Practice Makes Perfect

Well, almost :)


Oh, I just love that sweet voice! Good thing she's cute or I would have a hard time making it through these napless afternoons. Today she's up in her room pretending to sneeze to keep herself from falling asleep. Silly girl.

The Kindest Santa in the World!

The mommies from our small group at church met last Friday at the mall to have our annual photo shoot with Santa.  The kids did pretty good and the moms were very happy that we didn't have to be in the photo like last year! I just love all of the different expressions on the kids' faces.  Priceless!

Christmas Choo-Choo

On Sunday, we went to Huckleberry Railroad with some of our friends. 

Hannah was super tired but absolutely loved looking at all of the lighted Christmas displays out the window of the train.  We even got our picture taken with a reindeer!

Small Group Christmas Party

Before the festivities, we took some time to get some Christmas photos. Hannah was doing a good job posing in her little Santa outfit!
























































We all gathered at the Kern's house for our annual Christmas Small Group Party. We had 9 kids this year (and one of the moms is expecting again!).















It's quite a fun time when all the kiddos get together. I'm sure you can just feel the excitement in Hannah and Adelines' faces. I guess if I had to describe it in one word it would be "chaos."








Hannah and Adeline really do love each other despite the "look" they're giving the camera. I promise!












The kids LOVED opening presents from one another.

Thank you to the Kerns for providing a cozy place to celebrate Christmas and all of the blessings the Lord has given us, especially our small group family!

Memorization Sunday

I can't quite figure out how to get the video off of my friend's blog, so I'm hoping you'll go over there for a visit. She wrote a very sweet entry about our little girls saying their memory verses. Too cute!

Thanks for letting me share, Meredith :)

Christmas Traditions

When Caleb and I got married seven years ago, he surprised me with a Coddington Christmas tradition. Each Christmas, the husband gets his wife a gift each day for the 12 days leading up to Christmas. I absolutely LOVE this...who wouldn't?!

On the first day, I always get a Hallmark ornament that is reminiscent of something significant, fun, or even ordinary that happened in our lives that year. I got a little teary-eyed this year as we hung up the SEVEN ornaments together. It's really fun to see the collection growing and remember all of the major things we've experienced together.

Year One: Marriage
Year Two: Got our kitty cats (Gabi and Maya)
Year Three: Bought our first house in Grand Rapids, MI
Year Four: Vacation to Hawaii
Year Five: Bought our second house in Brighton, MI
Year Six: Hannah Banana
Year Seven: Enjoyment of watching Hannah grow up

Thank you, honey, for making Christmas so memorable and special to our family and me. I look forward to celebrating many more with you! Now, what will my ornament be this
year?
Hmmmm.....

Thanksgiving with the Coddingtons

This year we traveled to Rochester, New York, to be with the Coddingtons for Thanksgiving. The 8 hour car trip was pretty uneventful. I had all kinds of tricks up my sleeve this time for our toddler who absolutely refuses to sleep in the car, no matter how tired or bored she is, or dark it is outside. Here are some of the strategies I used for any of you who might find yourself in a similar situation:

1) After the first 30 minutes, offer a snack that your child has never had before
2) Every hour that your child is well behaved, let them pick a wrapped present from the Dollar Store to open
3) Offer another snack each hour (I timed it so it was halfway in between present opening times)
4) Sit in the backseat with your child for a portion of the trip to change things up for him/her
5) Sing at least one song as a family every hour
6) Hannah opened this as one of her gifts and it entertained her for over an hour!! I highly recommend getting one! (Note: It was much cheaper at a local toy store!)
7) Stop as often as you can to let your child run around and get some pent-up energy out
8) DVDs, DVDs, DVDs

Caleb found his old train set in the basement and it quickly became Hannah's favorite toy of the week!














I think Hannah looks like me a lot in this picture below. What do you think?










Hannah loved playing the piano with JuJu! She even sang along sometimes.










Hannah with Great Grandpa at Uncle Aaron's and Aunt Lisa's.









We had a really fun vacation with the Coddingtons. It's always so sad to say goodbye. I really wish we lived closer so we could see each other more often. Hannah loves her JuJu and PaPa!

Children's Museum in Rochester, New York

Hannah loved, loved, LOVED the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. We spent several hours exploring the hands-on activities there.











I think Hannah's favorite activity was the carousel that she rode twice and the train ride that she rode two or three times.







Can you tell me how to get...how to get to Sesame Street?

Allergy Testing

On Hannah's second birthday, I shared my concerns about Hannah's reaction to eating peanuts/peanut butter with her pediatrician. She would basically break out in hives around her lips after consuming food containing peanuts. Dr. Hall ordered some blood work testing, and my suspicions were correct--Hannah has a peanut allergy.





The next step in the process was to visit an allergist to determine the severity of her allergy and also to develop an action plan. We had our initial visit about a month ago and Dr. Song requested some skin testing which we had done today. He also prescribed and Epipen Jr which still feels kind of weird to have in her diaper bag and tell caregivers about.

