Better Homes and Gardens. Anna Style

What does it take to have a nice looking yard? A plan, a lot of hard work and a leader. Who is my gardening and lawn maintenance specialist? Anna!!

I didn't think anyone could be as hard working and motivated to get things done as Anna is (and she is just 4 years old!!) She wanted to mow the lawn, but my built-in fatherly safety measures kicked in and I had to deny her that chore.

But she was more than capable of handling a shopvac for some precise leaf and debris pickup. She was nice enough to take turns with me.

"Ok Dad! It's my turn now!"

If she had it all her way, I would just be standing by watching as she did all of the work!

Varrrroooommm!

Anna's turn!

Anna really cares about our home and puts in so much time and effort making it look REAL nice. I am so proud of her.

Last night my loves prepared a large seed incubator! We have corn, watermelon, tomatoes, okra, bell peppers, "baby lettuce" as Anna calls it (so cute!), and some herbs. The prime location for our garden is on the east side of our garage. It receives the best direct sunlight and should yield some award winning vegetables. Currently, we are in the process of developing a plan for a compost pit that will be Sasa and raccoon proof too!

Stand by for more updates on the Hapeman House gardening scene.

Anna Reads - I Go Nuts

I make an effort everyday to take in this little person in my life. She's four-years-old now and I can't help but grin at how lovely she is and what an awesome age 4 really is!

Mainly, I love how we can really get to know each other now that the conventional spoken aspect of communication is present. Other things I love:

• She lets me brush her hair and likes shopping for clothes with me.
• She tells me how much she loves me and that she misses me when I go off to work everyday
• She totally gets that I miss her too when I'm gone every day!
• She says 'please' and 'thank you'
• She says, 'excuse me, may I speak' when she'd like a turn in a conversation.
• She tells me when she's sad, happy, tired or upset - I LOVE that she feels comfortable sharing anything with me.
  

LOVELY! Just LOVELY! And to top it all off, yesterday evening, I started pulling together a 'goal sheet' and lesson plan of sorts that only a mother who home schools her child has the time for (I really don't know what came over me but I'm sure this isn't too surprising for those who know me). One of the goals was for her to read a kindergarten level book by the end of the summer.

After dinner, I thougth I'd introduce her to one if the new projects to facilitate her reading and I was amazed at how quickly she read the following sentences already:

See Anna dance.

See Anna Play.

Anna is a girl.

Sasa is a dog.

She can also spell and write out the sentences nearly flawlessly. Umm, what did I miss here, people? I had the classic - 'I didn't teach you that - how did you know that?' moment. Clearly, I'm not as stereotypically Asian as you would think I should be - I mean, Anna should be doing calculus by now, right? Just kidding.

Anyway, I can see how quickly my enthusiasm for this 'win' can degenerate into a psycho pushy Mom but I promise I'll take it easy. It's just so great to see her get excited about such an important milestone - although, I should say that she did read it with a kind of 'duh' attitude so I suppose I haven't set the bar that high?

;)

As a treat, I let Anna come to the office with me today. For once, I didn't have a single meeting and thought it would be a great opportunity for Anna to see what I do - although perhaps not understand it. 'My mom sits in front of a computer all day long'.

Marathon Hike through A2

Summer-like weather inspired an outdoor day in Ann Arbor that morphed from farmers market escapades, to house hunting (as Grandma W pointed out) and an epic hike through the old west side up to Bird Hills trails and then the Huron River. Oh, and did I mention that was an out-and-back?

From the farmers market, we head towards the Kerrytown neighborhood.

I have spared you from the rest of the house shots I took :)

Ready, Sasa?!

Got it!

Cheese!!

Can you see them up there?

Umm, I guess his ball fell in the water ;)

Z refrains himself from jumping into the water...

Today, we caught up on housework (ugh) and took a jaunt to the local stores to grab some sandals and summer clothes for an ever-growing four-year-old. Seriously, it's SO CRAZY to think about the kind of sunken cost purchasing garments is for a child - no wonder why people have multiple kids - it's a feeble attempt at turning the consumerism into an investment. I digress.

After an early outdoor dinner, we were surprised by how much we enjoyed an off the cuff showing of Hannah Montana. (Yea, I'm actually serious) I've never heard of this person before but was pleasantly surprised that she wasn't some mutation of Brittany Spears.

And of course, to round out yet another lovely weekend, I squeezed in an evening 3-miler to tack on to the 3 hour + hike we took yesterday. I'm prepping up for a week full of sitting on my BUTT in the office...wish me luck :)