2014 HANNA FAMILY CHRISTMAS!
We hope the 2014 year has found you and yours happy, healthy and wise!!! The Hanna family seems to have sped through the year at warp speed as I'm sure you have as well. Each of the three girls seem to have added at least two new activities to their repertoire and each day leaves us feeling like the "Tasmanian devil"!
We continue to enjoy our time at 2205 Copper Creek Lane and couldn't be happier. The 12+ acres of WILDERNESS have continuously afforded our frontier young ladies an ample pioneer experience. Hope and Kevin have recently started their own home-grown Chicken Ranch! What first began as an open-range approach quickly became a self-contained chicken compound following the Great Oppossum Massacre of 2014. They now have 21 chickens that produce enough eggs to sale to several customers per week. Hope's initial goal was to save for a car but when real life lessons met pie in the sky dreams she settled for saving for an Orbeez Swirl N Whirl instead!?!?!
Kevin continues to keep busy with his early morning swims at OBU and late night raquetball feats with friends. In addition, this year he began cultivating a salsa garden and producing the world's best salsa!! He became the proud papa of another Golden Retriever puppy this summer named Cache. Although having Copper (8 years old) around has greatly helped calm the puppy in Cache, Cache still has chosen to help relocate several of our flower gardens and has deemed it unnecessary for Kev to read the instructions left lying around for Hope's swing set! Kev and Cache have had many early morning and late night talks and so far they seem to be yielding as good of results as our visits with our daughters:). Now you can see Kev driving around Shawnee with Cache and Copper gaily riding in the back.
Tina continues to keep busy with all the girls activities and work. She absolutely loves her job at South Central Industries and Group Homes. In September Tina and the girls attended a One Direction concert in Tulsa. Tina's hearing is beginging to return to normal! Tina loves attending the girls sporting events and cheering them on (very quietly and respectfully) from the stands:) She was also extremely excited to support the San Antonio Spurs to their 5th National Title in June.
GRACIE 14 years - Gracie continues to grow and blossom into a beautiful (inside and out) young lady!!! Gracie is now an official high school student. She attends Bethel High School where she is a cheer leader and makes top grades. She is absolutely loving everything about growing up and hanging with her friends. It is very difficult to believe that this time next year we will be car shopping! Gracie has demonstrated her driving prowess over the last few months via go-cart, golfcart and 4-wheeler. For some reason, she chooses to perform these demonstrations moments following rainstorms when the ground is ideal to absorb the wheels of aforementioned carts and wheelers!?!?!
FAITH 12 years - Faith continues to keep the entire family and her friends in stitches with her creative sense of intelligent good humor. She literally grows more beautiful each day. Faith and Grace both are now over 5'7" and both taller than their mother. Faith seems to go from one activity to the next moment to moment. She is involved in school basketball and volleyball, league basketball and volleyball and cheerleading. Faith has made a really good friend with an OBU basketball player named Charity Fowler who has served as her coach and trainer and inspiration. Charity and Blaine have been a welcome addition to our home and family and add to the fun times:). In honor of the Hunger Games books and movies, Faith wished all the turkeys "May the odds be ever in your favor" at Thanksgiving and proceeded to dress as Effie Trinket for a school dance. She was a dead ringer!
HOPE 9 years - And now to little Miss Hope. Hope continues to thrive in her world of whatever it is at the moment!!! This past summer she was selected among the TOP 6 for the National Talent on Parade Parade of Champions/Dance in St. Louis, Missouri. She also scored a perfect on her state math test and most importantly has mastered the art of magic with her performances as "HOPE HOUDINI"! Hope is following in her big sister's footsteps and taking up league basketball and volleyball. Although she writes (ok - scrawls) right handed she dribbles and serves with her left hand. Instead of thinking about what she wants to be when she grows up, she's trying to decide what dominant hand she wants to be. Decisions, decisions!!!!
Well, that's a quick update on the Hanna family for 2014. We wish you all a Happy New Year and as always an open invitation to come visit!!!
The Hannas
Monday, November 10, 2014
Thursday, December 5, 2013
2013 Family Christmas!!!
We hope the 2013 year has found you and yours happy, healthy and wise!!! The Hanna family seems to have sped through the year at warp speed as I'm sure you have as well.
We are enjoying our "official" 2nd Christmas at 2205 Copper Creek Lane and couldn't be happier. The list of unfinished projects somehow continues to grow but that seems a potential never-ending task. The 12+ acres of WILDERNESS have continuously afforded our frontier young ladies an ample pioneer experience. From walking to and fro from school everyday, 5 miles up hill all the way in snow (actual distance 120 yards) to exploring the wild frontier via 4-wheeler, go-cart, golf cart, scooters, in-line skates and occasionally by foot if all else fails to taming the ferocious local wildlife (i.e. cottontail rabbits named Ginger & Chip N Dale) (didn't say they could identify the wildlife!!!) to hosting the ubiquitous Waffle Sale at the end of the drive; all three Hanna girls have thrived in the open air environment!
This past September we were honored to host a memorial service for a dear family friend from whom we purchased the land from over 8 years ago. The Race family shared a special time and special memories with our family of their dad, Dick Race, and their fond family events held at the wilderness.
Kevin has kept active with early morning swims at OBU with faithful friend, Dale Griffin. Dale conquered the 500 mile mark prior to his 50th birthday and Kevin is closing in on this milestone. 500 miles not 50 years. He was adamant I clarify that point!!!! Kevin also enjoys his weekly racquetball quests with friends Steve Fluke & Tom Rowell. It is not unusual for Kev and several of his masculine friends to leave Shawnee around 9pm on a weekday evening to drive to Moore's Warren IMAX theatre to enjoy a late night testosterone driven blockbuster. Kevin also was lucky enough to enjoy watching Sir Paul McCartney in concert this past year in Tulsa with buds Ray Griffin, Dale Griffin and Eddy Gates. He and Tina also got to say farewell to King George at the George Strait concert at the Peak. Kev probably wouldn't want me to mention he also enjoyed seeing Rod Stewart in concert this past year, so of course I will:) Kev's big thrill, other than his family!!!, is cheering on his beloved Pokes & Thunder!
Tina continues to keep busy with all the girls activities and work. She absolutely loves her job at South Central Industries and Group Home. The daily issues continuously provide challenges and the clients always provide ample hugs and platitudes!! Although Tina's daily and weekly exercise regime is not as strenuous as Kevin's and you won't see a "26.2" sticker on the back of her vehicle anytime in this millennia, she does get excruiating cramps from the strenuous turning of pages in the many novels she loves to read:)
GRACIE 13 years - Gracie continues to grow and blossom into a beautiful (inside and out) young lady!!! She and her family are gradually coming to terms that her personality is Green, Orange, Blue, Gold (True Colors to any that follow) which basically means "I know that I know this and it's not important that you know that I know it!!!" It also means "My main goal is to have fun!" Although it has only taken her mother almost 14 years to come to grips with this mentality, her parents are now embracing it and her and preparing for her to either have a career as an FBI profiler (her newest career idea) or to support her the rest of her live long days!?!?! Gracie is still enjoying dance with one of her best friend's, Emma Sampson, cheering with another of her best friend's, Macie May, playing basketball, and hanging out with other best friends' Camryn Jensen and Abbie Scott.