Poor, poor Hannah!!! They prepared about 12 tests to be done on her back. Rather than have her lay on the cold table, I asked about having her lay on her stomach across my lap. I thought that she might feel a little more secure that way. She was such a trooper! The nurse drew all kinds of dots and letters on her back and then BAM (twice)! Hannah burst out in tears and it was so hard to not be able to pick her up off of my lap and give her hugs and kisses. She had to lay that way for 5 minutes, which felt like eternity! She cried and cried, but remained still and cooperative.

I am very, very happy to report that Hannah is NOT allergic to anything else they tested (shellfish, fish, soy, and tree nuts). She did test positive again for peanuts, but the doctor said it was on the lower end of the spectrum so he thinks she might have a chance of outgrowing the allergy. It is such a blessing that Hannah ONLY has peanut allergies. They have been very easy to avoid now that packaging is labeled very clearly and Hannah really doesn't know what she's missing.

Anyways, it was a bit of a difficult visit this morning to the doctor, but nothing a chocolate milkshake and cheeseburger from McDonald's couldn't fix :)

The Iceman Cometh!!

This weekend our family headed up to Traverse City, Michigan, for the 28-mile Iceman Cometh mountain biking race.

Here's my cute husband at the start in Kalkaska, Michigan. There were 4500 riders this year (largest ever) and I think that makes this race the 3rd largest in the country according to some people I overheard talking.


















Hannah's wishing daddy "Good luck!."


















We enjoyed playing in the leaves while we waited for daddy to take off from the starting line.











Playing in the dirt was also a lot of fun!









Hannah and I stopped at a cute little playground on the way to pick up daddy.









Here's Caleb rounding the corner at the finish line at Timber Ridge! Hannah and I made it just in the nick of time!














Caleb finished 10th in his class at 2 hours and 32 minutes! Way to go, honey! You can see for yourself here (Caleb was in the Beginner's Class, men ages 25-29).

Typical Day with Hannah

We love dance parties on rainy days!

Happy Halloween!!

We're a few days late on this posting, but wanted to share Hannah's special night of trick-or-treating with you (all 3 of you, that is! LOL).

Halloween Sorting Activity

The teacher in me is starting to come out again lately. I found this idea on another blog and just HAD to do it with Hannah.




















She liked everything except the spiders. I think it's a great activity for fine motor and sorting skills. Also, I'm trying to get Hannah used to different textures because she seems a little resistant to putting her hands into unusual things.

Paypakes and Chucky Larms

Huh? Our favorite two (technically three) words that Hannah's having a hard time saying right now. Too cute!


Here's the translation--

Daddy: Hannah, what did you have for breakfast?
Hannah: ?
Daddy: No, what did you really have?
Hannah: Paypakes (pancakes)
Daddy: No, what's in your bowl?
Hannah: Cereal
Daddy: What kind?
Hannah: Chucky Larms (Lucky Charms)

Birthday Party

Hannah went to her friend Jameson's 2nd Birthday Party last Saturday. She had so much fun with all of the kids and toys, especially the balloons. She's playing "Ring Around the Adeline" in the video :)

Three Cedars Farm with Family

More fun at the pumpkin patch!

Three Cedars Farm with Friends

Hannah and I ventured out to a local farm with some friends a few weeks ago. We had no idea how freezing cold it was outside so none of us dressed appropriately. The kids didn't seem to notice much and had fun together!

















Here's Hannah and her friend Sonya.













Grandpa Kronwall would be so proud :)

















Hannah and one of her best friends, Adeline.

Binky Battle

Caleb and I had been talking about pulling the plug for a while now. I was going to do it at 18 mos and didn't have the heart. Now that she's two, we thought it might be a good time to try. For some reason we went with the cold turkey/cry-it-out method. I'm not a fan of this at all based on our other experiences trying this with Hannah...the swaddle, nighttime bottle, etc. It never seems to work for Hannah because she will "cry it out" eternally. She has always been the kind of child that just gives it up in her time and on her terms.

















Anyways, it was a very hard week for everyone. She was an emotional mess and I debated giving her the beloved binky back after the first day, but I figured we had made it this far let's keep trying. One day turned in to 7 days of sobbing and tantruming out of control, but Hannah finally realized that binky was not coming back and she'd better find another way to cope. I have to say it was probably one of the hardest and most trying weeks I have had with Hannah. The Lord gave me the patience I needed and we survived!

















So, out went the binky and along with it....the naps. I'm not quite sure if she's dropping her afternoon nap for sure now, but she's definitely not napping more than she is. Normally, she's pretty cranky by about 5pm (right when mommy's making dinner) if she doesn't nap, but this week she's been a little angel which makes me think she might not need that nap anymore. Hannah will continue to have rest time in her room so she (and I) can have a break, though. Everything I've read said that 2-yr-olds typically still need that sleep time, but as long as she's somewhat quiet in her room for a while I'll take it!

On the bright side, Hannah and I have had more time to do arts-n-crafts together! Still working on getting green and red straightened out. Hopefully in time for Christmas! :)