Pumpkin Patch at Old Baker's Farm

Hay Maze - which way should I go?

ZOOM ZOOM - riding the pedal tractor

This was by far Hannah's favorite part of the visit. She spent the whole time in line for this horse ride saying "I do it myself? PLEAASSSEE".

Cotton..you know, there's a story with this. My (Hannah's) grandma used to pick cotton. She used to work in the fields for hours when she was a little girl. And all she got was two pennies. And she did it barefoot. And that was after she walked home from school barefoot in the snow - and you know, it was uphill both ways. I wonder why she didn't just go to wal-mart if she wanted some cotton???

Hannah loved her little pumpkin she picked from the patch. She held it tight on the hayride back.

Decorating pumpkins. Meet "princess pumpkin".

And Still MORE Beach Photos

Yes, this is three posts of beach pictures! Scroll down for the rest. I couldn't help it. Hannah and I had a great time at the beach with my mom this past weekend. It was Hannah's first beach trip and she loved everything about it - the sand, the ocean, attempting to fly a kite, finding seashells, the swimming pool at the hotel we stayed at the first night, the cabin we stayed in the last two nights, fishing from the pier on the lake at our cabin (she didn't catch anything but she had a blast anyway!), the playground next to us, sleeping on her "special bed" (air mattress) and more! She actually was fighting a cold and didn't sleep well during the nights (and I think sleeping away from home in an unfamiliar place is still tough for her anyway), but during the day, she was all systems GO! The girl is a beach bum at heart. She's now talking all about "maybe one day, we go back to ocean!". Watching Hannah enjoy the experience was simply magical...her joy at just running free through the sand was so fun to watch! Enjoy the pictures.

I think this is my favorite picture above!

Hannah and Grandma. It was my mom's birthday on Saturday. Hannah made her a "sand cake", but then we went out to dinner for real later!

BEACH PHOTOS - pt. 2

I just wanted to share these pictures of Hannah from the beach this weekend. Doesn't she look so sweet? That's my 4 year old princess - wow! I truly am so fortunate to have this child in my life!!

BEACH PHOTOS

Torchbearer for the Olympics!!

No, neither Hannah nor I are going to run in the Olympics. Well, I'm never going to run in the Olympics...Hannah, well one day maybe. But, there is a wonderful person in China named Jenny Bowen. She wants to. Jenny is from the U.S. and she's a volunteer with a great organization called "Half the Sky". Half the Sky works with orphanages to set up wonderful infant nuture programs, preschool programs, and programs for older children. Jenny wants to be a torchbearer and if she's selected (by internet vote), she will run with 8 children from 8 different orphanages across China. How neat of an experience would that be for those kids?? So, please go to this site:
http://pub1.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/torch/members.shtml?mid=212
Once there, vote for Jenny Bowen. She's currently in the lead, which I think is awesome! But, I'd love to see lots of people vote and keep her in the lead.

And for all my Wuhan-family buddies, you may or may not know that this year, Half the Sky is beginning their great programs in Wuhan. In fact, the idea for Jenny to run came from a volunteer working on setting up the Wuhan program. Who knows? Maybe one of the kids from there will get chosen to run and carry the torch.

Autumn Moon Festival

I did several posts tonight, so scroll down for more pictures. This coming week is the Chinese holiday "Autumn Moon Festival". So, we got together with several other local families from our Shelby FCC group to celebrate. We went to eat Chinese food and then headed to the park. We walked around the park with lanterns. Okay, we (adults) walked around the park. The children RAN around the park with their lanterns. They had a blast! They glanced at the moon briefly as they ran, and then we all enjoyed moon pies. They enjoyed being able to play on the playground in the dark as well. We had a fun time and can't wait to get together again.

"What??"

Sweet Friends Ana Claire and Hannah

Look at Hannah Grace go on those monkey bars!

Look! Hannah can do the wobbly playground things in the dark!

Hannah Grace enjoying her moon pie

Sweet Friends! Hannah Grace, Ana Claire, LeAnna, and Hannah

(now, if you can put all 4 of those girls in the same place and manage to call them all by their correct name 100% of the time without getting tongue-tied, you win!)

Grandma and Granpa's House

We went last weekend to visit my parents. On Saturday, we went to an amusement park near their house. Here's some pictures of Hannah enjoying the visit.

Driving the boat

Hannah and Granpa on one of those spinny things that make you dizzy! (she loved it!)

Hannah and "pa-pa" (my grandfather)

Gymnastics Fun!

Hannah has really been enjoying gymnastics. It ook the camera the other week and got a few pictures of her. Her favorite event (that I don't have a picture for) is the trampoline. :-)

This is Hannah's cute gymnastics shirt that Lisa (Young, Party of Five) made for her. Isn't it precious?

Happy Birthday Hannah - part 2

Hannah's birthday party was lots of fun. Enjoy the pictures of the princesses!

Princesses Elizabeth and Hannah

Hopscotch (yes, you may notice that Hannah and another little girl, her friend Morgan, had different dresses on in different pictures. I think Hannah used 4 different princess dresses during the 2 hour party!)

Making their princess crowns

Princess Ana Claire ...and for my blogging buddies who think you are having deja vu...yes, some of these pictures are the same as the ones on the Young, Party of Five blog (Lisa's). My very nice friend Lisa (Ana Claire's mommy) was my photographer for the party...so these are the pics she took! Thanks Lisa!

Princess Hannah

All the beautiful princesses!

Every princess needs a castle. Hannah was all about blowing the candles out on her cake. She really didn't care that much about eating it...but I like eating it so we're a great team!! ha!

Swinging princesses

Bubble blowing princess

Happy Birthday Hannah

Hannah is now 4 years old! Wow!! She is having a small party this weekend, but her actual birthday was Thursday. It was a school day, but after school, we went to Sweet 'N Sassy (fun kids' salon in hoover) for a princess makeover. It was so much fun...they totally gave her the royal treatment, and she loved every minute of it. Her birthday present from me was a tutu dress. She's been asking for one for months. I gave it to her in the parking lot of Sweet N' Sassy and she changed before she went in. Here's some photos of her "Pampered Princess" treatment.

Loving her tutu dress! (before princess treatment)

Look at all these choices of nail polish colors! (She chose a light green)

Getting her manicure

Foot soak before her pedicure (This is the part I was jealous of! ha! She loved it!)

Getting her pedicure

Ah - this is the life!!

Getting hair washed

Princess haircut

Checking out her new haircut

Princess Hannah making her debut!

Princess Hannah

Seated on her throne