FAITH 11 years - Faith continues to keep the entire family and her friends in stitches with her intelligent humor and creativity! She literally grows more beautiful each day. At her last annual physical, her growth percentage was off the chart. She is centimeters shorter than her sister and mother and yards taller than most classmates:) Faith's height and athletic abilities are serving her well through school and league basketball and volleyball. Her basketball number this past summer and fall has been "11" in honor of her Deegs and Grammie. This school year, Faith joined her older sister as a Grove Wildcat Cheerleader and excels in a halftime display of forward rolls!?!?!? (See, you all thought those 4 years of private gymnastic lessons wouldn't pay off .) Faith's love, obsession and devotion is to One Direction!!!
HOPE 8 years - And now to little Miss Hope. Hope continues to keep the Hanna family "uptight and out of sight." Well, actually uptight is correct as she militantly keeps us all on schedule, in line and interrogated mercilessly pertaining to every minute detail in the universe. Related to the True Colors personality test, Hope is GOLD, GOLD, GOLD, GOLD. Hope has absolutely loved being in 3rd grade this year and learning multiplication and cursive writing. She has the same teacher that Grace and Faith had and when the teacher calls her by one of her sisters' names, Hope's response is, "Well, at least you don't call me Daisy, after our dog, like my mom does!" Hope continues to love and excel in gymnastics and dance and is adding YMCA basketball this winter to her repertoire with her mom and Uncle Kris as her coaches. She will playing on the same team as her cousin, Madison, who happens to be her favorite person in the whole world.
Well, that's a quick update on the Hanna family for 2013. We wish you all a Happy New Year and as always an open invitation to come visit!!!
The Hannas
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Christmas 2012
Greetings and Happy Holidays to everyone! We hope everyone has had a blessed 2012! For the Hannas it meant finally moving into our Wildnerness Home that has been in the makings for more years than we care to remember. In honor of our 1st holiday celebration in our new abode, we would like to extend a warm and heart-felt invitation to our friends and loved-ones to join us for a Holiday "Come & Go" Open House on Saturday, December 15th from 4-6pm.
As you can imagine, Kev "the Gris" Hanna has attempted to see exactly how many strings of lights the new home can manage. The "Cottage of Wattage" is truly beginning to resemble the festivities captured by Chevy Chase. Kevin also made the Jeff Foxworthy list with: "If you've ever stood on a ladder in the bucket of your tractor instead of buying a bigger ladder, you might be a redneck."
Other than continuing to tweak and complete projects around the Wilderness, our 2012 was filled with lots of family time enjoying our new pool and playing ping pong. Kevin, our resident house husband, has substituted the quintessential bridge club for a Friday Ping Pong lunch with the fellas.
Tina continues to love her work at South Central Industries and Group Homes working with individuals with developmental disabilities. One new client that came to SCI in the summer kept telling me that I reminded him of Dolly Parton. After having him "evaluated" and his medications adjusted, I decided to humor him at the annual Halloween dance and dress up as Dolly! NOTHING was left unaccounted for costume wise. Talk about having your bubble burst (or in my case my balloons popped) when the client remarked I looked more like Phyllis Diller than Dolly Pardon!?!?!?
The three girls continue to grow more and more each day.
Gracie, 12, is a 7th grader at Grove. She is a cheerleader, basketball player, band member and continues to love to dance. Gracie's joke for the year is: What do you call a nun walking in her sleep? A Roamin' Catholic.
Gracie continues to move full-steam ahead toward her teenage years and chooses to focus more on her social activities versus being overburdened with academic pursuits. Imagine our surprise when the 7th grade newsletter came out with Gracie prominently displayed as the advice columnist and her opening diatribe was to expound on the virtues of proper preparation and study habits. Kevin & I were always under the assumption journalists were required to have some basis in fact for their subject matter!
Following is a plagiarized picture from a friend's facebook page. It hit too close to home and was too good not to share. When Gracie saw it, she remarked, "That is so you, mom!" I think she missed the point:)
Faith, 10, is a 5th grader at Grove. She began playing basketball and the saxophone this year and swapped the violin for the guitar. Faith's joke for the year is: What do you call a smart blonde? A Golden Retriever.
Faith has taken to basketball like a duck takes to water. She eats, drinks, breathes and dreams about basketball. Occasionally she will even practice. (Just joking). Every week the two of us go to OBU where I try to extrapolate the treasures from 3-on-3 basketball circa 1988 to today's fast paced run up and down the court and shoot game strategies. Because of Faith's size and height, she is most often utilized in a post position. Therefore, my main coaching points have been: 1) Get large in the paint 2) Be agressive and 3) Use your biggest asset (rear-end). Well, true to life with Faith, fast forward to her 5th grade English assignment where her teacher asked her to journal about something they had learned. Faith chose this opportune time to incorporate both her learning of journaling with her new found knowledge of abbreviations. Her heading for this journal entry was "THINGS MY MOM HAS TAUGHT ME: #1. Use my big a**." I'm still waiting on a parent/teacher conference!
Hope, 7, is a 2nd grader at Grove. She continues to dance and do gymnastics and recently began playing basketball. Hope's joke for the year is: Why did Goofy wear two pairs of pants when he went to play golf? He was afraid he would get a hole in one.
What to say about Hope other than she is constantly in motion. If something is broken, we no longer even ask "who" yet Hope can be heard wailing through the house proclaiming her innocence. She loves driving the golf cart and go-cart and it has brought a tremendous sense of relief to my heart that Kev finally re-installed the brakes! Yes, she drives like her daddy:) Hope always knows when there's a camera nearby or when there's an opportunity to perform. This past dance season, she was honored by ShowStopper's as "Top Mini Dancer" and will be featured in one of their magazines. Yes, she mentions this to her older sisters from time to time.
We can't wait to visit and share stories about the year at the Open House. Hope to see you then!
The Hannas
As you can imagine, Kev "the Gris" Hanna has attempted to see exactly how many strings of lights the new home can manage. The "Cottage of Wattage" is truly beginning to resemble the festivities captured by Chevy Chase. Kevin also made the Jeff Foxworthy list with: "If you've ever stood on a ladder in the bucket of your tractor instead of buying a bigger ladder, you might be a redneck."
(See 6th picture to left)
Other than continuing to tweak and complete projects around the Wilderness, our 2012 was filled with lots of family time enjoying our new pool and playing ping pong. Kevin, our resident house husband, has substituted the quintessential bridge club for a Friday Ping Pong lunch with the fellas.
Tina continues to love her work at South Central Industries and Group Homes working with individuals with developmental disabilities. One new client that came to SCI in the summer kept telling me that I reminded him of Dolly Parton. After having him "evaluated" and his medications adjusted, I decided to humor him at the annual Halloween dance and dress up as Dolly! NOTHING was left unaccounted for costume wise. Talk about having your bubble burst (or in my case my balloons popped) when the client remarked I looked more like Phyllis Diller than Dolly Pardon!?!?!?
The three girls continue to grow more and more each day.
Gracie, 12, is a 7th grader at Grove. She is a cheerleader, basketball player, band member and continues to love to dance. Gracie's joke for the year is: What do you call a nun walking in her sleep? A Roamin' Catholic.
Gracie continues to move full-steam ahead toward her teenage years and chooses to focus more on her social activities versus being overburdened with academic pursuits. Imagine our surprise when the 7th grade newsletter came out with Gracie prominently displayed as the advice columnist and her opening diatribe was to expound on the virtues of proper preparation and study habits. Kevin & I were always under the assumption journalists were required to have some basis in fact for their subject matter!
Following is a plagiarized picture from a friend's facebook page. It hit too close to home and was too good not to share. When Gracie saw it, she remarked, "That is so you, mom!" I think she missed the point:)
(See 7th picture to left)
Faith, 10, is a 5th grader at Grove. She began playing basketball and the saxophone this year and swapped the violin for the guitar. Faith's joke for the year is: What do you call a smart blonde? A Golden Retriever.
