Hubley Happenings

Hubley Happenings
Angel Fire Summer 2014

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Mother’s Day

We celebrated Mother’s Day with a lazy Sunday.  The kids and I made Jennifer breakfast and we ate in the “fancy room.”

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Broady found his usual spot under the table

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Jennifer - We are so thankful for everything you do for our family.  We love your warm, generous heart and your many talents. You take care of us, keep us fed, dressed, and clean.  You are the perfect mother for our kids, always teaching, protecting, and having fun with them.  I don’t know what we would do without you.

Thanks also to all the other mothers in our lives.  We love you!

Dinosaur Valley Day Trip

On the Saturday before Mother’s Day, we took the kids and Broady down to Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose for a day trip.  We left the house around 8:30 and got back home that evening around 6:30. It was a long day but we had a great time.  The weather was beautiful, mid 80’s with a breeze. 

The first thing we did when we got there was take a hike up to a scenic overlook at the top of the park.  I think it ended up being a little more than 1.5 miles.  Hannah hiked the whole thing and Nathan alternated between hiking and riding in the backpack.  Here are some pictures of our hike

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Great view down to the Paluxy River with a few fishermen

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Hannah likes to be the line leader

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We took a break at the top and had some snacks

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Broady had a great time.  We debated over bringing him but were glad we did in the end.

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After we got back down to the river, we decided our hikers were pooped and we needed to head back to the car. We could either finish the loop, backtrack to the trailhead, or take a shortcut across the river.  We opted to cross the river.

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Here are the girls climbing out of the river

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We ended up getting kind of wet and muddy and had to change shoes.

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Next we went to eat lunch in the picnic area and the kids played on the playground.  Nathan took a little rest in my lap after lunch, but not long.

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After lunch we went to the swimming hole on the river and swam for about 1.5 hours. We didn’t take our camera down there so we don’t have any pictures to show. This was a great swimming hole with cold and clear water that ranged from 6-13 ft deep.  I jumped in the swimming hole first to test it out and then helped the family cross the shallow part to a gravel beach on the other side.  Nathan threw rocks and Hannah played in the water.  Jennifer sunned on the beach.  Broady wouldn’t cross the river again, so I started to carry him across and of course I fell half way across and everyone was watching so they got a good show.  When we got there, I was the only one swimming but by the time we left, several other large groups had come and there were 20+ people swimming.  It was a lot of fun.

After swimming, we cleaned up and put on dry clothes and stopped to see the dinosaur statues.  This was really the main draw for Nathan.

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Then the kids played in the wildflowers for a little bit.

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By this point, it was probably 3pm and we were wiped out. We loaded up and headed home.  The kids were asleep in their car seats before we were out of the park.  As we were passing through Granbury, we went by the square and decided to stop for some shopping.  I parked the car in the shade with the windows down and let Jennifer do some shopping. When the kids woke up, we had an early dinner at Babe’s Chicken Dinner.  We finished up with some vanilla ice cream.

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What a great day! Nathan is already asking to go back as I type this.

Celebrating Hannah

After waking up for a pancake breakfast at home and then going to a ranch round-up, we took Miss Hannah Mae out for a waffle/pancake dinner for her birthday. Can you tell she was excited?

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At dinner we conducted a little 4th Birthday Questionnaire:

1. What is your favorite color?  Pink

2. What is your favorite toy?  Mermaid

3. What is your favorite stuffed animal?  Jackson Bear

4. What is your favorite thing to sleep with?  Pink Blanket

5. What is your favorite fruit?  pear

6. What is your favorite cereal?  cinnamon cereal

7. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  waffles

8. What is your favorite thing to ear for lunch?  ham and cheese

9. What is your favorite dessert?  cookies and cream ice-cream

10. What is your favorite animal? hippo (she just saw a baby hippo at the zoo)

11. What is your favorite book? Charlotte’s Web and Fancy Nancy

12. What is your favorite song? Trust and Obey

13. What is your favorite game? Candyland

14. What is your favorite TV show? Curious George

15. What is your favorite movie? Peter Pan

16. What is your favorite thing to do outside? swing

17. Who is your best friend? Luke (although now she would say, Betsy)

18. What is your favorite bible story? Genesis

19. What story in Genesis? Jacob

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?  a mommy

After dinner, we met some friends at our favorite kids art studio. They had a great time painting pottery and being silly.

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Hannah’s creation:

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Nathan’s handiwork:

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The birthday girl blowing out her candles.

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I was afraid that since we had a smaller party this year, Hannah would wonder when her real party was going to be. But when we got home she said, “Mommy, you are the best mommy. I had such a fun birthday!” I couldn’t have received any better confirmation.

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Hannah’s 4!

 

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How can I have a four year old!?! The obvious answer is, well….four years have gone by. Yes, I know that. But how can so much change happen in four short years?

Hannah, you are such a sweet little girl. You are definitely a typical firstborn and such a rule follower. The trick is….you like to set the rules! You like to push the limits, but also like to know that there are limits.

I feel like you and your Dad are on the same wavelength. One day in the car you asked out of nowhere, “What are those things floating in the air?” Without skipping a beat, Scott rattled off something about dust particles and matter and lots of other scientific words. You seemed to know exactly what he was talking about and was very satisfied with the explanation. You have a sense of knowing when we tell you the whole truth about things and when we just give you the kid version. You are never satisfied with the kid version. Consequently, we’ve had some pretty deep conversations. One night your babysitter said you basically shared the gospel presentation with her from Jesus being born to him dying on the cross and ascending into heaven! Those are the appropriate stories you share. But you also know where babies come from and lets just say I’m a little nervous about that one.

You still love to “read” in your room before naps and bed (you have pretty much dropped your naps. You may take one a week…if I’m lucky:). You also love to listen to me and your Dad read. We’ve gone through several chapter books this year: Charlotte’s Web, Frog and Toad, Stuart Little, and the Mercy Watson series. These are some of my favorite times with you. I remember my mom reading to me and I hope you will do the same.

You also still love puzzles and arts and crafts. You color constantly and love gluing anything on a piece of paper. I can give you scissors, glue, pom-pom balls, and colors and you are set. You have a 100 piece Fancy Nancy puzzle that you need help working, but love the challenge of putting together.

You love riding your bike, playing in the water, dancing, and singing to music (you memorize all of the music we have in the car and make us start the song over if you miss a word).  Your memory is like a steel trap, and I don’t think you ever forget anything!

As far as behavior….just being honest…you still have your fits, but they don’t seem to be as irrational as your three year old fits (or as often). Most of the time it’s just because you don’t get what you want or get it how you want it. Your very particular and a tad bit bossy;)

You’ve pushed me to limits I’ve never seen before or never even knew existed, sweet girl. I don’t have this mom thing figured out yet, and I pray you can give me grace in those areas, but I do know I’m so blessed to have you as my sweet daughter. I never imagined it would be this good.

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