Seeing Santa

So last night, which I am well aware was Nov. 23rd, BEFORE Thanksgiving, we went and saw Santa Claus. I know, I am almost ashamed, except it turned out to be awesome! We were already planning a trip to the mall and then the fisher-price toy catalog came in the mail and Hannah perused it for about 5 minutes until she found this computer for kids that uses a USB to connect to a real computer/monitor.

"Daddy, I want this! I want this super computer for christmas! I am going to ask Santa for this super computer!"

Excuse me, what? Neither of us can remember discussing Santa bringing presents, or asking Santa for presents. So I really don't know where this came from- this being the dancing around the living room singing, "see Santa, see Santa".

"Okay", I tell her, "when we see Santa you can talk to him."

In the meantime, Derek looks up the Clackamas Town Center website and informs me that Santa is actually at the mall as we speak and did I really think it would be possible to avoid seeing Santa on our trip?

I sighed. I really did. It is not even Thanksgiving people!! I gave in. I gave in so much that I bathed Hannah and did her hair, put her in her red sparkly dress, white tights and black shoes so she could get her picture taken with Santa.

We went to Santaland and it was fabulous! There was no wait, Hannah didn't cry like last year, she ran right up to Santa saying "super computer, super computer". She sat on his lap, told him what she wanted for Christmas and posed for a very cute picture. I am going to try to scan one in. We brought our camera, but then realized the battery was at home charging. oops. So we had to buy some. I have one on my phone that is also darling. Since there was no line, Hannah got extra time and attention from Santa. Did you know his reindeer were waiting for him on the roof?

So we saw Santa. Before Thanksgiving. And I ended up loving every minute of it.

Sadly, Santa will probably not be bringing the super computer- we are trying for less screen time, not more. Hopefully the train table will make up for any disappointment.

Cheek Water

Tonight Hannah was crying because she didn't want to go to sleep, so Daddy went upstairs and Hannah had tears and she pointed at her cheek and said "I have cheek water". Of course, Daddy dried the cheek water and she seemed happy.

Cheek water...gotta love how her mind works!

Family Pics

We took advantage of the nice weather on saturday and went to Dodge Park to take family pictures. We want to update photos on our adoption sites. Hannah did a good job of humoring us while we were taking pictures. It helped that we got to throw rocks in the water, draw in the sand and play on the playground! We think we are pretty cute!

She Actually Listens...at FHE

As a parent of a two year, almost three year old, I have often wondered how much the Banana pays attention during say...Family Home Evening. It might be the constant chattering, the running back and forth and the yelling "I no like that song" that makes me wonder. And really, who doesn't like "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree"? But I digress, a little. Eventually she settles down and does the lesson activity- we use the fabulous nursery manual, she gets to color and our 10 minutes of Family Home Evening is over for the week. Now I know she has a razor sharp memory, but you gotta pay attention to remember stuff right?

Apparently she IS paying attention!! Yesterday morning she told me it was time for FHE and I asked her if she wanted to teach the lesson, so she got the manual, started describing the pictures, had me walk reverently around the living room, just like we had the night before!! Then we printed the coloring activity she picked and we spent time coloring together.

It's nice to know she listens...sometimes.

150 Pictures- That's How Much Fun We Had!

So I was shocked when I went to the blog and discovered I had not added anything since the end of September! October has been crazy though, Hannah had swine flu, okay, okay, H1N1 and I have been sick and we went to Utah for 4 days. But I thought to myself, I will do a quick update and add some pictures and will get caught up over the next few days. So I downloaded the pictures from my camera and discovered that I had 150(!) pictures from our trip to Utah.

THAT'S RIGHT...150...PICTURES OVER 4 DAYS!!! (Plus another 18 from yesterday)

Not that I am planning to post that many, it just means that there will be no "quick" updates on all the fun we have been having. I need to sort and choose and make it make sense.

So for today, I am just adding one, okay 2 pictures. We went to Utah to visit Hannah's birth family and Derek's brother's family. This is a picture of Hannah's birthparents and their baby Madison and our family- We had a great time with them, we love them so much, they are awesome. And then I have to add this picture of Hannah just because I think she is so freaking cute.

Zoo Class

Hannah and I are taking a kindermusik music and movement class at the Zoo. Hannah calls it "zoo class" and she is so excited to go each time. "I see friends at zoo". She loves the interaction with other kids and is great at following the directions of acting like the animals, using the instruments and listening to the stories. We get to go see the animals as part of the class. She seems like such a big girl when I watch her in the class and she seems to adore it.

The theme of the class is the zoo train, so on the first day we got to go for a ride on the train. We could see the elephants from the train.

Hannah loves music, so being able to play instruments is so much fun for her. I also think she loves getting out of the house. We go look at the rest of the animals after class and have a great time. She is really into pointing out the daddy, mommy and baby animals.

The Girlfriend Half Marathon, a True Feeling of Sisterhood

Yesterday our Relief Society had our first Girlfriend's half marathon, my second half marathon. I have to first give a huge thank you to my friends Alisha and Allyson who did an awesome job of planning this amazing event! I don't think any detail escaped them, down to the finisher medals. I love mine! Women could walk or run and there was such an amazing feeling of sisterhood as everyone encouraged each other to "endure to the end".
It was a beautiful day for a run, not too hot, in fact it was a little chilly at the 7am start, but I could tell the sun would be breaking out. My goal for this run was to improve on my Seattle Half Marathon time, since I was not injured this time and had more training under my belt. I was very excited to run 13.1 miles in 2:12:42, averaging 10:10 minute miles. My first half took me two and a half hours, and while I would have loved a 2:10, I really, really wanted to run it in less than 2:15. I guess I split the difference! I was really happy, but what made me happiest was running this race with friends, women I knew.
Now to find a new running goal! After some rest days, for my muscles!!