Sunday School

Our kids clean up nice!


Love the hand me down outfits too!


Both kids like going to church. Isabella doesn't cry when we drop her off anymore. Charles usually cries when we pick him up to go home. He always tells us he loves church and his teachers.

Naughty or Nice?

Has our family been naughty or nice this year?

Well let's see.

Baby Rebekah has been kicking away in my tummy. She tends to kick just about anytime I sit still. It's NICE to feel her moving around and enjoying all the room she has in there. Soon there won't be much room for her to bounce around. She is NAUGHTY when she jumps up and down on my bladder.

Isabella has been such a NICE girl this year. All the things she has been put though hasn't made a dent in her adorable personality. She is a happy girl, full of life, energy, and care. She thinks about her friends when she is not with them, plays so well with her brother, cares for her baby dolls, and remembers to hug and kiss her family at night before bed. She does have a NAUGHTY streak, such us coloring on the walls in the playroom.
(She is our little Cinderella cleaning up her mess)


Charles has been a very NICE boy. He is learning a lot at this age and applying it to life as needed. His mind is always working. He is extremely thoughtful. He's always thinking of people he loves and talking about them. He often tells us our clothes are cute or we look pretty or handsome. He loves on us pretty well too, saying I love you too and giving hugs and kisses. He can be NAUGHTY when he disobeys elders and hits his peers.



Aaron has been NICE by taking care of us all this year. Being the strong one with Isabella's surgeries and working hard to pay off a lot of her bills already. He had been supportive through my first and second trimester, going over and beyond his normal husband duties around the house. He plays with the kids a lot and cares for them on the weekends too. The kids love it when Daddy comes home. He has taken on many things this year including an MBA program. He has taken three courses and working on the fourth now. Making very good grades, might I add.

I can't really say if I've been naughty or nice. You would have to ask my husband. I will say I have had a really NICE year and feel blessed to be apart of the our family and of the family of God. Our kin has been extremely supportive this year as well as our church family and friends. I don't know if we could have done anything without their support and prayers.

So, I wanna know, have you been naughty or nice this year?

Christmas Joy

For me this Christmas season my joy is on the low end of the scale. I'm not quiet sure why, but it must have something to do with being tired, pregnant, and the weather. I have had no real desire to decorate for Christmas. My husband decorated the tree by himself. I helped him with the ribbon and that was it. I have a few nativities up and finally got the stockings hung. I'm coming around, slowly but surely.
*our manger is in the bottom left of the frame, it sits next to the tree empty. On Christmas morning baby Jesus will be there. Also, we don't have a tree skirt, our cat used to sleep on it and it got really gross because it was flannel. When I washed it the red bled into the white and we have a pink and red tree skirt now. I will be looking for fabric to make a new one by next year.


On some occasions I am in the spirit. On this evening we made ginger bread men with the kids. It was so fun to help them roll the dough out and make their cookies. Charles wanted to make gingerbread boys and Isabella made angels.



The next day after lunch I let them choose a cookie to decorate. Charles chose a snowman he made and Isabella got an angel. They were pretty tasty.





We managed to take them to Downtown Disney on a Friday night, no less. It wasn't too crowded, at least not for Disney. Isabella's favorite part of the night was dancing. She danced to High School Musical and learned the Cha Cha Slide. Charles watched but got upset when we left because he didn't get to dance. We asked him over and over if he wanted to dance, while we were there.



We saw Santa and Charles did really well, sat and talked to the man and told him what he wanted for Christmas. We of course rehearsed this with him before hand so we would be able to actual full fill his Santa wish.


Isabella refused to sit on his lap or even get close to him with out me. So I took her to him and stayed with her. She has become shy with characters like this. She used to love seeing the Princesses at Disney. In fact it seems she is the shy one now and Charles is not.


Now, don't get too upset that I posted about some Christmas things before I got around to Thanksgiving vacation. Those pictures are still being worked on (downloaded and down sized etc.) Don't be surprised if you hear about our Thanksgiving vacation on Christmas.

Photography by Charles

Can you guess what this boy is getting for Christmas?








