Birthday Fun

As has been true the past couple of years, Hannah had about a bazillion birthdays. We have been celebrating the past 2 weeks. Here is a re-cap of the festivities...

My mom and I took birthday cookies to Hannah's daycare on the 22nd (her actual birthday). She loved passing out the cookies and being the center of attention (of course).

That night we celebrated with Nana and Papa at Chuck E' Cheese. They have the Deal or No Deal game there and I really think my mom and I had more fun than Hannah. We only knocked a couple of kids out of the way.

I really thought we had gotten over the "character" thing while at Disney World but if you will notice Chuck E is up dancing with other kids and Hannah is under the table. She literally stayed under the table until he was gone. Bless her.

The following Saturday we had her party with friends at The Monkey's Treehouse. I highly recommend this place. The kids had a blast and I love anywhere where I can show up and then leave!!

Last, but certainly not least...this past weekend we celebrated with my aunt and uncle. They along with my mom and stepdad gave Hannah the gift above all gifts. My aunt and uncle built her this dollhouse. And, let me tell you it is complete with wallpaper, hand-made curtains and hand-made rugs. Then, my parents supplied all the furniture. It is every little girl's dream. You must all come and play!!

I'm leaving you with this picture...Hannah's backpack I ordered her was waiting on our doorstep when we got home today. I'm not ready, friends - not ready at all.

Dear Hannah:

I can not believe five is already here. Everyone says how fast the time will fly and to take in every minute. I have all of these snapshots in my head of you over the past 5 years and they all bring me smiles. You are such a spark of light to our household. You never cease to amaze me and daddy with the things you know and the words you use. You keep us laughing all the time and once you know something makes us laugh you want to keep doing or saying it over and over.


We label you as strong willed and even though that can be a challenge at times, we would not have it any other way. There is never a dull moment and it keeps our prayer life active.

You love everything girl. From princesses, to Barbie’s, to Hannah Montana and everything in between – you are all girl. You have a say in how your hair will be worn and what clothes you will wear. You love to dress up and put on mommy’s shoes and you love to dance and sing. One of your favorite things to do is to pretend you are on American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance and get up in front of us and do your thing. Then we have to vote and we always have to say “Congratulations – you’re going to Hollywood” and then you will scream and pretend to cry because you are so excited. I love it. It makes me laugh out loud every single time. You are an artist and are forever drawing pictures and coloring. You love to practice your letters and try to spell things. It is so fun to be able to tell you the letters to put to spell a word and you can do it. You are just so full of life and love and I am never disappointed in what the day brings.

I love watching you as you are starting to understand Jesus. The questions you ask are already getting hard. Sometimes when we are in the car, you will say “Mom, I love Jesus” and it makes my heart soar every single time. It is going to be such a joy watching you figure out His love for you and what it means to be His child.

I can not believe in just one short month we will be saying goodbye to daycare and hello to Kindergarten. You are so ready. You are independent and social and I know you are going to love it. We are welcoming a whole new season of life and I hope it is everything you want it to be.

Mommy’s prayer for you is to continue to embrace life with the same gusto you have right now. I pray you will love with the same passion and although there will be new obstacles and new hurts you have not yet experienced, you will always know you can come home and be safe and loved. Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you and we are so thankful God has entrusted us with your care.

I love you. Happy 5th Birthday.

Swim Lessons

Things have been busy at the Millsap house the past couple of weeks. Whitley is adjusting well at our house and she really is a good dog. Hannah also started swim lessons and actually just finished her first round of beginners lessons. She made such a huge improvement from the first session to the last session. She is start the beginners-intermediate session tomorrow and she is so excited. One of her favorite parts was the slide. However, it took her about 3 minutes to get down it because she would scoot down with her hands and feet on the side so she wouldn't go fast and go under water. That is what we are hoping to work on in this next round.

Last weekend Hannah wanted me to straighten her hair. She thought that was so cool. It didn't last very long - it started curling up not long after we did it.

This little girls turns five next week and I absolutely can not believe it. She only has about a month left at her daycare before Kindergarten starts. What an exciting season in her life.

Whitley...

This is the newest member of the Millsap Family. For starters... this is David. Rach is usually the one responsible for updates on this blog. However, she is working and I'm home with Hannah (who came home sick from school yesterday) and our new dog Whitley. We (okay more me than Rach) have have been talking with Hannah about getting a puppy. Well all it took was a trip to the Williamson Animal Control Shelter for a community service project with work to convince me that Whitley needed to be that puppy. She is a Jack Russell/Miniature Italian Greyhound mix. She is very sweet 3 month old (a little timid of her new surroundings) who loves to cuddle. Hannah went with me yesterday to get her. I wish I had the camera with me to get a picture of Hannah. I was quite unsure of how she would react. Talking about it is one thing but bringing one home...well there was no turning back now. When they brought her out to us Hannah with the biggest grin on her face said "ah... daddy hers is so toot (AKA, cute)." Hannah is getting more and more brave with petting (she said that she is just not ready to be licked yet). The car ride home was interesting... Whitley cried and shook while Hannah talked to her to sleep. Last night we realized that Whitley is more crate trained than we thought, when bedtime came, she went right in and slept the entire night with no accidents. Right now the girls are watching Disney Channel. I'm sure there will be more Whitley/Hannah stories to come...

