More Hannah and Graham Time!

I just had to share more Hannah and Graham photos from all of my visits while Christina was still on maternity leave. I absolutely LOVED going almost weekly to play and hang out. I already miss it so much. These pictures are from December through February. Changes happen so fast when they're that little!

Ben got to babysit Graham in December, while us adult girls had a day out touring houses for a Christmas House Walk. He had a good time. He's always been amazing with babies. Annabel got home before we did and Ben made her hold Graham, too! So cute!

 

 

Whenever I visit, I feel like I play ALL the things with Hannah and the kid just does not stop- she is SO imaginative, so chatty, so playful and it's just SUCH fun!! I love it! She reminds me a lot of Daniel and how he played ALL the things when he was little, too. I love this playful spirit! And Graham is such a chill dude- love him to bits. 

 

Another day, more play!

I love to read to Hannah- I'm so glad she loves it, too!

Lunch and laughs!

Graham is getting SO big!!

Too cute! Naked baby and fun food art!

As the weather started warming up, we took our play time outside, too! The fresh air felt amazing. I remember all too well how much Daniel LOVED being outside. The kid always wanted to be outside and I loved it. So it's fun to see Hannah enjoy being outside, too.

Then Christina went back to work. Sadly, for me. I see them so much less now and it's so hard. But I'll always treasure these days. I keep joking she just needs to have more babies so I can come play weekly like this again! Not happening, haha. But, I enjoyed it while it lasted so so much.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Hannah!

Celebrating Hannah's 3rd birthday was SO fun! She's too funny and just such fun to be around. We had a good time at her party!

Another Symphony Concert in the Books!

Annabel had her second youth symphony concert recently and it was as equally amazing as her first back in December. We even invited her 5th grade teacher to this concert (we love Mrs. Matteson and she was delighted to support Annabel and come to a concert!) so that was pretty special. 

Annabel really enjoys playing in this symphony orchestra and especially enjoys having connected with her new friend, Ava, which I've mentioned before. She's already decided to keep going next year, too, which we're thrilled about! 

We have one more concert left this year! They sure do work hard- it's incredible to see these performances.

Related

My uncle Jeff and aunt Melody came into town (via Indiana where they'd been for a conference, but they live in Florida) to visit and I was delighted to spend a couple hours visiting them at my parents' house and of course have my kids meet them! We all tried to figure out the last time we saw them and man, it's been years. We know they met Daniel when he was a baby and we were on Anna Maria Island and they came to visit us there- that would have been in 2009, and then we know they came to Christina's wedding (June 2011), so we landed on 2011, I think. Life just gets busy and families can be funny, just the way it is. Anyway, what a treat to have them here and catch up for a bit. I thought it was quite special that they reached out and drove out of their way to see us. I think my kids should know who their family is, so I was glad they could meet them. We even remembered to take a group picture, although Melody was the one taking it, so she's not in this one, but there's Jeff on the left end, same I always remember him- hasn't changed a bit. I've always loved Jeff and Mel and our visit really was delightful. These are some sweet pictures!

My dad and his siblings...June 2011, at Christina's wedding. (L to R: Jeff, Keith, Jackie and my dad.)

Moving Up in the Flute World

Annabel is the proud owner of a beautiful new flute!! We owe a BIG thank you to Grandpa Gary and Grandma Cheryl for this special treat for Annabel!

For over a year, we've been gently encouraged by Annabel's band directors and private flute teacher to get her a new flute. She's advanced in her playing and could benefit from having a higher level flute to match her abilities and new skills. In short, she's way outgrown the beginner flute and she's ready for an intermediate level instrument. Plus, Annabel's experience at her summer band camp this past summer gave us an extra push to get a new flute (so the old one could be a backup; you may recall her flute broke on Day 1 of summer band camp at U of I). In fact, my dad called me just days after the whole broken flute fiasco and said they'd like to do this and I about cried on the spot- it was the sweetest thing ever. I'll never forget it. 

Fast forward through summer a couple months...to October. I shared this a while back, but Ben and Annabel spent some time at a local flute festival back in October to try out some flutes and get some idea of how different flutes play, feel and sound to Annabel. This was excellent advice given to us by Mrs. McCann (one of the band directors at school- we LOVE her) and Annabel's private teacher both. The next step was to find a local instrument shop that sold the one she liked best and would let us try it out along with some others. After that, we just had to go for it!

I made it my January goal to finally get this done- Annabel couldn't wait, she was SO excited! I found a local store that had the flute she wanted most in stock and we grabbed a Saturday afternoon early in February and invited Grandpa Gary along. I'm SO glad Grandpa came with- that was such a special outing for us all. He got see and hear Annabel try out a few different flutes and mostly he got to hear the one she decided on and how beautiful it sounded and how easily it played for her and all. We had a great time shopping for flutes! Annabel was literally beaming when we bought it and when we brought it home!

This is a newer flute brand that came highly recommended by Annabel's flute choir director- it's a DiZhao intermediate level flute and is just beautiful! It was packaged so beautifully, too, and bonus- the flute itself even has a really nice padded outer case as well. We're thrilled to continue this flute journey with Annabel! 

Thanks again, Grandpa Gary and Grandma Cheryl!

Fancy School Band Concert

Our middle school has had a wonderful tradition of performing once a year at a local concert hall. Before Annabel was in the youth symphony, this felt super fancy to Annabel. Now she plays there more often so it's not as novel anymore, but it's still such an excellent experience for the rest of the band. We have always enjoyed this particular concert every year. We love our band directors and music department for giving these kids this experience!

My Girl

I adore this picture of my sweet girl. She's beautiful. I hope she can see this because I see it every time I look at her.

Cousins

I took these adorable pictures when Josie came to play one day during our winter break. I just had to share here! These two are awesome together and love to play! They always look forward to the next time we can get together. It's the sweetest thing ever to see the two of them.

A New Hobby: Tunnel Books

I have found a new hobby! 

For years, I'd admired an artist on Instagram who makes these "tunnel books" and I'd always wanted to try one. This artist makes them more garden-like, using leaves and flowers and they really are pretty, but I wanted to take it a step further and make more of a themed book. Christmas made for the perfect theme! And one day, I decided to just go for it. I had to start somewhere.

My goal is to make it more of a book rescue art project. I want to use what I have on hand as much as I can, or certainly what I can find cheaply. To me, all images must come from books or magazines or other print material- no printing from a computer. I collect books from the used bookshelf at the library, used book sales, I keep what Annabel wants to get rid of, I scour used book stores, and so forth...so I have a lot of source material to work with. My Christmas tunnel book idea started with a few Golden books and it took off from there and voila! I LOVE how it turned out! It's SO sweet! 

After I made that practice one for myself (which took nearly 10 hours, mind you- so much cutting, into the book and intricate cuts around images...it's all a learning curve too!) I immediately wanted to make one for my mom and quickly (well, okay, after another 10 hours more like) whipped another book together. Hers came out beautifully!

I have lots of plans for future books and can't wait to make more in 2024!! What other themes shall I make?? A Disney one is high on my list!

2023 is a Wrap!

2023 summed up. Pretty perfectly, I might add. Thanks, Google Photos!

Reading glasses for me, Crystal Falls week at the cabin, girls weekend trip, bell tower tour, Lover sweatshirt for Halloween, tall sunflowers, 15th birthday, new baby cousin, and Hamilton field trip fun!

We're ready to see what 2024 holds now. This will be the year Daniel learns to drive! That much I do know! 

Happy New Year!!