Life Lately

Wow! It's been about 9 months since my last post! When I started the blog, my intention was to use it to share little stories and the funny things that Jameson was doing. I was so in love with my new little boy that I just gushed with stories about the latest sounds and milestones. It was intended to be a way to satisfy my need to tell the world about this little boy- and if ya didn't really wanna know or didn't care then ya could click off to another site instead of nodding and smiling at me as I rambled on... and on... and on. Well, life had another idea in mind. Go figure! I'm no less in love with my little boy and no less enthusiastic about my baby girl- you've probably stood and smiled and nodded or even chuckled along as I tell another story about Ally, JJ, or Kenzie. After all, I never let posting it to the blog or facebook stop me from retelling the story to anyone who seemed to want to listen! Ultimately, I didn't post the way I thought I would and I post less and less lately because I simply don't have the time to sit down at the computer. Now that I have an iPad, I may find a way to update from there.... Yep, you're in trouble now! That's ok. You can always click away to another page!

Still with me? Cool! Thanks for coming along for the ride! So, life lately... hmmm... Well, Kenzie is nine months old! She likes to army crawl! Well, it's a pull with the arms and push with her little toes and inch along sort of thing. She's pretty fast, too! She does a great job of cleaning the hardwood floors!! I thought about finding a way to attach the little dust mop to her! She started this on Christmas Eve. After trying all kinds of things, she seemed to settle on this as her preferred mode of transportation!

(I was gonna post a video here, but for some reason the blogger won't load it!)

JJ is growing fast and doing better with talking and potty training. For some reason, he just didn't want to potty train. We just hadn't found the right motivations I guess! Quarters that he can use to buy transformers with apparently have done the trick! And of course, his speech wasn't great probably due to his paci habit. He gave that up a few weeks after Kenzie was born and hasn't looked back since- ok, maybe the couple of times we've been down that aisle at the store, but not more than for 30 seconds! His love for superheroes and an awesome imagination fuel that little mouth of his now. He can tell a great story if he's in the right mood! Regardless, he's always talking and pretending. He even tries to get his baby sister to play with him! He simply adores her! Not a surprise since he already adored his older sister!






As you can see, he's still a sharp dresser! I may help some, but he's been picking out his own clothes a lot lately. The ties are actually worn as a tribute to Peter Parker (aka Spiderman)... that fits in well with his obsession with superheroes!

Ally is busy with soccer and such as usual, as well as doing well in school. She just turned the big 1-0! She seems to be enjoying her life as a big sister and now that her brother is getting a little older, playing together seems to be getting more entertaining since it's not all one sided: (insert cute video of JJ pulling Ally on the sled)

Welcome Mackenzie Grace!

She's here!! And what a wonderful baby she is! She arrived 4/12/2011 at 3:14 am. Interestingly, we were in delivery room #3314. People thought the nurse was kidding/sleep deprived when she reported the info! Everything went well and mom and baby are both healthy!. Mackenzie has strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes for now. She sleeps 3-4 hours at a stretch- which is much appreciated my mommy and daddy! JJ seems to have decided that he really likes the baby. The other day when I was leaving, he got mad because I was taking the baby with me- "MY Kenzie!!!!" He even tried to take her away from Ally telling her that Kenzie is HIS baby. Ally seems to be enjoying her new sister, too though this is her second new sister in two months- her mom just had a baby girl in March. Here are some of her first pics...





And one week old:

Piderman!

It's amazing to me how a child's mind grows. Both our kids have a great sense of humor. They are both imaginative and it's great watching them develop their ability to entertain themselves and others. Ally is more likely to use a more mature sense of humor these days with witty comments, puns and sarcasm as opposed to just acting silly. It's neat to see because some silly behavior just doesn't carry over well as you get older. JJ is still at the age where silliness is completely appropriate. He adores slapstick humor (Scrat's difficulty in keeping his acorn in the Ice Age movies always gets a laugh) and frequently will get silly to make a slapstick joke. He's also at that age where the things he says just sound funny... imagine my surprise this morning when he told me he wanted to watch, "PoooP!!" and then realized that he is trying to get me to put in his new Winnie the Pooh computer game. He says things like "poofrints" instead of footprints, and "piderman" instead of Spiderman.