There are some pictures missing, if I get around to it, I'll post them.

Key Lime Pie

I never got around to eating Key Lime Pie at a local restaurant. So I ordered some with my lunch at the resort on the last day. It looked and tasted just like any other key lime pie I have had. So I'm not sure if I've had really good Key Lime Pie or not. I enjoyed it, but I'm not a huge fan of key lime pie, give me apple pie any day though.


I shared my lime with Isabella. The pictures explain it all, no words needed.

Around the resort

The resort was really nice. It was a resort and spa so there were lots of northerners relaxing all over the place. While eating lunch one day someone docked at the hotel and said they just came in from Boston. Needless to say there were not a lot of kids around.
Us Floridians swim from May to September, when the water is warm. The pool was just too cold for us to get in, but others enjoyed it. We swam in the little pool (the spa) which was like bath water so it was warm but not hot. The kids enjoyed themselves and that's all that matters.
The one thing both kids were excited about was playing in the sand. LUCKILY the resort had a place to do that. It was a great little place they could play and see the boats go by. When Aaron was on break he would come visit us. He usually found us in the sand. I would go down the stairs to the water and bring some back up so they could build castles too. Charles got pretty good at asking me for more water.


When they got tired they lounged.


When they saw pirate ships they stopped in their tracks to watch them sail by. I don't know how many times I told Charles what the pirates were doing or going (they were looking for treasure or sailing out to sea). By the way, all boats with sails are pirate ships.


Isabella just loved playing all day. She didn't get to enjoy the beach this year like her brother did. Most of this type of play was new to her and she really enjoyed it.


Near the lobby there is a turtle pool. The kids liked going up there and watching the turtles. They would talk to them, sing and dance for them. The turtles would swim over to them too.


Isabella liked waving to them and saying hi or bye.


We took a few trips out of the resort while Aaron worked. But with only the single stroller and a slow toddler and pregnant woman we didn't walk far. We found a couple public beaches but I didn't feel comfortable being there by myself with the kids, so we just drove by and looked at the water and rocks. I would have to say Key West is not a great place for toddlers.

Isabella's Half Birthday

Isabella is now 18 months. She is turning into a beautiful toddler, right before our eyes.
This photo shoot was done after lunch. So she is a little messy. She almost always wears what she eats. And it's almost impossible to get it all off her. These photos reflect the real Isabella. (she was also VERY excited to have her picture taken and posed very well for me)


The morning of her half birthday she wanted to get dressed, put her shoes on, and put a bow in her hair. I think if I had reminded her about her purse she would have gotten that. She'll learn about that one soon enough.


This girl is talking so well. She is saying 2, 3, 4 word sentences. She's even learning her letters. She is starting to sing the alphabet song and loves Leap Frog. Her brother likes to help her learn her letters too.


She is into all sorts of girly type things. She likes to dress up, play in her house, pretend cook, and play with her dolls. She recently learned to put on her crocs and is now obsessed with shoes. She also knows if she wants a bow in her hair or not. If I put one in her hair without her consent it is a constant battle to keep it in her hair. But if she asks for it, it stays in all day long. She recently has taken a liking to horses. But still loves Curious George, Cinderella, any Disney Princess, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and Charles' toys.


She saw her pediatrician and weighed in at 21 pounds and is 31 5/8 inches. She's less than 10% for weight and 50% for height. We are not worried about her weight in the least, her growth chart looks very normal and she is healthy, happy, and advanced in almost all areas of development.

Happy Half Birthday Isabella Kaylynn!

The tourist walk

There are a lot of 'attractions' on one particular street (I don't remember the street name). Although we didn't visit the houses, we did walk by the entrance to The Truman House and The Hemmingway house.




If we were sans kids on this trip I still don't think we would have toured these homes. But at least we got our pictures taken with their signs.

This tree is called a Kapok, never seen one before. Had to take a picture and let the kids play at the trunk. Plus there were roosters near it and Charles liked chasing the roosters.
Interesting animals to have on an island, they were EVERYWHERE!


