3 little birds

About a week ago after dinner Hannah started singing "Cause every little thing... is gonna be alright". I was so proud to hear her singing such amazing song and knowing the words and the melody as if she'd known it for years. This has always been a favorite of mine and it is Bob Marley after all.

After singing it a couple times with her and still kind of beaming that me and Chris' great taste in music had worn off on her and she wouldn't fall victim to the Justin Bieber Fan club ... Chris says "they play it on Nickelodeon commercials".

My bubble totally burst. I hadn't exposed her to inspirational music of the generations but some damn Cartoon Network had. I felt like the biggest asshole of a parent.

Another seemingly unrelated story:

So a few weeks ago my mom went to Arizona with a friend and while shopping she found a squirrel proof bird feeder.

Sidenote: I have not been able to successfully plant anything on our back deck or back of our property because these huge bastard squirrels dig up everything. So my mom was very excited to try this somewhere in our yard.

So I finally get the feeder up about a week ago and I put it outside my kitchen window. I didn't want it somewhere that they could crap all over the deck and because I didn't know what kind or size of birds would use this feeder I didn't want it somewhere that if it was empty and the birds get mad they would dive bomb the kids where they played so I put it off to the side not over the deck. It is about 7 feet out from my kitchen window. We were home this whole weekend and in between the rain and hail storms these cute little birds would come and eat the food. We don't often see this small of birds in our area but I think since the bigger birds and too big to fit in the cage these ones have free reign.

So all weekend we got to look at all these cute little birds take turns eating the seeds. The kids loved looking out the windows at them and they were just such a bright part of our weekend. It made me sing "3 little birds" often with the kids.

It made me think of my teenage years and listening to the Legend album in my first car. It reminded me that Mandy posted this video to my Facebook wall the morning Chris was going in for heart surgery and that I posted it to her wall when she was going through the early stages of divorce. It made me think of palm trees. To me it is just one of the most soothing songs.

It also made me realize I really need to stop singing Katy Perry with my kids and put on the classics!

Dancing Queen

Ever since we took Hannah to see The Nutcracker she has been very interested in ballet and asked to take dance classes. Conveniently, a new dance studio opened close to our house this month! She had her first class on Saturday and while she was the only student this week, she loved it. She learned some steps and started learning the routine for their recital in May!

As heard...

The other day Hannah and I disagreed on something and she got upset and stormed into her room, threw herself on her bed, and sobbed. (seriously... she's only 4?!?!)

I went in and we talked about it and I left her room. She continued to lay there. Chris went in and lay down next to her.

Hannah turned to Chris and said "Daddy. You are the only one who understands me".

Seriously?

2011 - Year in Review - The Final Installment

If you haven't read the rest of the year. Get caught up here
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

November-
We spent Thanksgiving at my grandmothers. It was great to spend a few days with her and we all loved our time there. We had an awesome dinner and then played ChickenFoot!


The kids with GG




The next day we went to Happy Hollow. Chris and I had both been there many times as kids but hadn't been in at least 2 decades. They have done tons of renovations and added little rides for the kids. It was such a good time.










The puppet show


Hannah was excited to go on this ride. Watch the sequence of events




As the ride started going up Zach got really excited and started laughing... and then...




Right about this point she is screaming "THIS IS NOT FUN!!!!"




After that ordeal, of course we told her she did not have to go on anything. Of course she wanted to try. Every ride after that she had to scope out for a minute and see how it worked




Doing the maze with Daddy


This is the crooked house. When Chris and I were kids you used to be able to play inside of it. You could go upstairs and from there, there was a slide that went out the front door. You can no longer go into the house but the structure is still there and brought back memories!




While Hannah wasn't into the rides... she loved to pet and feed the animals








The goat tried to eat Hannah's shirt. She thought that was pretty funny and she talked about it for days


Zach was loving the rope walk on the playground


December-
Another busy month. I will try and condense as much as possible.
My mom and I took Hannah to her first ballet, The Nutcracker. She was in awe. We had front row seats and it was such a memorable day. First, we went to lunch at the Madonna Inn




Our friends Tara and Arabella were just a couple seats over. The girls looked so grown up


After the ballet the ballerinas went into the lobby for pictures. Hannah was star struck and timidly went up to them and asked to take a picture

This is Hannah with 'Clara'








Christmas Eve. Making cookies for Santa


He liked watching the mixer


Christmas Eve they got to have 1 gift. PJs of course!




Putting carrots out for the reindeer


Not really sure what they are doing here. Singing a Christmas Carol maybe?




The one thing Hannah asked Santa for this year - Baby Ariel


Ready to go to Nana's house for Christmas afternoon and dinner


They love their Uncle Brian




We are so blessed to live in such a gorgeous area. The weather on Christmas was beautiful and we took a walk on the beach before dinner












I took a lot of great pictures this year but I think this is my favorite


The day after Christmas we drove up to Chris' parents house for a couple days. They just moved back to California from Texas so this was the first time we were able to see them around the holidays. Sadly I had a terrible cold so I didn't get too many pictures. We will have to make another visit soon!

Hannah making breakfast with Grandpa


The boys took a trip into town one day (about 45 minutes away). Grandma and Hannah had fun making a gingerbread house


This year in review became much longer than I expected but going back through all these pictures made me smile. Our year was so full of love and memories. After the nightmare that was 2010, it was much needed. I am so excited to see what 2012 is going to hold!