Recap of 2013

It's hard to believe that it's almost been two years since I've posted anything on Hannah's blog! There are times when I am so disappointment with myself for having not kept up on blogs like I had done all these years. It's my goal to be better at blogging in 2014. 

I'm sitting on the couch, literally minutes away from ringing in the New Year and I'm looking at pictures from the last year. Thinking about the highlights of the year when it came to Hannah.

I think the biggest thing of 2013 was that Hannah turned 13 years old, we have a teenager in our house!! She turned 13 in April and had a big party with family and friends. It was a purple party that included a purple candy bar and all kinds of purple treats!

In May, not only was Hannah recognized for a year of AVID completion, she attained a place on the Vice Principal's Honor Roll for holding a 3.8 GPA!! We were very proud! She not only adapted well to Jr High, but she's succeeding and excelling in all seven of her classes. She continues to do that even now as she just completed the first semester of 8th grade!

The week after school got out, Hannah had an adventure. She ventured for the first time out of the State of California to visit Steven's aunt in Las Vegas, with our sister in law, my mother in law, and our niece.

 

First Day of 8th Grade, August 2013.

 I think if you were to ask Hannah what the best highlight of 2013 was for her, I think she would say The Catching Fire Premiere in Los Angeles!! She has been a HUGE Hunger Games fan since the first time she saw the movie. Her room is filled with posters, memorabilia, and is a huge fan of Josh Hutcherson.

Long story short, I figured out where the L.A. premiere was to be held and in attempts of becoming Mom's of the Year, actually we were hoping for just Mom of the Week, a friend and I surprised our girls with a trip to Los Angeles in hopes of catching some of the hype that surrounds movie premieres. Little did we know how our night would turn out!!! We managed to find the stand by line for the Red Carpet sidelines and scored a spot at the beginning of the arrivals!! Not only did our girls see the celebrities of their most favorite movie, but we got pictures, and they got autographs! Hannah got Josh Hutcherson's autograph and the look on her face when she'd attained it was priceless!! As we excited the Red Carpet sidelines, we were presented with tickets INTO the premiere!! We were going to see the movie that very night! This picture and the expression on her face says it all!! One thing is for certain, I had definitely scored at least the "Mom of the Day" award! LOL.

Hannah's been going to Disneyland since she was 6 weeks old. She's been to Disneyland more times in her life than the neighborhood park around the corner! The last couple of years, she hasn't enjoyed going as much as she once did when she was little, but 2013 was the year it's changed. She's developed a new hobby, new character crushes, and very much enjoys going and asks all the time when our next trip it! I absolutely love it! We've managed to go 2-3 a month, especially the weeks they girls were off from school! I look forward to many more trips in 2014, especially with friends who received passes as Christmas presents!

2013 also brought about top braces and monthly orthodontic appointments, internet hobbies in the form of  instagram, pinterest, and tumbler. She's a self professed "FanGirl" and loves all things Hunger Games/Catching Fire, Harry Potter, and Disney. It's hard to believe that in 2014, our firstborn will turn 14, promote from Jr High, and will be a Freshman in High School!!!!!

Casted in the Beauty and the Beast

Tonight, we had a parent meeting for the upcoming Beauty and the Beast whereas the official cast was announced and the girls each got their part.

Hannah was casted as an enchanted object that fits her perfectly for her tall and slender body...she's a knife!! The tallest knife!

There's no time to waste and measurements were taken tonight for costumes!

Spa Day

For Christmas, the girls each received a gift card for a Pedicure from Uncle Robbie and Auntie. What fun it was to learn that their cousins, McKenzie and Haylee, received gift cards in their stockings as well! So a spa day for the girlies was planned!

Auntie made the appointment and we showed up. The women working in the salon that day were so helpful and happy to see such four cute girlies having a spa day.At first, Hannah looked pretty uncomfortable. I told her to sit back and just relax and enjoy getting her feet worked on. Eventually she did, and she said she did like it after it was all done. This was her first professional pedicure. It was a fun day and a great Christmas present to get and then do with their cousins!

The Month of December

After months of after school rehearsals, Hannah's Choir performance was the second week of December. All the kids did a great job and the performance was amazing! The week after Hannah's choir performance, our school started auditions for the upcoming production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Our school has done major productions for the last four years, whereas you have to audition, etc. Hannah has never wanted to try out because of the fear of being rejected. A week or two prior to the auditions, a few Mom Friends from school convinced Hannah to come the week of auditions. Not going to get a part, but going to learn the dance and the song and to just have fun. And with that, Hannah agreed to audition. Upon coming home after the first day of auditions, Hannah was hooked and she WANTED a part. She began rehearsing the dance, etc. The kids were sent home a letter on Friday afternoon letting them know whether or not they'd made it. Hannah was very excited upon opening her letter to learn that she indeed did make the production!!! The show dates are April 12, 13, and 14th. Her birthday: April 15th!! She is one very excited girl (as excited as Hannah gets) and rehearsals will begin the week we return to school, January 9th.

