Having A Ball!

Last week, we visited grandma and grandpa. About a year ago, they found a huge blow up ball in their backyard. They asked neighbors, but no one claimed it, so they kept it for the kids. Needless to say, that was a great idea because the kids love it! Grandma and grandpa have toys from mom's childhood and from my childhood, and the kids do play with those things, but they are obsessed with this ball. They even played with it down in the basement during the winter. Now that it's finally warming up, they were able to go outside and enjoy chasing the ball around. There they are playing:


Hailey loves to try to lay on it (and then it rolls and she falls off of course):

Another picture of her trying to lay on it:

Hannah kicked it through the backyard while mom, dad and grandma watch and grandpa is headed over to Hailey:

Grandpa playing with the kids:

Dad playing with the kids:

Hailey discoverd the bird bath and decided it was just as much fun to get wet as it was to play with the ball:

Hannah and grandpa looking at leaves:

It's always fun to go over to grandma and grandpa's and wonderful to see them!

Easter Fun!

Our "Easter fun" started on Thursday when Hailey's playgroup had an Easter egg hunt. Here is Hailey, discovering the eggs:

Picking up more:



Enjoying an animal cracker snack from one of the eggs:


Showing Mommy her loot:

Today before church, we got up to see what the Easter Bunny left. Here are the baskets, Hailey's is purple and Hannah's is pink. Hailey's has a puzzle, stickers, socks, a chocolate bunny, and a feather boa. Hannah's has a puzzle, stickers, socks, a chocolate bunny, and a Tinkerbell watch:

Hailey's eggs are in the office:

Hannah's are hidden a little better in the playroom:

Hailey showing her basket:

Hannah with her basket:

Both girls with their baskets:

Hailey's feelings about the feather boa (I thought she would like it since she loves dress-up and necklaces - guess not!):

Hannah posing with Hailey's boa:

Cute:

After a few pieces of candy, we dressed up and headed to church. After church, we went to Larry & Sheryl's house to celebrate with Rob's family. Happy Easter!

A Good Report

Last week, I was a little late picking Hannah up from preschool. Honestly, I don't remember what the hold-up was, but since she was the last kid in there, it did give me the chance to quickly ask the teacher and teacher aide if they had any hesitations about sending Hannah on to kindergarten. I told them I had no reservations, I just wanted to make sure something wasn't going on that I wasn't aware of since kindergarten sign-up was this week. They both agreed that Hannah was more than ready for kindergarten so I thanked them and started to walk away when the teacher's aide stopped me and told me that she wanted me to know that Hannah was one of the kindest kids she had ever met. The teacher agreed, stating that Hannah is always so sweet and caring of all the other children in the class. She said that if someone falls down or is upset, she is the first one over there, trying to find a way to help, no matter who it is. I love that she is so kind and caring to everyone. She is so often patient, helpful, loving, and understanding of a little sister who isn't always old enough to do everything she is doing, and it's nice to see that she acts like this at school as well. We are very proud of our sweet girl!

Jerry!

Paul is always attempting to get the kids to chant "Jerry, Jerry!" like on the talk show. He and my dad even had a competition to see who can get the kids to do their "trick" first. My dad has won with both kids since the trick he teaches them is to say "Ahhh" after taking a drink and they both easily mastered that before they could even talk. Paul's trick is obviously far more complicated, but he still gets great pleasure out of trying to get them to say it, probably since it gets an eye roll from me each time. LOL Anyway, this past weekend, Paul figured out that Hailey now knows what bribes are so he was bribing her to say it. What she says doesn't sound much like "Jerry" but she says it with such enthuisiam, it's funny. He says that he has now trained Hailey to say "Jerry" but I say that Hailey has trained him to give her a piece of candy anytime she puts her hand in the air and says a two syllable sound. You be the judge:

Kindergarten Sign-Up

My baby is enrolled in kindergarten. I know she's not really my baby. She's almost 5 and honestly she looks and acts like she's even older than that most days. But she'll always be my baby and this big step is probably harder on me than it is on her. After I picked her up from preschool (and dropped Hailey off with the neighbor), Hannah and I headed over to enroll her in kindergarten. She was a little shy at first, but once a teacher took her hand, she was her normal happy self. They did a hearing test, an eye test, a speech test, and a readiness test while I filled out paperwork. The teacher who did her readiness test said she was very funny - so excited to give each answer and she answered with enthusiasm. I had to laugh because apparently she told them she could only count to 10 (she can count to 79) but it doesn't really matter, they are only testing to weed out kids who may need all day kindergarten for some extra help. When I asked why she told them that, she said she only wanted to count to 10. LOL, okay, whatever. Anyway, we put in a preference for afternoon kindergarten (11:15am-2pm - morning was 7:45am-10:30am, yikes!) and were told that there was a slight chance all classes may end up full day (7:45am-2pm), so now I guess we just wait and see. Everyone was very polite and they gave Hannah a cookie and some juice on the way out. She came out telling me that she was excited to go to kindergarten. Only 4 more months!