On our walk to the southern most point, Charles had to get himself a real estate book, because he has money to put down on a place there. Ask him, he'll tell you, he has money in his pocket.


The sun set at the southern point. There is a navy base of some sort there. That's why there are satellites instead of palm trees in the view. Palm trees would be prettier, but I guess satellites are safer.

This does not conclude our Key West trip, there are more pictures... (I've said this before, if I don't put it on the blog I won't remember it to scrapbook it, so even if it's dull to you, it's our family memories.)

The Resorts

Our first night in Key West we stayed at the Hyatt Vacation Club. The room was basically an apartment, full kitchen, living room, two bed rooms, two baths, and a huge patio. We could have stayed here all week, it was really nice.
The kids were pretty tired from traveling so we put them right to bed when we got there. We intended to sleep with them because we weren't sure how they would do, so they got the master suite. They slept just fine without us, so we took the other room with the queen size bed, which we were used to anyway.

The power went out for about 15 minutes, it appeared to be the entire island. It was so nice to sit outside and enjoy all the stars. A happy little surprise to have on our first night in Key West. The room had a telescope, but it didn't work very well. We figure it was more for decoration.



For the rest of the trip we stayed at another Hyatt Resort on the other side of the island. This is where the conference was held so Aaron didn't have to do much but walk across the pool to get to work. This room was the standard hotel room, which was great. The decor was really nice. the bathroom was very modern. Charles really enjoyed the rain shower. (not pictured)


The sleeping arrangements here were girls in one bed boys in the other. Nap time the kids slept together. Aaron and I enjoyed snuggling up to our kids, although I don't think either one of us would like to sleep with them for any length of time. Isabella doesn't like to be covered up and tends to sleep opposite of the other person, and Charles likes to snuggle up or put a foot in your side. Needless to say, we were happy to be home in our own beds after this trip.

A Sunset Night

Our hotel was close to Mallory Square and other attractions in Key West so we walked pretty much every where we went. On our way out of the hotel Aaron dropped my Nikon! This was his picture of me to prove it worked still.


Mallory Square had all sorts of entertainers while we all waited for the sun to set. It's like a bunch of circus acts. There were palm readers and side walk sales too. Lots of people, lots of smoking, lots of alcohol. Not a great place for us. We watched one performer and left. He was good but his act was too long. The crowd grew restless. So did Isabella. The sunset wasn't great due to a cruise ship leaving and clouds so we didn't stick around to watch it set.


We walked around a bit till we found a place we could afford to eat at and that was a good environment for our kids. Isabella was talking on her Daddy's phone while we walked. It was so adorable. I didn't get a good picture though.



The place we chose to eat at had plastic chairs. Since Charles wasn't real good at sitting on his bottom while he ate he tumbled over and busted his chin on concrete. This is the before picture.

We took him to the CVS around the corner, but they didn't have a pharmacy. I talked to a pharmacist over the phone and she gave me advice on how to treat him. Later, we learned from our pediatrician that he needed stitches but we were well past the 24 hour time frame for those. He's healing up very well and his scare shouldn't be that big.
Charles knows how to sit on his bottom now...



Before Charles fell off his chair Aaron and I were able to try a Key West favorite, Conk Fitters. They were ok, I wouldn't order them again but might eat one off of someone else's plate. We ate the rest of our shrimp three ways meal at the hotel.

After we ate and Charles was feeling better we loaded up in the car and drove to Publix to buy food for tomorrow. We had a refrigerator in the hotel so that came in handy. One cheap day of food was in order. Eating out three meals a day plus snacks is pricey. Good thing Aaron had two free meals a day for him or we would have gone broke. All I have to say is thank goodness for Publix.

Thanks

Thanksgiving week we took a vacation with some of Aaron's family to Burnsville, NC. We stayed in a cabin in the mountains, the week was just perfect. We got some cold weather, a little snow, and some beautiful days to enjoy.
On the way to the cabin there were a few Christmas trees planted. I thought it would be fun for the kids to see some real Christmas trees and get some pictures. The kids enjoyed playing in the trees. After 90 pictures of them not one of them has them both looking at the camera and smiling. In fact you will see that frame after frame, one child is looking and smiling and then transition to the other one looking and smiling. Never at the same time. I have to laugh or I will just cry.
This one Isabella is giving us her last smile and Charles is starting to smile and look.

