so these were actually our group goodbye pictures, but they're first. we had a wonderful time in beautiful spacious haviland ks. the only drawback was my munchkin refusing to sleep. she was having too much fun with everybody, and we spent a couple nights more awake than asleep. one, especially, will go down in my and patrick's memory for eternity. she was awake from 11-4. in the morning. now just awake, but bouncing off the walls crazy throwing toys and food awake. it's a long story. call me if you're bored. :-)

some family got an rv recently, and we spent some time out at their spot, relaxing and riding fourwheelers. yes, i did too, but just a little bit. apparently i was the only one concerned about it. but what if it rolled over and squished me? i know meghan would agree!

hannah and daddy tearin it up.

hannah bonded instantly with uncle brett and aunt jes, even though it's been 6 mos since she's seen them. it was so neat to see her so easily get close to people, and ask about them when they aren't there.

patrick, supported by his entourage of family members killed a snake for the neighbours. then yes, he picked it up. eewwww.

so sometimes people ask me if we're vegetarian. i've even gotten vegan. oh my, no. and just in case any doubts, here are some candids of my two favourite people!

we visited the cemetery to decorate gravestones for memorial day. on the right is grandpa vic's, who passed away 3 yrs ago, before hannah was even a thought. on the left it says Charles M Asher. one of the highlights about this trip, for me, was getting to know this man, Grandma Loretta's father, better. it's very important to us because we have chosen Charles Asher Crisp to bestow upon our newest family member. He was a great man who died fairly young, and I will tell you more about him later! but now you can get to know our little in utero friend and start calling him charlie. hannah does all the time :-)

speaking of hannah, oh my goodness she's such a little girl. no more baby. i cannot believe how much she's talking. (today she picked up my phone and said "hi Meghan. how are you? i'm reading curious george." unfortunately meghan wasn't actually on the phone). and as you can see, we can put her hair up! we did a whalespout just for kari, too.

she actually didn't do terribly in the car. didn't sleep a wink on the whole 9 hrs up there, though. i invested in new toys, which we didn't even do for christmas. but it was definitely more important now, i think. she's holding a camera that makes noise. today she was going around telling all of her toys to smile while she took pictures of them.

Sunday was Grandma Jan's birthday, along with her twin sister Jean. this was our happy birthday-congratulations on doing so well with your chemo cake.

hannah loved helping water the flowers.

space, space, glorious space. and this is just the backyard of the "in town" house.

patrick trying to eat a chili cheese dog while driving home. he actually did pretty well. leads me to believe he may have had experience :-)

bits and pieces

i first want to give a shout out to my mom and patrick's dad who both celebrated birthdays this weekend. we wish we could have been there to make you feel special. we love you lots!

as usual, just sharing a random assortment of what we've been up to. some not so anonymous donors thought hannah would enjoy the pool and patrick and i would enjoy being able to exercise in air conditioning for the summer (especially being more and more pregnant every day and pushing a sweating, screaming toddler in a stroller.) they were right! so we joined the gym again for the summer. the outdoor pool isn't open yet, but the indoor is pretty fancy, with slide and a river. hannah has done great. she keeps asking us to put her down, in the big pool, so she doesn't quite get the picture yet. but that's ok. sorry these pictures aren't very good.

patrick hard at work in his newly reorganized home office.

so, it's begun to happen. pen all over my bible. black eyeliner all over our white chair. crayons all over the windows, which should at least wash off. it's our fault for leaving stuff within reach, i know. but that only makes me more mad! she is learning how to apologize, and she definitely knows when she's done something wrong because of our tone of voice. she tries not to cry, but she always runs over to you and sometimes her lip is just trembling and she says, sowwy mommy. it makes me me cry!

our little tomato plant is really growing. we love tomatoes, all 3 of us, so we are excited.

the tomato plant isn't the only thing growing. when i look at this picture, i think surely i had something stuffed under my shirt, but no. i remember why i didn't like being pregnant. i'm not nearly as uncomfortable with people pointing it out and stuff as i was last time, but the whole discomfort part is back in full swing! i feel like i have half a watermelon strapped to me. and i have a LONG ways to go. i am struggling to do up my shoes, wash hannah in the bathtub, get her, or especially her matress, out of the crib, pick up toys from the floor. pick up anything from the floor. i just can't bend at the waist, because of this giant watermelon baby. i know i thought this last time too, but if he feels this much in the way now, when he only weighs 2 lbs, what's he going to feel like at 8 lbs?

my little baby got her first pair of heels the other day. they're still too big, but she likes wearing them. and no, i didn't search out heels on purpose. we just needed brown sandals and this is what target had. but i happen to think they're super cute!