Having Conversations

Hailey has never been quite as talkative as Hannah, which is fine, all kids have their strengths and Hailey's happens to be more of the physical stuff (she is already climbing the ladder and the climbing wall on our playset without help!). However, she is starting to catch up with the language as well. Today, we had our first "real" conversation. It went like this:

Hailey: Where go?
Me: Where did what go?
Hailey: Sissy?
Me: Sissy is at preschool.
Hailey: Why?
Me: To learn new things.
Hailey: Oh

Before we know it, the house will be full of nonstop chatter!

Toddler Bed Attempt #2

We ran to Lowes tonight to check out some stuff we need to buy this weekend to work on our yard. After, we stopped by Borders really quick, but it was still 9pm when we were walking out of there. Hailey fell asleep on the way home. I got her out of the carseat, into the house, got her jacket, shoes, and socks off of her, and went upstairs without waking her. As I was walking up the stairs, it occurred to me that maybe I could lay her in her toddler bed and then if she woke up in the bed, she'd see it wasn't so bad. I walked in her room, laid her down, she opened her eyes, yelled "DON'T!" and pointed to her crib. I picked her up, laid her in her crib, she closed her eyes, and immediately fell back asleep. LOL, guess she really hates that bed!

Attempt #2: FAIL

2 Years In Review

Our big girl Hailey just turned 2!



Height/Weight:

~ At birth, she was 8lbs 15oz and 21 3/4 inches

~ At age 1, she was 22lbs 12oz and 31 inches

~ At age 2, she is 27lbs 12oz and 35 3/4 inches



Physical Features:

~ At birth, her hair was black. Her eyes were blue grey.

~ At age 1, her hair was brown but there wasn't much except in the back. Her eyes were blue with a few specks of bright brown around her pupil. She had two teeth with four more on the way.

~ At age 2, her hair is brown and there is definitely a lot more of it. She has had her first trim. Her eyes are brown in the middle but are still mostly blue grey around the outside. There may be a little green in there as well. She has all her first year teeth, except her "i" teeth which are just now starting to come in. No two year molars yet.



Milestones:

~ At birth, she was good at sleeping and nursing.

~ At age 1, she could walk, say 2 words, turn pages, point, clap, laugh, give high five, wave, try to run, feed herself, eats table foods, uses spoon, put things in a basket, climb stairs, drink out of a sippy and straw cup, give hugs, follow simple instuctions, climb on rocking horse, and recognize her name.

~ At age 2, she can run, say about 150 words, use 2-4 word sentences, ask questions, give commands, feed herself with a spoon and fork, drink out of a regular cup, climb the stairs normally, follow more complex directions, and climb the rock wall and bars on our swingset.



Pictures:

~ At birth:

~ At age 1:

At age 2:

Spring Is In The Air

Doesn't look much like spring, does it?



But, as you know, the weather around here can change at the drop of a hat, so here we are, just a week later, enjoying the warmth in dresses and skirts:

Yep, Hailey climbed up that ladder by herself. She can climb ladders and rock walls now and Hannah can swing on her own. They are both getting so big!

On the slide:

Chasing bubbles that another mom brought:

Enjoying the wagon ride home:

Fingers crossed the warm weather is here to stay!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

The playgroup we go to for Hailey just happened to coincide with Hailey's 2nd birthday so I took advantage of that and set up a little playdate/birthday party at our house. Four little friends were able to come over and celebrate with us and Hailey loved it (except the Happy Birthday song - she actually yelled "no!" while we sang to her - ha!).

Here are the cupcakes, goody bags, and food:

I didn't want to post any pictures of the kids from playgroup because I didn't ask but here is the birthday girl, enjoying her cupcake:

Happy birthday sweetie - we love you!

Toddler Bed Attempt #1

I am having a minor surgery in a few weeks to get some more of the sutures removed that they put in when I had the umbilical hernia surgery done during Hannah's pregnancy. In preparation for that, we have decided to try to move Hailey to her toddler bed.

Here it is, all set up:


Hailey checking it out:

Making Woody sleep there:

You want me to do what?!?

Oh well, maybe another day:

Attempt #1: FAIL

Hannah: Future Photographer?

Hannah has been stealing my camera lately and I find all kinds of pictures on there. Perhaps we have a future photographer on our hands?