There were 225 kids auditioning, only 85 were accepted.Auditions were ran very professionally, each kid had a number.We got a part!!!!!
The week of auditions was a very week for Hannah. Not only were there auditions everyday afterschool, but she received Student of the Month and was honored at the assembly. She had been working REALLY hard to achieve it this month. She was very proud, as were we. The very same day as the Student of the Month assembly was a 6th grade field trip to Medieval Times! I went as a parent chaperone for Hannah's class. My group was lucky enough to get the first row of seats for our school! So we had prime vision of all that was going on. Hannah loves Medieval Times and this time was no exception!When school let out on Friday, December 16th, it meant three weeks of Christmas vacation!! The next week leading up to Christmas found the girls spending two different nights with Gramma and Papa, as Mommy and Daddy had places to go to that required Papa and Gramma's overnight services with the girls. The week also included an all afternoon, into the evening trip to Disneyland with good friends whom we've been going to Disneyland with since the girls (my Hannah, and her Katie) were months old. On this particular day, we knew the parks were going to be crowded, but we dressed our kids in festive shirts and took advantage of the Christmas decor all about the Disneyland resort. This is just one of the many pictures we took that day and I love it!! We stayed late into the night, enjoyed the snow and the holiday fireworks and all the pretties of the season. Our Christmas was a good one. With Christmas falling on a Sunday, we had our usual Sunday morning church service, as well as a Christmas Eve service. The girls were so excited for Christmas this year they were practically bouncing off the walls the few days leading up to Christmas. Both girls got Green Machines.This picture is blurry of Hannah, but it shows her true expression of happiness, as she received a Special Edition Lord of the Rings PEZ Candy set and the movies on Blu Ray. The girl is obsessed with LOTR and Orlando Bloom. On Friday, December 30th, we took the girls into Hollywood to enter the lottery for discounted seats for WICKED at The Pantages. Steven and I had seen it the week before, and for months, Hannah has been subjected to listening to my soundtrack over and over and over again. And with the girls getting ready to embark of their own broadway-like production, we wanted them to see something big and spectacular. Long story short, we did see WICKED and Hannah LOVED it as much as I did the first time I saw it! She now has the soundtrack on her own iPod!On New Years Eve Day, because we had free tickets that expired that day, we went to the Long Beach Aquarium. It was a fun day and we enjoyed being able to go and see all of the beautiful sea creatures. Hannah loves the ocean and has officially decided she wants to do something with animals when she gets older. There's lots to look forward to as we start back to school next week...afterschool rehearsals will begin for Beauty and the Beast, Science Camp for four days in April, and then ultimately, it all ending with a 6th grade promotion ceremony and Hannah moving on to the next thing...JR HIGH!!!

The Month of November

The first week of November, both the girls classes were part of our schools "Revue" program whereas several classes perform, some joining together, to form about a 60 minute performance of dance and moving routines. This is the third year our school has done such a program and it just gets better and better each year. Here is Hannah's class performance. About 2/3 of the way through the video, Hannah's teacher jumps in and dances with her class!!The month of November seemed to fly by between everyday afterschool Choir rehearsals for Hannah, and then ending the month with a two week break from school and then Thanksgiving.

Back at the Campground

A couple of weekends ago, our dear friends were camping at our favorite beach campground for the weekend. Steven was out of town for the night, so the girls and I packed our bags and went to the beach for the night. I scored an amazing rate at a motel just down the street from the campground and we were able to spend Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday at the place we all love so dearly...the beach!!

It was absolutely beautiful weather! I took some cute pictures of my girls. Here's one of Hannah that I love...And here's another....I made her lay down in the street in the exact same location of where her accident happened in July. LOL. Needless to say, Gramma didn't think the texted picture was too funny. :X

6th Grade

Hannah
11 1/2 years old
2011-2012

First Day of 6th Grade

Today was the LAST first day of Elementary School for our Hannah. She's a 6th grader now!