Spiderman has actually been a fun discovery, as well. He now turns down his waffles for breakfast, but will eat "web waffles" and has decided that pulling his winter hat down over his eyes and putting on his ONE mitten transforms him into "Piderman!!" He imagines he is a dinosaur, monster, super hero and a baby animal/human all in the space of minutes- one begins to wonder how many personalities are inside that little imagination! And just about anything can be turned into a "wocketship!" He's also discovered the joy of singing and dancing! He randomly busts out into songs from Dinosaur Train and he is willing to dance with Ally on her Wii game. Our kids are certainly a lot of fun!!

The latest news & pictures

For those wondering how things are going with my pregnancy, it's been really uneventful. Thank God for small blessings! Mackenzie is moving around a lot and growing normally from what can be determined. She's currently healthy, and so am I!

In other exciting news, we are in the process of buying a house! We have had an offer accepted and down payment made on a house in Eagan. An inspection will be completed by the end of this week! Our closing date is March 9 and we expect to be moved out of our apartment by March 31- not too much time to spare before Mackenzie is due to arrive!

We're still our same busy little family these days. Jim has been working hard at work and things are going very well. He's turning out to be a wonderful Director! I'm still participating in bible studies and activities at church. I no longer work, but will likely find another part time job at some point when Mackenzie is a few months old. Ally has been busy with gymnastics and cheerleading. She will be starting soccer again very soon. She recently qualified to participate in a spelling bee at school (that's this coming Friday). We're very proud of her!! JJ is his usual rambunctious self. He's a big fan of dinosaurs, and gets excited about "poofrints" (or footprints) thanks to watching "Blue's Clues".

Not as many pics to post starting in 2011... haven't been quick enough with the camera most of the time! But here are a couple...

Holiday season!

Merry Christmas!! It's a busy holiday season again this year! We're involved in a number of things through church and there are the usual family get-togethers and time spent with friends. So far, we've been having a blast! We hope you have also been enjoying the time remembering the blessings of the year and enjoying the blessings of the season.

Busy summer

Well, here we go again! These posts seem to be getting fewer and farther between! It has been busy and to be truthful, I've been a little lazy. Busy is kind of an excuse in reality because that's just life with a family and it's not going to get less busy any time soon. Unfortunately for those of you that actually enjoyed the stories I tried to pass on, I probably won't get any better about updating the blog. But, I'm not ready to give up yet!!

So, since the last post in June, we had a visit to Ohio, a number of trips to the zoo, opportunities to gain new friendships, and the kids continue to be as cute as can be! That has been life in a nutshell!! The specific stories are much more entertaining and I will renew my effort to make short posts when the fun stories come up. Here are a few...

This tiger at the Columbus Zoo kept walking along in front of the glass and every time it walked by JJ, he screamed with delight! The tiger licked the glass once or twice and it made me grateful that we were safely on the other side of that glass!




JJ discovered the fun of the riding lawn mower at Grandma and Poppa's house...


JJ turned 3 on August 7 and we had a party with lots of family and friends crammed into our apartment. It was great getting to see everyone and JJ enjoyed himself a lot! There were lots of bubbles, tools, and a great deal of Toy Story toys to keep him and his little guests entertained.



One of the more difficult things for Ally when she visits here on the weekend is her lack of friends her own age... that changed a few weeks ago when she met Madison. Maddy is the daughter of our new friend Amy and she has a sense of humor and personality much similar to Ally's. While both girls tend to be slow to warm to new people, they were soon playing together and getting into their own brand of shenanigans! While Maddy had to return to North Carolina, we're hoping they will be moving to Minnesota soon (and they still communicate via facebook!).



And of course there is the simple daily goofiness that occurs on the quiet (yeah, right!) days...

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads I know. Hope you have a great day!

Toy Story obsession

So, Toy Story has become JJ's favorite thing recently. He has Buzz Lightyear and Woody action figures. He imitates them and flies them around the room. It's actually pretty cute to watch. Yesterday, he got on the mechanical horse outside the store and said, "di-di eee, eyes-eyes!" Which would be "ride like the wind, Bullseye!" from Toy Story 2. Most often, however, he quotes Buzz- "aayy-pee an YON!" or "to infinity and beyond!" Ok, so he's much cuter than I can imitate or type it...

