Christmas with Family

"Hannah thinking"

Hannah's drawing of a snake

Funny Face

More funny faces

Sleeping after a rough day at "work"

Playing volleyball

Reach, Hannah

Enjoying a "Sunny Day"

Hiding in the corn

Looking at the plants

Hannah made a "horse"

"I like Christmas!"

"Yeah, blocks!"

Putting cookies out for Santa

Hannah delivering presents

Hello

We had a wonderful Christmas with our extended family. Everyone came to our house in Ocala for Christmas Eve. Hannah enjoyed handing out all of the presents, but really enjoyed opening her own.
It is amazing to watch her grow. It seems like she changes so much every few days. She says the funniest things. Daddy told Hannah that "we are going to pick Mommy up at the store", to which Hannah replied "Mommy fell down? Mommy OK?". Mommy told Hannah that she was going to put Hannah's sheets in the dryer. Hannah told Mommy "I help blue put sheep in the driver."
We recently went to New York to visit Grandma. It was quite cold after living in Florida.
Please keep the children who are still stuck in Guatemala and their families in your prayers. We pray another Christmas does not go by while these families are separated.

Hannah likes to hear her echo in the "cave"

Merry Christmas

One Amazing Year

Hannah loves her Baby Jaguar

Waiting to go see Dora the Explorer Live

Hannah falling asleep at dinner after a long day of playing hard

Hannah loves to jump

Hannah and Mommy dressed up for Dora the Explorer Live. She has a Dora doll, Baby Jaguar, Dora shirt and dress, Dora hat and her backpack.

We took Hannah to see Dora the Expolorer Live. She LOVED it!

One year ago today, we stepped off the plane in Fort Lauderdale with Hannah in our arms to begin our lives as a family back in the United States. It was a day we thought may never come. It is hard to believe it has been a year, but it also feels like Hannah has been with us forever. She has grown a full four inches since she has been home in the US.
It doesn't seem like we have had alot of time to keep her blog updated, so here are some recent pictures. We took Hannah to see Dora the Explorer Live in Fort Lauderdale. She absolutely loved it! She even got to see Diego. Hannah is so full of energy. She will jump through the whole house. She loves to pull weeds out of the grass.

We have been working on Hannah learning to count. She can count to 10. She likes to sit in the shower and put her toys in a nice straight line and count as she puts them down. We are also working on our ABC's. She won't say "V", it comes out as as all different letters.

Hannah has learned to use "please" very well. It just melts your heart. It is hard to tell her "no" when she looks at you with her big beautiful eyes and says "please Daddy, please".

Hannah-isms

Hannah's love - Diego
Hannah's Best Friends - Dora and Boots

Hannah and her horse in the pool

Moviestar Hannah

Hannah entertaining residents at the Assisted Living Facility

4th of July at the beach

4th of July at the beach

Hannah in her pool

Hannah driving Daddy's car

Hannah and Missy in her room

Hannah is always concerned about others. She will see something, pretty much anything that catches her attention, and ask if it is ok. She will see the trees moving in the rain and say “trees wet rain. Hold on trees! Hold on trees! I help blue. Ah-kay trees? Ah-kay.” She is very good at saying thank you, you’re welcome, bless you and please.
She has quite the imagination. She will come up to us and say “ssssss (like a snake) Hear that? Uh-oh! Snake. I don’t see it. (making binoculars with her hands) There it is, snake!”
Hannah’s vocabulary continues to grow at an incredible rate, though she has some “Hannah-isms”.
Ah-kay = OK
Nake = napkin
a-go = Diego
cumber = cucumber
mato = tomato
pop-pop = ice pop
Doraboots – Dora and Boots
Ga-duh! = wake up
Hog gog = hot dog
I help blue = I’ll help you
Strawbaby = strawberry
Crackers = crocodile
She has an obsession about shoes. She believes everyone should wear shoes 24 hours a day. She gets upset if she sees someone without shoes on. She will come up and tell anyone without shoes “shoes on”. We were at the store recently and she saw a man carrying a baby without shoes. She started yelling “Baby shoes on! Baby shoes on!” It was a little embarrassing.
She is definitely a “girlie-girl”. She want to carry her purse around full of toys. She is very interested in shoes, clothes and purses. She does not like dresses unless she is wearing something underneath. If she does not pants or leggings on, she will tell us “Nana knees”.
Hannah’s favorite foods are fries (which she does not get often), cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, grapes, strawberries, Goldfish pretzels, chicken, hot dogs, cheese and Cheerios. When she is hungry, she will run through the list of all the food items she can think of “chicken, mato, cumber, lettuce…”.
She loves to watch Dora the Explorer and Diego. She has learned many Spanish words from these shows and uses them in everyday conversation. “Come on Dadda, vámonos”
Hannah celebrated her first Independence Day as an American citizen. We took Hannah to the beach in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea yesterday with Uncle Ed and Aunt Alex and we watched the fireworks, or “Pretties” as Hannah calls them, later that night. She loved playing in the water and especially loved the sand. On the way home, we asked her if she had fun at the beach. She had the biggest smile and nodded her head. It was priceless.

One Year Ago Today...

One year ago today, Debbie left to live in Guatemala with Hannah until the adoption was completed. We expected one, maybe two months at the most.

A Day at the Beach

Kevin's friends from High School, Nate and Sarah, came to visit Florida. We went to Jensen Beach to see them. Hannah had a great time playing in the water and sand. She would go into the water and try to run from the waves.

First Easter Home

Today was Hannah's first Easter at home. She is a great egg-hunter. We had an egg hunt at home and then later at Uncle Ed's house in Orlando.