Hannah & Pongo

Once upon a time I went outside with Pongo and he got out, and I said, "OH NO! Pongo got out!"

So I went after him.

Pongo went to a "spooky forest," so I went there too.

He went to a "volcano," so I went too.

He went to a "chair forest," so I went too.

Then it was "really windy" so we went back home.

The End.

This was a story that Hannah told me the other day. So I quickly wrote it down and thought it would make a GREAT children's book. Hannah is ALWAYS drawing, so now I am trying to save as many of her drawings as I think could be applied to her story. I was thinking I could make it into an actual book written & illustrated by Hannah.

Where the Wild Things Are

Every night for almost a month I would read "Where the Wild Things Are" to Hannah before she went to bed. The entire time I was reading she would be busy playing with toys on her bed. I never thought she was paying attention, until one day I was in the middle of the book and she stopped playing and stood up on her bed and began reciting word for word the book from that point on. She knew what to say by what picture was on the page. It amazed me.

I haven't read the book to her in over a month, and the other night she went and grabbed it off of the book shelf and told me she wanted to read the book all by herself. I thought to myself there is no way she still has this book memorized.

Sure enough she has the entire book still memorized. So the next night I decided I wanted to make sure I got a record of this so when it came time for story time I grabbed Heather and asked her to come in a record the moment.

Over a Bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup

Just got an email from Heather that related this story:

Just now, over a bowl of chicken noodle soup, Hannah says to me, "I really wish I could have a baby in my tummy." (random yes) So I said to her, "Well, one day FAR off in the future when YOU are a mommy, you can have a baby in your tummy too."

So she gets this excited, puzzled, intrigued look on her face and says, "Wait... So I can have a baby in MY tummy?" and I said, "Yup that's right. Only mommies and girls can have babies in their tummy...daddies and boys can't."

So she looks at me with a DUH look on her face and goes, "Yeah, they just watch."

Which reminds me I REALLY need to start writing down more of what she says on a daily basis cause it is so hilarious, but sadly my mind is unable to hold onto it for much longer than a day.

Cannon Ball!

Hannah has gotten a bit more brave in the last month. She now enjoys jumping into the pool and yelling "CANNON BAAAALLL!"

Hannah Can Swim

Hannah finally got brave enough to swim around in the pool with a flotation device, which was REALLY exciting for us, because I really want her to learn how to swim with as much time as we spend in the pool during the summer.

4th of July

We made the hop, skip, & jump on down to San Antonio to meet up with Mom (Grandma), Mark, Maile, Marissa, Michaela, Matt, & Ethan for some good ol' family FUN time! I made sure to remember our camera and even better I actually captured some great memories.

Other than Ethan grilling up some killer steaks, making a trip to Walmart, and a bargain hunting trip to Big Lots with Mark it was just good ol family time spent indoors. We did try to make a trip to the park but the girls only lasted about 20 minutes. After 5 minutes they were asking to leave saying, "It's hot & we've been here for FOREVER!"

Enjoy™

Hide & Seek

Growing Up

Heather took Hannah to get her picture taken. I decided to go back into the archive to see the change from last year to this year. My little girl is getting all growed up on me...

It's just sad as a parent you have to just sit back and slowly watch the innocence and purity of a child slowly get stripped away as they get pulled away into the beautiful struggle that is life and our pursuit to find happiness.

Celebrating Four Years of Life!

Back on Saturday May 23rd we had a swim party for Hannah. I made a website to send out as our invite, which I thought was a good idea. It was a way I could flex my design muscles at the world, and also what I felt was a conveniently simple way to both spread the word and allow people to have a constant reference to go refer to. We placed a "wish list" on their with links to the actual product or examples for the many times we get asked, "What does Hannah want for her birthday?" We also placed a very simple contact form to allow us to get a head count so we knew how much cake and drinks to supply.

The website didn't seem to help with ANY of these things. Perhaps we sent it out too early, and maybe we should of shot out a second email blast as the date got closer, but then we didn't want to seem like we were BEGGING people to come. Some people showed up that didn't email (which we were still VERY happy you came!). Others emailed and didn't show up. Everyone still asked the inevitable question, "What does Hannah want?" Oh well it was alot of fun to design, and I mainly did it for myself anyways.

The party was a HUGE success, not everyone showed up that we had hoped would be there (Grand Dad, Nana, Jacob, Caleb, Matt (Heather's brother), Kari, Mark, Maile, Marrissa, & Michaela, Emily, Seth, & Asher) but everyone that did show up seemed to have a good time, and Hannah had a blast. We appreciated ALL of the presents, and the wonderful conversations and company. Hannah is still talking about her party!