Summer fun

So far in this early part of summer-ok, late spring, we' have already been having lots of fun! JJ has enjoyed 3 trips to the zoo, played in a pool and has discovered the fun of puddle jumping. He very much enjoys splashing around! His rain boots are his second favorite foot gear- second only to the neon green and black sandals he picked out. He has also now discovered puddle splashing barefoot. Oh, the fun of being a kid!

Memorial Day

As I've been thinking about what to say, a number of things have crossed my mind and it's hard to know where to start. The simplest thing to say is "Thank you" and I know for many, that can even be enough though the words feel so inadequate to me. But I think what is really on my heart is "thank you because I haven't had to...."

- Thank you because I haven't had to fight for the right to write this message, criticize our country, the president and our other elected officials (MANY exercise this right frequently and forget how easy it could be to lose it)
-Thank you because I haven't had to fight for the right to practice my religion. There are many countries where even owning a bible could mean horrific persecution and death.
-Thank you because I haven't had to kiss a loved one good-bye and hope and pray that they make it home in one piece, though this day may come as my kids get older. I've had family that have served, but I was really too young to know (or I wasn't born yet!). And though I have friends who are currently serving, it still just doesn't feel as close to home.
-And Thank you because I haven't had to serve myself. In this country, we get the choice. That option remains in place because so many choose. I can't imagine having to say goodbye to my son as I leave for some other country and risk my life and possibly never get to see him grow up, never see my stepdaughter grow up, never see my husband again. Or even just missing the day to day things that we all take for granted.

There are other reasons, of course, but this could get really long if I try to list them all. Those last two are really the one's that make me the most emotional. I think that's partly because I've never felt like my rights have ever really been in jeopardy- a security I know is owed to those who have served this country over the years. But I can't imagine losing any friends or loved ones. It's such a real and scary possibility. I feel for the families that have known and loved fallen soldiers. I feel for the mothers and fathers who watch their children leave to fight. I have literally sobbed thinking about the possibility that my son will somehow someday be a member of the armed forces and will go to war- and he's only two years old. This is another reason to thank those of you who have served and are currently serving. Someday, it will still be a choice and maybe, just maybe, someday he won't have to. I think that possibility makes me the most grateful of all. For me, losing my own freedom and safety is less wrenching than the thought that someday his might be at risk. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you do or have done.

I pulled the following video from YouTube... there were many that made me cry like Tim McGraw's "If You're Reading This," Mark Schulz "Letters from War", Trace Adkins "Arlington"... I went with "Til the Last Shot's Fired" by Trace Adkins because it includes many of the past wars, not just current (though I would editorialize that the Korean War was again overlooked). If you're brave enough to watch tearjerkers, make sure you watch the other videos I listed, but this one may likely do it, too.



Again, Thank You, Soldiers.

Definitely His Father's Sense of Humor

Gotta love the giggles... having this movie on our camera also provided with entertainment and distraction while in line anxiously awaiting our turn to meet with Curious George...

Craziness

It's been a crazy amount of time since I've done any blogging. I visit our blog site everyday because then I can check in on the blogs we follow. So everyday, I have been confronted with the syrupy purple Easter theme and the cute little bunny that hops up and wishes me a happy Easter. Everyday. By now, I'm really quite tired of it. And in spite of Jim's request, "Honey, can you change the blog background??" it remains. Until today!! I have gotten ambitious. Not only did I go through the apartment yesterday to find items to donate to the VA when they pick up on Friday, we now have the bookcase I've been waiting for! I can finally-after about a year and a half- can unpack the boxes that are sitting in the corner of our bedroom! And in my ambition, I am writing a blog post and changing the theme (you're welcome, honey!).

And though I missed it yesterday, I'm going to post a pic for Mommy & Me Mondays.
Hosted by Krystyn


It's a little dark, but I like it...

More counting and letters!

JJ's getting pretty good with counting and letters. I have to say that I don't think it's because I'm doing all that much with to teach him. I think it actually has more to do with PBS on in the background while he's playing. He knows most of his letters and not just in order of the alphabet song which means that he's really recognizing them. He counts to 5 and recognizes all single digits (though some of them are hit and miss on remembering what they are called). Jim and I discovered that spelling "paci" is not going to be a good way to talk about his paci without him getting the idea that he needs it right then. We'll have to start spelling the whole word because he now recognizes that combination of letters. Granted they sound similar to the word as it is said, but that's still pretty good for a two year old! He's also finally showing an interest in books which he never really did before. I still can't sit and read a book to him without him insisting on turning the page before I'm done reading a sentence! And that's with me reading fast. It's still better than when he wouldn't even let me open a book!

