My cute nephews

We were lucky enough to have my sister's (ok and Jess' brother's) family come visit last week! We have been able to see them about twice a year since we moved away and the kids seem to try to make up for all the lost time in the few days we have together. They played hard and had a blast!

There is a groundhog hole in our backyard that they "found." This of course must belong to some mystery animal and they were determined to find out what kind it was. I love how much they all love science and how they try to make everything into a new discovery. So Pantera has a notebook and is writing their observations, they went a little like this:
1. Football shaped eyes.
2. is (scratched out) isn't poisonous.
3. a rat snake.
4. would be a good pet.
So they decided it was a rat snake whole and claimed they saw it. Andrew approached me a little bit later and said "Aunt Savannah, it's kind of wierd, because Pantera and Ryan say they saw a snake in that hole, but I didn't see anything." I didn't want to tell him that's because they are full of hot air.

Amari found a new friend in Ryan, she would follow him all around the house. I don't blame her, he's one cool guy. Jordan still has the ability to crack Zeke up anytime and Jordan thought that was cool, sometimes. We were so happy to see everyone, thank you guys for taking the trip out!

p.s. Coco, if you read this I can't post comments on your blog. I've been trying for months...just to let you know I do read it and want to comment.

Remember when...

I took a little trip down memory lane tonight finding pics of the birthday boy. He is growing up way to fast, I'm just grateful I was chosen to be along for the ride.
And here he is today...

It wouldn't be a 3 year old birthday without a crying picture! He wasn't feeling very cooperative with the pictures, I even busted out his Steelers shirt (they totally brainwash them out here!) but only ended up with a couple good shots. We did a little celebration with my family last week (more on that next post) so I just bought some cupcakes...yes he picked Steelers...and we had a nice quietish birthday at home. We love you Zekie! Happy 3rd birthday!

Hannah, don't even think about it!

I DARE someone to try and steal HER snack!
No doubt about it, Amari is crazy tough. She will be so sweet at times, then randomly knock you in the head. I guess she is trying to protect her reputation or something.

I like to paint for my kids, and they really seem to cherish the pictures on their walls. Amari wakes up talking about each painting in her room "Mouse, Bolt, Buzz, Lightning!" Not that clear, but I know what she is saying. This is the first one I did for Amari a couple of months ago.

I finished this for Zeke last week. Unfortunately I didn't get credit for it, if you ask who made it for him he will tell you Lightning McQueen did. I tried.

Zeke has one more session with his beloved Mrs. "Ham" before he turns 3 and no longer gets occupational therapy. I still can't believe how taken he is with her. This is a kid who doesn't talk about anyone (lightning aside) ever, and here he is pretending to call her on the phone! This morning the doorbell rang and he ran to it excitedly saying "Mrs. Ham, Mrs. Ham!" while Amari ran saying "Papa, Papa!" Too bad it was the furnace guys.

I don't have any good pics of Tera this time around, probably because she likes to mismatch and mess up her hair. I shouldn't care, but I do. I still take her pics, but the internet is so permanent...she will thank me for not posting them someday, I think. Anyways, the last couple weeks have been really hard on her. She has had a hard time accepting that she is no longer in Kindergarten. She told me "Mrs. Mascara's clothes look like Ms. K's, but their brains, ugh, not even close!" I caught her crying with her yearbook a couple of nights. This week has been much better, hopefully it stays that way.

17 month pics

I loved how vintage looking these black and white pics turned out...
Look at that sweet little innocent face.

Boy does she have you fooled! Do you know why she was smiling so big? I told her to sit down on the bench and she wasn't listening. The smile got even bigger with the threat of time out.

To quote Pantera "Why does she do the opposite of everything you say?"

On another note I am 30 1/2 weeks and I look past full term (unfortunately the camera angle minimizes this fact). I am measuring big and have gained a TON of weight so far. So lots of extra fluid in there, big baby, wrong date, or secret twins (not really on the last one). I will probably have another ultrasound in a couple of weeks to figure it all out.

Both of my sister in laws had their babies this week! Cute little Truman on Wednesday and sweet Sadie on Thursday (I've yet to see a pic of her hint, hint!). Pantera was happy then sad at the news and suggested we all meet at Disneyworld so she could see her new cousins. If only it were that easy!

Youtube

Summer break is officially over at the Hammond house. It's been a busy Monday already, but I can't believe how QUIET it has been! If you ask Zeke where Pantera went he will tell you "School bus" and ask if it makes him happy or sad he quickly replies "HAPPY!" I'm sure he is only happy because she is ;) To make the day even better, Zeke had therapy with "Mrs. Ham" this morning. He has been pretending to call her on my phone during the week. I love that he loves her and I totally get why. She has done such a great job getting into his world and brings new Cars items each session.
The other night I was having some pretty painful braxton hicks contractions. I had to sit down and put my feet up for a little bit. Amari came up to me and was (I thought) lovingly rubbing my belly. It was so cute the way she was taking care of me. Then Pantera came upstairs and asked if I was ok. I told her I was fine and that Amari was helping me. Pantera said "You know she is rubbing cheese on your stomach right?" Sure enough those sweet little rubs were her spreading cheese on me...I guess Jess is back in as birth coach.