Faith has taken to basketball like a duck takes to water. She eats, drinks, breathes and dreams about basketball. Occasionally she will even practice. (Just joking). Every week the two of us go to OBU where I try to extrapolate the treasures from 3-on-3 basketball circa 1988 to today's fast paced run up and down the court and shoot game strategies. Because of Faith's size and height, she is most often utilized in a post position. Therefore, my main coaching points have been: 1) Get large in the paint 2) Be agressive and 3) Use your biggest asset (rear-end). Well, true to life with Faith, fast forward to her 5th grade English assignment where her teacher asked her to journal about something they had learned. Faith chose this opportune time to incorporate both her learning of journaling with her new found knowledge of abbreviations. Her heading for this journal entry was "THINGS MY MOM HAS TAUGHT ME: #1. Use my big a**." I'm still waiting on a parent/teacher conference!
Hope, 7, is a 2nd grader at Grove. She continues to dance and do gymnastics and recently began playing basketball. Hope's joke for the year is: Why did Goofy wear two pairs of pants when he went to play golf? He was afraid he would get a hole in one.
What to say about Hope other than she is constantly in motion. If something is broken, we no longer even ask "who" yet Hope can be heard wailing through the house proclaiming her innocence. She loves driving the golf cart and go-cart and it has brought a tremendous sense of relief to my heart that Kev finally re-installed the brakes! Yes, she drives like her daddy:) Hope always knows when there's a camera nearby or when there's an opportunity to perform. This past dance season, she was honored by ShowStopper's as "Top Mini Dancer" and will be featured in one of their magazines. Yes, she mentions this to her older sisters from time to time.
We can't wait to visit and share stories about the year at the Open House. Hope to see you then!
The Hannas
Friday, November 25, 2011
Christmas 2011
Ah, yes....Here we are at another holiday season and the Hanna family would like to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Although I'm sure much has occured this past year to report, it seems the only thing I can really remember is WORKING on THE HOUSE!
As many of you know, Kevin and I began preparing several years ago to build our "Dream Home." How many years ago you might ask?!?! Well, suffice it to say, that since beginning the design phase we have now toured over 175 homes through 4 Parade of Homes. Yes, the Parade of Homes is an annual event! But alas the end is drawing somewhat near. We are reasonably optimistic that we could be living at 2205 Copper Creek Lane by late January. To really put things in perspective... we have worked so hard and focused so intensly on this home that we overheard our girls the other day comment, "Remember the good old days when we used to go to Disney World!!!" (Yes, it's been tough on their precious souls that we only were able to go to MickeyLand once this year).
Kevin, as always, has had a very eventful year. Once most of the prerequisite gear for hunting was purchased last year, it was time to find a new hobby. Unfortunately, I'm afraid instead a new hobby found him - DEMOLITION DERBY! Following a frustrating 2010 hunting season, Kev took what little options he had left and ran down a deer! At this point, the score was 1 dead deer and $9,000 work to truck. Once those repairs were made, he felt the need to hunt "BMW's" and "rolled" into one at our daughters' school parking lot. At this point, the score was 1 dead deer, 1 banged BMW and $10,000 work to truck. Still in high pursuit of the newest hobby, he went scouting in the Wal-Mart parking lot where he succesfully took out a light pole. Score: 1 dead deer, 1 banged BMW, 1 demolished light pole and $17,950 work to truck. But alas Kev forgot to hire a "pit crew" that would assist in servicing his derby mobile and he now knows what happens to a truck when you don't add oil! Year to date score: 1 dead deer, 1 banged BMW, 1 demolished light pole, 1 replaced motor and $30,000 work to a truck valued at $12,000! TIME FOR A NEW HOBBY! You would think anything could be better but Kev chose tight rope walking (aka beam in our storage building) where he nearly scalped himself on a low hanging light. I'm the first to admit I don't know a lot but I do know this.....If you have to use a Stayfree maxipad on your head to staunch the flow of blood - you are in pretty bad shape! Please help our family out by submitting ideas for a safe, low-cost hobby for Kevin in 2012.
Tina's year was a lot more tranquil. In January, I became the Director of South Central Industries in Shawnee. It is a non-profit organization that provides employment opportunities to individuals with disabilities and has two group homes where they can live. We serve around 45 clients and have a staff of 20. I finally feel like I have found what I'm supposed to be doing while my children are at school. I'm totally in love with the people and the work and invite you to come down and meet everyone.
Gracie, at 11 7/8, is firmly rooted in the "tween" years and headed full speed ahead toward those wonderful teenage years (tongue in cheek, tongue in cheek!) Although Kevin and I have always read anything we could get our hands on concerning "parenting" and even teach "parenting" classes, we are at a complete loss as to what could possibly be going through an 11 year-old girl's mind! After being pad-locked out of her personal bathroom (she actually said she didn't know what the trash can or dirty clothes hamper were for), having her closet light bulbs removed (oh, you mean I'M supposed to turn off MY lights) and her electric blanket controls removed ("There's absolutely no proof that anything will happen if I leave my blanket cranked on high 24/7 and pile books and anything else I can find on top - we actually measured the temp of her bed at 240 degrees F); she is still clueless that we might...might expect her to take some personal responsibility. I know we are not the only parents to live through this, but with 2 more girls to follow I sincerely hope Kevin and I can enjoy our home before relocating to a nursing home. But truly, Gracie is a delightful young woman that excels at anything she WANTS to. (The want is key). She is still dancing, doing gymnastics, playing the saxophone and clarinet, playing basketball and this year became a Middle School Cheerleader. We have so enjoyed watching her sparkle and shine as she rallies the crowd for Wildcat Spirit.
Faith, 9 years old, continues to be as happy-g0-lucky as ever (again when she WANTS to)! She was baptized in November and still amazes us with her tender heart and merciful spirit. Faith gave up dance this year to pursue her love of music. It truly amazes me that she can pick out by ear songs like "Titanic", "Turkey in the Straw" and "Carol of the Bells" on either the violin, piano or harmonica. (And to think how proud of myself I was when I picked out "Mary had a little lamb" after 8 years of piano lessons. Ah, money well spent by my parents). Another passion of Faith's is choreographing, designing and implementing performances on her "Razor Scooter"! When our family goes to the Copper Creek house to "work", Faith and Hope have discovered they can minimize their time devoted to that unfortunate task by making themselves scarce and practicing their duo-choreographed to music scooter routines. Riding with one leg on the scooter and the other wrapped around their neck or no legs on the scooter and full body balanced on the handle bars truly is an amazing site and reminds one of either a masterful performance of "Cirque de Solei" or th 1976 Martin Short Saturday Night Live skit featuring the duo-synchronized men's swimming team! We'll let you be the judge:)
Hope, who will be turning 7 in February, has not slowed down one bit in her old age. All of our family continues to suffer from a nervous tic due to Hope's never ending shenanigans. We never know if she's going to be ready to pounce on us from atop the refrigerator, jump out at us from a cabinet door measuring 6"x6" or run us down in our newly acquired (notice I didn't say "NEW" - see Kev's new hobby above) golf cart. Just as the scooter performances bring to mind the '76 SNL skit, Hope's life brings to mind the 1974 movie "Ricky Ticky Tavi" (if you don't know what I'm talking about, it's certainly worth renting and watching especially with your children). We call her our "hummingbird" because at almost 7 years old and over 4 feet tall, she still only weighs 44 pounds and 99.99% of that is nothing but muscle. We've also recently had to start calling her "the snake slayer" after she cut off the head of a snake inside our home while conducting a solo scooter performance. She thought it was a string on the cement floor until blood started spurting everywhere. Yes, incase you were planning on attending tonight's 7:00 scooter performance, one of the magnificent duo team members is on sabatical! But seriously, all that pent up energy still continues to serve Hope well in her dance and gymnastic careers. She once again won 3rd place overall at the National Dance Competition in Branson this past June in the 6-8 year old division.