Blog Slacker!

I need to coin a pithy name for being a blog slacker (I'll take suggestions)! I fully intended to share stories from Christmas and the time after, but to be honest, I don't really even remember what I was going to share. I'm sure I'll think of it later, but for now you'll have to just take my word for it that we had a great Christmas and New Year. I will take solace in the fact that I was busier enjoying the process of making memories than spending time writing about them.

We did have a great time over the holidays. And of course the fun doesn't end there. We went to a Valentine's Day banquet that was put on by our church. I got to re-purpose a bridesmaid dress (Rock on, Lindsey!) to wear for this, so I was really excited to look pretty! Unfortunately, in all my excitement, we forgot the camera. We did get one photo at the banquet for posterity. However, I don't have a scanner. You again will just have to take my word for it that we both looked fabulous!


Frosty Trees!
We got a great deal on a train table. We very much dislike Toys R Us after the experience of getting this train, but it was still a great deal so we won't complain. Much. It was a lot of work to set up because JJ kept wanting to play (go figure) and he just wouldn't let us get it together. But then after he went to bed, we got it, so I took a picture. I hasn't looked like this since!!

JJ also got to enjoy Toddler Tuesday at the Mall of America when they opened the Nick Universe butterfly house for free. He kept chasing the butterflies and growling at them. He's such a predator!


JJ also is learning his abc's and counting. Yes, I'm a naughty mom and am using videos to teach him (as well as all the other ways to do it, too.) He's actually doing really well considering. I'm sucha proud mommy!

A Busy Holiday Season

It has been a busy holiday season here at the Hammill house and I'm sure that it was busy at yours! They don't get the term "hustle and bustle" from nowhere! We never got our Christmas cards in the mail, though we did receive a number of them- to those of you who sent out Christmas cards, thank you! It was wonderful to receive them. And I hope that everyone's holiday was wonderful and I wish everyone blessings for the New Year!

We started the "season" with Thanksgiving at my mom and dad's. Colleen joined us there as well. It was a lot of fun just hanging out and talking. Mom made a wonderful turkey with all the requisite Thanksgiving side dishes. Gotta love the great food!


We avoided the Black Friday shopping craziness, but we did find ourselves at the mall that Saturday hanging out. The kids enjoyed perusing the music shelves. We even caught Ally dancing! She was caught off guard when she realized we were watching, but then put on a show for the camera- only to find herself getting tangled up!


Later that evening, we set up the Christmas tree and both kids helped to decorate. JJ helped to undecorate and redecorate, as well!

He had to help wrap Christmas presents as well- unfortunately, he thought the best way to help was to lay down on the wrapping paper! So, I did what anyone would do in that situation and I wrapped him up! After all, he is one of the greatest gifts!

We spent Christmas in Ohio- he did very well on the road trip- as usual! We are super lucky!!! He decided that he also wanted to help at Poppa's house and helped vacuum up his crushed cereal!


And that's just the pre-Christmas festivities!!! More to come....

Our little helper

Apparently, Jameson is firmly in the phase where he wants to clean! It's a normal toddler stage to have a desire to put things in their place. Parents of toddlers often find their child putting toys in rows (JJ lines up his cars), maybe sorting things by color, shape or size. Jameson is also a fan of putting things "away." This means that he will try to take our dishes and put them in the sink-sometimes even before we are done with them! When the phone rings, he runs to the phone and brings it to me, then insists on putting it away- even if I'm still talking. And then there's vacuuming. He's always been pretty scared of it and we typically have to hold him while vacuuming. That makes it an easy job (not really). And of course, it doesn't do to have the parent who is not vacuuming to hold him, it HAS to be the one who is. Yep, makes it easy (ha!). Then he moved on to wanting to "help". The problem is, we still had to hold him as he leaned down to help-even easier to hold him and not drop him (uh, no). The other day, he finally decided that it would be ok for us to put him down as long as he could help. YES!! Now he helps to vacuum and we don't put our backs out! Woo-hoo!

This morning, he decided to use the dust buster to vacuum our floors (who cleans before 8 am? Apparently, my son- I wish we were still sleeping, but he is cleaning and I know THAT phase won't last long, so I won't complain!) He vacuumed around the living room and into the dining room!!