Pantera has been counting down the days and hours until school starts since, well since school got out. She was up an hour early this morning, dressed and ready to go. She was talking a mile a minute, I honestly think the anticipation was worse then Christmas morning for her. I'm glad she loves it and hope it lives up to her expectations! I jokingly told her that we should move to a different school district the other day and she flipped out, "I will run away! I will run back to my school where I belong!"

We were at a friends house last week, Pantera and their oldest daughter Mallory, wrote a song together and performed it for us. After the show, Mallory asked her mom why she can't record it and post it on YouTube. Her mom told her that it makes her uncomfortable. Mallory replied "But Pantera's mom lets her put videos on youtube!" I quickly told her that I would never let Pantera do that. She replied "but Pantera told me that she had a awesome video up, but we can't watch it, because it got deleted." Pantera is slowly walking towards the door this whole time and begins stumbling on her words "What I meant was, I WANTED to put a video on youtube." Uh huh...sure that's what she meant.

Hold me close now window dancer...

Time is flying by and I am barely keeping up! This past week Amari was teething yet again. I don't think I slept more than an hour at a time all week. Come Sunday, I was a zombie. We have 2 good nights in us now and a long nap today, I am feeling alot better about life. Amari's new favorite thing is dancing in our bay window. Pantera keeps her kids bop cd up there and Amari knows how to turn it on and does, several times a day. It is pretty hilarious to watch her shake her stuff. She is also becoming a pro at time out...I don't think I need to explain that one further.

Zeke started occupational therapy 2 weeks ago. I was worried about how he would connect with Mrs. Pam, because he is used to he speech therapist. Let's just say "Mrs. Ham" as Zeke calls her, would be a welcome addition to our family. She is like the perfect woman, she plays rough, brings cars toys, and knows all the names of his cars...to bad she's in her 30's and married. He has gone to the door several times and asked for "Mrs. Ham a pay" or Mrs. Pam to play. At bedtime tonight he was making one of his non disney cars talk to me "Hi, mama!" so I took it and drew a pair of eyes on it with a sharpie. HOLY COW, I have never seen a more thrilled kid in my life. He kept looking at it and laughing saying "eyes, eyes!" over and over, almost as if he was seeing for the first time...he's so funny.

Pantera is growing up way to fast. We were in the store the other day and I mentioned that we needed to buy her some new underwear. She quickly shushed me and told me I was embarassing her :( She's getting big. She was very happy when I caught her a butterfly the other day and even happier when it spent a little time on her finger before we released it. She said it makes her "feel like a princess!" She was telling me facts about the sun yesterday. One of them was "The sun is so hot, that you can't even put a foot on it. You would just turn into dust. Even the American flag would burn up!"

Baby Lightning

This last month has been crazy. Jess has only had one day off since the 4th of July. He was out of town for 3 of those weeks. It's hard to believe we have been living this crazy schedule for almost 4 years now. I am pretty lucky that he deals so well with the hours he works (98 hour work weeks blah!), he may not be so lucky because I have had a near mental breakdown this time around. I am so grateful that my parents are close and I even asked them for a little help the last week he was gone. I am so used to doing it all myself that asking seems like defeat to me...I'm working on it though. I should also thank my sisters for letting me call them and vent, so thank you husband, parents, and sisters you all are great. I know we are so blessed to have a good job.


My parents asked if Pantera could spend the afternoon with them after church today. I must admit I was happy to have "a piece of quiet" to quote Pantera. I made a couple new props for pics so I tested them out before I layed the little ones down for naps, then I edited uninterupted...it was heavenly.

Funny how after just a couple of hours away (or napping) and I have my patience back. I love my kids, they really are the best.

Zeke told me this morning that we should name the baby Lightning McQueen. I think that is lovely. He is starting to put words together! He said "Hurt foot" and "Tera time a church" today and I could understand him!!!

Amari is obsessed with going "bye-bye" with Papa. Everytime he walks into our house, she tells me bye and wants him to carry her to his car and pretend to drive. Then they come back inside and she greets me with a hug. She might just have him wrapped around her finger...only a little bit.

This is a Zeke approved photo. He likes that it highlights his favorite feature...

We are still playing the waiting game to find out who Pantera's 1st grade teacher will be. It is a different ballgame this time around because she actually knows them and has made it quite clear who she doesn't want to get (some of the teachers are "bossy" go figure). So keep your fingers crossed that we find out soon. And maybe that she isn't in Logan's class, cuz she thinks she is going to marry him and we all know how relationships can be with her. Here's to another drama filled year lol!