Class lists were posted on this weekend. The excitement of getting the teacher we requested wore off rather quickly once she started looking over the list of her classmates. According to her, a lot of the boys are trouble. LOL. Poor girl, she was sick to her stomach for a few hours as a result of this stress factor.With the help of her visiting older cousin, her clothes were picked out, and her backpack was ready before going to bed last night. And after a short bout of frustration over starting 6th grade on crutches, she had a great morning.

First day of 6th grade. FIrst day of Kindergarten.
Once on the school grounds, Hannah was stopped by numerous people, teachers, and parents inquiring about the crutches. Our principal even made his way to Hannah on the blacktop to express his concern. Despite the unfortunateness of being on crutches, she was happy to be back at school, with her friends. Being the mother of a 6th grader, I know there are limits now as to what I can do. So I didn't walk her to her class. I had her put her arms through her backpack and she walked herself with her class to their classroom. But it didn't stop me from snapping a picture of her in line. :) Upon pick up, she expressed she'd had a great day and it looks like Mrs. Herrera is going to be a great and fun teacher! And as for the troublesome boys in her class, it looks like the teacher can keep them in line!

One Week After the Accident

It's hard to believe that last night was a week since Hannah's accident. She's recovering nicely. Still not able to put much weight on her foot. I took the bandages off yesterday to take a look and to air out her leg for a while and her foot was still swollen and bruises are now coming to the surface.

We saw our Pediatrician on Tuesday morning for a follow up to the accident. He looked her over real good and gave us some prescription strength antibiotic cream to use on her abrasions. He also ordered a tetanus shot (they didn't give her one in the ER) and also included the whooping cough vaccine (now she won't need it next year prior to entering Jr High). He didn't even bother unwrapping her foot to look at it. He didn't want to disturb it as I told him it was pretty swollen on Saturday. We'll see him next week for follow up and if she still isn't bearing any weight on it, he'll take another Xray to see if a fracture or something could have surfaced.

On Wednesday morning, we saw our dentist. Because Hannah's upper lip became swollen almost immediately following the accident and it was bloody, there was some concern about her teeth. They checked her teeth in the ER to see if any were loose, but they still recommended we follow up with our dentist. So we did. She took an Xray of her upper teeth and checked her out really good and saw no cracks, chips, or trauma to her teeth. PTL!! Another great report!

As for the multiple abrasions Hannah has, we're keeping them moist with Neosporin and the new antibiotic cream from our Pediatrician. The scrapes on her face are almost gone! The tissue is pink where the scrapes were and we'll have to be really careful to keep sunscreen on her face. My Mom and I also picked up some light foundation coverup for her to wear once the tiny last scab comes off. Her shoulder and knee cap is pretty gnarly. But thankfully, most of the time, those are covered with clothes.

Last ThursdayToday, one week after the accident.Tomorrow, it's looking like we will be going to Disneyland with our niece who is flying in tonight from Atlanta. Hannah is pretty stoked about getting a wheelchair and avoiding some of the lines for the more popular rides.

Riding in Style

The morning following Hannah's accident, there were lots of well wishers and people who stopped us out and about in the campground asking how Hannah was. The camp hosts who were directly involved in the aftermath of it all, also stopped by to check on Hannah. She was kinda a celebrity throughout the campground. Many people had witnessed the aftermath and saw the emergency vehicles enter and exit the campground.

Betty, our camp host, offered to take Hannah for a ride in her golf cart Thursday evening for a nighttime tour around the campground. She picked her up shortly after 9:00, gave her a volunteer vest to wear, and off they went for a tour.When Betty brought Hannah back to our campsite, she told us about a special wheelchair the campground had for going on the sand. So the next morning, Steven went and got it, free of charge. It was ours to use all day.It was perfect! We were able to get Hannah around much better than her using the crutches to get everywhere. We visited the camp store, Uncle Robbie's campsite, watched the dolphins playing off the shore from the cliffs and then in the afternoon, we hooked up one of the broken beach umbrellas in order to keep Hannah in the shade and went to the beach for our very last afternoon of our vacation.

Daddy and daughter on the beach.
One of my favorite pictures from the week.

The sand wheelchair worked out great for the day! Hannah enjoyed it and it helped her enjoy the last day of our time at the beach.

Bike Accident While Camping

We are currently camping in San Diego County, at our favorite beach campground. We are with about forty friends and family.

Yesterday, my parents came down to visit for the day. My Dad took the day off from work and they packed their chairs, an ice chest, and set out to come see their kids and grandkids enjoying the great Pacific. Little did they know when they started out their day, how it would end.

We had just come up from being on the beach all afternoon. It was that time of the day when showers are taken, dinner is started, and campfires are built.

