January Leftovers

When I go through my phone clearing out photos from the month... Heather, April and I met up with our girls for lunch the day after we rolled back into town from Tennessee after New Years.  April was nice enough to take the girls home with her so I could work on getting all my Christmas decorations down. 

Michael took the kids to the park the following Saturday so I could attempt to get some work done.  He texted me the picture below and said, "Kid will just crawl up in any stranger's lap."  Tate is always running up to strangers and pulling on their shirttails or smacking them in the tummy to get their attention.  People often assume it's a case of mistaken identity, but alas, he knows he doesn't know you.  He doesn't care.  He wants to talk to you.

Sturgill Simpson is suddenly really famous.  We know him as John... There he, just above Andrew's smoldering yearbook photo.  He performed on Saturday Nigh Live on my birthday, and the critics all went wild.  He's up for several grammys and he's got a good chance at winning one.  He'd love to know that I'm currently blogging these photos of him from our high school days... here's him playing guitar for Candice Lucas and Sarah Wilhoit:

And singing to Christa McGohon at Ichthus.  Good thing no one actually reads my blog.

Wesley auditioned for and made LCS's Academic Team.  His fellow team members are Elle, Emily, Kaleigh, Allison and Jacob, and they're coached by Mrs. Burnette.  They had their first competition at Cleveland Court this month, and they defeated two teams and will advance to the semifinals next month.  I was a nervous wreck just watching them compete... I have no idea how these kids hold up so well under pressure!  I'm so proud of them.

Mr. Miller texted me the picture below of Anna Kate and Ella Blondell with their science project.  They had to work in teams to make a diorama of a biome.  She and Ella had tundra.  They worked together during school, making caves out of clay and snow out of cotton balls.  Anna Kate was sick on the final day they were to work on it, and I felt badly that she wouldn't be there to help Ella.  Whens he got back, Ella had completed it... and had splattered everything with red to depict blood.  Anna Kate pointed it out to Mr. Miller and he rolled his eyes and said, "Oh, Ella."  Too funny.  Glad he texted me the pic so I could see for myself:

Heather and I finally got out to try Posto 9, the new fancy restaurant downtown.  We met for lunch, and wouldn't you know it, I sit down at the brand new fancy-shmancy hip restaurant... and get someone's fresh bubble gum they left under the table all over my pants.  We had to switch tables and I had to ask for ice to help get it off my pants.  They were helpful and gracious about it, but it just goes to show that Hannah and elegant just don't mix.  But the food was great!

I knew one giant cookie cake would be enough for the Carigan's class and for her party at home, but it seemed tacky to pull out half-eaten cake at the home party. So we ordered two cakes for the same day... and they did one incorrectly and had to make a new one, but they gave us the erroneous one. So then we had THREE giant cookie cakes for the festivities. And six first graders were spending the night. And Donald Trump became President.  We were optimistic that the world wouldn't end.

Anna Kate spent the night at Ellie's house for her birthday Saturday night.  When we went to pick her up before church Sunday morning, she was whipping around the court in Ellie's little sister's power truck:

Ellie had a cake decorating party, and AK blew me away with her skills!  Emily was texting me pictures and telling me that AK was a natural.  They also did fun fingernails:

Tate got a haircut, which means he looks just like Granddaddy again.  And he's so proud of it.  He told all of his teachers that Mommy calls him Little Bill because he looks like Granddaddy. 

Wesley and Anna Kate were both piano students of the month in November.  But they were so good, I guess they got to stay through January!  I'm glad I got to snap a picture of them outside the piano lab before they (presumably) had to relinquish their reign. 

For the record... 38 is when you officially feel old

I don't know why, but for the first time, I feel more old than young.  37 you're still changing diapers and rubbing elbows with the "young adults."  But at 38 you realize any class or activity with the word "young" in it is no longer for you.  Maybe it's the fact we changed churches this year and so it's sort of in our face that we're too old to identify with the young crowd.  But for whatever reason, this is it.  This is 38.  This is old. 

