The Hamilton Rainbow

I'll always remember the day that we told the girls that we were having another baby. We purposely waited a long time to tell them. Things were really busy at the time because the older girls were wrapping up their last few weeks of school, we were preparing for the Halloween excitement as well as a mini-vacation with grandparents. We felt that it was best to share our news on a relaxing weekend after the girls had tracked out of school and the festivities were finished.

November 3 was the day. We both knew it but we both were dreading it because we just didn't know how to do it. I know we're both creative and dramatic people and I thought that we should be able to at least come up with one interesting and cute way to tell our girls but after several days of much thought, we had nothing! Finally, in the early evening, Bryan had brought the girls into the front living room and pulled out the pipe cleaners, all in different colors. He and the girls started forming them into little people. I was in the kitchen and I figured out his cute pipe-cleaner-plan of how to tell the girls. I quickly prayed that God would reveal His insight and wisdom as we approached this special revelation and instantly the story of Noah came to my mind.


As we finished our rainbow of seven little people, Bryan and I explained how much God loves us and how He showed His love when He created the rainbow promise for Noah. We pointed out how interesting it was that although God created a multitude of colors, He only chose those select seven colors to be put together for this special promise so many years ago. They served a specific purpose and they needed each other to fulfill that special, God-designed purpose for the world. We went on to say that God has done the same thing for our family. As we designated each little pipe cleaner person to a person in our family, we came down to the last one and declared, "So who is this one? They are with us right now! Where is this person?"

There were many responses. Tori suggested "It's God!" (Luckily we made a white character too and put it over our rainbow to show that He was watching over us and was the one who put us together.) Finally, Kayli guessed, "You're pregnant?!" But even though we smiled and nodded at her response, Tori still persisted on guessing..."Is it Molly?" (our cat)! We told her to listen to Kayli because she guessed the right answer. When Tori and Sydni figured it out they just sat there with a silly, half-dazed, trying-to-register-it look on their faces until at once they both sprung up and began chanting, "A baaaby, a baaaby, we're having a baaaby!" Needless to say, it went very well and everyone was excited.

Later, when asked if they all wanted another sister or a brother, they all emphatically agreed that a sister was definitely what needed to happen. Sydni even proclaimed, "Oh no, if we have a boy...I'll.....I'll call the police! I want it to be a girl!" I guess they knew the plans.

We're all excited to meet her! Now....just to figure out another girl name ending with an "i."

KTM Girls Spa

Kayli and her friend (and next door neighbor) Monique decided to start a fresh, new spa salon. Below is an advertisement for their spa services with extensive demonstrations of technique and reviews from their raving customers (Tori and Sydni). Call soon to book an appointment for similar treatment because after releasing this stellar announcement, available spots will surely be booking up weeks in advance!

Who is it?

Naomi has taken an interest in drawing faces, particularly in the bathtub with soap crayons. We discovered the other night that she's quite accurate in her depictions of people and I guess tonight she's gotten good at drawing sharks too.

You want me to touch that?!

We had a great time carving pumpkins this year. The girls each picked their own patterns and then used a template to poke holes along the lines of the printed template into the face of the pumpkin. They cleaned them out themselves and Mom carved them while Dad put together costumes. Here's the video of the festivities and Naomi's refusal to even come close to the icky innards of the pumpkin!

At the end of this clip is Naomi's most recent gimic: She now claims that she is 4, just like Sydni. She'll often argue the point for several minutes back and forth with Sydni saying, "I'm FOUR!" and Sydni will respond with, "No, you're ONE!" And they both giggle and say over it again and again.

The Girls

Here's a bonus clip of the other three hammettes!

Shake It Baby, Shake It!

Naomi has official joined her sisters in the quest for her own 10 minutes in the lime-light. She has much competition and it is rare to catch her performing all by herself. (It took me a week to get this clip of her and still she's accompanied by back-up singers!)

Enjoy this little glance into the window of Naomi Faith's adorable, sweet and fun-loving personality. I am so blessed to see this joy in her everyday as she grows more and more playful and fun to be around. She is such a sweetheart!

Tricks & Treats

The girls on our porch just before trick-or-treating!
(click it to see it better)

Kayli's - Lion, Tori's -Cat, Sydni's -Spider and Naomi's -Jack O'Lanturn

It sure was a trick trying to dress, paint, feed and direct four excited girls on Halloween night while droves of trick-or-treaters swarmed to our house. We were entirely unprepared for the amount of people and the fact that they would start coming by as early as 6pm, before it was even dark! Amidst eating their dinner and slipping into their costumes, the girls would clamber to the door every time the bell rang while shrieking, "Trick-or-Treaters are here!!" It took us nearly an hour just to get everyone dressed to go out! Half of our 3 bags of candy was already given out. Even then, while taking the pictures on the porch, people were waiting in line for treats behind the camera!

Leopard Tori & Martian Kayli
The treat of the night was seeing all the girls, including Naomi, race from house to house. Naomi insisted on carrying her own bag and running along beside her sisters. She was so cute and at each door she'd say, "Treats please!"

It was also a treat to see all of the different kids and costumes. The lights in the streets were just enough to see everyone. The girls really enjoyed seeing so many other kids dressed up. This was the first year we were able to see that in our own neighborhood!

Minnie Naomi & Sleeping Beauty Sydni
The night turned tricky again when we returned home after an hour of walking most of our neighborhood. First we discovered that someone had stolen our cute spider candy bowl which we had left out for kids to take the rest of our candy while we were making our rounds.

Then, we wanted to see one neighbor's decorated house in an area we had not yet visited but we were all tired and cold. So we decided to drive down to check it out. It was really neat with blow-up spiders and monsters, signs and music playing. We drove back home with the girls munching candy in the back seat, tired from their adventures of the night.

Sydni, Kayli, Tori and Naomi
Everything went fine until we tried to open our garage door. I think the trick was not to lock your garage door opener from the inside before leaving to go somewhere! Or maybe the trick was not to leave your house key inside the house and relying on the garage door opening before leaving. Either way, it was not a nice combination of tricks to play on two tired parents on Halloween night! We were thankful for the good weather last week, the treat of discovering an unlocked side window and Tori's climbing abilities! She really saved the day.

Falling Leaves...Painting Leaves

Maddie, Naomi, Laura and Sydni

The girls had such a fun time this year with the fallen leaves. They really have never been able to experience true fall because of hot and non-deciduous Florida. It is so beautiful here with the leaves changing into so many shades. I had forgotten just how spectacular the changing leaves can be because I have not seen it for such a long time. We are also blessed to be in a neighborhood filled with trees. It is breathtaking to be able to sit at our kitchen table and look out at the multicolored scenery from outside our sliding glass doors.

Naomi and Laura

Maddie and Sydni

When the trees began to loose their first leaves, I took Naomi and Sydni (and the two girls I babysit) out to collect some leaves. We got the idea to make some fall pictures and they had a great time painting the leaves (and themselves). Later, the older girls took the dried leaves and glued them to make a fall picture. Everyone had a great time. All I have to say is thank goodness for washable paint, warmer fall weather and a spray nozzle on the hose!

Naomi Faith