Finding this in the crunchy leaves makes me happy.

I can't believe that Brady and I have been parents for 10 years now. Our sweet Hailey Rae turned 10 last week. She came into this world with eyes wide open and the prettiest hair color. I love this girl so much!

We had a friend party the day before she turned the big 10 at a painting studio called Paint Your Art Out. She loves to paint here at home but hasn't done any canvas painting yet. I thought it was the perfect spot to have a party - no clean up involved. The only time slot left available was right after school let out for the day. She invited 7 friends and 4 were able to show up - plus good ole family. Her grandmother and father, Kelsey and Zivi and of course Brady, Hunter, Grayson and I were there too. Kelsey and Zivi were in town celebrating Fran's 60th birthday and stayed to celebrate with Hailey too. I am so happy they stayed. Meant a lot to us.

Since it was at a painting studio, I just ordered plain colored cupcakes. I had Brady arrange and serve them on a paint pallet. I think it looked so adorable. The instructor walked them through the steps. He had lightly sketched the outline of the horse she chose to have painted. It was so interesting to walk around and watch everyone paint their version of the horse. Hunter wound up loving it although he spied a lego man in the studio he thought he was going to get to do instead.

The morning of her birthday I had the breakfast room done up with a birthday banner and streamers. I like making her smile. She took the traditional Eileens number cookies to share with her classmates. They had a test later on in the day so they got to eat them before lunch. Yeah for birthdays! She got int he car with a tub of cotton candy from her teacher. So fun. We opened up presents that night, watched a new movie from her brother and ate her favorite meal - tortellini with olives  (and olive juice), green beans and cheese bread.  

Here is to a fabulous year Miss H. Glad you chose us to be your parents!

The Studio Before the Party Guests Arrived

Her Friends

The Lego Man Hunter Wanted to Paint

The H's Finished Paintings

Her Paint Cake

The Sweet Note from Big Hayley!

We ate at Cracker Barrel over the weekend. While in line waiting to be seated, Brady spied this giant package of Reese's peanut butter cups. He is not a fan of chocolate at all but he does like Reese's. He and the H's were teasing me that I was no fun and wouldn't buy them. Truth is I saw that it looked intriguing to him (and the H's) and had a mental note to go back and buy it later for Christmas. BUT when he went to pay, he secretly grabbed a package of them. He opened it up last night with the kids. I didn't think something that large would actually taste the same as the little ones. Amazingly they did! Yum.

* I like his sharpie writing on the package before he opened it up to share. Funny man.

Last Friday, Brady took Hailey to Family Fun Night at school. Its the yearly fundraiser. Hunter was invited to attend a birthday party for his friend and wanted to go to that a little bit more. So I took Hunter and Grayson and Brady took Hailey. She said she had a really good time and I was thrilled to see her finally win at the cakewalk. She so desperately wanted to win last year. All that was left were the tiny cakes but she won! She still hasn't tried it. She didn't see that the label also said it had raspberry in it too. She's not so game to try new things. Maybe her love of white chocolate will prevail. Wish she would have won any of the baskets she put her tickets into but apparently the same some person won a lot of them. They must have purchased a ton of tickets. Brady and I agreed. If you want to donate money to the school. Fine. Don't look like a jerk and have your kid win all the baskets. Not cool. Love my kids school but I guess that's what you get when you have coffee cup momma's in their exercise clothes and designer handbags walking in and out of the school with their kiddos :)

After school, I was washing Grayson up in the bathtub. The H's were in Hailey's room playing. I heard all sorts of ruckus. They like to roll and tackle each other lately. Drives me bonkers only because I know someone WILL get hurt. Then I see two little frantic kids in front of me in the bathroom. Hunter has blood all over his hands and is holding his mouth and they both have these really concerned looks. He tells me that Hailey knocked his tooth out with her knee. I calmed him down and told him it would be okay and told Hailey to go get him a paper towel. They went and looked for the missing tooth and washed up. I just had to involve Brady in the drama and called him on FaceTime. Come to find out they were wrestling over a pointer stick. Hailey's knee went into his face and knocked out his tooth. It was wiggly but it still was held on by the gums. Brady had tried pulling it again the day earlier. So apparently enough force was the trick :) They both hopefully learned a lesson. It wasn't exactly how Hunter envisioned his first front tooth coming out but he was happy it was out. His new smile makes me laugh.  Love the hole and his cute smile! He was a little concerned about telling his teacher. They graph lost teeth. I told him to just tell her he lost his tooth. He was afraid he would have to rat on himself that he was fighting with his sister!

Last night, we carved pumpkins. The H's look forward to this annual activity. Hunter has had his design drawn on his pumpkin ever since we went to the pumpkin patch a few days earlier. He couldn't wait to dig his tools into his pumpkin and carve away. The H's designed and cut out their pumpkins all on their own again. I love seeing what they come up with. Hailey had a big reveal. She put a towel over hers before she presented it to us. I love her enthusiasm. Hunter only wound up nicking his hand once from the force he was using to cut out a wedge. The tools are pretty blunt. I love my kid carving tools.

Last year, cute Grayson was sitting in his bouncy seat on the front porch watching us carve our pumpkins. I have some cute photos of him with the sunlight hitting his sweet face. I wasn't sure he would get into this activity as he was tired. Well, he not only liked it but enjoyed it a lot. Second wind of fun I suppose. Brady sat on the floor and showed him all about it. New experiences are fun to watch at any age.

Brady carved a design into Grayson's pumpkin that Hunter picked out for him. I didn't carve one. It is hard for me to cut into perfectly shaped pumpkins. Love them all. I also wait every year to buy them. I don't like to get them so early they rot. I purposely put them in shady spots. It is still a game to see how long my pumpkins can last every year. And I also don't like paying a lot for pumpkins so I wait till they are a reasonable price. Silly but I do. And of course, we roasted those seeds. I let Hailey salt them this year. I usually bathe them in my secret salt bath but I skipped that this year. We all love that pumpkin-e-goodness!

 

We drove to Norman to the Patch we took Hailey to when she was a baby. The last two years the pumpkin patch here has been crowded and nasty. The weather was perfect. Grayson was asleep in my arms for the first bit we were there. When he woke, he was in heaven. This kid loves the outdoors. He liked being free and exploring. He got plenty dirty too. The H's love corn mazes. The ground was a bit wet from the rain. So naturally G fell down a few times. He didn't want to leave the maze. They all loved seeing the animals, going down the slide a zillion times, going on the tractor ride and picking out a pumpkin in the patch. Grayson had more fun in the dirt I think. He would stand in the dirt alley way and step on clumps of dry dirt. So happy. And I had fun picking out Grayson's pumpkin, Brady's pumpkin and my own that I spied on the tractor ride and went and retrieved!

I took Grayson in to see Bettina for his first haircut yesterday! She is the sweet lady who cuts the H's hair. I found her long ago for Hunter initially. She knows his hair pattern and cuts it right for his curly spots and cowlicks. Grayson was horrible and even attempted to swipe her hands away from his head. He cried almost the entire time and wiggled back and forth even with him on my lap. Playing on my phone calmed him down for a few moments. She was able to trim up around his ears and cut some of the long growth. He has a lot of hair in the front middle but the sides still need to grow in so it looks like she cut it bad in some spots but she didn't. He's just bald still! It looks good when its fixed. So for now he's still sporting a shorter comb over. He was all too happy to leave the salon. A taste of a lollipop didn't even help make it better. He whacked that away. Little G does not like strangers talking to him right now. The photographer last week and the nurse for his flu shot got an earful as well. This stage will pass. Good thing he's so adorable and kissable regardless!

 

Autumn is my favorite season by far. I love the jacket weather and mix of sun shiny days with cloudy ones. I love seeing the leaves change colors, the zillion pumpkins all over, the cups of cocoa and fireplace weather. Cooking is also much more fun at this time of year. Such yummy foods and smells. I also like living in a place where you can visibly see the seasons change - don't exactly like picking up after the oak trees but they sure are pretty!

 

As we were finishing up dinner, we heard a knock on the door. No one ever comes to our house just about unless its a play date, something is wrong or its a birthday. It was about 8:00 pm so Brady came to peek out the peephole with me. To my delight, my Aunt Pat and Uncle Kent were standing on the porch! What a fun surprise. My Aunt Pat is my father's sister. She and Kent came through here when Hunter was little. They were on their way traveling again and stopped by to see us. I am glad they did. I miss seeing my family up close and in person. We chatted for about 45 minutes and then they were off to get some zzz's at a nearby hotel. They had been driving all day.  I did crack myself up and had Brady snap some not so good pictures of us after they walked out the door and were in their car already. Reminded me of how mom would say its for posterity! So true now for me. So even though the pictures are blurry and I wasn't all done up for a picture, I am glad I have these two pictures to remind myself of them.

That is exactly what Hailey said to me as she was getting into the truck after school. Her tooth was ready to come out and bugging her so she pulled it out at school. She asked her homeroom teacher if she could and she said yes - in PE, which was the class they were headed to next. Funny. So in PE, she got a paper towel and pulled it out. I don't remember ever willingly pulling my teeth out. She's like her daddy. Then she went to the office and they gave her the sweetest treasure box to keep her tooth in for the Tooth Fairy. She carried that treasure box around in her pocket like she had a million dollars till bedtime. She decided to keep the box and just put the tooth in the pillow pocket. I love her happy expression in the picture I took.

Labor Day weekend was hot like it normally is but it was especially HOT this year. We have had a relatively nice summer of not too many extremely hot days so go figure the weekend we actually get out it is blazing hot. Not wanting to be out in the miserable sun all day with the children we did try to make the best of it. Brady and I are not lake people. Lake water is just nasty and we don't enjoy getting all sweaty anymore. Boating is fun and we enjoy the great fishing. Brady took the H's fishing. Hunter caught his first fish all by himself! He was so cute re-telling me about his experience. Hailey made me teary eyed as she took Grayson when it was time for his nap and put him to sleep. He was all snuggled up on her shoulder fast asleep. She loves Grayson and would prefer to mommy him all the time. Grammy bought the H's new bikes to keep at the lake. They have bikes here and now they have some there. Hailey got one that has a bunch of gears she needs to figure out. She was excited to ride around the circle with Brady. Hunter's bike is a bit too big for him. He rides his bike here quite fast but still uses his training wheels. The training wheels that were purchased for the new bike didn't fit so he didn't get to test out his new bike. He was bummed but took it in stride. We are going to see if we can swap them out on his one here. Hopefully in the next few months, we can practice riding without the training wheels. Thanks Grammy for the new lake bikes! I did take the kids swimming for a bit down by the docks. Grayson hated every minute of it. That was fun. Not. We did take a trip in the new taxi boat over across the lake to eat with uncle Michael. The H's always love a boat ride and their uncle Michael. Looking forward to cooler weather to go out and enjoy being outside. My favorite season is coming up!

We did find this cool house lizard that entertained us and this curious praying mantis outside. Fun to find creatures not normally seen!

The H's went to see their nurse today to receive their flu shots. Both did well although they both were tense, got bright red and of course said "Ouch!". Last year over Christmas break, we all got the flu except for baby Grayson. It was horrible. We were too late getting the flu shot last year and they ran out of dosages. I have never been a fan of shots of any kind until we all got the flu. Hailey had it the worst. She ran a high fever for 14 days straight. Hunter and I got Tamiflu which helped us get over it faster. Hailey was too far into it for it to be effective. I felt so bad for her. Last year baby Grayson was too young for the shot anyway. I just nursed him like crazy and kept him quarantined as much as I could last year in hopes he wouldn't get it. Luckily it worked. He received his first flu shot yesterday at his 15 month well child check-up. So since getting stuck with a needle and having a sore arm isn't very much fun, I took them to get an ice cream cone and then checked them into school for the day. Here is to hoping we all don't get the flu and stay well this winter season!!!

 

Baby G is 15 Months today! Just love this little guy. 

Hailey took the old strawberry plot this year and planted some items. Her flowers are absolutely beautiful in the morning and evening light. Hunter is growing watermelons. He has several and I hope they continue to do well. They are so cute!

If you know me, you know that I absolutely love four leaf clovers AND pumpkins. You can never have enough pumpkins in the Fall around your home. In our many years of gardening, I have not been able to get one to thrive to become a glorious beauty. This year was the first in many that our vines looked fabulous. I was pretty thrilled to see all the runners and flowers. A few grew but popped off. Then this one grew. I wouldn't look at it every single day because I was afraid. Yesterday Brady broke the news to me that it died. So sad. Long live you cute pumpkin. May you rest in pieces!