Well, that's about all the news from The Hanna family this year. I guess I'll stop now that we've had yet another EARTHQUAKE! Seriously, I just felt one as I was writing this Christmas newsletter. Hope everyone has a great holiday season and please come see us at 2205 Copper Creek Lane. Our door will always be open or at least off its hinges from all the shaking!!!!!
As many of you know, Kevin and I began preparing several years ago to build our "Dream Home." How many years ago you might ask?!?! Well, suffice it to say, that since beginning the design phase we have now toured over 175 homes through 4 Parade of Homes. Yes, the Parade of Homes is an annual event! But alas the end is drawing somewhat near. We are reasonably optimistic that we could be living at 2205 Copper Creek Lane by late January. To really put things in perspective... we have worked so hard and focused so intensly on this home that we overheard our girls the other day comment, "Remember the good old days when we used to go to Disney World!!!" (Yes, it's been tough on their precious souls that we only were able to go to MickeyLand once this year).
Kevin, as always, has had a very eventful year. Once most of the prerequisite gear for hunting was purchased last year, it was time to find a new hobby. Unfortunately, I'm afraid instead a new hobby found him - DEMOLITION DERBY! Following a frustrating 2010 hunting season, Kev took what little options he had left and ran down a deer! At this point, the score was 1 dead deer and $9,000 work to truck. Once those repairs were made, he felt the need to hunt "BMW's" and "rolled" into one at our daughters' school parking lot. At this point, the score was 1 dead deer, 1 banged BMW and $10,000 work to truck. Still in high pursuit of the newest hobby, he went scouting in the Wal-Mart parking lot where he succesfully took out a light pole. Score: 1 dead deer, 1 banged BMW, 1 demolished light pole and $17,950 work to truck. But alas Kev forgot to hire a "pit crew" that would assist in servicing his derby mobile and he now knows what happens to a truck when you don't add oil! Year to date score: 1 dead deer, 1 banged BMW, 1 demolished light pole, 1 replaced motor and $30,000 work to a truck valued at $12,000! TIME FOR A NEW HOBBY! You would think anything could be better but Kev chose tight rope walking (aka beam in our storage building) where he nearly scalped himself on a low hanging light. I'm the first to admit I don't know a lot but I do know this.....If you have to use a Stayfree maxipad on your head to staunch the flow of blood - you are in pretty bad shape! Please help our family out by submitting ideas for a safe, low-cost hobby for Kevin in 2012.
Tina's year was a lot more tranquil. In January, I became the Director of South Central Industries in Shawnee. It is a non-profit organization that provides employment opportunities to individuals with disabilities and has two group homes where they can live. We serve around 45 clients and have a staff of 20. I finally feel like I have found what I'm supposed to be doing while my children are at school. I'm totally in love with the people and the work and invite you to come down and meet everyone.
Gracie, at 11 7/8, is firmly rooted in the "tween" years and headed full speed ahead toward those wonderful teenage years (tongue in cheek, tongue in cheek!) Although Kevin and I have always read anything we could get our hands on concerning "parenting" and even teach "parenting" classes, we are at a complete loss as to what could possibly be going through an 11 year-old girl's mind! After being pad-locked out of her personal bathroom (she actually said she didn't know what the trash can or dirty clothes hamper were for), having her closet light bulbs removed (oh, you mean I'M supposed to turn off MY lights) and her electric blanket controls removed ("There's absolutely no proof that anything will happen if I leave my blanket cranked on high 24/7 and pile books and anything else I can find on top - we actually measured the temp of her bed at 240 degrees F); she is still clueless that we might...might expect her to take some personal responsibility. I know we are not the only parents to live through this, but with 2 more girls to follow I sincerely hope Kevin and I can enjoy our home before relocating to a nursing home. But truly, Gracie is a delightful young woman that excels at anything she WANTS to. (The want is key). She is still dancing, doing gymnastics, playing the saxophone and clarinet, playing basketball and this year became a Middle School Cheerleader. We have so enjoyed watching her sparkle and shine as she rallies the crowd for Wildcat Spirit.
Faith, 9 years old, continues to be as happy-g0-lucky as ever (again when she WANTS to)! She was baptized in November and still amazes us with her tender heart and merciful spirit. Faith gave up dance this year to pursue her love of music. It truly amazes me that she can pick out by ear songs like "Titanic", "Turkey in the Straw" and "Carol of the Bells" on either the violin, piano or harmonica. (And to think how proud of myself I was when I picked out "Mary had a little lamb" after 8 years of piano lessons. Ah, money well spent by my parents). Another passion of Faith's is choreographing, designing and implementing performances on her "Razor Scooter"! When our family goes to the Copper Creek house to "work", Faith and Hope have discovered they can minimize their time devoted to that unfortunate task by making themselves scarce and practicing their duo-choreographed to music scooter routines. Riding with one leg on the scooter and the other wrapped around their neck or no legs on the scooter and full body balanced on the handle bars truly is an amazing site and reminds one of either a masterful performance of "Cirque de Solei" or th 1976 Martin Short Saturday Night Live skit featuring the duo-synchronized men's swimming team! We'll let you be the judge:)
Hope, who will be turning 7 in February, has not slowed down one bit in her old age. All of our family continues to suffer from a nervous tic due to Hope's never ending shenanigans. We never know if she's going to be ready to pounce on us from atop the refrigerator, jump out at us from a cabinet door measuring 6"x6" or run us down in our newly acquired (notice I didn't say "NEW" - see Kev's new hobby above) golf cart. Just as the scooter performances bring to mind the '76 SNL skit, Hope's life brings to mind the 1974 movie "Ricky Ticky Tavi" (if you don't know what I'm talking about, it's certainly worth renting and watching especially with your children). We call her our "hummingbird" because at almost 7 years old and over 4 feet tall, she still only weighs 44 pounds and 99.99% of that is nothing but muscle. We've also recently had to start calling her "the snake slayer" after she cut off the head of a snake inside our home while conducting a solo scooter performance. She thought it was a string on the cement floor until blood started spurting everywhere. Yes, incase you were planning on attending tonight's 7:00 scooter performance, one of the magnificent duo team members is on sabatical! But seriously, all that pent up energy still continues to serve Hope well in her dance and gymnastic careers. She once again won 3rd place overall at the National Dance Competition in Branson this past June in the 6-8 year old division.
Well, that's about all the news from The Hanna family this year. I guess I'll stop now that we've had yet another EARTHQUAKE! Seriously, I just felt one as I was writing this Christmas newsletter. Hope everyone has a great holiday season and please come see us at 2205 Copper Creek Lane. Our door will always be open or at least off its hinges from all the shaking!!!!!
Saturday, November 20, 2010
2010 Christmas Greeting
Hope this holiday season is finding you energized, excited and ready to celebrate this special time of year with family and friends! Okay, I'm mainly saying this to give myself a little pep talk. Praise be to God that we actually started construction on our dream home at "Copper Creek Lane" back in March 2010. As exciting as this process has been, it has also been extremely draining of our energy and focus on anything but the HOME! Kev and I are serving as our own general contractors and little did we realize that meant focus only on the HOME every minute of every day. But alas, I don't mean to complain, this has been an amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience! At our current pace, we hope to be entering and entertaining at Copper Creek Lane by the time the 2011 school year begins.
