500th Post!

Whoo Hooo! This is my 500th post for Hannah's Happenings! And to mark this special post, I'll list fifty things about Hannah.

1. We were told several times through my pregnancy "If I had to guess, I'd guess a girl"
2. Was a Y2K baby
3. Born April 15, 2000
4. She was two weeks late
5. Born at 7:49pm
6. Was 9lbs 15oz at birth, but what's an ounce, I usually tell people she was 10lbs
7. She is the first Grandchild for my side of the family
8. The second grandchild for Steven's side
9. The first great-grandchild for my side
10. Born tongue tied, like her father
11. Began sleeping in her own room the first night home from the hospital
12. Her first trip to Disneyland was when she was just 5 weeks old
13. Was hospitalized August 1, 2000, at four months of age for aspiration pneumonia
14. Hospitalized August 31, 2000, because an Upper GI suggested she had pyloric stenosis
15. Had her first and only surgery (thus far) at the age of four months. A pyloromyotomy, and had her tongue tied clipped as well. A week later we were told the pyloromyotomy was unnecessary, she had been misdiagnosed.
16. Hospitalized for the 3rd time in 2 months in October 2000 for aspiration penumonia
17. Had many tests and saw many specialists in regards to her swallowing problem. All told us she would outgrow it. She eventually outgrew the problem when she was 18 months old.
18. At 16 1/2 months of age, she came in second place for a crawling contest sponsored by Sears. We got to pick $50 worth of clothes as her prize
19. Was a late walker and began walking at 17 months old
20. First night away from home, besides hospitalizations, was spending the night with Gramma and Papa in March 2001, when we went away overnight for our 5th anniversary
21. First big trip was a car trip to Sacramento to visit Steven's brother and family
22. Potty trained at 3 years old, she wanted to go to 'school'
23. Started preschool in September 2003, she was in the Pooh Bear class
24. Wore a "I'm the Big Sister" t-shirt to share the expecting news with her Gramma and Papa. Gramma thought the shirt was a hand me down from our friends next door. LOL.
25. Was 4 1/2 years old when she became a big sister
26. Favorite foods are Pizza and Macaroni and Cheese
27. Has one cousin older than her and four younger than her
28. Is a blue senior belt in Tae Kwon Do/Karate
29. Favorite color is purple
30. Loves animals
31. Loves to hum, sing, and makes noises
32. Is tall for her age
33. Never been to another major theme park besides Disneyland
34. Has been to Disneyland more in her life than the park around the corner from our house
35. Favorite Princess is Snow White
36. Is a great big sister, most of the time
37. Is quite the little planner
38. "Grew Up" with my parents dog, she was close to Wendy, and thinks of her often
39. Her first pet of her own was a beta fish, that she named "Waggy"
40. Has impeccable school attendance. Having only missed four days in the last three years.
41. Loves to do crafts, to draw, to bead
42. Likes to write in little journal books and make up stories
43. First and only plane ride thus far was to Northern California for a tea birthday party for her cousin
44. Loves to fall asleep listening to music, on her very own iPod shuffle
45. Has a room all to her self
46. Is very much a Daddy's girl
47. Can be very silly and funny
48. Recently developed a strong like for horses
49. Still sleeps with the blanket that her Gramma made for her 1st Christmas
50. Sleeps with stuffed animal of some sort every night

School Days are Coming to an End...

It's so hard to believe that this time, four weeks from now, Hannah will have her 2nd grade school year behind her. Her last day of school is May 22. And then because her schools schedule is changing from a Four Track Year Round School to a Single Track School Schedule, Hannah will have nine weeks of summer vacation before beginning her third grade (gasp!) school year on July 30th.

While the new adventures lay ahead for Hannah in the coming school year are exciting, the teacher she has had this year has been absolutely amazing! All of us parents when we're together are so sad to see the school year coming to an end because our time with Miss Barrett will soon be over.

The Lord really blessed us this year with a wonderful teacher who not only loves her students, but has a real heart for the Lord. She's everything that we as Christian parents could have asked and prayed for. I've already been praying for the teacher Hannah will have in the coming school year, and while I know nothing is impossible for the Lord, I think getting a teacher as good as the one we've had this year could be a stretch.

Belt Ceremony

The usual routine that follows a tournament is a belt ceremony. Hannah tested for her new belt a couple of weeks ago, however, so that the kids could compete in their current belt color, they weren't awarded their new belt color until tonight.

Hannah did awesome at her belt test, and we thought perhaps she would move up to a Red Belt. But because kicks and block and the form is getting tougher and she's only a few belts away from a black belt, the instructor is starting to move up belts a little more slowly, which is a good thing. Tonight, Hannah progressed to a Senior Blue Belt! Which is very exciting!