 

School has been in session for a little over a week. Back to going to bed/rise times, school lunches and the dreaded homework. I miss them here at home. Its quiet with just Grayson babbling and playing. He loves to see them after school. They are off to a great start and I hope it stays that way. They both have already brought home slight bug germs and passed them to us. Luckily it has just been the sniffles. Oh the joys of germs at school. Hunter has a sweet teacher that has been teaching for 15 years. Love her. Hailey has a brand new teacher. I think she will do well. They both got new backpacks and new lunch boxes this year. Hunter wants to wear his latest pair of Nike shoes and matching socks everyday. It cracks me up.

* And YES Hailey has a bruised up eye. Just her luck she somehow woke up with it a couple days before school started. She said she dreamed her eye was hurting.

Can't forget our traditional back to school haircuts and piggy paint! She chose teal this year.

*** Brady picked the children up from school on their first day and kept Grayson all day. I went with my college roommate to a friends funeral about 2 hours away. I missed seeing their happy smiles coming out of the school building but I am glad Brady got to see it too!

 

We have been promising to take the H's to Frontier City forever. It was supposed to happen last year. Last year I had sweet baby Grayson and then got incredibly ill. I so desperately wanted to pay someone to play with my babies last summer. Someone to love them up and take them to places I just couldn't. Hailey can quote the care.com commercial. She still tries to get me to call them up when things just don't work out. I guess we need more real trustworthy friends and family closer that can love on our kiddos during the day hours and actually want to do so not because they have been asked OR we just need to move closer to them :). 

Since school was about to begin, we made it happen for Hailey. Since Hailey and Hunter are different heights, some of the rides are not okay to take both of them on and would wind up having to wait. If we went as a whole family, it would be long and boring since Baby G would be cooped up most of the time. So Brady kept Hunter and Grayson ALL day and we played. It was so fun to be with my girl. I needed it and I am glad we got to spend time together.

We went on all the rides except for 2. The rocking boat we always see from I35 was especially fun for our tummies. We rode that 3 times. We even got soaking wet on the boat and log rides. We paid to dry off in one of these large driers that helped some. And as our new fate would have it, she somehow managed to get whiplash and bonked the back of her head on her first ever roller coaster. We were not expecting how rocky it would be going. I lover roller coasters and forgot that this was a wooden one bound to do that. She wanted me to film it so I did until it got too rough. Looking back, I wish I would have ignored her request and just held her against me. She had a bump from hitting the metal bar way behind her head twice apparently. I kept praying that she would be okay and not throw up. We haven't even started paying the bill from her 3rd concussion in June! This girl scares me to pieces with every carefree move she makes. We took it easy after that. Couldn't leave with out yummy food and a special keepsake from the gift shop. She chose to have a really cute blue dolphin stuffed. We also did another smooth roller coaster that did a mini loop. We couldn't let her roller coaster drama beat us. It was fast and fun. The line was so too long and we would have gone again had it been short.  She didn't want to go on the other 2 big roller coasters. Don't blame her. Next time.  She's my brave girl but head bonks really are not fun. She did try her hand out at the games. She quickly lost $3. Those balloons are hard to pop if you don't throw a dart hard enough at them. She did win at the fishing game. Got to pick out a cute red stuffed crayon. Can't wait till next year. I hope to get passes. They have a water park area now that will be perfect to play in since we don't have a neighborhood pool. They don't get many opportunities to go swimming or splash around in clear water. So this may just be the perfect spot.

Here are a few pictures of us that day. Love you Miss Hailey!

* The evil wooden roller coaster :)

 

[video: x]

These pictures are off my cell phone camera so they are not that great but it does document his first year in monthly pictures. I had a sweet classical happy birthday song to go along with it but couldn't figure out how to change the name to work with my program. Oh well. 

 

 

 

A couple days before school let out, Hunter wound up with a tummy bug. He had the whole weekend to recover and went to school for the last 3 days. He acted fine. No fever. Appetite not quite back to normal and had an occasional loose bowel. Fast forward to last weekend. He woke up needing to throw up and he was in my bed at the time. Luckily he got out of the bed. Hunter is not the most cooperative kid when he is asleep or even half asleep or pretty much anytime after he has retired for the night. I tried getting him to quickly move towards the bathroom. But in his state he also had a massive diarrhea explosion. I wound up yelling at him to move but in his sleepy state could not get it all together. I was more upset at his non-listening ability then than the massive amounts of poop he managed to get all over the carpet IN MY ROOM! I cleaned him up, wiped the floor and put towels down all over the place and vacated the room for the night. He spend the entire night literally throwing up and having loose bowels almost every half an hour. I have no clue where it was all coming from in his little body. He continued to have loose bowels for days. I made a call to my doctor to see about some relief. I now have a stockpile for next time too. It only took a couple doses and he stopped all the vomiting and yucky bowels. Then we all took turns getting his bug. Hailey got it the least. The first loose bowel I encouraged her to take the Imodium. I have never used that on my children. Never needed to but after dealing with Hunter, I strongly encouraged her! It worked. I am also pretty sure Grayson had it from the time Hunter got ill the first time. He has had several yucky diapers daily and I was done. I also found out he is getting his back molars in as well. Explains the ear holding for about an hour one night. It will take some time coming in I am sure but they are bulging! Poor guy. I hope this is the last of it all. I am done cleaning but now we have freshly cleaned carpets in the house again so all is well :)

We have been working like crazy the past few weeks while the weather is still pleasant in the yard. So many leaves to clean up, hedges, tree trimming and debris removal. Its quite the undertaking. We could actually fill one of those giant dumpsters! Brady is a pro with the chainsaw and the kids are a great help. Little Grayson has tolerated it all but I wish he had a babysitter some days.

The garage is a big mess. Too much stuffs. We are in the process of trying to clean it up as well. In order to put the things in proper places, the falling down barn has to be tackled. Once that is cleaned out and evaluated for repairs, we can finally make room. Can't wait to be able to one day step into the garage and actually find something quick and be able to store the kids bikes there too instead of the atrium! 

Hailey is excited about her new garden plot. It used to be the strawberry patch. I have had that patch for a few years and it did well until last year. They all croaked. But I am also happy that she has a section to tend. Brady bought 100 bags of new soil to add to the main garden, trimmed out a ton of trees blocking the view. Excited about this as I also think it will cut down on the mosquitoes once the sun gets in the creek some more to dry those nasty creatures up! Excited about the plants we planted and watching them grow too!

We ALL have BIG plans to build a fort this summer. It will be a work in process - especially with all our grand ideas :). They have wanted one forever and its time. Excited to play outside with the kiddos this summer and eat yummy foods. I missed that last summer. They spent way too much time inside. I hope to never be sick again but if I am I am hiring someone to play with my babies!

Hailey's hair is the same color as the horse 'Jody' she rides at lessons. Pretty!

Countdown to the last day of school paper chain!

Precious sleepy Grayson

We drove to the lakehouse to spend Mother's Day this year. Brady was wanting to try to work on getting some wireless stuff setup but it didn't quite work out. Too much juggling around with all of us -  but actually he needed REAL help :) The weather was nice and gave us a taste of the beginnings of summertime. The H's were anxious to play on the sandy beach areas. Hunter presented me with his first school handmade Mother's Day gift. His hand print was on a tea towel in the shape of a flower. Hailey made a cute flower pot picture and sang me a song that of course made me teary. Those are the bests gifts ever. Love those kiddos. I was showered with love, presents and we had a yummy cookout at the marina with family. It was a short, fast paced weekend as we had to travel back for school. Ready for slow weekends and lazy mornings!

We saw 3 baby armadillos in the backyard. I need some baby dillos here. So cute.

Hunter and Hailey took a short trip with Smokey to move the RV to a new spot over at the campgrounds. Hunter enjoys being by Smokey's side tweaking the RV. Hope he gets to spend more time this summer with him doing just that very thing. Tweaking and fixing stuff makes Hunter one happy little boy.

Hunter officially graduated from Kindergarten this week!

Just the day before his graduation, I went in to wake Mr. Sleepyhead up for the day. He is NOT a morning person. He needs to wake up slowly and things have to be done on his accord. He said, "Why did you have to sign me up for this?!" I had to laugh as I hadn't heard that since the beginning of school. A few more days lil' guy and then summer will be here for you to recoup. His year was full of exciting firsts and much growth. I loved hearing about his day the minute he got in the car in the afternoon. He will honestly tell you the best part about school is recess and gym but I know he's enjoyed much more than that. Since he didn't go to preschool as most of the entire planet has... everything was fresh and new and he was full of excitement learning new things. It was very hard for me at the beginning of school to have him gone ALL day. I was used to Hailey being gone but he has been my buddy since birth and was by my side during my not so glorious pregnancy with Grayson. He is the sweetest boy and I love him so. I wish he could stay this young forever.  I am very proud of all his hard work learning so much. He's ready for First Grade!

The invite that was sent home... We invited the family. His grandparents came!

We received several notices about dressing nice. He was handsome!

Proud Mom, Dad & baby G

Grammy & Smokey

They weren't able to come to Hailey's graduation due to space issues so I was happy they were able to attend this go around. Although I honestly thought the whole program wasn't as nice/special as Hailey's graduation was when she graduated Kindergarten. It went by really quick and his teacher was nervous. It needed more pizazz in my opinion.  But that doesn't take away the fact that I was proud of him!

I had a congratulations banner hanging on the living room wall, a delicious cookie cake, some silly string and a scooter he has been wanting forever waiting for him when we got home. Grammy gave him a bag of batteries. He always needs those. We shared cookie cake. Dad, Grammy & Smokey left and we went outside to ride that scooter! Hunter said "People are so nice. They give me batteries and this scooter!" Then we went to the dollar store to pick up some bubbles for his end of the school year party. Hailey bought Hunter some surprises with her own money. She got him a ball like the one she owns (he's wanted one forever as well) and a ball pop gun. It was a great afternoon.

Last year (Easter 2012) due to my freshly broken foot, we stayed at our home for Easter with just us 4 (plus baby G in the belly). We traditionally travel during all the holiday's so we can be together with Brady's family. Last year we missed them. They decided to go to the lake. It was actually nice to not have to pack up a darn thing and just enjoy our kiddos at home. It was perfect. The kids were precious hunting for eggs in their own backyard and Brady cooked us some delicious steaks. They spent the day playing sweetly and snacking on treats.

Easter is my favorite holiday. It is simple and quiet and supposed to be meaningful. I have fond memories of my family at Easter time. Mom always made something yummy and the bunny cake was set out. I especially looked forward to my annual new dress and shoes to wear to church. I missed that last year. I did get Hailey a festive shirt but it just wasn't the same. This year I went with a blue color scheme. I think they looked adorable. Brady has cute pictures on his real camera. I manned the digital video camera and only snapped a few not so clear ones with my iphone. The kids set out their baskets the night before, Hailey left a note, no one threw up and it rained so the bunny had to leave his eggs and treats inside. The kids were excited nonetheless. Then the sun came out and we went outside.

I made a green breakfast for the family for a bit of yearly fun. I didn't torture my children by turning their eggs green as my dad did when I was young. I miss that though. I have done it in the past. Even Grayson enjoyed some green potatoes for dinner. Hunter was a pickle and opted for cereal in a green bowl. No fun. Everyone wore a spot of green but I think baby G was absolutely adorable in his outfit.

I love to see flowers popping up in the spring. Wish they would stay longer but its fun to look and enjoy while they last! Tulips are my favorite flower. I wish I had a zillion planted. The sweet lady who used to live next door to the Tucker's at the lakehouse had beautiful flowers all along her fence line. She loved her plants. I couldn't help but admire the beauty of her flowers still even though the yard has gone to pot.

The Whole Collection!

Brady's Masterpieces!

Hunter decided to pull out a paint brush and paint his eggs. They had a tye-dyed effect!

The H's also had fun hiding and hunting for plastic eggs in the house. I loved doing this with my brothers when I was young. I love how Hunter wanted to write on each egg and how he put them in the carton first before labeling how they looked best to him. His bunny on the outside cracks me up too. The tongue of the bunny is sticking out as he is giving out eggs! Now we have a ready to go box every year. Thanks Hunter.

I made our yearly birds nests, jello eggs and attempted to make some deviled eggs as a treat for Brady. I cooked perfect eggs and they looked beautiful. However my deviled eggs were a disaster. I used great fresh ingredients. The first batch I put the paprika in the filling and the eggs had an orange tint to them. I was so bummed. I taste tested and about did myself in too. Then later on I gave it a retry. It was perfect. Tasted yummy. Just like how I remembered. Then for some reason I added some salt but OOPS - too much salt. So the next batch was ruined. Sadness again. I was glad Brady was on his way home. I wound up taking a baby aspirin as by this time I was feeling really off. I am allergic to every ingredient in deviled eggs. Having them all at once was NOT a good idea!