Hannah had decided to let Rachel go ahead of her for a shower. She got on her bike and went for a ride through the campground.

Minutes later, a friends son came running onto our site to get me. Telling me that Hannah had fallen off her bike. I went running...

About seven campsites down from ours, I found her laying in the middle of the street, her foot caught in her bike, her face bloody, multiple abrasions, and her crying. Saying how sorry she was that we'd have to spend money on her and that she'd ruined our vacation.

Thankfully some off duty firefighters and paramedics were camping in a site in front of where she'd fallen. They were able to begin assessing the situation - asking me to count her teeth, asking her a few questions, trying to free her foot that was trapped between the metal bar of her bike where the tire attaches and her wheel. They had to cut her foot free. They examined her helmet for dents, scratches, trauma.

So many people had gathered, our friends, our family, fellow campers, strangers. Eventually one of the off duty firefighters told everyone to go back to their campsite if they weren't medical professionals or the family.

Then sirens could be heard from PCH. I knew they were coming for Hannah.

A fire truck, followed by an ambulance, made their way down the narrow roadway of the campground. There were now uniformed medical professionals in addition to those who were there camping themselves.

First came the neck brace...

Then the backboard...

Then they taped her to the backboard. And lifted her to the gurney and then into the ambulance.

She had already started exhibiting signs of a concussion, but they weren't sure how serious of a head injury it was. It was 5:30 and smack dab in the middle of evening rush hour traffic. They debated taking her to the hospital just ten minutes away, or going the 25 minutes on the freeway to the local Children's Hospital. Because she was stable, they thought it best to make the trip to the trauma hospital.

It was a mad scramble to get my purse, our phones, Steven's wallet, clothes for Hannah (she was in her bathing suit), etc.

Our friends standing together, gathered together praying.

Steven went with Hannah, sitting in the front of the ambulance. I rode in my parents car, my Dad sticking to the back of the ambulance like glue through rush hour traffic. About 45 minutes later we were at the ER of San Diego Children's Hospital, a trauma hospital.

To make a long story short, a CT scan of the head was negative, foot xrays were negative for a break or fracture. A trauma blood panel was also drawn and it was negative.

Her diagnosis: a pretty bad concussion and a pretty badly sprained ankle.

There was discussion about possibly admitting her for observation. It took hours for her to come back around "to the here and now." She was on this constant loop every 5 minutes of asking the same things over again. "Did I loose teeth?" (her lip was swollen) "Am I gonna die?", "I'm sorry you're having to spend money on me" and then a new loop of things would come about 30-45 minutes later. It was really bad. Really, really bad.

I stepped out occassionally to update my parents in the waiting room. it was close to 10:00 when we discovered a McDonalds just around the corner from the ER waiting room. They'd been eating out of the vending machine for hours. LOL. After I returned from eating, which was only like 15 minutes, the difference in Hannah was like night and day. They'd hooked her up to some IV fluids as they thought maybe she was dehydrated from a day out in the sun, being sunburned, etc.

They did not keep her overnight. We were discharged shortly after midnight. She has her foot splinted and is on crutches. She has mutliple abrasions. But mostly surface.

We came back to the campground. And put her in our tent to sleep as we would need to check on her throughout the night. Rachel had already been taken to my brother's trailer and put to bed there.

At that point, it was well after 12:30am and my parents had an hour and a half drive home after an emotionally and stressful evening. Following behind an ambulance (although there were no sirens and lights for Hannah), as the result of a head injury was all too familiar for my parents. When my brother was 14 he fell off a skateboard (he was not wearing a helmet) and landed on his head, diagnosed with a basal skull fracture, and lost some hearing, smelling, and taste. Some in which he still has problems with to this day and he's 34. My parents safely arrived home around 2:30am. I made them call me when they got home. LOL.

We decided to continue our camping trip. One of her main concerns last night was the fact that she thought she'd ruined vacation and if we packed up and went home we'd only confirm that. She's doing amazingly well today. Taking it easy, sitting in the adults comfy recliner chairs, being waited on, playing games at the picnic table. We'd only be doing the same at home - sitting around, etc, so we thought we'd stay in the cool fresh air and continue our vacation. We are camping with a Registered Nurse, as well as a firefighter. So I had that comfort in the back of my head. Numerous people have come by our campsite to check on her, people stopping us in the street asking us about her, etc. The camp host came by and checked on her this morning as well. They are going to cart her around after dinner in their golf cart this evening and she's looking forward to that! After dinner we are also going to walk down to the campsite where the firefighters are and thank them and give them an update.