Our family has already had many memorable experiences together and separately at our new digs (Copper Creek Lane, named by Miss Gracie Hanna). Faith decided to experiment as a fire-coal walker this fall when she attempted to traverse a bed of coals left from a campfire the previous night. Decked out in only a skimpy pair of flip-flops, her feet soon became covered in the ash colored fire remnants that prooved to still harbor an adequate amount of heat to royally blister the tops of her feet. Our poor baby suffered immensely but has cautiously steered clear of fires since. In addition, both Gracie & Hope have attempted on numerous occasions to practice their long jump expertise over 2x4 boards with 4 inch nails sticking up. (These attempts have led to every family member visiting the doctor for tetnas shots - OUCH). But let me not forget our way too numerous encounters with species from the reptile family. Anywhere from 15" rattlesnakes to 4' black matrix have slithered across our paths. Once decapitated by our fearless leader, these snakes have soon become favorite toys of the girls and have served as jump ropes and "feather boas" for runway model sessions! Yes, indeedee, we are quickly becoming your modern day "Wilderness Family" (those of you with childhoods in the 70's will hopefully have fond memories from those classic movies).
Actually, aside from the erection in the woods, there have been other milestones our family has celebrated this year. Last June, Kevin turned "40" and this June I turned the big "4-0". All a long I've always believed age was just a state of mind but I was quickly proven wrong on June 25, 2010. On this day, as I celebrated with friends and loved ones by eating my favorite meal and one of my favorite candies (popcorn crunch made by my Ninny), I gained first hand knowledge of life's cruel attempt at aging gracefully as I broke off a tooth and spent the rest of the evening in bed with a stomach-ache. Some of the good friends I mentioned that were celebrating with us belong to the "Young Marrieds with Children" class that Kev and I started teaching about 1 1/2 years ago. Now when I hear these "young'uns" moan about turning 30, I just want to slap them - but Kev has explained that's probably frowned upon at church:)
As for Kevin. As always, he continues to be our family's rock and foundation. However, he has chosen as his mid-life crisis to become a hunter. So in addition to protector/leader he has taken on the role of hunter/gatherer. This consists of time spent at the "lease" observing wildlife (ie hunting) and the purchase of expensive gear in order to engage in this activity (ie gathering). Whoever makes sport of the female gender's propensity to shop and spend money has never seen Kevin Hanna attack Bass Pro Shop! In addition to the hunting lease ($$$), new archery and rifle equipment ($$) and many items needed to design a deer utopia at said lease ($$), there were additional night vision motion detected cameras purchased to capture the deer's bovine cousin, the cow, enjoying all the utopia!!! All I can say is at least Kev's mid-life crisis expenditures haven't interfered with a time in our lives when we have major out-lays of capital. Oh, wait. See paragraph One - The HOME:)
Our beautiful daughter Gracie is beginning her journey into adulthood and creating her own identity. A part of that is renaming herself GraZie and the other part is reprising her role from "Silence of the Lambs" as Hannibal Lecter in "Hannibal". After having her braces removed at the beginning of the year, GraZie deemed it best not to wear her retainer and to resume her tongue-thrust (thus the return of the spikes). This year also became the first year for GraZie to have the opportunity to play school basketball. With every game there is remarkable progress and at South Rock Creek she scored the first 6 points!!! We are still working on how wonderful being graceful and gliding across a stage is for dance but maybe not so much for basketball?!? This year also marked the first time she was ready for band at school. GraZie chose to follow in her old mom's (literally) footsteps and play the clarinet. She soon excelled in that instrument and has added the saxophone.
Our adventurous daughter, Faith, has had the opportunity to experiment with several new activities this year. This summer, the girls took up horse-back riding lessons and became quite adept at equestrian showmanship. However, Faith's favorite part of this activity was getting to groom the horses and clean their hooves. She was always just a pickin' and a grinnin'! In addition to the horses, Faith chose to pursue her lifelong dream (yes, she's 8) and take violin lessons. We have been amazed at our little "fiddler on the roof" and the progress she has made! We've determined Faith's love language is Words of Encouragement (ie praise) and she's certainly been getting a lot of that as she continues to excel in dance, gymnastics, music, drama and many other talents. This year was the first year for Faith and her sisters to enter the competitive world of Dance Competition. So far everyone is absolutely loving it and Faith and her sisters had the wonderful experience of performing in Branson, Missouri this past summer.
Our baby girl, Hope, turned 5 this year and went off to all-day Kindergarten. With everyone holding their breath and awaiting her separation anxiety to kick-in, Hope decided to prove us all wrong and took to school like a duck takes to water! On the first day, she reported on the "tom-girl" in her class (and why not?) and the 4 1/2 new friends she had made (1/2 friend was nice but not willing to share her red crayon). As she was conquering her new adventure with glee, I drove away quite sad. It all came to a head when I yelled out "slug-bug" while spotting a VW bug and realizing I was alone in the car, broke down sobbing. God knew what he was doing when he chose this time for us to build our house and thus keep our minds occupied. Soon after the first day of school, Grove had it's first talent show. Hope and her sisters entered along with many other dance hopefuls. When the results were read, Hope had received the Audience Choice award and is now eligible for the $100 top prize in the final round. It 's been a little hard to live with her following her new found popularity! Hope has never lacked in self-esteem but now we're trying to temper it with a little humility and grace (please pray for us).
I'll close our end-of-the year report of the Hanna family at this time, but would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
2009 Christmas Greeting
Greetings from the Hanna family in 2009. We hope this year has found you happy, healthy and truly blessed. Well, it's a new annual Christmas letter from the Hannas and a letter this time of year wouldn't be complete without us telling you we are planning on building out at our property "The Wilderness." Yes, I know it's becoming a running joke; however, this yeaer may actually be different. After liking the same house plans for four days in a row (beating my old record by 2 whole days!), Kev was so impressed with my decisiveness that he contacted an architect and we have already had 8 meetings with him. It would appear that if at 8 differnt meetings you say something like, "How 'bout we just make this little change right here?" that your originals change enough overtime that they're nothing like where you began! Oh, well, I still like it and we're ready to submit to the City of Shawnee for approval. Now granted that doesn't mean that our 2010 Christmas letter won't begin....We've finally decided to build...:?!?! Kev has decided to serve as General Contractor and I've decided to serve as General Witch (edited to receive a PG rating :). Actually, we've decided to be very supportive, encouraging and uplifting...to our subcontractors!
This year has been one full of milestones and celebrations for us. Most importantly, Kev turned 40 years old in June. Not only did we get to celebrate with 15 friends at DisneyWorld and Disney's Vero Beach for a couple of weeks, but Kev personally celebrated with Pooh, Eyeore, Piglet and Tigger before joining our girls at SeaWorld's Discovery Cove to swim with dolphins. After celebrating like that, it's been hard to re-enter the real world. However, we've given it a good try. Upon returning from the Birthday Extravaganza we purchased some more rental property. Kev was able to convince me that in order to mow the new properties it would be necessary for us to purchase a new zero-turn radius mower with a 60" deck (I know for you females this means absolutely nothing but apparently it's important in the male universe). Although it is occassionally used for rentals, Kev gets a lot of use with his "Hustler" mower (maybe the true reason for wanting it) at our house. He can now mow our front yard in 93 seconds but the back yard takes slightly longer at a minute 45 seconds. At that speed and the Oklahoma red dust that follows, he looks something akin to the Tasmanian Devil. Kev has also enjoyed going to the OSU games and our girls have enjoyed the food at the OSU games.