Hailey's 3rd Grade class this year has book reports. The last one was over an animal and the assignment was to create a diorama to go along with it. She chose frogs. Probably because she has a really cute Whites Tree Frog of her own! She made an A+ on her report and diorama. Love my smart girl. Here is her diorama. I love that she drew a picture of it first and all the tiny rocks she glued around her pond.

The same week Hailey's frog book report was due, Hunter comes home with an assignment to research an animal. So he picked a frog too! Here is his cute report and picture.

Grayson has been eating easy to dissolve snacks for awhile. He loves his snacks and really food in general. He went from leaning forward to mouthing up his snacks out of our hands to pincer grasping them to now if they don't quite go in right away to using the back of his hand to push those yummy treats in his mouth. He's a cutie!

 

When Grayson was born, he received these two keepsake crocheted blankets. I love these kind of blankets the best because they are soft, snuggly, usuable and are the perfect blanket for car seats in the winter because they stay put.  I also love them because someone took the time to make something so beautiful and useful! Rhonda crocheted him one and Scott's grandmother crocheted the other. (Scott is an employee and friend who works for Brady.)

 

I was already in the thick of morning sickness and had no energy to do much. I decided on this particular morning that I was going to muster up some energy to vacuum the carpet in the living room. As I was doing so, I heard my cell phone ring. It was the school. It scared the dickens out of me since I have never had a call in the 3 years Miss H has been in school. I was told she had an accident on the playground and that I probably should come up to the school. I quickly got myself dressed and headed to the school. When I got there she started to cry a wee bit. She hadn't until that point. She hadn't seen herself either and was very scared. I didn't let her look. I just held her and assured her it would be okay but I knew we needed to get her checked out at the Emergency Room.

* Brady was still home at the time so he and Hunter got dressed and met us at the hospital.

Luckily after a few scan's, no bones were crushed and her brain was fine. She went back to school a few days after the incident but wanted to go back on the 2nd. Her class and the office sent home some sweet notes. Along with a confession from the little boy who she collided with. She was running in one direction chasing a playground ball- he the other. They never saw each other. The playground monitor witnessed it all and was able to tell me what happened. Terrible price she paid and I wish it had never happened. The bruise lasted forever and took the better part of a year for some scar tissue to dissolve. The little boy just bonked the back of his head. I'm sure it hurt though. She went to school happily even though she got lots of stares and questions about what in the world happened. She's my happy go lucky, forgiving, resilient girl and I love that about her. She has gotten a bad rap because in the past she has been known for her clumsiness. I think it is because she is super flexible and her body has grown rather quickly. We would lovingly tease her then BUT since this accident, she has had very few "clumsiness" incidents and has taken offense to it. She is a different girl now and she is growing up. In fact she won't tell you unless you are her parents, but her feelings do get hurt when comments are made when she does happen to trip or fall now. She is not like the old clumsy Hailey and although she is still growing like a weed, she's more in control of her limber body. Love you sweet Hailey. You are precious to me and even though these pictures are horrible, you can still see how happy you are despite the pain!

I love surprising my children on Valentine's Day in the morning when they wake. I have fond memories of Valentine's Day as a child. The homemade cards, treats and class fun. I also looked forward to the special card my dad would always give me. He made a point to find and give me a letter or card. I still have every one of them. 

This morning the children woke to a few fun surprises. I hope they have a good day at school. Hunter woke at 6am telling me his ear was hurting. Darn ears. Will have to see what they can do for him now. Been through several rounds of meds :(

These are the treats I made for the kids classes this year. I signed up for pretzels for Hunter's class but that seemed kinda boring so we embellished them some! We also sent some plain. Hailey was thrilled with her pink chocolate pops. Can't wait to see all the cute Pinterest goodies the kids will receive. Cracks me up at how the old fashioned make your own cards have gone by the way side and now moms spend hours making all these cute things FOR their kids and they get destroyed in 2 seconds flat! All to out do the other moms. Silly.

This is the cute basket the kids received last night from Grammy and Smokey. So sweet. It's a whole lot of chocolate!!!

I also sent Brady off to work with this GIANT Dew. Gotta start the day off right! haha

 

 

Hunter was asked to create a box to hold his valentines that he will receive in class. I think his train turned out cute! He stashed his valentines for his classmates in the top.

The last two years have been so disappointing as far as winter weather. Last year it was hardly worth buying a coat and we didn't even have one single fire in our fireplace. This year we have had the fire on a few times to my delight and it snowed. There was more but at one point the snow turned back to this rainy slushy mix and melted it off. The kids could hardly contain themselves once they got out of school. Such a bummer to be trapped at school on probably one of the only days it will actually snow this winter season here. Nonetheless it was fun. Hailey made a snowman. It fell and became a snow train. Hunter whined about his hands being cold till I gave him his snow gloves. He also enjoyed smacking Hailey with snowballs but didn't like being hit by them when the snow managed to get into his clothes:) Hailey got him good. She's a better shot apparently. Although he said he wasn't very good at throwing them at her the ones he did get were powerful. That kid has some punch behind his! Glad they got to enjoy the weather some. I was sad to see the sun come out and make it all melt away. I love cloudy winter days!

Can't believe we have been together for 25 years. Love you Brady!

(12 years dating, 13 years marriage = 25 whoppers)

Hunter turned the big SIX on January 9th. When he woke, I surprised him with a new bear. He loves stuffed animals. He promptly named it cuddles. It is super soft. I've had it since our trip to Ruidoso, New Mexico for Thanksgiving. He fell in love with this bear at the cabin we stayed at for the holiday. We took number 6 cookies to school to celebrate with his Kindergarten class. Our family was also recovering from the flu so his party didn't quite happen like I had wanted. I really wanted (and so did he) to have a friend party. It just didn't work out in any direction. But despite it all, I think he had a good birthday. We love our little growing guy!

Hunter is into army related things at the moment so his wrapping paper and cake were theme appropriate :) Don't you think Hailey did an excellent job wrapping up his gifts for us?

Grammy and Smokey came over to celebrate with us. Hunter likes banana bread so she made him SIX loaves! Hunter said that was a lot. We froze them so he could enjoy them all. She also painted him a birthday card which he promptly put to the side and didn't fully appreciate. One day he will see it in his keepsake stash and love it. Sorry Grammy!

His big gift was a new big boy BIKE! I think Brady picked out a fun one. He was thrilled.

I absolutely love my Hunter boy. He is the sweetest and most helpful child. Glad he's ours.

Recently Hailey was looking for her favorite poncho. It was one that Rhonda knitted for all the girl grandchildren a couple years ago. It had purple multicolored thread and flowers on the bottom. That was Hailey's favorite part. I told her I put it up because it was too small. It really was - Hailey keeps getting taller and taller! She was super bummed. She likes to wear her poncho in class at school when it is chilly. So I called Rhonda and asked her if she could make Hailey a new one. It arrived last week and boy was Hailey thrilled. Not only was it RED, her favorite color, but it had blue on it plus those flowers she likes. She also whipped up a scarf and hat for Hunter. He has been wearing and lugging it around everywhere. I love the colors and textures she created for Hunters too. So fun. Hopefully Rhonda will be able to teach Hailey some more knitting techniques this summer. I know she would love to learn more. Thanks Rhonda!

Snapped this pic right after H1 got out of the shower and we blow dried her hair. She wasn't feeling so well. She brought home a tummy bug that did her in for a few days - and passed it along to the rest of us :)

Hailey has been anticipating the day she could remove her initial stud earrings she got when her ears were pierced six weeks ago. She has been so diligent cleaning her ears 3x a day. She knew just the pair of earrings she was going to put in first. Her uncle Michael had given her a jewelry set for Christmas a year ago. They were dolphins. Hailey loves dolphins. He always seems to spoil her with the perfect gifts. It was fun to watch her take them out and put in a new pair. She has a couple other pairs of earrings from her uncle Michael - specifically some butterfly ones from Tiffany's - but I won't let her wear those to school yet. It is going to be fun going earring shopping with her now to get matching mom/daughter earrings!

It was a family affair watching her take her studs out :)

The H's woke up to new stuffed animal friends, chocolates, candy and the latest Treasure Buddies movie they have been wanting to see.  I love their cute smiles and bed hair looks in the morning.

Hunter and I met up with Hailey at her class party. I like how she instantly lights up once she sees family. Makes me feel good. This year her valentines from classmates rocked. So many cute homemade ones but ALL came with candy. It's the new thing. Hailey let Hunter sit in her chair and she sat off to the side in another. Next year he will get to participate in all the fun too! They came home and put in their new movie. I catnapped in the rocking chair and I heard many giggles. Animal movies are a big hit in the H's world right now. 

We met up with Brady and ate some dinner and had some ice cream for dessert. Then we came home and opened up Valentines from Grammy and Smokey. Hunter liked his new train set and Hailey enjoyed putting together some candy bracelets. I love my sweet little H's. Hope you know how much you are loved because you ARE!!!

My mother's birthday is the day after our wedding anniversary - February 13th. Even though it has been years since her passing, I still miss her. I will always miss her I suppose. Especially at times when I just wish she were here by my side and for all those times when I long for her to dote on my children and to just simply enjoy all life's moments with us. I remember how much she enjoyed being a grandmother. She was a tough woman and never acted like she was "too old" to do what she wanted. Had her body been more cooperative in the later years, I know she would still have been the same caring, trustworthy grandmother/mom. She always put other peoples needs first before her own. She would drop everything at a moments notice to help out and be there. I most love the fact that you never even had to ask - she just did it willingly. Even if she did have appointments scheduled, she would cancel them for us and the grandchildren.

Being pregnant this time around, I so wished she were alive. I wanted and needed her. I spent about 4 months not being able to do a darn thing pretty much due to so much throwing up and running a low grade fever that left me exhausted. Brady took very good care of all of us during that time but it would have been so nice to have had her come help. I felt very guilty that there were piles of laundry, dishes, grocery needs, etc. to be done that just sat for days or weeks till I could muster enough energy to do those tasks. (The house still is a wreck but it it better!) I especially missed her most of last year when my father was so critically ill. I would have loved for her to come pick up Hailey at school daily and take care of the H's so Brady could work uninterrupted. He loved doing it but it would have been so nice knowing they were at their own home with someone I didn't have to leave a note for of how to take care of and what needed to be done. She was a great mom/grandmother in that regard. I am very appreciative of all she was able to do for me growing up and the sweet memories that I have of her with Hailey. I hope that when the time comes when my children have children of their own that my body will allow me to be by their sides and relish in the joy of being a grandmother. I know I will rock that role!

So Happy Birthday dear Mother. I miss you terribly and someday we have a lot of catching up to do! Love you.

* Mother, Tessa and I on my 26th Birthday - Norman, OK

It started snowing late Sunday night February 12, 2012. We woke up to a blanket of pretty white stuff Monday morning but only about 2 inches. Unfortunately Hailey had to go to school and didn't get to enjoy the full 2 inches. Sadness. We have had such a warm winter this year. It has been cold but nothing like we have had in the past. Such a bummer too. I enjoy parking myself in front of the fireplace at night and having school cancelled so we can be all lazy and play in the snow.

By the time Hailey was out of school, the sun came out and melted off most. I let them go out back and play in what was left. Not as much fun but they enjoyed taking advantage of the snow anyway.

* Hailey insisted that I take a picture of her and the snow on the way to school and I even got a snowball thrown at me as I walked out to the truck to drive her to school. She giggled. Hunter giggled too as he planted a good one on my back when they were playing out in the backyard. Hopefully we will get some more winter weather soon!

We went to the mall on Saturday to find a BFF necklace for Hailey. She wanted the heart necklace that you and a friend wear. The store was crazy busy. She found what she wanted and we checked out. I asked the girl who checked us out if they did ear piercings and if I could look at the earrings so I could get an idea. She showed me the area and let Hailey see the earring choices. She said she could do them and I asked Hailey if she wanted to get them done then. I told her long ago that she had to wait until she was eight to get them done if she ever wanted them. She of course did. I think every little girl wants them done at some point. Since I was not feeling well due to extreme morning sickness with our baby it never happened after her birthday - nor during her Christmas break. So her earring request happened finally and we hadn't planned on even doing it that day. She picked out some really cute ones at first but they were cheaper ones and I thought her first pair needed to be of better quality since I am allergic to cheap ones. I love the sparkle flower she picked out as her choice. I remember mine were just simple gold balls. So many options now! We had the option to have them done at the same time. We waited a bit for the other girl to come help out but felt bad since they were so busy that we told her it was okay. After all, Hailey is tough. She did great! We did have to readjust the first earring put in because after a few hours it was still throbbing. It was way too pushed into her skin. I bet that felt much better. She is so good about her new cleaning and rotating routine. We made a chart to mark off the days for 6 weeks until she can remove them and put new ones in for fun. Glad her wish came true! It would have eventually :) Little slow around here lately but we sure love you Hailey. You look a little more grown up now though. We don't exactly like that. She's getting more and more beautiful to us everyday...

