Christmas

We had a great Christmas! We were able to celebrate Christmas at our house this year and had both sets of Grandparents here all day. Uncle Jason and Aunt Allison came by later in the morning and then stayed for lunch and some games. Hailey had a blast opening all of her gifts. Her big gift from Santa was a Thomas table with all the tracks and trains, she loves to push the trains around and tear down the tracks every day. After we opened each gift all she wanted to do was play with it and we had to ask her if she wanted to open another one (for some reason I don't think it will be this easy next year). We surprised our families this year and the last gift they opened was an ornament from the baby announcing her name.

We are looking forward to celebrating the New Year with our family and getting ready for baby #2, Mackenzie Paige to arrive.

Is this my child

So about a year ago I posted about Hailey's first attempt at finger painting and that she hated it and cried almost the whole time because she hated getting her hands dirty. Over the past year she has gotten better but we have to constantly wipe her hands clean (she is like this even when she eats dinner). Aunt Lisa came on Thursday to paint the nursery (pictures to come after our parents see it finished) and Hailey wanted to paint also, so we went downstairs and got everything set up. Sure enough as soon as we got started the phone rang, I went to answer it and when I was done I came back to this. It was so cute I had to take pictures, of course this is the same day as her Christmas program so I had to give her a bath before taking her back to school. She had a lot of fun painting and it is one of her new favorite things to do, if I can just teach her to keep it on the paper we could start painting with clothes on (especially since it is now winter and really cold).

Christmas Program

Here are some pictures of Hailey from her Christmas program. Her class dressed like Angels and got on stage with all the classes at the end and sang We Wish You A Merry Christmas. You can see in the one picture that she is actually signing along. She was good for the whole program, she sat quietly in her chair through all the other classes productions and even clapped when the audience did, she really was an angel.


Hailey looked so cute in her dress and hat. This is the outfit my mom bought as soon as I found out I was pregnant and even thought we didn't know what I was having the dress was too cute to pass up. I don't know if we realized it was a 24m size when we bought it so it has been hanging in her closet since before she was borne. It was so cute to see her finally wear it.

Santa

Hailey had breakfast with Santa at our church this weekend. She was so excited to go and see him. We knew she wouldn't talk to him but we were worried she wouldn't sit on his lap and take a picture. Well we didn't need to worry she did great. She waited in line patiently and then walked right up and let him pick her up. She looked at me the whole time and she seemed a little scared but she didn't cry so that was good. We couldn't get her to look at the camera but I think the picture turned out cute anyway.

We tried to do a little experiment with her hair this weekend (what little hair she has, I hope it starts growing faster soon). We thought it would be cute to see if it would fit into pigtails. So I tried and we got two little sprigs coming out the back, she actually kept them in until her nap so that was good. I need to get some hair ties that are small enough for her hair and maybe that will make them look a little cuter.

She spent Saturday night at Gammy and Papa's house and had a great time. I can't get her to play with play-dough but I guess Gammy has the magic touch because she looks like she was having a blast, and I love the picture of her reading the comics. She is growing up so fast. She has a Christmas play on Thursday so hopefully I can get some good pictures of her first performance. Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Christmas tree and Santa Train

We spent this weekend in King at Mimi and Popi's house. We got there Friday night and had chili and watched some Christmas specials. Hailey went to bed a little past bed time and got up at 3:40am ready to play. We went to Floyd VA on Saturday to help mimi, popi, uncle Jason and auntie Ali pick out their Christmas trees. We drove through the mountains on some windy roads and Hailey got a little car sick. We had to pull over in somebody's drive way and strip her down in the freezing cold. Luckily I had an extra outfit packed. She slept the rest of the way to get the tree and just wasn't acting like herself. So needless to say we didn't get any good pictures at the tree farm this year. It was cold but it was also snowing so that was fun.

By the time we left the tree farm Hailey was back to her lively self and we had a great time shopping in Floyd and spending time with our family. We even stopped at a little craft show and Hailey made a Christmas ornament with a little help from her mom and dad.





On Sunday we got up and went to Church and then we headed to Spencer to the train museum. They had a Santa train that we promised to take Hailey to. We got on the train and took a little ride and Santa was on the train and came and talked to all the kids. Hailey was a little hesitant of him but she didn't cry. They gave her a candy cane and she thought that was the best. I think she liked riding the train the best and probably didn't care if Santa was there or not. I think we are going to try and take her to see Santa again this weekend and hopefully can get her picture with him.



We stopped to see Gammy on our way home so Daddy could get a hair cut. While we were there Gammy took some cute pictures of Hailey by the tree. She just looks so innocent doesn't she.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving and we hope you did as well. We went on Wednesday to get a 4D ultrasound of the baby. She moved around a lot and we were able to get some great pictures of her as well as a real time DVD of the ultrasound. It is amazing to sit and watch the baby move and we feel like we know her already. We can't wait to meet her in just a few short months.

Tumbling

Hailey has started tumbling class last week and she is having a blast. She loves to climb and roll but she really doesn't like the bar. She fell off the bar last week but I was hoping she had forgotten about it this week but she was still hesitant. She tried the one time and then that was it. There are 9-10 kids in her class that are all 2 and it is fun to watch them all run around and get excited about all the different stations. We will have tumbling every week until the end of December. It is getting a little harder for me to chase her and help her the further along I get but we are having fun.