But if you have to get old, you might as well do it with great friends.  And I have the best.  Heather, April, Abby, Christie, Heather B and Callie treated me to lunch at The Twisted Teapot in Winter Haven on Friday.  Everything was beautiful and yummy, and it was so nice to spend time mom time together kid-free!

So thankful for these sweet friends.  They mean the world to me!  April, me, Chrstie, Heather, Heather and Abby.  Callie had already slipped out:

Friday evening the kids got to hang at the Shelley compound.  Tate fussed and fussed anytime that Brandon attempted to stop riding him around on the 4-wheeler, and Wesley had a little crash on the motor bike.  And he's thoroughly proud of his bumps & scrapes that proves it!

We headed back to Madeira for the weekend.  I really wanted to go back with Michael so I'd have someone to stroll the beach with. But it was freezing all weekend.  I couldn't even think about putting on a suit... Mom was a good grandma and put on her fuzzy pajamas and walked the kids down to the heated pool a few times.  Michael and I did end up walking over six miles on Saturday, but only because we didn't realize how far we had to go to down the beach accomplish our goal of walking across the bridge to Treasure Island.  All was good until we turned around and suddenly had icy wind in our face and three miles to trudge back to the condo.  We tried walking on the street instead of the beach to avoid the wind, but it didn't work. We were even more miserable!  We were suppose to go to dinner that night, but I was too cold and tired and said I just wanted to go to a movie. We tried, but the movies were sold out.  So we walked around a mall.  It's hard to be romantic when you're old.  At least we all got a little bit of rest.

We decided to try to find a church on the island, instead of driving into St. Pete to go to the Church of Christ.  We found this non-denominational church just a couple blocks away... the kids called it the chicken church.  We actually really enjoyed worshiping at the chicken church!  Anna Kate and Tate went to children's church and had a big time.  Mom had a little cake for me after church at the condo before we headed home:

Jacquie took me to lunch today on my actual birthday.  Nothing like lingering until close to 2:00 until the place cleared out.  But the whole restaurant staff knows us, so Jacquie just yelled from our booth back to the kitchen, "Hey!  Come help me sing!  It's Hannah's birthday!"  Usually I duck and turn red when someone attempts to sing to me in a restaurant, but when the restaurant is empty, I just yell "I'm not blowing out this candle without a sombrero on my head!" I was really low on sleep, so after picking up the kids from school, I told them all I wanted for my birthday was a nap.  That lasted about 15 minutes before they came in with a mid-nap snack, singing songs and pushing handmade cards in my face.

At least somebody got to nap on my birthday!  We couldn't find Tate when it was time to leave for the restaurant, and we found him sound asleep in his fort.  Ralph and Patricia took us all to Harry's, and then Michael had an ice cream cake for me at home.  Glad I get to grow old with this crew.

School Skippin' Mommy 'n Me Day

The birthday festivities continue with a special Mommy 'n Me day at Disney with my newly-minted 7-year-old girl!  I took Wesley and Anna Kate to Norway's Princess Storybook Dining for Anna Kate's 4th birthday, but back then I left a little baby Carigan home with Mimi & Grandpa.  Michael was in Brazil on a business trip and I remember having to push two kids in double stroller in Floridian July heat... while pregnant.  We did not last all day.  But the weather was beautiful today and it was just the two of us, so Carigan and I made a day of it! 

Carigan refused to participate in the Princess Parade, and was decidedly less chatty with the princesses than my girls were when they were little.  But she also usually had her mouth full when a princess walked up to her.  That's my girl.  We were all about the food - she must have eaten a dozen giant strawberries!

Snow White had eerily mastered the high pitched squeak of a voice.

Our waitress brought Carigan a cupcake and a card signed by all the princesses.  She also made me repeat "Happy Birthday" in Norwegian, which was comprised mostly of sounds that I psychically could not make.  Compare the waterfall in the pic below and the one from the blog post from Anna Kate's 4th birthday breakfast... you can see where they filled in above the waterfall when they converted Maelstrom to Frozen Ever After. 