Here she is waiting while the girl preps for her piercing

Marking the ears

First Ear

Second Ear

Happy Hailey at the Food Court! You can't see the pretty new look from this pic though but you can see the remnants of her poor bruised eye still :(

Her Cute Earring and Ear

We all went to our ultrasound for baby #3 on January 18, 2012. The tech asked us before she began if we wanted to know the sex of the baby. We told her we didn't but if we happen to see or know that was okay. We did tell her that Hailey wanted to know and that it was okay if she just told her. When it came time to take a closer peek, the tech whispered into Hailey's ear our babies sex. Hailey was thrilled and still is to be left with such a secret. Upon checking her back into school, she told the office staff, her teacher and class. They have even voted on a name for the new baby. She was really excited to tell her horse lesson teacher too. It was really cute to hear her horse teacher say "I know a secret!" Hailey is such a good secret keeper and so far hasn't messed up even though we have harassed her a bit for fun. I love seeing how fun this is for her. Can't wait to meet the baby in June to see if she is right!

The ultrasound was amazing. It is incredible how much things have improved since we all saw Hunter. We were only given these 6 images out of the bunch she snapped. It was very cool seeing the baby open it's mouth and move all around. We all got to view the baby on a large television screen on the wall. We were told the baby looked great and from the measurements was due on June 10th (instead of our original 17th). I laughed as my birthday is June 9th. I am secretly hoping the baby comes before then so I can say that I was 39 when the baby was born since Brady won't turn 40 until August. He's gonna tease me forever about being 40 I am sure!

* And I thought it would drive me a little nuts not knowing officially the sex of the baby but it hasn't. Plus we have a girl and a boy and all newborns really need are diapers and pajamas at first!

We were thick in the middle of renovating the lovely Norman house when we learned that Brady's grandmother, Whynama passed away. Such sad news to us. The day before we were supposed to travel, I made a quick trip to the store and picked up Hunter some new dress clothes and shoes as his were too little - plus I thought he needed a tie. We were all packed and ready to head out early the next morning as a family when Hunter had other plans. He threw up in the middle of the night a few times. Taking a throwing up child on a car trip just didn't seem like a good idea for his and our sake. Brady called his parents and luckily was able to catch a ride with his family before they left town. As Hunter was telling Brady goodbye, he threw up on him. Nice. He needed to head out the door right then so he got the lucky pleasure I am sure of smelling not so pleasant for the rest of the day. I was sad because I really wanted to attend her funeral. She was a very sweet lady to me and I liked talking to her.

Later that evening, well almost midnight, I was catching up with Brady on the phone. I remember hearing the wind pick up and the whole house creaked. I remember telling him I was getting kinda freaked out. We lost signal with each other. His area was not very cell friendly and we were in the middle of a storm. The kids were asleep in our bedroom. Then air started moving through the atrium door pushing it open. The sound of the wind was incredible. I secured that door and went back to our room and shut ourselves up in the back room. I could hear the wind banging on our bedroom door. The power went out and then it got hot. I tried texting Brady and looking up the weather on my phone but no luck. So after a very long time, I finally fell asleep. In the morning, I woke up and went to the living room as usual when I noticed all the damage outside. Opening up the back and front doors to check it all out was crazy. One of the atrium sky lights had blown off and was in the back yard. That explains the wind coming through the house! Lots of trees were down but luckily no major house damage occurred. The power was still not on and after waiting several hours more in the sticky heat, I decided to head out to get some breakfast at IHOP and to charge up my cell phone.

The power eventually came back on and I tended to Hunter the rest of the day. We all just lounged around. I looked out in the yard often and all I could think of was when in the world was this giant mess ever going to get cleaned up as the Norman house was consuming our every waking moment. Both Brady and I were physically and mentally exhausted. I was thankful for a day off from the Norman house but I couldn't stop thinking of all the work that still needed to be done now at two places. The next day some really sweet people from church stopped by and cleaned up most of the debris from the yard and cut up the really large trees and placed them by the street for a hopeful city pickup.

Brady tidied up the piles and drug around some more debris to the front when he returned. In order for the city to pick up storm damage, the tree limbs have to be a certain length. About a month later, the CLAW came by and picked up our limbs. Hunter, Brady and I had a good time watching the claw pick up large loads and place them in his vehicle!

The H's and I drove to Houston in late July to see Papa and Rhonda. It was a nice trip and they were so good on that long (sometimes boring) drive there and back.

Rhonda always has stuff that the kids are interested in looking at or doing. This time it was Papa's large beads and a whole mess of keys that Hunter was so happy to get to take home!

They were thrilled to be able to get to go to their community pool in their neighborhood a few days in a row. They didn't get their fill of summer pool play yet so it was really nice. We had the pool to ourselves for long periods of time too! I also drove them to go get snow cones one day. Something they have only had few few times so that was a big hit!

Hunter found our old Speak and Spell in the cabinet and enjoyed playing with it. Hailey discovered Black Beauty and got sucked into the story. It is a really long book and wound up finishing it on the car trip back home. It was nice to see my dad and Rhonda for a few days. The kids enjoyed hanging out and chatting with them as well. Sometimes I wished we all lived much, much closer.

We made a pit stop to eat and relax for a bit at Cracker Barrel on our journey home. Hunter likes the mac and cheese there. I enjoyed my peach pancakes too :)

You know that old cliche statement for learning new skills that goes something like this? "It's just like riding a bike. You never forget!" I promised Hailey a whole new world would open up for her once she mastered riding a bike without training wheels. And it has... My not so little girl can ride a two-wheeler now!!!

Hailey got a bike several years ago.  A cute princess one with a matching helmet and training wheels. It has been loved, crashed and well used. In the springtime of this year, I noticed that Hailey was having trouble riding her bike. Those long legs of her were having trouble making the rounds on her now not so big bike. Hunter was zipping past her and it bugged her. So at the beginning of the summer we went bike shopping. She picked out something I would have not chosen. Brady reminded me that this was her bike and her choice. In fact, I thought it was almost the ugliest thing available in the store. BUT it has grown on me and actually suites her personality very well if you know Hailey in any fashion. She is not a princess girl by any means. I love that she loves it and had to have a basket installed in the front to stash treasures. I haven't caved in yet to the fact that she pointed out her old but perfectly still good princess helmet does not go with it now :)

The very colorful hippie bike!

So armed with a new bike, it has been our summer goal to learn to ride a bike without training wheels. This summer we have been sleeping in and by the time we remember to go out and practice it has been so hot that we can only tolerate a few minutes of practice. I would hold onto the back of her seat as she would peddle up the driveway and stop. We would turn around and do it again. She was almost there but she would wiggle the handlebars back and forth when she got uncomfortable or nervous resulting in unsteadiness and sometimes me getting frustrated. So I decided to dig the old bike out of the garage and take the training wheels off the little thing. I did manage to move the seat up a bit. She looked like one of those clowns riding the little bikes in parades sitting on it! We ventured outside excited to try this out as I knew she needed to feel more secure on something smaller first. I asked her to wait briefly while I moved the water hose. (I think I should really give up trying to water the lawn.) She mentioned something about just trying it out while I did that and I was like sure. No sooner than I had said that she was off like the wind. I yelled out to her to stop. I wanted to film her! She was so cute. The smile on her face and hearing her talk about how she could now ride a two-wheeler was worth it all. She rode around for a bit but we had to call it quits until her daddy came home. Her bike tires were very low on air. I was unable to locate my small pump and the big pump we had was missing the very nozzle I needed. So when Brady came home, he managed to move the handlebars up more so she didn't quite look so much like a circus clown and took her bike out to his truck  to pump the tires up. She went on a brief night ride in the driveway. It was quite different this time - went a lot faster!

The old bike verses the new one... a size 12 or 14 to a 20 inch!

Needless to say, I am excited and proud of my Hailey girl. We can't wait for cooler weather so we can haul our bikes to the park or somewhere else and actually go farther than the driveway! 

Pics are from my cell phone and before the handlebars were moved up a bit. I have more recent ones but these document that very first time.

* Side note: It was also my summer goal to teach Hailey how to ride her bike. Honestly I could have cared less before and I just wasn't ready. If you know me, I had a most unfortunate accident when I was young involving a bike and well one of my fingers. Specifically my index finger on my right hand. I remember wanting to ride a bike someone else was on at the time. I ran after the person in hopes they would let me have a turn. I tripped and my hand fell into the bike spokes. Let's just say that I don't make too many turkey hand prints with my right hand. The 3/4 look is funny looking and it reminds me of a hotdog. Being so young when it happened, I have somehow crafted the art of mostly hiding it and I never, ever volunteer to have my hand traced :)

Here is me YOUNGER than I remembered. I thought I was 5. Apparently it happened right before my 4th birthday. Here is the birthday picture proof :) Thanks for digging and scanning this out for me Tessa and Jennifer!!!

Our yearly tradition in search of the perfect tree... We are not "GREEN" in our family. We love a fresh tree and supporting our local folks by buying a ridiculously expensive fresh tree :) Plus it is dang fun to watch it sizzle when we finally burn it in the summer.

This way!!!

Taking a shortcut to another field...

Hunter finds a large stick and teases me with it!

All the good ones this year were already tagged it seemed. We found this one in an area we never knew was there in the 4 years we have visited this particular farm. It was tucked over a hilly area.

Timber!

Counting the rings. Guessed it was 12 years young. A good number in our book.

Hunter finally gets a ride. We did a lot of walking and it was cold.

Hailey with her pine cone stash!

Seriously a really good cup of cider.

The kids favorite part is cutting the plastic wrap off the tree. They wanted to be bundled for fun too :)

We are "Green" however when it comes to saving animals from getting tangled in plastic pieces. They took it to an extreme level though. So many pieces were cut!

Every year we consider finding a pine cone in the tree good luck. We didn't think this one has one until I began stringing up the lights. So happy!

This is our first ornament. It was given to us on our honeymoon by the manager of the place where we stayed. It always goes on first.

Ornament time! Ignore the horrible outfits my children have on. Normally they are decked out in cute pj's! It was late and the OU game was at halftime. Hunter was lounging in his underwear so I sent him to go get dressed. This was his choice. Hailey is wearing an old OU shirt of mine for good luck.

My token fresh wreath!

The fresh scent of pine!

The perfect stem for the topper!

The star I chose for our first Christmas together.

Putting the balls into the tree that I grew up with as a child. My mother made it.

The fun large plastic ornaments I got on clearance last year.

My magnolia tree I planted when we moved into this house.

The bush that somehow wound up lacerating my eye and made we whine for days. It still needed some major help but I was DONE with it. It hurt me.

Sentimental ornaments that belong to the kids AND this year Hailey and Hunter's ornaments were the Toy Story ones. Fitting as they dressed up as them for Halloween.

Our cute children in front of the tree and right before they had their pictures taken at the studio!

This is the end of this LONG picture story...

This year we drove to Papa and Rhonda's house for Thanksgiving. The kids were good on the long, boring drive to Houston. They played on our ipads occasionally.

We had a nice visit and it was so good to see my dad in person. Wish I could just zap myself there more often.

The children had fun talking to Papa and Rhonda. On Thanksgiving morning when I was drying Hailey's hair she thought the red towel on her made her look like a queen. She decided she needed a crown so when we were done she got out her travel bag and whipped up a crown for herself. She also fitted Rhonda one and Flower her bunny.

Hunter was fascinated by the Macy's Day parade and Hailey enjoyed playing with the cool sticker sheets that Rhonda had for all the kid guests.

The food was good. Rhonda invited her dad and lots of her friends to join in on the Thanks!

Here is the placemat Hailey made for herself...

We also had the pleasure of going to TWO movies in a row with them. We saw Tangled and the latest Harry Potter movie. I thought they were both fantastic.