My milestone involves giving "40" a really good look. I've always heard that the body just goes down hill from that age but had no idea how abruptly it headed south. Right around the time of my birthday in June, I began noticing ganglian cysts developing on my hands and wrists. At least that's the medical classification, others who noticed them just called them "ugly a** bumps". One doctor advised leaving them alone, but the hand surgeon said, "Sure leave it there if you want an automatic conversation starter!" In addition to me getting older, I began to realize that my girls were growing up and that perhaps they were ready to advance their music experience beyond Barney's hip/hop version of "Old MacDonald!" At this point I was at a loss since I seemed to have jumped off the music train several decades ago. But then I thought, hey, everything retro is coming back in style so I'll just share with them my love of music from the 70's! I loved this idea so much I decided the "70's" would be our entire theme for Razzle Dazzle's Spring Recital as well. Well....amazingly the lyrics to songs from "Grease" and other 70's songs enticing us to shake peach trees and have a little afternoon delight were now viewed in a completely differnt light as a parent than as a 'tween (I mean infant) back in the 70's. Anyway, through the gift of editing technology I was able to introduce my children and students to some amazing music.
Our oldest daughter, Gracie, is turning 10 on December 21st and growing up right before our very eyes. Her sweet spirit and willingness to help...herself is something to behold. Her love for "Little House on the Praire" was realized in November when our family attended the "LHotP" play starring Melissa Gilbert as Ma. Gracie went dressed in old timey clothes and took some "LHotP" books for Ms. Gilbert to autograph (as we'd been told she'd done on previous nights). Well, much to our chagrin it seems Ms. Gilbert was too tired after the performance and refused to even sign the books if sent back with an assistnant. Faith came to her sister's defense and said, "Well, that's just rude, she's just wanting attention." YES!! Way to go Faith. Gracie started the 4th grade this year with a wonderful teacher who really gained Gracie's favor when she informed students and parents that she didn't believe in homework and that her students shouldn't have any because they would have plenty of time to work on it in class. Well, this was the best news Gracie had ever heard but apparently she used her Super Hero skills of selective hearing when it came to the part of working on it in class. Three weeks into the school year we had a little chat with Gracie's teacher who informed us that, in fact, Gracie wasn't bringing work home because she wasn't turning anything in at all! Well, Mom's Super Hero skills of explaining--okay, yelling :) soon trumped Gracie's selective hearing skills and we have had a great first half of school! Gracie's braces should come off right after her birthday and she continues to love and excel in dance, drama, gymnastics and piano.
One of Faith's many milestones this past year included attending a week long summer camp in Tyler, Texas without her mom or dad. In required parenting fashion, Kev & I second-guessed ourselves for months before hand and especially the week she was gone wondering if we'd done the right thing in sending her alone at the tender age of 7? Well, my fears wer realized when we picked her up and she ran toward us crying....because she didn't want to come home?!?! Aaah, what blessings and sorrows combine as our children grow. Faith started 2nd grade this year beaming from ear to ear because her teacher had also been her Pre-K church choir teacher. Faith has enjoyed being a special helper and it puts my mind at ease that we stand a chance by this teacher knowing us from church that maybe DHS won't be called when she hears some of Faith's stories! I really promise we thought she was in the car when we headed to..... Faith has also seen her 2 year goal of acquiring braces pan out through her hard work of purposely pushing her teeth forward with her tongue. It's so sweet when your children think of you and don't want you to miss out on the opportunity to provide them with braces like you did their sibling :) It still appears there's nothing Faith can't do if she wants to from professional hula hooping to playing the piano by ear. She continues to love and excel in dance, drama, gymnastics and piano.
Lil' Miss Hope, 4 years old, and the Boss of the Family, reached a major milestone this year when she realized Mother's Day Out at church once or twice a week wasn't so bad. Long gone are last year's dramatic displays of illness, fatigue and fright to be replaced with expectant delight on the days she can go to "school" and play with her friends and special friend "Kennedy". Of course, my dad says why should Hope want to go to school when she can sleep until 9:30am and then be served breakfast in bed while watching "Mickey Mouse Clubshouse"? (Please refer to the first line in Hope's section). Hope has decided to demonstrate for us her fearlessness in the form of gymnastics this year. She continues to fly across the living room, bounce off furniture and even leave footprints on top of kitchen counters and the refrigerator?!? However, her Super Hero skill of fearlessness was put to a test this October at DisneyWorld when she decided to "take a NO" on Tower of Terror and Haunted Mansion. Of course, she had already ridden each of these about 6 times each in the past but her brain finally caught up with what her body was doing and opted to sit those rides out. This from the child whose favorite ride, now that she is barely tall enough to ride, is Mount Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Hope is still loving and excelling at dance, gymnastics, choir and driving her sisters up a wall.
Well, that's about it for the Hanna family's milestones. We would love to hear about your family's. We hope everyone has a wonderful 2010!
This year has been one full of milestones and celebrations for us. Most importantly, Kev turned 40 years old in June. Not only did we get to celebrate with 15 friends at DisneyWorld and Disney's Vero Beach for a couple of weeks, but Kev personally celebrated with Pooh, Eyeore, Piglet and Tigger before joining our girls at SeaWorld's Discovery Cove to swim with dolphins. After celebrating like that, it's been hard to re-enter the real world. However, we've given it a good try. Upon returning from the Birthday Extravaganza we purchased some more rental property. Kev was able to convince me that in order to mow the new properties it would be necessary for us to purchase a new zero-turn radius mower with a 60" deck (I know for you females this means absolutely nothing but apparently it's important in the male universe). Although it is occassionally used for rentals, Kev gets a lot of use with his "Hustler" mower (maybe the true reason for wanting it) at our house. He can now mow our front yard in 93 seconds but the back yard takes slightly longer at a minute 45 seconds. At that speed and the Oklahoma red dust that follows, he looks something akin to the Tasmanian Devil. Kev has also enjoyed going to the OSU games and our girls have enjoyed the food at the OSU games.
My milestone involves giving "40" a really good look. I've always heard that the body just goes down hill from that age but had no idea how abruptly it headed south. Right around the time of my birthday in June, I began noticing ganglian cysts developing on my hands and wrists. At least that's the medical classification, others who noticed them just called them "ugly a** bumps". One doctor advised leaving them alone, but the hand surgeon said, "Sure leave it there if you want an automatic conversation starter!" In addition to me getting older, I began to realize that my girls were growing up and that perhaps they were ready to advance their music experience beyond Barney's hip/hop version of "Old MacDonald!" At this point I was at a loss since I seemed to have jumped off the music train several decades ago. But then I thought, hey, everything retro is coming back in style so I'll just share with them my love of music from the 70's! I loved this idea so much I decided the "70's" would be our entire theme for Razzle Dazzle's Spring Recital as well. Well....amazingly the lyrics to songs from "Grease" and other 70's songs enticing us to shake peach trees and have a little afternoon delight were now viewed in a completely differnt light as a parent than as a 'tween (I mean infant) back in the 70's. Anyway, through the gift of editing technology I was able to introduce my children and students to some amazing music.