So I know it's late, but I finally got around to uploading ALL of the photos from the party so click on over to check them all out!

Dr. Appointment

She was wearing a pink toy stethoscope around her neck as she looked straight at me with her blue eyes and said, "Don't call me Hannah, call me Dr. Appointment."

Howm I Gon Get Clean!

Heather was gone at church for a youth activity. Hannah and I were watching "The Wonder Pets" when Hannah jumped up and said, "I need to take a bath!"

So I told her to hold on a second, so then she said, "I'm dirty..."

Then that turned into, "I'm dirty, dirty, dirty! Howm I gon get clean..." Over and over again bouncing around the house dancing.

So I grabbed the camera and I said, "Ok, if you sing your song for me into the camera then I will let you take a bath."

The song changed a little but it was still cute! Once the camera got turned on she forgot the, "Howm I gon get clean" part so she just hummed that part and decided to add on a few more words as she ran around the table and room.

25 Random Things About Me!

I've been tagged multiple times and kept putting it off but I'm finally falling victom of peer preasure...

1.) I prefer drinking flat sodas, & when I go to a restaurant I order my drinks without ice, & I LOVE Fountain drinks (without ice).

2.) I LOVE my job and NEVER dread going to work. (and I'm proud to say I designed the website for the company I work for).

3.) I HATE Internet Explorer (especially IE6) & hope that everyone reading this using internet explorer will download Firefox today!

4.) I love Pizza but take all the toppings (sometimes I eat them separate) and eat just the bread and sauce.

5.) I HATE mayo and am not a huge fan of ketchup, mustard, or any special sauces. I order all of my burgers DRY. It was always funny in high school when we would have far away games and the basketball team would go get food, they would always have to make one special order for me, and I was always made fun of for it, but my burger seemed to always be hot while everyone else's was cold...

6.) Growing up all I cared about was succeeding in basketball and I sat the bench my entire senior year and only played garbage minutes on varsity.

7.) I was awarded a letterman jacket but I have NEVER worn it, not once. (They didn't give it to me until the summer after I had already graduated. It's still hanging up in my closet).

8.) I can't eat food without lights being on.

9.) I love to watch basketball and rarely miss any televised game (college, high school, or NBA), and thankfully my wonderful wife puts up with it all, and has our entire marriage.

10.) I met my wife in a chatroom. (Yes it's because I'm a shy little nerd who is too scared to talk to girls).

11.) For the past two years I have worn a pair of red socks EVERY Friday and have officially renamed "Friday" to "FUN-day" at work.

12.) I am a self proclaimed "Amateur Musicologist"

13.) I wear a pair of basketball shorts under ALL of my clothes at ALL times (because you never know when there will be an opportunity to play).

14.) I LOVE FONTS & Typography in general!

15.) A majority of my emails end with "Enjoy™" (which I un-officially trademarked).

16.) My favorite food is Potatoe (I love it, fried, baked, scalloped, boiled, mashed, diced, sliced, in a soup, salad, and pretty much anyway and any how).

17.) My name is Shane Michael Guymon at least thats what it says on my birth certificate, and Drivers License. My mom has been heard calling me Shaney. When I was younger I used to ask her to call me her little Darling. My sister refered to me as "It" and "squeeky bones." My brother Mark called me splean, until the next time I saw him and everyone he knew including himself were calling me Skillz (I couldn't help but suppose there was some sort of "sarcasm" behind it all)! Next thing I knew my brother Matt flipped that into Spillz, which caught on well enough that this kid named Chris Capps called me that on the way home from Basketball practice, but he wasn't to happy when I called him "Pissin Craps" after that. In Brazil I became a "Greengo" either that or some other mis-pronunciation of my last name. I grew up a loser striving to become a winner. In Jr. High BJ Pratt called me the "White Somalian." In High School he started sayin Shane "The Main Man" Guymon. Mexicans (hispanics) call me Chain. Then that reminds me of all the times Matt called me Stain. A few people through my life have called me a Nerd. A few other people have refered to me as a Friend. Through my life I have grown accustomed to responding to the name Shawn. I even turn my head when people call out the name Matt (since all my life people have thought we were twins). So I guess if I was to introduce myself I would say you can go ahead and start off by calling me Shane, then you can move on from there...