Of course no trip is complete without some good ole throwing up. This time it WASN'T our little miss Hailey!!! I was so proud of her for eating her meal - even a large chunk of turkey. Hunter woke up on the day we were leaving not feeling so well and food wasn't in his plans. Come to find out later that night he had double ear infections which caused him to throw up. Thankfully I snagged 2 trash bags for our trip home. They were put to good use :)

I had my dad pose for a quick picture in front of his restored truck. It sure is pretty. Hunter enjoyed getting to sit in it with Papa while Brady and him were starting it up.

I am glad I got to spend Thanksgiving with them and I really enjoyed looking through dad's old keepsakes in search of a document for him. Lots of good stuff!!!

Our Hailey Rae turned SEVEN on Monday. Brady, Hunter and I joined her at school for a little cupcake party. She was delighted to have her family there and requested rings to be on the cupcakes. They were a big hit among the rowdy, loud boys!

After school, we took a little fun drive looking for land we might want to buy to build our dream house on someday. We didn't see much we liked but Hailey spotted this piece of property with a pond on it. Low and behold it was the very place of her birthday surprise! We drove back to it just to see if they might sell it to us :) We parked and just about that time we spotted her grandparents and Kelsey arriving. We broke the news about her private horse riding lesson. It was priceless. I got the biggest hug as she got out of the vehicle. *See surprise video in the previous blog entry.

This is DUDE the horse she met and rode on for her lesson. I thought her teacher was very good. She walked Hailey through every step and told her lots of good information. She learned a lot in a half hour!

Here is my attempt at making her a pony cake. There is a reason why I buy cakes. I need some lessons in crumb coating!

We came home did presents, ate dinner and had cake! It was a sweet 7th birthday celebration with family. I am lucky to be the mother to this sweet, quirky, lovable girl!

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Last Saturday we took the children to the Pumpkin Patch. It was cloudy, cooler and a little bit windy. Probably shouldn't have had Hunter out in it but the pumpkin patch is a tradition in my book. We were on the edge of a rain storm the whole time we visited. The kids loved it and we timed it right as the rain decided to fall just as we were on our way to the truck to leave!

The hay bale maze was a hit. Hailey cracks me up at how excited she gets over mazes.

Hunter went and checked out the tractor while Hailey played on the hay bales. I didn't think Hunter needed to have anything more irritating his lungs. Miss Hailey had a blast climbing and jumping on the hay. I love to do that too!

Brady took some really cute pictures of Hunter on this tractor that I plan to print up for his wall in his room. Love this little guy and his love for machines.

Animal Feeding Time!

They liked feeding the goats and one went for Hailey's cute bracelet. She was a little cautious of feeding the horse for some reason. She did however feed the cow but once his big ole long, dry tongue came out and licked her hand she had enough of him! 

Then we were off for a tractor ride through the woods to spot numbered pumpkins and decorations. We got split up again this year on the ride and as tradition would have it didn't get a decent picture because pictures irritate Hailey and Hunter moved too much.

Then we were off to play on the slides and rope swing. Hailey would have stayed on the swing super long had it not been for needing to take turns :)

We received 4 tickets at the entrance so we could pick out a pumpkin and take home. There is a pumpkin shortage this year so I am sure that is why they handed out tickets. Anyway if you know me well you know that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE pumpkins. Hailey was with me searching for hers. I found a cute one I liked. Hunter was with Brady. Brady picked out one he liked. Hunter picked out a cute little one and then found another one over by me and went back to Brady. So his nice daddy put his own pumpkin back and let him have his ticket basically. I didn't know he did that. Hailey didn't hear all this and she found 2 she liked as well. I kept telling her well just choose one because we all only have one ticket. It didn't even dawn on me that I could have and should have given her MY ticket. The pumpkin thing in me I guess over shot that idea. So Brady hands them our tickets and we go on our merry way except that I stop dead in my tracks and tell the lady "I'm trading!" I spotted the most perfect pumpkin. Guess who's pumpkin it was originally? Brady's! So the cute pumpkin came home after all and I am really sorry Hailey that your mom didn't think to share her pumpkin ticket with you. Pumpkins make me darn happy. Too bad I can't seem to grow one! Someday....

I like this one of Hailey. She is in her natural state and content.

The Family with their pumpkins!

My sister came to visit last week!!! In Arizona they have a week off for Fall Break so she brought her sweet little boy Landon and her boys stayed home. They went camping with their grandparents and had fun with their dad. It was fun having them here. I wish I lived closer to my family. I don't like missing out on all the kids growing up and getting to know them better. My turn is next and I can't wait to go visit them!

Someone "Boo-ed" us and left a big bag of candy corn on the doorstep for the kids. We continued the fun and did two of her friends from school. It was fun seeing Hailey and Tessa ring the doorbells of her classmates and run! I love making memories like this. Reminds me of all the times we played with my dad all in good fun!

Tessa brought along some sweet birthday cards from Nathan and Michael for Hailey's upcoming birthday. Since Tessa is not here on her birthday's, we had a little surprise party for her after school on Monday. She was thrilled. Blingy belts, real makeup and nail polish, slumber bag and cake!

I wanted Tessa to take some good pictures of my children but it didn't quite work out for an extended session. Hunter wound up running a fever and getting sick. Somewhere he picked up a virus that eventually led to a good case of bronchitis/upper respiratory infection. He is still currently taking meds.

I did get one thing checked off my list. I had Tessa help me go through Hunter's room on Saturday. I should have taken a before pic. His room looks so bare now. It will be finished when I finally get some photos on the wall and more train signs.  I think we own one of everything too. I am tired of looking at stuff. I could have kept Tessa here longer. I have more rooms to go through with a fresh perspective! If I had known Hunter was going to get sick, we could have done it on Sunday and played more on Saturday too. Tessa and Hailey baked Lofthouse cookies which were yummy.

Many more things I could write and bore you all with but just know I LOVED having my sister come to visit. Next time we shall play more though. Thanks for coming. Loves.

Thanks for letting me get to know you better too Landon. Your skin is so soft and I loved touching (and squeezing you) when your mommy wasn't looking. You are one cute baby!

Oh and I also need my sister to live much closer so my daughter has someone willing to let her play with real makeup and get her hair did like this! I came back from getting Hunter's hair trimmed to this adorable cat!

Bye Bye till next play session!

P.S. I stole some of her pics she posted on FB :)

Check out Hailey's second school family project on her blog!

http://hrtucker.blogspot.com/2010/10/october-family-project.html

*Copy and paste the above link if you don't already have her site bookmarked. I don't know where that option is on my website yet!

Hunter has a football shaped pencil holder on his desk. It was Brady's as a child. 

Friday after school Hailey and I were sharpening pencils and organizing her new work desk that Brady helped me to quickly refinish. Hailey proclaims to us that it wasn't fair that Hunter had that cute pencil holder. She has a pencil cup and apparently the idea of his seemed grander. So after this proclamation, her daddy and her set off to make one. Right then and there. They decided on a heart shaped one. Here is the finished product. Stained and all. It turned out pretty cute for an on the spot "Hey I want something too!"

So if I start saying "It's not fair", can all the things I want done happen too?

WAAAHHHH.... IT'S NOT FAIR!!! 

I am a sucker for sturdy old metal desks. Here is my awesome Resale Barn find mostly finished. We still need to touch up the desk top edges and top. Some naughty kid etched their name on it. It has been the perfect place for homework.

* The color is navy and isn't this color as shown. I stink at taking pictures and the flash made it seem brighter colored!

Today Hailey had her first ever school project due. They have these family projects that are due once a month and count towards part of her grade. The assignment was to create a star and involve the whole family. Hailey wanted to make the entire star out of metal but we opted for a wooden one. It's easier to cut :). We went to Lowes this week and picked up some supplies and got to work the next evening. Hailey really liked helping her daddy learn to use the tools and work on the project. She did a great job decorating it and we think it turned out pretty cute!

And here she is taking her project to school today! We put it in a big ole box so it wouldn't get messed up in transport. I followed her out just to make sure one of her classmates wouldn't be sitting next to her in line. One particular little girl bugs Hailey and messes with her backpack, etc. Hailey told her she only had one more chance to stop bugging her before she told the teacher on her!

The day before school started, we played and had a lot of fun. Hailey got her piggies painted at the salon. She chose pink and had the lady draw flowers on them because it reminded her of when she did it with Aunt Tessa. They turned out cute. Since she was wearing the wrong shoes, she got the ever so cute foam slip on shoes that made Hailey laugh and walk like a duck.

She also started another year at gymnastics. She is excited to be going again. She loves to jump around. Not sure how serious she is about it but she loves going and it has helped her be much more in control of her ever FAST GROWING BODY!

I did try to let Hunter try out gymnastics for fun but he flat out refused and told me it was just for girls! What? He threw the biggest fit and was so happy to leave the building. I wasn't upset one bit he didn't want to do it - just the fit he threw. He is happy watching Hailey though. Silly boy.

We met up with Brady for dinner at Freddy's Frozen Custard. We had never been there and decided to try it out after her gymnastics class. The food was good. Hailey had a delicious looking dessert and the brownie that she worked so hard to get down to wound up on the floor as she was attempting to cut it into pieces with her spoon. She was so sad but her daddy went and got her another one. They wouldn't let him pay for it and gave it to him for free. We also traded out Hunter's cone and put it into a cup. He can't lick fast enough yet. Nice manager there!

Hunter is on another eating spree. Guess he is fixing to grow some more too!

Hailey looked so much older to me in her cute Old Navy dress she picked out to wear. She also wanted to sport her new sparkly shoes. Her are some blurry pics of her first day of First Grade!

Her last year of Kindermusik has also started back up again. She has loved this program. I did manage to get Hunter into a class right after hers on Tuesday's. He was a little anxious but he didn't mind once Hailey and I escaped the room after about 5 minutes. He knows Mrs. Ginger and it was so cute to see him interacting and answering her questions.

First Grade is going okay. We are all adjusting. She has a brand spanking new teacher who was hired the day before school began. Her teacher moved here 3 weeks ago and also got married 3 weeks ago! Hailey likes her and I wish her the best. She loves her friends from Kindergarten and has already been to 3 birthday parties. Here is to new skills being learned and more friendships formed!

*I miss her here at home though and so does Hunter!!!

 

I don't put Hunter down for regular naps anymore. He has always been a good sleeper so missing nap time is never a problem usually. If we are out shopping and he gets sleepy, he will just go to sleep. I love this about him. I also like how sweet children look when they are sleeping. I have a hard time not kissing his little cheeks constantly when he is asleep too sometimes!

Hailey told me this summer that she needed to find her style. She isn't quite sure what that means other than the fact that she finally has expressed that she doesn't like some of the clothes she has been wearing. She has been so happy go lucky in this department. So I took her shopping to get an idea. I already knew sparkly stuff and bling makes her happy. REALLY HAPPY. I did learn that she does not like the color black at all. She likes bright happy colors. All dark colors bother her.  After picking out a few new shirts, she was pretty much done and got super bored. She said she thought she had enough to wear. She is big into shoes though and had more fun shopping for those. Her new Sketchers blingy shoes delight her to no end. I would have liked them too as a child only because there is a unicorn on them. She has grown so much since school was out in May and I am so glad I bought larger sizes on some things. She wears a size 8 now. Crazy! She loves wearing new clothes and we are still on the search for "her style"!

Enjoy this picture of our sleepy 60's girl!!!

Apparently those glasses and headband that she got from a birthday party ARE exactly her style. She loves them. I pretty much think she was born in the wrong era. She would have made the perfect 60's child. She makes me laugh.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxveL5bKiv8 500x500]

That is the sound of Hailey's rock tumbler. The one she got for Christmas last year. We had a little Christmas in July and finally opened it. I was going to put it in the Atrium but thankfully the plug will only work one direction in the outlets in there. I decided to put it out on the front porch bench. We failed to take some before pictures. We are in the second phase right now. It takes some time to do the whole process. In the meantime, it is a noisy little thing. Every time I walk out front, I keep wondering when the ice cream maker will be done. It sounds just like one - only this one goes for days and days. The rocks we have washed once are colorful and smoother now. Can't wait to see the end results. Hailey is excited to turn them into some jewelry. The tumbler kit came with some hardware and some glue. Pictures for sure to come!

Six months seems to fly by super fast. Hailey went in last week for another teeth cleaning. She likes going just like I do and is a great patient. She mainly likes the reward at the end. A new toothbrush, some floss and a few stickers! I personally like the feeling right after they get all cleaned. She got a clean bill and Hunter got some more observation time. He isn't quite sure about the whole thing yet. Hopefully at his next appointment he will actually open up his mouth. Baby Annabell tagged along. She has resurfaced from the crib lately :). The dentist showed me where her 12 year molars are forming. She will lose a couple more teeth but won't after that for a few more years and then those molars will surface. To get her through these years and to protect those back teeth, she had sealants put on all four of her existing molars. The hygienist for the sealants was great and efficient. Hailey tolerated this procedure but would have rather had her teeth cleaned.