Our oldest daughter, Gracie, is turning 10 on December 21st and growing up right before our very eyes. Her sweet spirit and willingness to help...herself is something to behold. Her love for "Little House on the Praire" was realized in November when our family attended the "LHotP" play starring Melissa Gilbert as Ma. Gracie went dressed in old timey clothes and took some "LHotP" books for Ms. Gilbert to autograph (as we'd been told she'd done on previous nights). Well, much to our chagrin it seems Ms. Gilbert was too tired after the performance and refused to even sign the books if sent back with an assistnant. Faith came to her sister's defense and said, "Well, that's just rude, she's just wanting attention." YES!! Way to go Faith. Gracie started the 4th grade this year with a wonderful teacher who really gained Gracie's favor when she informed students and parents that she didn't believe in homework and that her students shouldn't have any because they would have plenty of time to work on it in class. Well, this was the best news Gracie had ever heard but apparently she used her Super Hero skills of selective hearing when it came to the part of working on it in class. Three weeks into the school year we had a little chat with Gracie's teacher who informed us that, in fact, Gracie wasn't bringing work home because she wasn't turning anything in at all! Well, Mom's Super Hero skills of explaining--okay, yelling :) soon trumped Gracie's selective hearing skills and we have had a great first half of school! Gracie's braces should come off right after her birthday and she continues to love and excel in dance, drama, gymnastics and piano.
One of Faith's many milestones this past year included attending a week long summer camp in Tyler, Texas without her mom or dad. In required parenting fashion, Kev & I second-guessed ourselves for months before hand and especially the week she was gone wondering if we'd done the right thing in sending her alone at the tender age of 7? Well, my fears wer realized when we picked her up and she ran toward us crying....because she didn't want to come home?!?! Aaah, what blessings and sorrows combine as our children grow. Faith started 2nd grade this year beaming from ear to ear because her teacher had also been her Pre-K church choir teacher. Faith has enjoyed being a special helper and it puts my mind at ease that we stand a chance by this teacher knowing us from church that maybe DHS won't be called when she hears some of Faith's stories! I really promise we thought she was in the car when we headed to..... Faith has also seen her 2 year goal of acquiring braces pan out through her hard work of purposely pushing her teeth forward with her tongue. It's so sweet when your children think of you and don't want you to miss out on the opportunity to provide them with braces like you did their sibling :) It still appears there's nothing Faith can't do if she wants to from professional hula hooping to playing the piano by ear. She continues to love and excel in dance, drama, gymnastics and piano.
Lil' Miss Hope, 4 years old, and the Boss of the Family, reached a major milestone this year when she realized Mother's Day Out at church once or twice a week wasn't so bad. Long gone are last year's dramatic displays of illness, fatigue and fright to be replaced with expectant delight on the days she can go to "school" and play with her friends and special friend "Kennedy". Of course, my dad says why should Hope want to go to school when she can sleep until 9:30am and then be served breakfast in bed while watching "Mickey Mouse Clubshouse"? (Please refer to the first line in Hope's section). Hope has decided to demonstrate for us her fearlessness in the form of gymnastics this year. She continues to fly across the living room, bounce off furniture and even leave footprints on top of kitchen counters and the refrigerator?!? However, her Super Hero skill of fearlessness was put to a test this October at DisneyWorld when she decided to "take a NO" on Tower of Terror and Haunted Mansion. Of course, she had already ridden each of these about 6 times each in the past but her brain finally caught up with what her body was doing and opted to sit those rides out. This from the child whose favorite ride, now that she is barely tall enough to ride, is Mount Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Hope is still loving and excelling at dance, gymnastics, choir and driving her sisters up a wall.
Well, that's about it for the Hanna family's milestones. We would love to hear about your family's. We hope everyone has a wonderful 2010!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
2008 Christmas Greeting
Happy Holidays from the Hanna household! We hope this season finds you happy, healthy and thankful for Christ's birth.
I apologize for this high tech greeting this year. As I began composing our annual letter, I realized it was going to be quite a bit longer than usual so I thought this might be a better way to communicate?!?!? Also, I did just enter the Age of Technology in July when my wonderful husband bought me a new iPhone. It was only then that I began e-mailing, texting and well, let's face it being a part of the human race. With my new found skills, I also started playing around with a website and blogsite for Razzle Dazzle. (If you are interested in seeing more pictures of the girls, just go to razzledazzlestudio.com).
Now let's see what 2008 has held for the Hannas. After owning our "Wilderness" for almost 3 1/2 years now, we may actually be planning to live out there. Since I was a young girl, I've always had dreams of being Laura Ingalls and living in a little log cabin with a loft. I so admired her family and dreamed of riding in a horse-drawn wagon with Pa to Sleepy Eye and helping Ma and Mary bake pies and tend the chickens. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that over the last decade I've asked my mother-in-law for the "Little House on the Prairie"dvd collections. For the past two years, our family has enjoyed watching the Ingalls family grow up and persevere no matter what the obstacle. You can imagine my horror when my first-born, blood of my blood, dearest daughter remarked last week, "Mom, you know you're a lot more like Mrs. Olsen than Ma!" WHAT?!?!?!? My only response has been to call her "Nellie", Faith is now "Willie" and you guessed it - Kev is now lovingly referred to as "Nels". So, once (if) our little log cabin in the woods is finished, everyone is invited over to the Olsens' for some good ole' family fun!
You know, if I was really honest with myself, there might be a touch of truth in Gracie's assessment. All three of our girls' favorite tv station is "FOOD NETWORK". It doesn't matter who the chef is or what they're preparing, my girls are glued to the set. Recently, we were invited to some friend's home for a wonderful wholesome dinner made from scratch with all natural ingredients. It was quite yummy, but when we returned home Gracie asked, "mom, what was that food????" I had to inform her that it's what people call eating healthy! This was a completely new concept for my family. My cooking motto has always been, "If it's edible - it's fry-able"! So, yeah, maybe I'm not as much like Ma Ingalls as I'd like.
Gracie, now in the 3rd grade, has definitely had a year of adjustments. After two years of enjoying pushing her tongue toward her teeth with every swallow, she was fitted this summer with a "tongue thrust apparatus". The excitement and anticipation of getting something new came to a screeching halt when the "apparatus" turned out to be very similar to Hannibal Lecter's mouthpiece in "Silence of the Lambs"! Fortunately, this mode of torture was only endured for a few months and now she is only wearing braces. In addition to new mouth wear, Gracie also spent the past year undergoing several eye evaluations to determine why she was having trouble in school. Blessedly, we were referred to an eye specialist in Edmond who works to "retrain" the eye's muscles and the brain to track and focus together. She's almost completed six months of therapy and should finish by Spring Break. Our little girl now loves school, constantly has a book in her hand and is even in the Horizons program at Grove. Even after dealing with all this excitement, Gracie has found time to enjoy volleyball, church choir, dance and gymnastics.
Faith, now in the 1st grade, has also had a very rambunctious past year. This past summer, our dance studio "Razzle Dazzle" built on a gymnastics center. With a nickname like "Muscles" what else would you expect her to do but tumble, tumble, tumble! She has chosen not to limit her expertise to the studio but also practices vaults, catapults, and high-flying trapeze feats in our living room. We recently arrived home to see her performing an "airplane" manuever with her baby-sitter that resulted in her flying through the air head first into a coffee table. We had to scold the baby-sitter and explain she didn't have to do everything Faith asked her to do. Grammie (aka baby-sitter) then informed us she had successfully performed the "airplane" at least 50 times before we arrived home! Also this year, our child who has never known the word "FEAR" is trying to overcome her kryptonite - pulling teeth. She has had such a fear of the possible pain this activity would involve that she has chosen to allow her new adult teeth to come in on top of the baby teeth. Because God designed us differently than sharks, her second row of teeth have had to descend from what would appear to be her nasal cavity. Even the strange looks she receives has not deterred her in her determination to let the baby teeth dissolve instead of being extracted. All this aside, Faith has had an outstanding year! She's enjoying volleyball, church choir, dance, gymnastics and telling jokes.