18.) My life has become a constant battle of trying to gain full control over myself, appetites, passions, and emotions. To which I have started referring to life as "The Beautiful Struggle."

19.) I NEVER cuss not even when I'm angry. The worst words I say are "hell" and "damn" and those are very few and far in between.

20.) Movies are my biggest weakness. I LOVE them all!

21.) The two things that have impacted my life the most are, my dad's death when I was 17 (my senior year) and the birth of my daughter Hannah.

22.) I still sit in my moms lap when i go home to see her.

23.) I've always wanted to write a book, direct a movie, and be a photographer.

24.) My dad wanted all of his kids to have dark hair and brown eyes, and I am the only one who listened.

25.) I'm afraid of heights, roaches (and many other bugs), spiders, snakes, rats, & swimming in any body of water that isn't filled with chlorine and other chemicals (rivers, lakes, ponds, or the ocean).


**BONUS**
26.) I drove around for a week with a dead rat in my car and didn't figure it out until I finally took it into the shop thinking there was something wrong with my air conditioner (the only time I could smell it was when the air conditioner was turned on). I picked the rat up visiting my wife in Buna before we got married. Meaning I drove 5 hours home with it up in my car. On the way home was when I first started smelling it.

27.) My dad used to pay me 2 cents an hour to tickle his head.

28.) Almost every night my mom would be tickling my dad's back, arm or head. When I would try to come lay-down and get in on the back tickling action, my dad would tell me to go find my own girl to tickle my back and then marry here. So I spent the rest of my life looking for that girl, and Heather tricked me into believing it was her, but as soon as we got married all the tickling has ceased. Now my only hope is to con my daughter Hannah into tickling my back for 2 cents a minute.

Smile!

While I was gone in Dallas to play basketball with my brothers (which I played terrible, but had a good time) Heather & Hannah were invited to a birthday party for one of Hannah's friends (Thanks Lucy Monson for inviting Hannah!). At the party their was a small petting zoo with a pony for all the kids to ride. When I imagined Hannah riding the pony, this is the exact expression I envisioned her having. Which also happens to be my favorite Hannah smile!*

*I think it's better to see it in person, the camera has never seemed to capture it quite so well.

Read Me the Apple Tree Book

For the past week or maybe two every night I carry Hannah to bed and then she says, "Will you read me the apple tree book?"

So I read her the book, and I think I have the first half of the book memorized. Tonight I was able to read it without looking at it. Luckily it's a great story, it reminds me of our relationship with Heavenly Father. At the same time it is a perfect life lesson as the boy is always wanting worldly things, like first he comes and says he needs money to make him happy, and so the tree offers him her apples to take and sell so that he will have money and be happy. Next he wants a house and a wife, so the tree offers up her branches so he can build himself a house. When he returns sad and depressed again he thinks he needs a boat to make him happy, so the tree offers up her trunk to make him happy, and finally he returns an old and dying man, and all the tree has left is a stump for him to rest upon, and that is when the boy realizes (I hope) that none of that stuff brings happiness, but true happiness comes from US being MORE like the tree and giving, and giving, and giving. The more we forget about ourselves and instead care for others is when we truly understand love & life.

The only thing that saddened the tree was when the boy didn't come around, but when the boy was around the tree was anxious to give itself to the boy entirely. The act of giving is what constantly brought happiness and meaning to the trees existence.

So let us all give a little more, and let us all not care so much about money, cars, houses, TV's, computers, toys, & other worldly things that only bring temporary happiness as it quenches our appetites for only a short amount of time. Instead let us be anxiously engaged in helping and giving of our time, talents, and efforts to others.

Hanney Bird...

Lately Hannah has been either acting like a dog or a bird. She switches through out the day. So she is either flapping her arms around the house flying everywhere she goes or she is running around panting on all fours with the occasional bark. Whenever she goes to the bathroom and she is finished she will announce, "I'm DOOOONE!"

If you don't come immediately she will begin to bark and howl until you get there. Also whenever you tell her to do anything like Clean her room, or pick up her toys, she will turn and growl at you. I really wish we could catch all of this on camera, but as soon as you pull out a camera she stops doing it, and is never in the mood to put on an on demand show.

Even at church today, two out of the three times I had to take her to go pee, she would want to crawl down the hall on all fours and pant and bark like a dog. Only problem is the hallways can get kind of busy, since we aren't the only ward in the building, so I had to stop Hannah from doing it. So after she let her frustration out, she decided that being a bird and flying down the hall wasn't a bad consolation.

Either way it's hilarious... most of the time.