Since they were good and it was still early and cool in the day, we went to the rocket park and the free museum next door. We had a good time playing in the park, looking at old pieces in the museum and playing in the play area. We could have omitted the naughty, smart mouthed little girl who was there though. She wound up getting herself a time out on her bed for saying mean things to Hailey. Hailey stood up for herself but at the time I wouldn't have minded had Hailey said something mean back. That little girl was a mess. We played some more at the park and then were off to get lunch and play more at home. I am loving these relaxed, summer days.

Here are some horrible cell phone pictures!

I also got to explain these fun green stamps that Hailey was interested in viewing.

BUT I did not explain this so call birthing chair to her - That is a hunk of uncomfortable wood people!

For Papa!

Wish we had this in Hunter's room. It was so cool and old. Loved it!

Saturday morning shortly after Hunter woke up he told me he wanted to play with his trains. So after breakfast we got out one of the mighty train boxes. Lucky for Hunter he easily talked Brady into helping him make a track. Like making bracelets, I have no building skills either. I can make a circle train track but HOW BORING when his dad can make fun curves and make the track go under furniture! The living room has been quite the disaster between his trains and Hailey's little toy animals this weekend. It has kept them busy and quite frankly I didn't mind. I didn't mind because I happened to be flipping channels for Hailey and found something for myself instead! Somehow I missed out on seeing Pirates of the Caribbean. They just so happened to have all three movies on in a row. Do you know what that means? I spent over 6 hours watching tv! Yeah me. I got all wrapped up in them. In the middle of the second movie, Hailey asked if she could put on Hunter's Halloween costume and see if it fit. It did sort of... She proceeded to have fun playing pirates with Hunter. She even made a helmet and a pirate patch out of a piece of plastic and paper until I dug out some pirate loot. I appeased her briefly by going on a quick treasure hunt during a commercial.

So during all this television watching, a toy went under the couch. Brady lifted up the smaller couch from the front and I got it. Hunter decided he needed to check again but this time Brady lifted it up from the side. Then ALL of us heard this odd clanking, jingling sound. Now I normally vacuum under the couches and remove all the lost toys. I also lift up the couch cushions and get misc. crumbs. Well Brady found all sorts of things that had fallen way below and we didn't know it. Hunter was liking all the treasures Brady pulled out. We found a Lakeshore magazine, pen, little pet shop toys in a plastic bag, a cedar clothes hanger, some dried up raisins, 2 goldfish, a scratched up Dora watch, a small flashlight, a jingly Christmas necklace, a pacifier, a baby spoon, Hailey's lip gloss and a domino to name just a few. I guess tilting your couch backwards just isn't good enough. You need to pretty much jiggle it in all directions. I had no idea that much stuff had fallen below. It would have been a glorious find if I had found a wad of cash. I know it never would have been mine but some poor soul that lost it out of their pockets!

So today they are back at playing with the trains and small toys. I love to hear Hunter talk to his trains and watch his kissable lips squish up together as he says "They are chooching!" He has his own terminology for his train obsession. Chooching means they are moving. If he says "Ding Dings" that means the semaphores are coming down. Too cute. I keep thinking this phase will end soon but it hasn't and probably won't for a long time because he and his daddy still love to go sit by the train tracks and wait for a train to come. I love my little boy and Hailey girl. They have become pretty mellow and I love being able to take them most places now and not have to worry too much about disciplining them. Well I should note that Hunter came out this way. Hailey has been trained :) She will forever be LOUD, unique and silly around those who know her well.

Here are a few pics of the H's from the weekend.

I drove the kids to Norman this week. They have a splash pad in one of the parks. I took Hailey to it when she was a wee thing but she doesn't remember. I wouldn't tell them what we were going to do but when Hailey asked for some hints I told her we were going to Norman, to a park and that there was a rainbow there. When we pulled up they spied the cool playground and then the splash pad. I asked them if there was anything they might want to try out. They said the playground but then said they really wished they could go to the water. I pulled out my pool bag and let them in on my secret. They changed and were off for some splish splashing! They had fun going from one area to the next. We took a break at one point and had a snack on the freshly mowed lawn under the big trees. It was so cool and shady. (I think it affected Miss Hailey though. Her nose was running a little bit by the end of the day). I would have loved to have been able to take a nap. They played for a bit on the playground and then were back at the splash pad. I am glad I took them. It is fun to change things up a bit!

They both spent most of their time walking back and forth on the water holes in a line in the picture below and standing underneath the buckets that fill up and dump.

Since we were already in Norman, we made our way over to the Sam Noble Dinosaur Museum. At the beginning of the summer, they received some free passes from their library summer reading packet. It has been over a year since Hailey has been and Hunter doesn't remember since he was a baby. He will remember now. They had a good time touching all the displays and looking at the exhibits. Feeling the fur pelts was cool and Hailey guessed them all correctly after given a hint. So proud. I now want a beaver pelt. I was shocked at how soft and deep their fur went. The sweet older lady said "Now do you understand why people wanted to trap these?" Very luxurious indeed! We popped in the discovery room at one point but opted to keep exploring. There were too many people in it at the time. Wise decision because when we were ready they had the whole room to themselves. Hailey spent most of her time in the dig area and loved it. She would have stayed there all day I am sure. After watching them play, I have a few good ideas of some great gifts for them for Christmas that they explored and played with in the room. Before leaving, we made our way through the Chocolate exhibit. It was cool but it was more for adults. I would have liked to read more of all the text. We rushed through and I briefly tried to explain the text. We then went to the gift shop. I was hoping they had some chocolate for sale that was like the sign but they had all this expensive wacky flavor combos that I knew they wouldn't enjoy. Plus since my day had been free I wasn't willing to blow it in the gift shop - even though I wanted several items! Hailey picked out a moonstone dolphin necklace and Hunter wanted a button. Awesome inexpensive treasures. Hailey has come to like dolphins lately too. I can't wait to take her to see one some day. I loaded them up in the truck and make a quick pass by our home. It needs some help and the bushes need some TLC. Makes me sad. They were so exhausted and hungry but sleep came first. They slept all the way home. It was a fun - mostly free day!

This is my favorite dinosaur. Its name is Archaeopteryx. It is the smallest dinosaur - about the size of a chicken. So cute. Hailey really liked it too. 

LOOK TWO BEAVERS!

Hunter's button is a picture of Humpty Dumpty and has the word Good above it. Get it? (GOOD EGG if ya don't). He's a keeper and so is H1.

My dad and Rhonda were able to come for a weekend visit last Friday through Sunday. It was nice to have them in our home and be able to see and talk to them in person. It was a good visit and the kids and I enjoyed having them here. Hailey left a note on their bed and made some chocolate rice krispy treats for dessert on Friday night. We chatted, watched Avatar, ate 3 meals (this delighted Brady because he just usually gets dinner) and went to Hafer park for a bit on Saturday. We made homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert. I have been enjoying making ice cream this summer. Sunday we went to church, came home and waited for the roast to be done and made our way to the hotel which was right by the airport. Thanks for coming to see us Papa and Rhonda. Sorry about this mishap in Idaho and that darn door!

"Welcome. We love you. Hailey, Hunter, Brady, Camey. You will be staying here while you are here."

Hailey enjoyed showing Papa the iPad and playing a game of checkers.

At the park, Papa tried out the zip line. I didn't get my camera out quick enough to capture it but he did go a bit. His upper body is strong but he was too tall and unable to keep his knees bent for long. I was shocked to see him try and grateful he didn't hit the floor. He had fun throwing the handle back and forth and seeing how far it would go!

The ducks were eating the bread pieces right out of their fingers. They really enjoyed that!

Brady blow torching marshmallows for our smores!

Before they left, I requested a quick picture to be taken. Brady told them I was just a little bit like my mom. This used to bug me a lot but over the past few years I have come to like this and I didn't care one bit that I asked for a photo. I wanted one for memory sake. Just like my mom did :)

* Just noticed that Hailey is holding her arms in a ballet pose and Hunter is doing... well....

Rhonda enjoys to knit and does it very well I might add. When she was here visiting, Hailey would sit on the couch by her and watch what she was doing. Hailey likes this kind of stuff and since I am no help, she gravitates to anyone with more skills than I. She and I have a list of things we want to learn to do well someday. So as a movie was playing, Rhonda quickly made this sweet little bassinet that uses a plastic container as its base. She had previously made a cute blanket for the tiny baby with ducks on it. Hailey seemed to watch her every move. I wonder what she was thinking as she saw her make it and then pull out the baby and tiny toy animals. When she was finished she quietly gave it to her. Hailey's eyes lit up and she seemed speech less. She glanced over at me with a big smile. She told Rhonda thanks and came over to show me. She took it to church the next day and has carried it around since then talking to it and playing with the tiny animals. She is in this liking tiny things stage. Here is the cute baby bassinet that doubles as a purse!

Hailey likes crafty type things. So when we were in Old Navy returning some items, she saw this bracelet kit at the checkout counter. She was itching to spend the money in her wallet and it was a reasonable price so I let her make the purchase.  She asked me to help her figure out how to do it and finally I gave in at the lake house one night. Only it was late and it hurt my brain to try to figure out the instructions. After messing with it for a bit, I gave up. I used to like doing cross stitch and making these french knots in pieces of fabric that had designs in them. I don't enjoy anything like that anymore. If it takes a long time or requires super detailed tiny work, I am out! I would rather buy the item.

So last week, Hailey approaches me and asks me if I could help her again. I told her I just couldn't do it and to go ask Brady. She did and he looked at me like "Are you serious?"  I told them both straight up that I couldn't understand it. So he and Hailey spent the next hour and a half reading the instructions and figuring out how to make it - which he succeeded in and the darn thing is super cute. It is too complicated for Hailey to do correctly unfortunately. Too many strands to move and keep track of for her right now. Brady made a second one in no time now that he knows how it works. She has enjoyed wearing them and tickled me yesterday when she asked me to keep it safe while we were at the splash pad in Norman. 

*We did see the same wheel in the gift shop at gymnastics Monday afternoon. The package said for ages 8+. Hmmm. I think it is for ages 8 plus people who have patience :)

We spent the 4th of July at the lake with the Tucker family. The weather wasn't overwhelmingly hot like in past years so we didn't completely sweat buckets but a few sticky hot moments were still enjoyed. I made sure I slathered the kids with sunscreen and we spent most of our weekend outside everyday.

Hailey has been in a cooking mood lately so I packed our cooler and brought a few things for her to prepare. She made pancakes. She likes to flip them. I decided to try to make homemade salsa for Brady but it was too dang hot I thought. Next time I make it I will scrape the seeds out of the jalapeno and cut down on the liquid so it isn't so soupy. I am determined to use up all my tomatoes this year from my garden!

Kelsey, her cat and her boyfriend have recently moved to the lake house too. We are excited to be able to see Kelsey more often. She has the cutest cat that the kids had fun getting to know. I had 2 cats when Hailey was young but she doesn't remember them. I vowed when our dog and cats left that we wouldn't have another pet inside that was big for a long time. It is too painful when they die and they come with so much mess I don't want to deal with anymore. So I just wind up feeding all the critters outside. They had fun getting to know Kelsey's lovable animal and he tolerated them. They have petted other peoples animals in passing but the whole nice animal thing is still a new experience. I had a cat with an attitude that was nutty and a slobbery, sweet cat. No one should own mean animals. I should have let my crazy cat go long before he became a nuisance. Anyway, maybe Kelsey's cat will help them learn all about how to treat and have fun with a nice animal and their wishes will come true for an indoor pet someday. Not soon but someday :)

We had a good time hanging out with family and playing in the water. Hailey loves to jump in the lake with her life jacket on now and was thrilled to be able to spend so much time in the water. I filmed about 10 minutes on my cell phone of her trying to teach Hunter how to swim down in the water by the dock. She was saying everything her swim teacher has told her. It was really cute. I will spare you all the video due to the length but it was fun to hear.  I wish I would have been able to spend more time in the water but I had a blazing headache the entire weekend and didn't feel up to it. I also did myself in after taste testing a few things I was allergic too. That was not fun at all. I know better.