Karate Tournament

The end of the karate quarter recently came to an end which means it's tournament time! Hannah competed in two areas, forms and sparring. In the forms competition, she just barely missed a 4th place spot. She did such a great job and had even been called to repeat her form twice. Because she's continuing with Karate, we bought her her own head gear and chest protector today. She was pretty jazzed about that. After the forms competition, the sparring competition was next. She patiently waited through all of the lower colored belts to compete and finally she was sent to the mat in which she would compete. There were four girls in her age group, so it was a for sure thing that she'd get a placing of some sort. The first match it was a quick 3-0 win for Hannah. She sparred again, and I think lost. But the exciting thing was that she placed 2nd!!!The stinky part, was because it was at the end of the tournament, trophies had run out! She came home with no trophy in her hand. But for picture taking purposes, a friend within her karate class who had placed 2nd in her competition lent Hannah her trophy! LOL. We'll have to keep on top of our instructor and she'll eventually get her trophy, but it stinks she didn't come home with one today.Her instructor was very pleased with how Hannah did today. I think with all the practicing and hard work she's poured into her classroom performance, and along with getting older, gave her the confidence to get out there and do well today. She didn't exhibit her normal nervousness self and got out there and acted like she was having fun! And look what it got her, that and all the practicing she's been doing got her! As always following a tournament, Hannah got to choose where we ate dinner. And she chose The Old Spaghetti Factory, where she has recently become attached to favorite. Today she got an adult size meal and ate it all!!!! We had a nice dinner celebrating Hannah's achievement with Gramma and Papa and Gramie, who all came to the tournament to cheer her on!

Class Performance

Hannah goes to a magnet school that specializes in the visual and performing arts. And as part of their yearly curriculum, every class must put on a performance at some point in the school year. In Kindegarten, Hannah's class did a Christmas performance, and in first grade, they did a A Walk Through Nursery Rhymes.

For the past two days, Hannah's class has done their performance, titled "Animal Research Reports". The setting for the performance is in a classroom, whereas a new student is greeted by his fellow students who guide him along as to how to get started on his Animal Research Report. And then through conversations and comparisons, the students talk about the animals they've researched. And as previously mentioned in prior posts, Hannah's animal was the lion.

The performance was very cute and the students did a wonderful job and put a lot of time not only into learning their lines and practicing and perfecting, but they also designed the covers of their programs. Each student drew and colored one of the animals mentioned in the performance. It was pretty funny, all of us parents traded programs back and forth and with the greeters until we got programs that had been drawn and colored by our own children. Dedicated parents I tell you! Hannah's programs already have been put into my special memory box for such special papers.Almost all the parents came yesterday, along with grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, etc. There were parents that came again today and some grandparents, but today's performance was the day Hannah's family and extended family came to show their love and support. We took up quite a bit of the chairs too!! LOL. Thank you to all of you who came and showed your support, I know Hannah really appreciated the attention. :)

This is the opening to their performance.

Convincing her fellow classmates why lions don't have an easy life.


And here is the entire class, and their hard working teacher, giving the paparazzi, I mean parents and grandparents, one last group shot.At dinner tonight, we asked Hannah if she was glad to have her performance behind her, and surprisingly she said no, she was a little sad it was all over because it had been so much fun! Hopefully the confidence she built up with these performances in the last two days will help boost her confidence tomorrow when she competes in her Karate Tournament!

And The Birthday Festivities Continue...

A couple of weeks ago, I had thought I'd make Hannah's birthday lunch a special one by bringing her lunch. Parents are allowed to come to school and have lunch with their kids, but it's something that I seldom do. So I joined Hannah for lunch today, bringing her her choice of McDonalds. And I sat at the table with her and the nineteen other 2nd graders in her class. Ahhh, what joy, what bliss, what commotion!! LOL. After we'd finished our lunch and we'd been excused by the lunch lady, we went to the playground where she showed me the area of the field where they've been collecting tons of ladybugs at recess and then I sat on a bench and watched her frolic and play with her friends and fellow classmates. She checked in with me a couple of times, but I mostly sat on the bench and observed. She's such a different person when she's at school. She noticed that on the tether ball courts, there was a competition going on between the 1st graders and the 2nd graders and said that was "so tight". Huh?? What'd she say?? Apparently 'tight' is a new word in kids' vocabulary. As if bringing her lunch wasn't enough, I came back to school just a little bit before school was dismissed and brought her class brownies. They were all thankful for the special treat and cheerfully sang "Happy Birthday" to Hannah.This evening, Gramma and Papa, Uncle Robbie and Auntie and the cousins came over for pizza and pizzookies. Hannah opened her birthday presents from us, and presents from Gramma and Papa. For some unknown reason, Hannah is fascinated with horses. She wants one, she talks about them all the time, she pretends she has one. And tonight, she got a set of horses for her very own!Ever since the first time we went to the home of one of her classmates, Hannah has wanted a white board, because her friend had one and together they played school. She must have told everyone who asked her what she wanted for Christmas and her birthday that she wanted a white board. She was most excited to open this and find that she got lots of pretty markers to go with it.I was really at a loss as to what to get Hannah this year for her birthday. Nothing jumped out at us when we went toy aisle looking. Knowing how much she loves crafts and to do crafty things, my mom suggested I fill a bag with all kinds of new things for her. I took my old caboodle, that had previously been given to her but was empty and filled it with colored pencils, a stapler, erasers, glue sticks, scotch tape, index cards, post it notes, scribble paper, an address book, just to name a few. All the little packages were individually wrapped which made it more fun to open everything. And just like Gramma said she would, Hannah LOVES the box!!After demonstrating her Tae Kwon Doe form that she will perform at her tournament on Saturday (thus the costume change), it was time for pizzookies!! And boy were they yummy!!The marathon days of celebrating have come to an end and the birthday celebrations for 2008 are now behind us!