patrick hard at work on his new model. a messerschmidt, i think? not sure.

patrick packed us supper and took us to a beautiful park the other night. they have the biggest play structure we've seen yet here. also a walking trail, and a lake, and little outdoor amphitheatres. and best of all, lots of open space. surrounded by trees, so you can't see many houses. i can't wait to go back.

the work i've had going on at churches is done for the summer, so i am glad to share that we have definite plans for another little one to come hang out with us some over the summer. Gavin will be coming 2 days a week, and I know it will be good for Hannah. I feel better now that I have something planned. We also have vbs in a few weeks, and I will be helping with recreation. thankfully it's only June, not august. because of the baby, and the heat. this will be hannah's first vbs. even though she won't remember it, she does learn things.

if there's one thing to post about hannah news, it's definitely the singing. she loves to sing. she has quite the repertoire now. it's obviously not perfect, but we can recognize when she sings the abcs, jesus loves me, itsy spider, wheels on the bus, patty cake, hokey pokey, ring around the rosie, twinkle star, and deep and wide. those last two she always requests before bed. over and over again!

we are headed to kansas tomorrow, so we'll have some good family pictures.

I hadn’t realized how long it had been until I saw these pictures from Easter! We are enjoying late spring here in Frisco, we’ve had warm days alternating with cooler ones and lots and lots of rain! Patrick’s been traveling some, and Hannah and I have been working quite a bit, so the time is really flying by. I can’t believe I’m 24 wks tomorrow. This time around, I actually have to look it up, because I forget. If I weren’t still hungry, I would probably forget that I’m pregnant. This is the only time I appreciate being tall, because he has so much room to grow. So I guess that means things are going well on the new baby front.
Patrick and I made a traditional (for me at least) Easter meal, just the two of us. All you need is an Easter lily, and it makes me feel like Easter. Interestingly enough, it also makes me want to eat chocolate. Honestly. Even walking by them in the store, it’s a subconscious physiological reaction! I learned my lesson this year, though: don’t wait until it goes on sale and try to find good stuff, because it’s all taken. That was ok, because Patrick made a chocolate layer cake for us!

Hannah enjoyed some special Easter things from her grandparents. Of course, she went straight for the shoes! Then we got to the bubbles, which she absolutely loves, and playdough. And now she won’t wash in the bath without her special Easter washcloths.

I know this picture’s kind of fuzzy, but it was so cute. She got Patrick’s keys, and a purse that I gave her for play, and she said she was going in the car. The lack of clothes was apparently a non-issue. She’s finally gotten over the diaper removal, but this picture is from before. Every parent needs a picture of their baby sleeping!

The other day I had to run errands, and I came out of an appointment to find 3 messages on my phone. Hannah had woken up early, immediately hysterical. Patrick runs in to her room, or as far as he can before gagging on the horribleness permeating the whole thing. She’d pooped before or after taking her diaper off, who knows, but maybe in her sleep because if she’d been awake she would have called out. But somehow she got it EVERYWHERE. I thought he was exaggerating until I got home (much later). We’re talking every blanket, every stuffed animal, her cup, and head to toe herself. She was trying to get away from it, trying to climb out in one corner. Patrick tried to pick her up but she was just covered. She was really upset so she wanted me and wouldn’t stop screaming and Patrick had to put her immediately in the bath before he could really comfort her. It was terrible. Really, there are no words. (He was also really involved in some work stuff, because she was supposed to be sleeping.) I told him to just leave everything because I had no idea what to do with it. When I got home and opened the door to her room, I couldn’t even go in for a second. Uggghhhhhh. Apparently it took Hannah over an hour to calm down.

One of the things I had done was meet a woman from Craigslist about some baby clothes. She met me halfway, her trunk filled with trashbags of clothes from newborn – 12 mos. So I came home with a random assortment, and Hannah was trying to help me organize it.

“Uh, mommy, I don’t know if this is going to fit me.”

Puddlejumping after one of our big rains.

Playing golf

This morning Patrick woke up early and made me chocolate chip pancakes, my favourite. By default, Hannah got one too. It was her first chocolate experience. If there had been a way around it, I would have taken it, but oh well. Normally I eat my junk food out of her sight J. We sort of matched, but she wouldn’t stand up so you could see her dress. It was cute, though! Patrick also helped Hannah get me a card with a personalized recorded greeting. I think I cried for 5 min. It has become my newest prized possession. The day it stops playing I’m sure I’ll cry again! When I was in Africa my mom and sisters got me one of those picture frames with a recording, and that first Christmas there by myself when I opened it I sat there pushing it over and over and over again, just bawling. This wasn’t that bad! But there’s something about the voices of our loved ones.