We drove over to Sundance Camp where we hung out at sunset before Brady did the kids fireworks with them. Hailey loves to set up and light fireworks with her daddy. We had a mighty stash already of big people fireworks but we stopped at the local stand because it is tradition and Hailey loves picking stuff out. We didn't get to all ours so we still have more to enjoy. Hunter picked out a helicopter but wasn't too thrilled about it getting burned up. We kept it after it did it's thing and he is a happy camper. He liked looking at the fireworks but the noise of it all wasn't his thing (he has amazing hearing and it was loud) and he was too chicken to light them with Brady this year. I bet this time next year he will be in the mix too!

* I need to capture a better picture of this camp area. It really is a cool spot!

Looking forward to more fun weekends at the lake before school starts up again.

The other day I went out into the dreaded, stinky garage to put some stuff up and I came across a small box of Brady's old Legos. This is not the mother load of Legos he had but a small box. Since Hunter is well past the baby stage and both of my children love manipulative play, I brought the box inside. They were all dusty so I gave them a soaking and set them out to dry. They came across them late in the evening just about the time Brady arrived home from work. Hunter found all the wheels and put together a little vehicle. They all were  thoroughly entertained for a long time. There was even a boat the you could actually put in the water and play with. I am told that it has friends in another box somewhere in the attic I am sure. Hailey was all too thrilled to take a bubble bath with the Lego boat the next day. Even though I am dreading the zillion pieces getting lost in the carpet, they both are having a good time playing together with the "new" old Legos.

I turned 38 this month. That is a crazy number and I don't feel one bit of it!!!  The day started off when sweet Hailey gave me one of her largest rocks from her rock collection. She wrapped and taped it up in a piece of paper for me with my name on it. I keep it in the medicine cabinet now so every time I open it I will see it.

Brady headed off to work for the day so I decided to take them to their annual trip to the zoo. I like to go in the spring/fall but never seem to remember to take them. I do not like going when it is hot but today's weather was on the cooler side so off we went. We had a good time. The zoo here has a new kids area which is fantastic. It is worth going just for that.

The zoo to Hailey means Dippin Dots ice cream and the carousel. The rest is just a bonus. Hunter loved riding on the train and the carousel a lot this time. I did learn first hand that he has no problems taking the initiative when he likes something. We visited the water area before leaving the zoo. They have a mini splash pad and he claimed one spout. Don't be fooled of his little size. He was more than willing to push aside those big kids. He does not like water in his face but somehow this was so different! Some of the bigger kids tried to push him aside but he would wiggle back in and take over. He would start his tactics by inching his big toe on the spout and then move on in!

Here he is pushing Hailey out of the way while some look on...

By the time we left, it was HOT. We stopped by Sonic for a bite to eat and a refreshing drink. They were soaking wet but it felt great. Then we went home, bathed and chilled.

I was surprised by the door ringing. A delicious looking cake and a bouquet of flowers were delivered by a friend. My sister had messaged her so I could have a cake on my birthday. A birthday isn't a birthday to me unless you have cake. I love cake with butter cream icing. Yummy! Thanks Tessa for thinking of me. You know me too well! It was very sweet. It cheered me up and made my day. Thanks to my friend for helping out and delivering it too and for the flowers. Purty-ness! I enjoyed trimming them after a few days and putting the flowers in my mini vases I got from my wedding.

We met up with Brady and his parents at the Olive Garden for dinner. My meal was yummy. Then we met up at Brady's office to hang out for a bit. Brady's mother was so sweet and had packed a cooler in her car all day long. She bought cupcakes that were delicious and kept them fresh in the cooler. The kids and I enjoyed all the extra touches like the cute candles, balloon, matching party ware and party favors. I was sung Happy Birthday and we opened up presents. Thank-you everybody for the party. Loves. 

Since we were full on dinner and delicious cupcakes, we enjoyed that birthday cake the next day for breakfast! It is tradition to cut your name out and so I did and enjoyed every bit of it :)

 

About a month ago, Hunter started to get into robots. Then we re-watched all the Toy Story movies just a few times. Then Brady took the kids to browse the endless Toy Story toy aisle at Walmart.  Hunter wound up getting Buzz. The one that looks just like the one in the movie. After you get over the price of the sucker, it is definitely worth it. It really is fun to play with! Hailey chose 3 of the characters in smaller versions. I love that she claimed them like Andy did. Her initials are on her own toys now. So cute!

Yesterday we took them to see Toy Story 3. I thought it was very well done and is a must see!

Oh and that authentic box... well it really does transform into a spaceship! It is hanging out above his dresser mirror for safe keeping :)

Last year I planted 2 blackberry bushes and 2 red raspberry bushes. The raspberries produced but the blackberries didn't. This year the raspberries are so sweet and yummy and the blackberries grew. They are huge. I can't get over how large they have grown. Hunter and I love to go pick and eat them right off the vine sometimes.

So school is out and we are all enjoying the freedom of summer break. We have been staying up LATE and sleeping IN even longer. We have been spending more time together as a family here at home and going more places. I am loving it.  Each day we seem to find something fun and sometimes not so fun things to do - like chores.

Family outing to Pops where I guzzled an Orange Cream...

- The sprinkler is in full swing as I am trying to get some grass to grow. I might just need to buy some sod at the rate it has been raining lately though. The H's have enjoyed their sprinkler sessions.

- The John Deer gator is still a huge hit and entertains them for long periods of time. They love to be in the backyard riding it, playing on the swing set, sandbox and make-shift fort/house area.

- I have been tending to my garden and yard work and have begun yet another purging of too many things phase. I love those drop off boxes where you can leave all your stuffs for other people to enjoy.

- We are enjoying having more play dates now that more time allows.

- Hunter talks Brady into taking him to the office and to go look for trains more often now. They now use the scanner to hear when one is coming. It is quite common for them to go sit by the train track with a beverage and some popcorn chicken from Sonic and then explore until the train comes. At night, it is cool to see the man turn on his light inside so we can see him. I think they like to see people frantically waving at them too!

- I have been cooking more. Summer isn't exactly the season to heat up your oven but I seem to like to cook more in the summer.

- We started going to the library on Tuesdays to checkout books. Hunter loves getting his own stash of books to read. I signed them up for the summer reading program. I can tell Hailey has improved her reading skills and has learned many more words. 

- Brady and I both have iPads now and I have become super nerdy. I take it to church and have the scriptures on it for classes. I love to take it to bed and play with it before I nod off. Hailey begs to use it too. I bought her a few fun and educational apps with my gift card. This type of technology is so handy and amazing to me still. It is funny to me to see my children correctly know how to swipe their fingers on the iphone or iPad to play an app or the fact they know terms like app and download, etc. Hunter is especially taking after his father. He has some serious knowledge already about real tools and enjoys taking apart things like Brady. The other day they took apart a laptop for fun and the screen has now become Hunter's iPad. He carries it around so proudly. I drew him an apple on the back to make it more official.

- Music camp starts next week and Hailey is really looking forward to going each day. This will be her first camp of any sort. 

- Private swim lessons started today for Miss H. I hope she obtains more skills than I have at swimming. She worked on learning to relax in the water and float today. I thought she did well.

- Hailey is losing teeth fast it seems. She came to us this afternoon with a paper towel and told us she was going to pull out her 5th wiggly tooth. She did and didn't even flinch. I never would have done that. Yuck. She likes them out but LOVES the Tooth Fairy to come more!

- We pulled out the ice cream maker and made homemade ice cream and I introduced them to Magic Shell. Hailey is in love with the stuff. Hunter opted for none.

- Hunter is still happy go lucky and fun to be around. He seems to have gained a few inches in the past few months height wise. He hasn't wanted to eat much in the last two weeks and that was disturbing me a little. He normally eats all meals and snacks a bunch believe it or not with his small frame. His appetite is returning back to normal.

- I am trying to get skinny again and rock a pair of jeans like I used too :) My food allergies have become worse.

- A brand new white Toyota Tundra appeared in our driveway 2 weeks ago. I am happy we all have a safe new ride now.  Thanks Smokey and sorry your employee didn't like it. We do!

- Hunter is into Toy Story and is fascinated with robots lately. Buzz Lightyear is his favorite character right now.  I spied some $9 character pajamas and had to get them for him because he needed pj's and they were just too darn cute. He insists on wearing them each night.  Can't wait to take them to the latest movie! Daddy took him to the store and browsed the gigantic selection of Toy Story toys. He now owns a Buzz Lightyear. I might just start calling Brady a Sugar Daddy! Hailey got in on the mix and wanted 3 of the smaller character toys.

- Rented movies from redbox for the 2nd time ever. I was pretty tickled with myself. Should do that more.

- I painted a wood nick knack shelf for Hailey and had Brady stick it on the wall for me. She had all these cute little "treasures" piling up on her dresser driving me nuts. Now they have a home and it is now a fun place for her to put all her important little things. I would have liked this as a child.

- The no toys in the living room rule gets broken more often now that school is out and I am mostly okay with that :) They have had some pretty good play sessions. For a couple of days the kitchen chairs were transformed into a train complete with stuffed animal passengers.

- Somewhere in all this mix - I turned 38.

HAPPY SUMMER EVERYONE!

 

So this week I found out that there is a trend at school. There are these cute shaped rubber band like bracelets that are a hot item right now. Hailey was given 2 by her teacher's assistant. Apparently they are for trading too. I went and got Hailey some of her very own to wear to school today so you know she can be hip/cool too! Funny.

* I think it was more of the fact that her favorite friend asked for one back yesterday and told Hailey that she would tell her mommy and her own mother. We were both at school volunteering at their circus day party. I didn't find this out until after school. Hailey not wanting any kind of fuss gave it back. Funny thing is that her friend's mother also didn't know about the trend or where to get them. Hailey never asked me to buy her any. I just surprised her with four packs before school today. She was a happy girl. She was even more pleased that she traded three already! (Too bad school is out on Friday. She would have loved to trade more.)

When I was in the store this morning picking up Hailey's new shape bracelets, I saw a package of treats I knew I would enjoy. The kids saw them in the car so I offered up my goods. Hailey really has a thing for sprinkles. She just about gagged in the car. I knew she would. She thought they would be delicious chocolate pieces. Hunter's reaction was better. He did eat his but didn't want any more. These cute little treats are licorice. I love licorice. The black kind. I blame my mother. She loved it too. 

Hailey loves to write notes and make things. Last night she sat at her desk and decided she was going to write a story on her laptop. I love that she loves to write and it is so fun to see her progress as she learns new words and skills. I printed it off and had her illustrate it for me!

Translation:

The princess got captured by a pirate. Someone, a prince, saved the princess and they lived happily ever after.

Monday was Princess and Pirate dress up day at school. Hailey dressed up as Snow White. We happened to have her aunt Kelsey's costume hanging up in the dress up closet. It was a perfect fit and the perfect opportunity to wear it. I think she looked so stinkin' cute but I am just the mom and all moms say that about their own! She told me they had a really good time at school. The librarian read a themed book and they did fun activities in her class. She came home with a paper crown, a pirate mask, a necklace from her friend, gold chocolate coins (which Hunter wanted really really bad), tattoos, bracelets, etc. She did tell me that they were even offering to paint nails. She skipped over this one. I asked her why. She said she wasn't sure if I would have liked her to do that or not. So sweet she at least thought about it first but then again I hope she doesn't take it the other way. She had a great day. The last week of school is fun!

* Hunter did get one of those chocolate coins the next morning right when he woke up. He was so happy and came up to me telling me how nice it was of Hailey. He begged several times Monday afternoon and even cried to me about it but he wound up being a pickle on and off to her so she denied him. Oh was he ever so sad.

The bunny had to have a cap and gown, a cute new outfit and flowers too! Build-A-Bear isn't a good place to go. Too many cute things for girls...

Her garden flower

The bunny all dressed up!

This is where Princess Bunny and Flower officially met each other!

The happy new bunny mommy!

Last Friday the 21st of May to be specific, Hailey graduated from Kindergarten. She has been anticipating this day. They have been practicing for it in class. She even asked me earlier in the week if we could get her a present since she would be graduating soon. Normally she doesn't ask for gifts. We had just come back from her aunt Kelsey's college graduation. I think she picked up on the present thing. I even asked her what she might want. She said that she knew she was too young but that she would really like a phone. That cracked me up. She wants an iphone like her daddy!

We went to her school classroom for the big ceremony. I even got teary eyed a few times. She was beaming as she made eye contact with us throughout the program. It was a cute program. After it was over, I gave her a cut flower from one of my rose bushes. Special occasion warrant flowers!

When we got in the truck, she found a special surprise in her car seat. It was a Build-A-Bear box. She waited until she got home to open it up. She found a colorful bunny which she named "Flower". Flower was introduced to Princess Bunny her first Build-A-Bear animal. She had fun playing with them for a long time.