There's so many things we are thankful for today.

So many prayers answered.

So thankful we've always hounded our girls to wear helmets. It could have been a lot worse had she not been wearing it.....

Youth Lock In

The Youth group at our church has been planning an overnight Lock In for June 17th for the last several months. The first hour or so is open to anyone who wants to come and hear the opening message, rundown of the night. With Hannah on the brink of Jr High (GASP!) we knew she would attend that portion, but as the afternoon went on, she asked Steven and I if she could stay the entire time! We agreed and our church youth leaders were more than happy to have her join in on the fun and fellowship!!The event began shortly after 7:00 and the night was filled with worship, special music, devotions, rooms set up for gaming, ping pong table, snacks, and somewhere in the night they had an all out NERF gun war!

Steven, being the elder over the ministry stuck around for most of the festivities and came home around 1:30 and went back at 7:00 when the event ended to find that Hannah had indeed survived her FIRST all nighter!! Knowing that we'd be there a while to clean up and get things back in order, he told her to go lay down and she did just that! She fell fast asleep on a pew of chairs.Once home, she didn't go to bed, but instead stayed up the majority of the day. Rachel discovered she'd fallen asleep on her bed when she'd gone back to change to take a shower. She slept a few hours and then we had a friends house to go to for dinner, so then she was up.

She had a great time. Came home talking about one of the devotions that a young woman had shared. She bragged about having a Coke at 10:30 at night and a Sprite at 3:30 in the morning. LOL.

Playing Catch Up

It's no secret that my blogs have been neglected in recent months, Hannah's especially. While there have been no posts made on the blog, it's sure not for a lack of stuff going on. Here are a few pictures recapping the last few months:

One night in early April, we received a call from my sister in law and niece who live in Georgia, informing us that they were here in Southern California checking out collages for the 2012-2013 school year. It had been six years since we'd seen Laura and Alisha and we were fortunate enough to spend a Friday afternoon/evening with them at Disneyland, and some of Saturday visiting and having lunch, before they flew home on Sunday. Hannah especially loved seeing her cousin. In Mid April, Hannah celebrated her 11th birthday. We had a family dinner with the grandparents and Auntie and her cousins at The Old Spaghetti Factory and then it was off to The Apple Store to buy her iPod Touch. She'd been saving money, earning money, and asked for money for her birthday and she had more than enough to get it. She was VERY excited to get it. And with the exception of being away at school, I think it's been glued to her hand ever since getting it. Steven set her up a free text app that allows her to text her friends as well as a video chat app that always video chatting. She's definitely tech savy...but then it's in her genes. :) Hannah has managed for the second school year in a row, to obtain Perfect Attendance for the school year. She was one of twenty six students who got to have her order taken for McDonalds and then have lunch with the principal. Her seating arrangement next to the principal is a result of knowing the person in charge of the lunch. :) On Tuesday, June 7th, it was the last day of school and because of her being in a 5th/6th combo class, Hannah got to help with the 6th grade promotion ceremony. Her job was to stand at the school's front gate and pass the programs out to the incoming families. She was a dress and sandles to school and even wore her hair down. It's hard to believe that this time next year, we'll have a daughter going into middle school!!!It's been a busy few months, but now Hannah looks forward to some time off for summer, and is already very much anticipating the new school year whereas she'll be a 6th grader!

Growing Up

Spring pictures came in a few weeks ago and here is the picture of our "baby". The one who'll be 11 years old in a little more than a month. The one who's in the last trimester of 5th grade. The one who only has one more year of Elementary School and then it's off to Junior High School. The one who's changing every day. Developing her own style, her own sense of things. All the while perfecting her pre-teen attitude. LOL.

Where has the time gone? I look into this face sometimes I see the face that once belonged to a 12 month old, to the 18 month old who finally took up walking. This girl of ours is growing up...

Miss Smarty Pants

The end of January proved to be a very rewarding month for Hannah, academically.

On January 28th, Hannah was recognized as Student of the Month. This is something she's been working towards for the last few months and it's been her talking in class that's prevented it. Her parents are extremely talkative people and her father and I are convinced that trait must have skipped our generation, on both sides of the family. :) Today, Hannah, along with many of her schoolmates, were recognized in a school wide assembly for their high scoring on last years California State Testing. Hannah scored 'Proficient' in Math, and "Advanced" in Literature. The high scoring in literature earned her a medal!We're very proud of Hannah and her accomplishments. We recently passed the 100th day of the school year and it's hard to believe that soon we will have a 6th grader!