~Just before he starts squawkin', he says "po", which is how he says "help". I love how he puts my hand on the button to make sure I'm not confused as to what he wants help with! :0)~

In addition to helping clean, JJ likes to help with other stuff he sees us do. Like fix breakfast... that's another fun one!

(yep, he does like bagel and cream cheese- which he later decided not to eat after all, anyway!)


Hopefully, this desire to do grown up stuff will translate into wanting to get out of his diapers and use the potty!! (Not on your life, Mom!) I keep hoping. :0) He's making progress, though!

5 Minutes for Mom giveaway

5 Minutes for Mom is a blog for moms that includes lots of neat stuff including personal stories, information and some giveways and contests. This Christmas season, they have a series of giveaways that they are doing. So, copy and paste this URL to check it out (Sorry, I couldn't get it to show a link): http://www.5minutesformom.com/10606/christmas-giveaway-2009/ to check out their giveways! I'm hoping to win the guitar pack for Ally- it might be a little old for her yet, but she'd love it anyway! The button to the right of this post is for a program they are also running for Christmas for kids in need. Click on that and check it out! Thanks all!

Let it snow!

At least, that seems to be JJ's opinion! He certainly seemed to enjoy the snow this morning while Mommy cleaned off the car-with his help of course. He was having so much fun that he threw himself a little tantrum when it was time to actually get in the car to go! I do think this snow thing is a little early and it doesn't bode well for our winter. We will likely be forgoing the luxury of a garage this winter, so hopefully he keeps his cheerful attitude toward snow- that will make it easier to deal with scraping the windshield and brushing off the snow every time we decide to venture out anywhere. If we can find him a snow suit (my requirement not his- he had NO problem plopping his tush down into a pile of slush on the sidewalk today) that fits decent, I'm sure we will get around to making snow angels soon. I tried to show him the fun of catching snowflakes on his tongue, but that backfired. Rather than doing it himself, he kept sticking his mittened hands into my mouth to open it and pushing my head back so that he could watch me do it. This was quite entertaining to some passersby, as I was silly enough to try this in the Target parking lot! We didn't get much opportunity to play in the snow last year since I worked. We'll be making up for that this winter! :0) I'd say we're off to a pretty good start.

Never so happy to be dragged out of bed before 7am

Yep. 6:45 this morning (I know, that's not so bad... and it has definitely been earlier!) JJ crawled over me to get out of bed and started pulling at me to get up. I then fill with dread as I realize that this is NOT the morning he's going to sleep in (that was yesterday- 8:00am- and I was up already!). He drags me from the room as I protest and leads me not to the kitchen for milk or the living room for cartoons (gasp!) but to the bathroom (double gasp!) and points for me to turn on the light and starts saying, "mm-mm" while pointing to our medicine cabinet. Our medicine cabinet in this particular bathroom does not hold medicine, but JJ's newly precious-to-him "mm-mms". What are "mm-mms?" They are the lovely M&M's that we have started to bribe our son with in order to get him to use the potty! I know, not the healthiest thing, but stickers just weren't working. These M&Ms are newly precious because just the other day, he brought me to the bathroom asking me for them, but walked out giving me an emphatic, "uh-uh" when I reminded him that in order to get them he needed to use the toilet (guess he decided he didn't want them that bad after all). This morning, as I reminded him he turned (before I could get the words out) to sit on the toilet (progress!). Much to my surprise he almost immediately started to pee!! Victory!!!! Then of course he got mad because Mommy is too busy doing the happy potty dance to get him his much earned and precious "mm-mms". So, I guess the three times on the potty yesterday (and only one actual "accident") were not such a fluke after all. Let's see how the rest of the day goes! I don't want to get too excited, but I do think we are now on our way. Thanks, "mm-mms!"

Been slackin!

It has been a while since my last post... it's been a busy summer!!!

Here are some of the things we've been up to:


Vegas Baby!!


This fountain show made me cry (at least this particular song), I thought it was so beautiful. The video really doesn't do it justice!





JJ had a Cars themed birthday with grandparents, the Rosenau's and the Callison's joining in the celebration. We kept it simple and pretty much just played at the park and had cake. That's always a hit with the kids! Everyone seemed to be having fun!






JJ discovered that he likes riding the escalator, we took the kids to underwater world, and of course there is our usual everyday fun! Now comes the Fall fun!!