(after exploring the house she found a place for a quick nap)

Walt Disney in Pictures

OK - Here are the highlights from our trip. I can't even tell you how much fun we had. It was so neat to experience it through Hannah's eyes.

Nothing makes waiting in the Atlanta airport go by faster than a little time spent with the Barbies.

Hannah loved the rides (except Tower of Terror :)). Here she is on the Magic Carpets. Only Disney can get away with having you wait in a line for almost 40 minutes to ride something that just goes in circles and up and down. Seriously.

This is a picture of the things that were displayed while we were waiting in line to ride Toy Story. It was so cool.

They had a High School Musical show at Hollywood Studios and Hannah loved it. She even participated a little.

At the Magic Kingdom we took her to the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique and she got her hair and makeup done and then her nails painted. She didn't love it as much as I thought she would, but it was fun for me :).

Here are some pictures we got with the "celebrities". We had a princess breakfast with some of the princesses, but not Cinderella and Ariel. We waited in line and I mean we WAITED IN LINE to get their picture and autograph of course.

Here is one of Hannah's favorite things...the pool.

And last, but for sure not least...Mickey and Minnie.

Back to the Real World

We got back home from Disney Saturday afternoon and it was with mixed feelings. It is always nice to come back to some sort of normal routine, however, leaving Disney World is not easy. It is magical for sure. I have a ton of pictures and will share some as soon as I get them off of my camera. The highlights were seeing all the characters (especially the Princesses) and the pool. The last night we were there I asked Hannah what her absolute favorite thing had been and she sat for a minute and then replied, "the pool". If only I had known I could have just taken her to the Rec Center. She then thought of other things that she liked too.
It was so awesome to experience everything through Hannah's eyes. Everything was just bigger than life to her and she would get so excited to see different things. I loved every minute.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Excitement all around.

Graduation

Hannah had her Pre-K Graduation on Thursday afternoon. I can not believe how fast the time has flown and the fact that she will be starting Kindergarten in just a couple of months.

The graduation was so sweet. There are about 20 kids in Hannah's class, but only 6 of them are leaving to go to Kindergarten. Of those six, four of them have been together since the infant room, so I am sure it will be weird when they don't see each other every day.

They started the program by singing a few songs.

Then Hannah got her "diploma"

The six graduates then gave a rose to their moms. A picture of this will not be included. It involved tears - from her mom of course.

Then it was time for cake and punch out on the playground.

Hannah -

Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you and all that you have learned. We are excited about this new season of life and can not wait to see what God has planned for you. We love you!

PJ Day

Friday was Pajama day at Hannah's daycare. She was so fired up to get to wear her PJs and to see all of her friends in their pajamas.

This is Hannah and her friend Anna. They have been together at daycare since they were both infants - so they are pretty tight.

You may notice Anna is sporting a haircut that includes layers. This is not because her mom wanted her to have layers but because Anna and Hannah decided to cut each other's hair at daycare a couple of weeks ago. NICE!! The good thing for Hannah is her hair is so crazy you can not even tell she got a "haircut".

Do you ever feel like you can't possibly take another piece of bad/sad news? I feel like I have been consumed with bad or sad news for the past few weeks. News that a high school classmate is now a widow at the age of 31 because of a brain tumor her husband had fought for 10 years or news that a friend and co-worker has lost (or should I say won) a 20+ year battle with cancer. Friends who are struggling to sale houses or friends who have family issues. The list just goes on and on. Sometimes I just need some encouragement that this is not what we are living for. As bad and scary as it is sometimes, we as Christians have so much more to look forward to. Praise Him. So, just in case you are needing some encouragement too - here are some verses I am clinging to right now. Blessings!!

"Christ in YOU, the hope of glory" Colossians 1:27

"Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh EACH morning" Lamentations 3:23

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" 2 Corinthians 4:18

Date Night - Barbie Style

Upon entering our kitchen last night you would have found several Barbies and their men apparently on a date. I am assuming it was a group date (which makes me feel somewhat better since they are sitting on each other's laps - hopefully this is as far as it went). They look like they are having a good time.

By the way - my Barbie loving little girl went to get her shots for KINDERGARTEN today. Lord, give me strength!!

Oh, Yes Ma'am

So, this

And this



Is now open in Spring Hill - just about 3 minutes from my house. I could not be anymore excited! I am taking my coupons I got in the mail and I am going today and I may stay until dark.
While we are at it - this is open too. About 3 minutes from my house and I have already partaken in the blessing.



"Every good and perfect gift is from above..." James 1:17
Give Him some praise!!!