And then there's little Hope, 3 years-old, who is constantly busy planning, bossing and playing. Because we felt like she would be so lonely with her sisters in school, we enrolled her in our church's Mother's Day Out program where she would attend on Thursdays. Every week it has been quite an ordeal to persuade her to attend (although she always has fun) but recently she has been announcing on Wednesday evenings that she just remembered they canceled her "school" for tomorrow! And I thought this kind of manipulation manifested in 1st grade?!?! Hope, like any typical 3-year-old, has the "I can do it myself" attitude coupled with marvelous fashion sense. She has decided her cheetah print mini-skirt really goes well with ---well, EVERYTHING and if one hair barrette looks good, then think how good eight would look! To those of you who have seen us out and about and have been able to keep a straight face, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Hope has been introduced to the sorrow and joy of our life cycle this past year. In September we had to bury her beloved hamster "Big Cedar" where the funeral service included our family dancing to the "Hamster Dance" song and then in November she witnessed her sisters' hamsters becoming parents. Hope is now the proud owner of a beautiful dwarf hamster named "Cinderella" that she carries and plays with constantly. Some nights "Cinderella" sleeps in her cage and other nights Hope gives "Cinderella" the gift of freedom to explore our home. I guess she really enjoyed having "babies" in our house and has decided the only thing she wants for Christmas is a real BABY. She has circled all the babies in the toy catalogs instead of the toys the babies are advertising. It should be a very interesting Christmas morning. Hope is also undergoing eye therapy with her sister and is making excellent progress! She loves singing, dancing, tumbling and bossing - not necessarily in that order.
Kevin and I are doing fine, enjoying life and having fun! We hope the same for all of you. Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
I apologize for this high tech greeting this year. As I began composing our annual letter, I realized it was going to be quite a bit longer than usual so I thought this might be a better way to communicate?!?!? Also, I did just enter the Age of Technology in July when my wonderful husband bought me a new iPhone. It was only then that I began e-mailing, texting and well, let's face it being a part of the human race. With my new found skills, I also started playing around with a website and blogsite for Razzle Dazzle. (If you are interested in seeing more pictures of the girls, just go to razzledazzlestudio.com).
Now let's see what 2008 has held for the Hannas. After owning our "Wilderness" for almost 3 1/2 years now, we may actually be planning to live out there. Since I was a young girl, I've always had dreams of being Laura Ingalls and living in a little log cabin with a loft. I so admired her family and dreamed of riding in a horse-drawn wagon with Pa to Sleepy Eye and helping Ma and Mary bake pies and tend the chickens. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that over the last decade I've asked my mother-in-law for the "Little House on the Prairie"dvd collections. For the past two years, our family has enjoyed watching the Ingalls family grow up and persevere no matter what the obstacle. You can imagine my horror when my first-born, blood of my blood, dearest daughter remarked last week, "Mom, you know you're a lot more like Mrs. Olsen than Ma!" WHAT?!?!?!? My only response has been to call her "Nellie", Faith is now "Willie" and you guessed it - Kev is now lovingly referred to as "Nels". So, once (if) our little log cabin in the woods is finished, everyone is invited over to the Olsens' for some good ole' family fun!
You know, if I was really honest with myself, there might be a touch of truth in Gracie's assessment. All three of our girls' favorite tv station is "FOOD NETWORK". It doesn't matter who the chef is or what they're preparing, my girls are glued to the set. Recently, we were invited to some friend's home for a wonderful wholesome dinner made from scratch with all natural ingredients. It was quite yummy, but when we returned home Gracie asked, "mom, what was that food????" I had to inform her that it's what people call eating healthy! This was a completely new concept for my family. My cooking motto has always been, "If it's edible - it's fry-able"! So, yeah, maybe I'm not as much like Ma Ingalls as I'd like.
Gracie, now in the 3rd grade, has definitely had a year of adjustments. After two years of enjoying pushing her tongue toward her teeth with every swallow, she was fitted this summer with a "tongue thrust apparatus". The excitement and anticipation of getting something new came to a screeching halt when the "apparatus" turned out to be very similar to Hannibal Lecter's mouthpiece in "Silence of the Lambs"! Fortunately, this mode of torture was only endured for a few months and now she is only wearing braces. In addition to new mouth wear, Gracie also spent the past year undergoing several eye evaluations to determine why she was having trouble in school. Blessedly, we were referred to an eye specialist in Edmond who works to "retrain" the eye's muscles and the brain to track and focus together. She's almost completed six months of therapy and should finish by Spring Break. Our little girl now loves school, constantly has a book in her hand and is even in the Horizons program at Grove. Even after dealing with all this excitement, Gracie has found time to enjoy volleyball, church choir, dance and gymnastics.
Faith, now in the 1st grade, has also had a very rambunctious past year. This past summer, our dance studio "Razzle Dazzle" built on a gymnastics center. With a nickname like "Muscles" what else would you expect her to do but tumble, tumble, tumble! She has chosen not to limit her expertise to the studio but also practices vaults, catapults, and high-flying trapeze feats in our living room. We recently arrived home to see her performing an "airplane" manuever with her baby-sitter that resulted in her flying through the air head first into a coffee table. We had to scold the baby-sitter and explain she didn't have to do everything Faith asked her to do. Grammie (aka baby-sitter) then informed us she had successfully performed the "airplane" at least 50 times before we arrived home! Also this year, our child who has never known the word "FEAR" is trying to overcome her kryptonite - pulling teeth. She has had such a fear of the possible pain this activity would involve that she has chosen to allow her new adult teeth to come in on top of the baby teeth. Because God designed us differently than sharks, her second row of teeth have had to descend from what would appear to be her nasal cavity. Even the strange looks she receives has not deterred her in her determination to let the baby teeth dissolve instead of being extracted. All this aside, Faith has had an outstanding year! She's enjoying volleyball, church choir, dance, gymnastics and telling jokes.
And then there's little Hope, 3 years-old, who is constantly busy planning, bossing and playing. Because we felt like she would be so lonely with her sisters in school, we enrolled her in our church's Mother's Day Out program where she would attend on Thursdays. Every week it has been quite an ordeal to persuade her to attend (although she always has fun) but recently she has been announcing on Wednesday evenings that she just remembered they canceled her "school" for tomorrow! And I thought this kind of manipulation manifested in 1st grade?!?! Hope, like any typical 3-year-old, has the "I can do it myself" attitude coupled with marvelous fashion sense. She has decided her cheetah print mini-skirt really goes well with ---well, EVERYTHING and if one hair barrette looks good, then think how good eight would look! To those of you who have seen us out and about and have been able to keep a straight face, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Hope has been introduced to the sorrow and joy of our life cycle this past year. In September we had to bury her beloved hamster "Big Cedar" where the funeral service included our family dancing to the "Hamster Dance" song and then in November she witnessed her sisters' hamsters becoming parents. Hope is now the proud owner of a beautiful dwarf hamster named "Cinderella" that she carries and plays with constantly. Some nights "Cinderella" sleeps in her cage and other nights Hope gives "Cinderella" the gift of freedom to explore our home. I guess she really enjoyed having "babies" in our house and has decided the only thing she wants for Christmas is a real BABY. She has circled all the babies in the toy catalogs instead of the toys the babies are advertising. It should be a very interesting Christmas morning. Hope is also undergoing eye therapy with her sister and is making excellent progress! She loves singing, dancing, tumbling and bossing - not necessarily in that order.
Kevin and I are doing fine, enjoying life and having fun! We hope the same for all of you. Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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