Whew, what a week!

I loved the holiday weekend last week - it was actually relaxing even though we were on the go a lot. As I stated in my last (week old) post, we went to our friend's house on the 4th which was a good time.

The next day, we went out to my mom's for the evening. Randy had relatives in from out of town and then we stayed to watch Hudson's fireworks. They were right up Hannah's alley since you could see them, but not have to hear them! Here are a couple pics from that day.

Isn't she cool?

This would have been a good picture if Hannah's eyes were open. I'm trying harder to make a point to take more pictures with Hannah. I realized after I did Tony's father's day album that pictures with me in them are scarce.

Here's Hannah walking down to see the ducks. She truly believes they are HER ducks!!

The Sunday of the 4th weekend, I think we relaxed a bit. It seem so long ago now that I can't really remember what we did!! We had some leftover cake from Saturday that Hannah insisted we sing Happy Birthday to her because cake must equal her birthday!! The girl loves cake!

Monday night Hannah and I played out in the yard while Tony had a softball game. I tried getting her to take some good pictures with my new daisies in bloom. She wasn't totally cooperative, but here's a couple of what I got.

I had to go to Columbus Tuesday and Wednesday for a meeting for work. It was a long but fast-moving two days. Thursday was the beginning of one of my toughest days as a manager. I had made the decision to terminate one of my employees. Friday was worse because that was the day I actually did it. Let me tell you how long that day was knowing I was doing it at 4:00! It pretty much sucked all around, but I know it was the right thing to do. I'm sorry it came to this, but I did try for a long time to make things work out, but unfortunately, the employee didn't do her part. Ok, enough about that.....

so I got home from work Friday and we had dinner. I was out on the deck watching Hannah play and Tony offered me a glass of wine. It did taste good. We never drink at home, but it ended up being such a great night and we sat on the deck until around 11:30 and our neighbors came over for a little while. It was great to sit out and enjoy the summer night!

I was pretty much exhausted from my week yesterday, so after cleaning the house, I napped when Hannah napped which was much needed. I had a function to go to last night for an organization I'm joining called NAWIC (National Association of Women in Construction). I have to say, I'm excited about this opportunity. It should be really good for me both personally and professionally.

Today was hanging out as a family all morning. Then I did my grocery shopping (only spent $59 this week and saved over $15 additional dollars - I love my bargain shopping!!) Then we went to Kohls - the sale wasn't as good as it sounded. And then to dinner at Gran Fiesta (Tony's favorite). We went for a walk and played outside and now here I am. Hannah's in bed and I'm going right behind her! Good night!!

Happy 4th!

So glad for the holiday weekend this week! I've had an exhausting week at work and was really in need of a 3-day weekend!

Yesterday, we just hung around the house all morning. I did laundry and cleaned a little and then took a nap!!! Yay! I love when I can actually do that!

After our nap, we got ready to go to our friend's Tony & Tracy's for their annual 4th of July party. We had a good time! There's a million kids around now and Hannah's at the age that she can run with them and play.

Here are the group pictures of most of us:

The girls

The guys

Most of the kids - its hard to round them all up at once!

And us

We ate and played bocce ball, whiffle ball, washers and whatever else was there to do. It was such a perfect weather day -we really had fun!

Here's Maci & Hannah in the cozy coupe!

This is what happens when one little girl starts to get tired - she finds a place anywhere she can to maybe catch some z's

Hannah actually enjoyed doing sparklers - for a while. She liked it for about 4 of them and then all of a sudden didn't want to do any more. I was surprised she liked them at all.

Then the fireworks started. Hannah was terrified! She literally BEGGED us to go home! She said, "I want to go home - PLEASE let's go home". She finally settled for sitting in the car to watch them and then after a while, I think she actually enjoyed watching them (in the car).

I have to also mention, she had another perfect potty day. She was in just her panties all day and no accidents! I thought she migh because she was busy playing all day, but she still let us know when she had to go!!!

We didn't get home until after 11:30 and she was still awake!!! The little party girl made it until almost midnight!!!

The difference a week makes!

Wow! There's no comparing this weekend to last and I'm amazed what a difference a week can make! Last week we went through hell starting the kickoff to Hannah's potty training. This weekend she just wanted to stay home and spend time with us and we had a GREAT weekend - fully potty trained!!!

As I posted yesterday, Friday night we went to meet Baby Reese at the hospital.

Saturday morning, Tony golfed and Hannah and I had breakfast, cleaned the house a bit, played outside and then visited a little when Jerry & Maci came over to get a few things for the baby. Then I took Hannah to the playground. She had been asking to go all week and since she was doing so well on the potty, I just needed to take her. We came home, had lunch and she took a nap. I ended up with a terrible headache that afternoon, so I napped a little as she watched some movies and then the three of us went to dinner. We played a little outside when we got home and then around 9:30, Hannah went to bed. She had a perfect potty day! No accidents, woke up dry and went straight to the potty in the morning and after nap. She even tells us that she has to go! We even dared to go to dinner in regular panties, not a pull up and all was well!!!

Sunday, we woke up and had breakfast and then got ready for church. Hannah was so excited to go. I haven't done a good job in a while in this area, so we're going to try to get back on the schedule and go. She was so excited to wear her dress that she had to run down and put in her Princess and the Pouper video to "dance like the princess in her dress". It was too cute!

At church, she was so good. She went up for children's sharing time, but walked down the aisle so timidly. She kept looking back to check with me. She just stood the whole time in the front and kept peeking back at me. The sermon was about welcoming someone in need with a loving heart and the pastor gave everyone a small bottle of water as a symbol of a way that you could welcome someone that came to your home. After their sharing time was over, Hannah turned around to show me her water - SO proudly - and ran back to me with a huge smile! It was great! We ran to the store and then went home to play in the pool for a while.

She wanted to have her lunch outside on a picnic again.

After lunch she had a nap and I went grocery shopping. I painted her toenails after she woke up. She's been asking me for that too, so as another way to show her that she's been doing great with the potty, we painted them! She loved it! We had dinner and then played outside, took a couple walks around the neighborhood and then took a bath. She had another perfect potty day! I'm so proud of her. She's one great kid!

Welcome Baby Reese!

Last night, we went to visit Baby Reese! She is the new addition to Jerry and Shelly's family. She was born yesterday just before 1:00 in the afternoon. She weighed 5 pounds, 1 ounce and was 17 inches or close to that! Jerry wasn't there by the time we got to Metro, but Shelly was doing pretty good. Here's Reese:

Hannah has really been on this "I want a baby sister" kick lately and this really fueled her fire! She loved the baby!!! I'm not exactly sure how much baby fever I have just yet, but we'll see....(and for those of you wondering right now, NO there's no news to share!!)

"Piracy"

Yes, that's what Hannah asks for when she's going potty - piracy. No, she's not asking to illegally download music, she's requesting to go potty alone - in private!
She had another good day, no accidents and she tells us she needs to go and then goes in willingly and does her business! I'm certainly not expecting that we're not going to have any accidents, but I think Hannah finally got it! Whew, that week was trying, but so glad we did it!
Three cheers for not buying any more diapers!! Hip, hip hooray; hip, hip, hooray; HIP, HIP HOORAY!!!