Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Thanksgiving

We decided to do something a little different this year for Thanksgiving. Last year, we headed to downtown Sac to cheer Ethan on as he ran in the Thanksgiving Day run. But as the girls are older now, we decided we wanted to start serving with them to try and get them to think beyond themselves. We tried to find a church or shelter that served a meal that we could help with, but they had age restrictions that we didn't qualify for. Then at church the weekend before Thanksgiving, they had an announcement that the Salvation Army was doing meals at a Roseville church and needed drivers to help deliver food to those that couldn't make it in for a meal. We thought this sounded like a perfect thing for our family! We can totally put the kids in the car for a couple hours and drive around delivering meals. So we prepped Hannah Gray about not being shy, that some of the older people might really enjoy having little visitors and then a last minute prep to tell her she might notice that some people have injuries or oxygen or something else "wrong with them" that might give her a lot of questions. She just nodded and I hoped that we wouldn't end up in some horribly awkward situation where she was starring asking, "what's wrong with her?!". The girls were super excited, but especially Hannah Gray, who began drawing pictures ("66 of them") of turkeys and Christmas trees to take with her to give to the people too. Then she even drew some Hannah-Doggie pictures (pictures of her BELOVED stuffed dog that goes everywhere, think of Flat Stanley).

Thanksgiving morning came and Ethan wrapped our Angel Tree presents with the girls. We loaded up, picked up meals from the church and headed out to a condo complex of elderly people to deliver a total of 10 meals. Hannah Gray was not shy, excitedly handed them her pictures, chatted with them, wished them a Happy Thanksgiving and skipped between houses and back to our car each time. She loved it! AND, we did eventually hit the home where it could have been me shoving my hand in her mouth to try and stop a little tongue from saying anything recognizable. We were invited into a home of a sweet woman who had an amputated leg just below the knee with no covering or dressing over it. She was in a wheelchair, so her leg was right about Hannah Gray's height. And she said NOTHING. She chatted with her, handed her a picture of her Hannah Doggie, talked about being an artist, wished her a Happy Thanksgiving and that was it. She skipped out with us to the car and as I was loading Tenley, Hannah Gray looked at Ethan and I said, "Can I ask you a private question now?". "Sure thing kiddo." Ethan and I looked at each other because we had forgotten about what we asked her earlier and realized what we coming. "What happened to her leg, where was it?". We could not have been more proud of her.

We came home and got started on our Thanksgiving Day meal and Hannah Gray's highlight? Giving her pictures out. :) That, and the pie eating contest...





a sampling of two of the three kinds of pictures she handed out











Monday, November 26, 2012

overhead...

Hannah Gray and Tenley were playing with The Little People Nativity set this am and I heard HG explaining, "this is Mary, but not like "marry"..."

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.8

Sunday, November 18, 2012

happy thanksgiving!

On Friday, we all got to join Hannah Gray in her preschool class for a harvest potluck. The little pilgrims greeted us with some songs and nursery rhymes then we all enjoyed a little party. Tenley was so excited to be invited to join big sister at her school and Hannah Gray was thrilled to have little sister with her and took her under her wing. Now we ate in Thanksgiving break and anxious to begin our season if thankfulness.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.8

Thursday, November 15, 2012

"I love you more than..."

This is the new favorite game amongst the girls. They are silly and sincere all at the same time. This was yesterday morning as they were snuggling in our bed while I was getting ready. They are so sweet!

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.8

Monday, November 12, 2012

Truckee, Monterey, Roseville and San Francisco...

My parents were in town this last week and we saw most major attractions in NorCA. They arrived Sat afternoon and on Sunday we headed up to explore Truckee and enjoy the weather. Monday, we headed to Monterey to see the aquarium and Carmel. We returned Tuesday and stayed in Riseville until Friday when we joined my dad in San Francisco (he had a conference to go to while we were back home). Our time in San Francisco included Hannah Gray ice skating for the first time at Union Square, "modeling" at Saks, a break in into our car, a ferry ride to Saulsilito, and HG doing the big trampoline jump where she's in a harness. She figured it out right away and amazed everyone with flip after flip after flip. The Jr high girls before her couldn't do it so the workers let Hannah Gray keep going once she figured it out. It was hilarious, she was so proud of herself.  We left after getting our car fixed to come home late Sat night. We had a great time and I will post more pictures soon. My camera was being repaired so our pics are scattered between cell phones.



Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.8




After ice skating! 


 Waiting in line to do her bungee trampoline jump

killing it. this is before all the consecutive flips started




Carmel