From Norway to Mexico, where Carigan picked up a new passport-type picture to take around to the countries.  This has replaced the Duffy Bears that the kids always spent 45 minutes coloring in Mexico and then never bothered to have stamped in the other countries.  The new sheet has a place for a picture-stamp from each country (and is pretty much completely bare without them).  Carigan was determined to make it to every single country and get all of her stamps. 

Epcot just kicked off their International Festival of the Arts.  That's a new one for me.  But Carigan loves all things art, so she was all about it.  They had artists working and performing throughout the park, and we even got to take part in painting a mural.  This is what it looked like when we painted our 10 squares this morning, and what it looked like when we stopped by to check the progress that evening. 

Oh Canada!  I positively forced Carigan to watch the Canada CircleVision Movie, which she had absolutely no interest in.  She complained for half of the film that it was boring, until I reminded her that Anna's family is from Canada.  And then for the rest of the film she would point and say, "There's Anna's car!  ...There's the building Anna's daddy used to work in!"  Whatever it takes.  On the way out the door, a cast member said, "It looked like you really enjoyed that," and handed her a coupon for a free popcorn from the Canadian beer wagon.  Carigan colored - and of course we had to text Mrs. Morin that we were in Canada.

Carigan on Soarin':  "I'm going to touch the top of the Eiffel Tower with my feet!" 

Very cool living art... it took Carigan some convincing that they were real!  They all kept their eyes closed and were amazingly still.  We could see the dolphin chic's lip move just a bit.  That was about it.

We were drinking free soda in the magical free soda land, when a cast member wished Carigan a happy birthday (C wore a birthday button and was wished a Happy Birthday no less than 30 times throughout the day) and told me, "You know you get a free frozen coke if it's your birthday."  She pointed me to the counter where they sell them for $4.75, and Carigan got to pick any flavor she wanted!  So of course then we had to rush to Canada and redeem her $5 free popcorn, so we could bask in the joy of free slushy and free popcorn.  Now Disney's speaking me love language!  Carigan had to text a picture to Daddy.  She texted him throughout the day and always typed "I wish you were here."  Finally sitting on the bench I said, "Hey, if Daddy was here it wouldn't be a special Mommy and Carigan day!" To which C replied, "I know, but I'm just telling him that so he won't miss me too much."   

Carigan was serious about getting all her stamps - I don't thing I've made it to every kid station in every country since I was a kid!  And I didn't have a clue where most of them were, so we did a lot of aimless wandering.  And sometimes there was a long line.  It was exhausting. Bur Carigan was on a mission!  At least it made us spend some time in areas of the park we never go - I had never been in the big fortress building in Japan before.  Carigan had to stop and do some serious coloring in every country.  She finally got her last stamp in Great Britain - Mission Accomplished!!

Carigan insisted we go back to Canada and see if the artist that was working on a sidewalk chalk painting by the popcorn and beer wagon had finished.  She had!  And what's a day at Epcot without riding the big pokey ball?  We temporarily got stuck next to the most groovy animatronic in all of Disney.  Then we got to build our future:

I had actually managed to score fast passes to Frozen Ever After, but 8:15 was the only slot available.  By 6:20 we had done absolutely everything else in the park and I was dragging.  Carigan was insistent we stay and ride it, but it had a 100 minute standby wait.  I decided to just go to guest services and see if they would take pity on a weary mama and swap our time slot.  They did, and we got to head straight to the ride and walk right past all the suckers in the 100 minute wait standby line.  Carigan was half asleep when we rode this for the first time last month, so she was super excited.  (I absolutely love that this photo just happened to catch a random toddler in the background in a midair toss... I almost didn't notice!).  We got to sit in the front row of the viking ship!

We dined with the princesses, we helped paint a mural, we did the Frozen ride, the Mexico ride, the Canada show, Soarin', Test Track, Journey into Imagination, Spaceship Earth, and we filled a passport with a stamp (and a birthday greeting) from every single country in the World Showcase in a single day. Now to write in her new princess journal and try to stay awake until the food comes. Perfect day with my temporarily only child!