Farm

I know it has been a while since our last post but everyone is our house has been sick. Hailey has a sinus infection so she is still on medicine but she is getting better so that is good. Both Brian and I have had little colds as well but I think we are all on the road to recovery.

A few weeks ago Hailey's class went on a field trip to a farm. We got to learn a little about living on a farm and about corn and hay and straw. She really wasn't into the listening portion of the trip so she just played in the hay until it was time for the hay ride. We rode around the farm and got to see some cows and then we went into the barn and watched them milk a cow. Hailey thought that was fun and kept laughing when they would try to shoot the kids with the milk from the udder. Then we got to go where all the other animals were kept. This was her favorite part and as soon as she saw the animals she jumped up and down and looked at me and said, "can I pet them?". So we got her some feed and she fed the sheep right out of the palm of her hand. She stood there and just kept petting them. We also saw some bunnies, pigs, ducks and goats but she was really only interested in the sheep. She asks me all the time if we are going to the barn today, it is so sweet.

After we fed the animals the kids got to go to the pumpkin patch and pick out a pumpkin of their own. When we got home Hailey wanted to carve her pumpkin. Since we already had one carved and Halloween was over I told her she could paint her pumpkin. She got all excited and even picked out the colors she wanted to use. I was surprised that she was so excited about getting her hands in paint. I guess school has helped her overcome her fear of getting her hands dirty. She had a lot of fun and it was so cute to watch her. I can't believe it is almost time to take down the fall decorations and get the Christmas ones out. I think she will miss talking to her pumpkins but I think she will be just as excited to talk to all the santas and snowman we will have out.

Halloween

We had a very nice Halloween. Hailey was the cutest little lady bug I have ever seen. She loved wearing her costume and luckily it kept her nice and warm for when the sun went down. We started out at our friends Andy and Katie's house for a little get together. Hailey and Elvis (Tyler) had fun chasing each other around and playing. We left their house and came back home to go trick or treating. We only it a few houses since one Hailey didn't really know what was going on and two, she doesn't like sweets. The first house we stopped at she wasn't sure what was happening but by the second she knew to get candy out of the bowl. She wouldn't say anything to anybody but she would smile real sweet and reach into the bowl and get her candy. She loved seeing all the kids dressed up and all the pumpkins lit up. By the time we were on our way home she was saying trick or treat and very hyper (thanks to the m&m's she ate while walking around).

When Hailey woke up on Saturday she was eating her breakfast and asked if she could go trick or treating today. Then she wanted to wear her ladybug jacket around the house. Next year should be a lot of fun since she will know what to do and we will have two little angels to take around.

Black Saturday

This Saturday was black Saturday in Boone. App played Furman so we decided to take the kids to a game this time. Hailey was the cutest cheerleader I have ever seen. She had on a cute little uniform (although it was cold so she had to have her jacket on the whole game) and even some face stickers for added flare. She absolutely loved the game and would cheer "go Apps" all on her own even when no one else was cheering. She loves the fight song and would get so excited every time the band would play it, she would jump up and down with a huge grin on her face.





On Sunday we celebrated Brian's birthday with both our parents (his actual birthday isn't till Wednesday). Brian got a new grill so we decided to test it out by grilling out burgers. We listened to the Panther game and Hailey, Mimi and Popi carved her pumpkin. I have never seen anyone get so attached to a pumpkin before. As soon as it was done and we brought it inside she started talking to it and giving it a massage with lotion. She was putting her pretend lipstick on it and letting talk on the phone as well. It was the cutest thing. Brian also got the 3rd National championship stone to go with his first two. I don't think Hailey is too excited about all the Halloween decorations around the neighborhood but she loves to look at all the pumpkins and scarecrows.

four

I was tagged by kate to do the "four". For those of you who don't know you go to your files and pick the fourth file and then the fourth picture in that file and blog about it. This is a picture of Hailey when she was just about 7 months old. She was rolling over but not crawling yet. I love her smile in this picture. She always has been a happy little girl. I can't wait till baby #2 gets here and to see how much they have in common and to also discover their differences and what makes each of them unique.

The time goes by so fast. Looking at this picture makes me realize just how much she has changed in such a short period of time.

Gatlinburg and the new floor

Brian and I had a wonderful anniversary weekend in Gatlinburg. We stayed at a very cute and charming bed and breakfast that was within walking distance to all the stores. It was rainy of Friday but we had gorgeous weather on Saturday and spent the whole day driving around the National forest and going to Cades Cove. We saw two bears, a lot of deer and one fox. We walked through some old houses and churches that are still there. It was amazing to see what little they had and needed compared to the world today.





Hailey stayed at mimi and popi's house again but they put her to work this time. The decided to rip up the old carpet downstairs and lay down hardwoods. My aunt and uncle from SC came to help since they have laid hardwoods a couple times before. Hailey thought she was big stuff helping out and I think she made it more fun and entertaining than it usually is.









Uncle Jason and Auntie Alli took her to a corn maze on Saturday and from the look of the pictures I think they all had fun. They took her to their house to see the animals (2 cats and a big dog) and all she has talked about since is giving them treats.