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!!!!!