats but we had a great time and the weather couldn't have been more perfect if we'd put in a special order for it! When we were growing up the tradition was to pick a Saturday in October...load everyone up head to breakfast at Elmer's and then off to a fun pumpkin patch for the morning to have yummy goodies and warm drinks and hang out outside and then pick out our pumkins and go home to carve them. I'm super excited that we have Hannah now to do this with and that with all of us starting to have our own kids we can keep it going! Next year Kendyl will be able to go!

I think Hannah is a country girl @ heart...
She had so much fun climbing and rolling in the hay!
She went down the slide MANY times! This was with her Uncle Troy!
Oh my gosh this Yak was so stinkin cute! I just wanted to smush him!
A French Prairie classic picture....we had the same picture taken two years ago!

Hannah's Birthday Pictures

Mmmm CAKE!

2nd Birthday party!!
Oh I'm so excited daddy - cake!

Beautiful Girl

I've been trying to post new pictures for awhile but the connection hasn't been letting me...so here are some new Hannah pictures that I took of her recently. She's so gorgeous and SO much fun! Almost time for the pumpkin patch!

Happy Birthday Hannah Bug!!!

I am posting this tonight because I know tomorrow will be CRAZY with trying to get everything ready and I won't have time with all my cake baking - so Happy Birthday to lil Miss Hannah!!! One year ago tomorrow we went to the hospital because my water broke at 11 pm and in a flash she was here! She was five weeks early but I think she knew that if she waited things could get even worse for both of us as bad as I was doing and after a few complications from the start for several days she has done fabulous ever since!!
I cannot believe she is 1! Sounds so cliche but time moves so much faster when you have a kid! I look back and think I swear I just had her! As of yesterday she's pretty much officially walking. She walks or tries to now more than crawling. I'm excited to see more of her personality come through and all the fun things we get to do in the next year. She's definitely a stubborn one so battles are ahead no doubt! We love her immensely! I cannot imagine my life without you Hannah Grace.

Whew! We're back!

After a month of no internet and being super busy and getting re-settled we're back. I think I went thru blogging withdrawls. I missed seeing what everyone was up to and blogging about! haha How sad!
Hannah turns one in two days! That's the biggest news. She's on the verge of walkin. The last few days you can see she's stopped thinking about it so much and has really gone for it. She can walk a good length of my parents long hallway upstairs! She's too cute. She says all kinds of words now and is very compassionate and sharing. She loves to give hugs and they are GREAT hugs with both arms wrapped tight around your neck. For some reason she's been shrieking like a banshee the last few days at different points but she's been really sick with a nasty cold and is cutting two more teeth so I suppose I'll give her a break. Even tho she's just making noise to hear herself!
Here are a few pictures from last month...we slacked off on picture taking too because August and September were so busy!!! Come February we'll have a new little one to take pictures of!!! Miss Kendyl Brianne! My brother and SIL Jen are expeting and just found out a week or so ago it's a little girl so we are MOST excited to meet her. They will be amazing parents I can already tell.

A Doggy!

Ok I had to put these in here because they make me smile! Hannh is SO in love with dogs! Everytime she sees one she says"A Doggy!!!" VERY excitedly! She has yet to meet one she doesn't just want to hug and kiss and pat etc etc etc...we stayed at Adam's Aunt Sue's house and she was dog sitting her son's dog Kona. Hannah could NOT get enough of this dog! I wish I had videotaped her reaction because you would have thought Christmas had come twice this year! She was so excited to be next to him and he's still a puppy but is MASSIVE - especially compared to her! He's a Bull-Mastiff and at first glance you think he's scary but he's such a big teddy bear! Hannah had her fingers in his eyes and all up in his mouth and he just sat there and gave her nose kisses every now and then and she could not get over her excitement! SO cute! She was wound up all night cause of this guy!

Pictures from Colorado

I must have taken a ka-trillion pictures while here in CO! Here are some of my favorites...more to come soon I'm sure!

I thought this was so cute! Uncle Adam and Piper
Daddy and Hannah. She was SUCH a trooper especially since this day we'd been up since 2:30 a.m. the day before to catch our flight and none of us had had more than an hour of sleep the day before and more than 4 hours that night! UGH!
Our side of the Hermanstorfer clan. Form the back left: Adam, Sonia, Jim, Shane, Me, Hannah, Veva, Maren and Piper
Piper Lee

Hannah meeting Great Gramma Hermanstorfer for the first time...no hesitation here! Just lots of girl talk!
So cute....first night of reuion...all the little girls were supposed to wear angel wings
Kissing Camles rock formation! Oooh! As Hannah would say!
She kills me!
Man we loved the Pizza!