And this one, Isabella just got started and Charles was done.




The cabin was near a creek, so we walked down there to see it. It was our last day and the coldest. The boys had been down there a few times but we all wanted pictures and never got around to it until this day. This was the best we got. I wasn't holding my breath for good family pictures down here. All Charles wanted to do was throw rocks in the creek, Aaron could hardly breath, I was scared of falling and Isabella was freezing. So the fact that we got this picture is a miracle.


More on this vacation later...

Mile 0

We walked by this on our way to the southern most point. We got another picture on the other side of the street with the end of US 1. (When I find it I'll probably add it to this post) (Mom, don't show this to Dad, it's his Christmas present)

The end of the world?

Ok, well maybe not the world, but the state of Florida and the continental USA.

One of the days we were in Key West we walked down to the southern most point in Florida. It's kind of neat to think about how close we were to Cuba at that point. And that we had gone as far as you can in the US. The kids only cared about the big rocks and water. But one day they will appreciate this photo.
I have more photos and stories to share just not a lot of time to blog them now. (I have yet to go through all the pictures) So stay tuned things will be out of order for a while. You might still be getting Key West stories in 2010. :-)

Rebekah

The newest addition to the Hanke family is Rebekah Faith.
Today we found out our little babe is a girl. She is perfectly healthy too!!!
She was snuggled up to the placenta so we didn't have a great session, but we captured a face shot. And after much prodding and turning we could get her legs uncrossed to see her girly bits.


As the tech searched for all the organs and began to search for the gender she said the legs were crossed, I then said well it must be a girl. I did have to turn over and we wiggled and poked until we could FINALLY get her legs apart to see. And it was plain as day- a girl.


Aaron and I are thrilled to have another girl. We pray Isabella and her are best friends and have a great sister relationship. Charles is already a wonderful brother to Isabella and I'm sure he will look out for these two girls his entire life. Aaron isn't quiet sure what to do about two girls, I mean Isabella already has him wrapped up pretty tight. But we have already learned there is enough love to go around and Rebekah will make her mark on us just as Charles and Isabella have.
We look forward to our party of five, three girls, two boys. :-)

Oh, my due date is anyone's guess now. I don't even remember my original date now, but the doctor basically said (as I have on occasion) "You are due the second half of April." Well thanks for clearing that up! :-)

The baby measured pretty close to 20 weeks and weighed about 15 ounces. Heart rate was in the 140's. And I am doing well. Apparently having a third child brings third trimester symptoms in the 2nd trimester, but other than that I'm good. Nothing to worry about. I do have another ultrasound scheduled for the end of the month so they can see the profile since she was so reluctant to show us today. Oh darn, we will just have to see our beautiful baby girl again.

20 weeks

20 weeks down, 20 to go (more or less).
On Thanksgiving Day my pregnancy was 20 weeks along. It's flying by so fast that I about panicked on how little time I have after the holidays to prepare for this little babe. I know now that there isn't a lot I can do to prepare for a baby. Yeah I need necessities and I need clean clothes and blankets and a place for he or she to sleep but after that I don't have to do much. (Unlike all the preparations we did for our other two kids) After both our kids I learned that you just go with the flow. The real challenge with this baby is how to fit he or she into this house. We are running out of room quickly. I think bunk beds are in our near future.

As for the pregnancy, I am doing well. I am FINALLY feeling the baby kick. I was a little worried but remembered with Charles (my first) that I didn't feel him till this late or later. Isabella kicked or had hiccups from the day she was conceived. I see my doctor this week and we will hopefully find out if we are having a Rebekah or a Maddox.

Once we know the gender we will share it with family and friends and on our blog of course. Facebook might have the first update. But the blog will have the story and pictures. :-)


This picture was taken on Thanksgiving Day in North Carolina. It started snowing while we were eating our meal. More on that story in a later post.