Also in these last couple of months every time she is in the house we can barely get her to wear a shirt. Most of the time she will run around in just her underwear. The first thing she does when she gets home is strip out of all of her clothes.

At church the new year brought on a new Sunday school class. So she is leaving the class of 18 month olds - 3 year olds. So gone are the days of playing with toys, snack time, and coloring pictures. Now she has had to reluctantly say hello to a short lesson where she has to sit in a chair, sing songs, & will usually still be able to color a picture. Needless to say Hannah has never been a huge fan of change, so today was the first Sunday where she actually didn't cry for the first 5-10 minutes. Let's hope this means she is leaning towards the getting used to it part.

Another funny thing Hannah has been doing is making up her own songs. I've tried my hardest to listen and remember the words to the songs, but I am unable to do so. Here is my best effort of one she was singing today.

We never do, what we never do. We never do cause we have to do what we never do.

Something like that... it's hilarious!

She also will say that to you, she will say, "I never do, I just have to." (If anyone out there understands what that is supposed to mean, help me and Heather out)

Go Steelers... I'm OUT!

A Conversation With Hannah

Today I recorded a small conversation with Hannah. Also you can check out her new hair cut. Heather had someone come by our house last night and cut it. I prefer it going down to her shoulders, but she is happy with it, and Heather likes it... so whatever.

Scooter Ride

This is old, from like Aug or Sept, but I wanted to share it anyways. Hannah loves to ride her scooter! She takes it with her almost everywhere we go. Here she is in action with one of her friends that lives in our complex.

Cinderella & The Prince

I got home yesterday to Hannah telling me this sad story about how she wants to wear her Cinderella dress but that mom won't let her. So Heather over hearing corrected the story, so we told her to go ahead and put her Cinderella dress on. So she put it on, and she came out and I said, "Oh you look so pretty Hannah!"

Then she quickly corrected me and said, "Don't call me Hannah, call me Cinderella."

So then I corrected myself.

I then started to make myself a little something to eat and I sat down, and Hannah walked over to me and said, "Hi Prince, do you want to come to my room with me, and watch my movie, theirs lots of toys, you can bring your food, come on, it'll be lots of fun!"

(Also at some point after she called me Prince, and before we made it to her room, we danced together in the living room, and that was the original reason of going to her room, because she wanted to continue dancing in her room).

How can you say no to that? We were watching Big Bang Theory (I do have a DVR though), so it was kind of difficult, but she kept giving more and more features, letting me know I could sit on her bed and eat, and she even picked up my food and offered to carry it into her room for me. So I went along. So the rest of the night she continued calling me Prince, and I continued calling her Cinderella up until she said good night the The Prince, and I said good night to Cinderella.

The funnier part of the story, is she slept in the Cinderella dress, woke up and continued to call me Prince, when I left to work she gave me a hug and said, "Good bye Prince!"

Night Time

Every night for the past couple nights we say our family prayers, brush Hannah's teeth (kill the sugar bugs), and then I give her a piggy back ride to bed. Once we are in her room she immediately picks out one of her Disney princess books and asks me to read it to her. After I am done with the book she asks me to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" (with hand motions) three or four times in a row. Then she will ask me to sing "Twinkle Little Star" at least once. After that she will either fall right to sleep, or continue playing in her bed until she goes to sleep.

Some nights I really don't feel like reading or singing the same songs, but I see her little face and she looks me straight in the eye, and she asks me in her cute little voice and I can't resist but doing her this little favor. I mean in all reality is the activity I would be doing instead of doing that any better? No way, because it would probably involve me laying on a couch watching some TV show I DVRed or a basketball game.

Speaking of that, it's about time for me to lace up the Nikes and head out to the church to play some basketball (as long as they don't kick us out).

SUN-day

Here's how the story goes. It's around 7:30 in the morning and we are lounging in bed, I'm trying to soak in as many hours in my 600 thread count sheets as possible. Good Morning America is on TV and Hannah is laying inbetween us but slightly closer to Heather. All of a sudden she says, "I want to go to church!"

Heather and I begin trying to explain to her that it's not Sunday. As we say this she looks out towards the window and pointing her finger she exclaims, "Yeah huh! Look the sun is right there!"

She's a smart little cookie, and it was hard to argue with such wisdom, so as a compromise we decided to let her pick out a dress to wear for the day. While selecting a dress she also grabbed these pink glasses to wear because, "they match!"

Anyways go ahead and click on the picture to see the rest of the pictures we recently uploaded.