We also decided to go see our first 3D movie ever and saw Shrek. It was cute. It was a sweet ending to a really good day.

(Other than the fact that my father called to tell me some not so pleasant news about his health right before we went to her graduation.)

Hailey and her teacher Mrs. Crouch

The cute graduate with her flower

Hailey's self portrait. There is another red head little girl in her class and I guessed Hailey's portrait was hers. I totally guessed wrong but Brady got it right. I have never seen her make these kind of eyes and nose. The crazy eyes crack me up!

This was taken right after her program was over. Love her smirky smile! Hunter's favorite part was getting to eat the celebratory cookie.

The proud parents - the one with lipstick on is still sporting a left over fever blister!

FRIENDS!

Hailey brought home the gift they had been working on in class the Wednesday before Mother's Day. Just in time too. We had planned to leave on Thursday for our Boston trip. She would have been so sad if she didn't get to give me her gift. She was beaming with excitement that she had it so I snapped a picture with my cell phone. She was so giddy.

Here is us on Mother's Day when she gave it to me...

Then yesterday, she made me the breakfast in bed that she wanted to do on Mother's Day. The pullout bed on the couch had been pulled out from the night before when we watched a movie together (well Hailey watched it and I fell asleep). Apparently she made me a get better card after the movie. So when she saw that I was up the next day she had me go sit on the pullout bed while she prepared me breakfast. She was so cute when she came and asked me if we had jelly. She doesn't touch the stuff so when she found it she offered me the choice between grape and strawberry. I chose strawberry. She came back and presented me with it all on a tray. She read me her card and presented me my meal. A delicious peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwich, a box of raisins and a rice crispy treat! This is my first breakfast in bed meal and I loved it.

And one more picture for the heck of it... I just love my little girl that is growing up!

We got up early and headed to find the rental car return spot. That was a funny adventure. The roads were blocked off due to construction and was crazy adventuring around. We wound up getting into a toll road at one point and the lady asked us where we were going and she was so funny when she told the taxi driver behind us to just back up and we did! The road we needed to be on was in sight and she didn't want us going the wrong way for a long time and we didn't either. So we backed up as lots of cars were entering the toll area. So funny to hear her Boston accent say "Just back up! Just back up!"  

I was relieved to get on the plane with the kids as I felt the first wave of Hailey's virus getting to me. Usually I can wipe their noses, lick their faces, you get the picture without getting sick. This bug was a little bit more mean and it meant business.  I tried to make doctors appointments from the airport in Dallas for Hailey. I couldn't get into the Norman clinic luckily and the appointment time that was available would have been at the same time as that tornado that decided to pass by that area. I declined and made an appointment for Hailey for the clinic here the next day. We had another round of good flights. 

Once we got here, we were famished and stopped at Coits for some food. Then I was startled by Brady's LOUD CB weather alert for potential storms and severe weather. We decided to eat as we drove and headed home after a quick stop for some gas. We got home after it had been raining for a short bit.

Brady headed to turn on the television and Hailey headed immediately to find Penguino and introduce her to her new penguin friend! (The smallest penguin is from Brady. He brought it back to Hailey when he went to DC last year.) We sat and watched tornado after tornado report come in on the television. I was a little panicked at first and relieved when we were in the clear. I crashed on the couch for the night and Brady wound up putting the kids in bed.

TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY: Feeling Horrible and Doctors Visits

I woke up feeling like not nice words and wound up canceling Hailey's morning appointment after talking to Brady. She looked okay but still had a fever which meant I couldn't let her go to school. She was actually ready and wanting to go to school which is oh so rare! So I called yet again and got her another appointment. Her doctor was full but the other pediatric doctor saw her. She is also the same doctor who Hunter saw a few months ago when he was diagnosed with the flu. I really like her. She is this cute tiny pregnant lady who took good care of us. I am glad Hailey's appointment was for the clinic here. I didn't know but they have a whole inner section where they can do x-rays and lab work. It is out sourced in Norman and that would have been driving time  and more waiting time. After listening to her and evaluating her, strep and both flu types were ruled out. An x-ray was ordered and she even let me view it right after she did. Her antibiotic that she was on in Boston was supposed to cover pneumonia but I don't think it was strong enough for this virus PLUS being in the cold/wind for so long in that weakened state made for not so good of a situation. She was diagnosed with pneumonia by the doctor herself and the radiologist. She was put on a stronger 10 day antibiotic with strict instructions that if her fever didn't go away by Thursday or if she got worse to come back in. I was impressed that the clinic called twice to check on Hailey. Love that.  I think I said lots of prayers. Her fever broke and her antibiotics seem to be working. She still has a cough but she looks so much better to me. She has always been a tough cookie and can tolerate quite a bit. When she cried twice, was sleeping way too much, ran a fever for so long and wasn't as spunky I knew something was up. Anyway, I am glad she is okay and we don't have another illness for a very long time!!! (She also missed a lot of school days which really bugs the teacher in me but I know she really didn't miss a darn thing.)

*** I wound up going to the doctor myself on Wednesday. The nurse drew blood, told me my blood pressure was high for the first time ever, my white blood cell count was off, that I was negative for the flu and strep and that I just had a nasty virus and that I looked horrible. She offered me a z-pack to treat my symptoms which I gladly accepted and took. I ran a fever for forever like Hailey, coughed and am still coughing and probably had the beginnings of pneumonia too. I didn't begin to feel somewhat like myself until Sunday afternoon. It was a long week. I was so happy that 2 church friends stopped by and dropped off food on Tuesday and Wednesday. I wasn't exactly feeling well enough on Wednesday to ask for help and lunch got overlooked for the kids. They got snacks but I totally missed lunch!  I am finally on the mend. It has been since college that I have felt this bad for so long. Being pregnant does not count either. You know the reason why then! 

I think this ends my whirlwind update of our trip and sicknesses!!! And if you are still reading this please ignore the many run-on sentences I have written in the past few blog posts.

On Mother's Day we woke up to sunshine, wind and frigid temps! We headed out to the coast so my children could see the ocean and the beach for the first time ever. I wish we would have gone the day before even though it was overcast and rainy. The wind and the cold were too much. We enjoyed ourselves and did have a good time but I so wish the weather would have been a bit nicer for their first trip. I had big plans to sit in the sand and dig with Hailey. It didn't seem to affect Hunter much but I tried to keep Hailey bundled up as much as I could. When I looked at the weather before our trip I didn't think they would need winter coats. She was on her 5th day of running a fever. Her antibiotics didn't seem to be helping and I was still giving her tylenol to reduce her fever.  We plugged along and took in the sites anyway.  Grammy offered to stay in the car with her at times so Brady, Hunter and I could soak in the views. 

Our first stop was Plymouth Rock. Let me just say that I had a totally different image in my head and had not expected what I saw. I think somebody made this stuff up. I like the picture better in my head. The one where the rock is gigantic and had jagged edges.  It was so not impressive that the pictures Brady and I both tried to take of our children to prove we were there didn't really matter. A few people kept getting in our shots and we didn't bother to get a "good" one. I know this sounds negative but I was really excited to see this site!

NEXT STOP: THE BEACH/OCEAN!

Even though it was super windy, both Hailey and Hunter liked trudging through the sand to see the ocean. Kelsey found us the perfect spot to adventure. Hunter enjoyed throwing rocks into the water and exploring with his daddy. Hailey roamed around, collected some rocks and plopped herself smack onto the sand and made a sand angel. She loves to play in sand!

NEXT STOP: Cape Cod

Cape Cod was a really scenic area. So pretty. We stopped and got donuts and hot chocolate at Dunkin' Donuts for the kids first. You know like here where there is a Walgreens on every corner? Well Dunkin' Donuts shops are everywhere. We drove around and visited a few sites where they had some lighthouses. Brady and I wanted to see some of those in person.

Hunter liked this pathway in the above picture where he said he was "chooching". He was pretending to be a train and dragging his feet in the dirt path!

Before driving back to Boston to our hotel, we stopped at a local restaurant and ate dinner. It was here that we exchanged Mother's day gifts and Hailey gave me the gift she made at school for me. I had specific instructions to pack it. She had wanted to give it to me in the hotel but we didn't have time and I wanted pictures. She was also so sweet when she woke up on Mother's day too in the hotel. She immediately began to worry and asked me if we had any peanut butter. She wanted to make me breakfast in bed. So sweet. It was also touching when I asked her before falling asleep in the hotel for the night what her favorite part of the day was and she replied "Giving you your gift." I believe her too. She loves to make others happy.

On our way back Hailey slept in the car, Hunter looked cute and they decided to change shoes. We even stopped at a super nice Target for potty breaks!

Before entering the hotel, we drove out behind the hotel to humor Hunter. He had to have his train fix. He got it too. The train that was parked was making spooky noises to me but was cool all at the same time. We went up to Grammy and Smokey's room where Kelsey recorded some of Hunter's "stories". He can talk nonstop sometimes and it is funny to me because he gets all into it and means every word. He even gets his eyes rolling and hands moving when he tells his stories. He tried to talk Smokey several times into going back down and going to check out that train again. It is hard to distract him when he has something on his mind and he is determined about something.

We ended the night. I put the kids to bed and packed our bags for our morning flight back to Oklahoma. It was a good Mother's Day. Thanks everyone!

We ventured to Boston, MA to see Brady's sister Kelsey graduate from college May 6-10th. Yeah Kelsey!

**** This is a VERY LONG JOURNAL ENTRY ****

The morning of our Thursday depart I wound up taking Hailey in to see a doctor. She wasn't feeling well on Wednesday and was running a fever by the night. Her doctor and other pediatric doctors were super full so the family doctor on the other wing saw her after I insisted she be seen. He diagnosed her with it being viral, some bronchitis and a secondary ear infection. He put her on a quick round of medication which oddly enough he told me would cover pneumonia. So with antibiotics and an off brand Tylenol in hand, we rushed to the airport. (This is also the first time I have used a store brand for my children. I have always gone for those bigger names. Funny thing is that they keep getting recalled. My mind has been changed.)

The children were good on the two airplanes we took to get to Boston.  I packed several things to do just in case but they wound up sleeping and looking around for most of the trip. We arrived in Boston, got our rental car and headed to find the hotel. We met up with the rest of the Tucker family in the front of the hotel. They even gave us the better room for Hunter's sake. So sweet. Out of one window you could see where the trains would load and depart right by the hotel. Hailey told me she didn't think our hotel would look that way. She liked how homey it was!

FRIDAY:

We woke up early, ate a quick breakfast at the hotel and headed out for the Graduation Ceremony. I am not a fan of going on subways, trams or whatever they are called anywhere, anyplace, period. In all actuality, they terrify me. I don't like purposely putting myself into a box crammed with lots of other people and not being able to get out if I needed too. Not to mention that I had 2 children which made me extra nervous. I LIVED and everything went smoothly. Hunter loved it and Hailey took every opportunity to stand when she could. I don't blame her. She doesn't care to be strapped into her car seat and this was something totally different.

We sat and watched Kelsey who looked super cute in her new haircut and black shoes which I loved. The kids did great listening through the whole ceremony. I think I handed out an entire pack of tissues for Hailey.  Hunter got so used to clapping that he clapped once in his sleep. It was funny to me.  Kelsey and Zivi also made some cute shirts that said on the back that they Graduated. I loved the precise even lines guys!

We met up with the GRADUATE afterward and then met up with Kelsey's boyfriend and their family at a mexican restaurant for lunch. After that we went and toured Kelsey's apartment and the kids terrorized their lovable cat Raj. He is a super fluffy soft cat who tolerated the children petting and playing with him. They have really never been around any nice animal for long periods of time so this was fun for them.

We then headed out on a walk and went to this huge mall area where I picked up a couple gifts at Franklin Covey. We pretty much called it quits after that because it had been a long day and Hailey wasn't looking so well and needed to go to bed. This is also where we are pretty sure we lost a $400 pair of prescription sunglasses for Brady. We called a cab to take us back to our hotel instead of traveling by the subway. At the time, it t was so worth the $13 to get back to our hotel. Loved it.

SATURDAY:

We woke up to a rainy drizzly day so we headed out to the Aquarium. I thought the kids might enjoy it and it looked like fun too. We drove the rental car and met up with the family. We hadn't eaten so made a detour to this fabulous mall type area that had every kind of food in it that Kelsey suggested. I thought it would be like our mall food but oh no. Just about everything smelled and looked yummy.  Hailey spied a pretzel right off so that is what she wound up eating along with some juice. Hunter didn't want to be left out so he had pretzel bites with cheese sauce. I wasn't that hungry yet so I just had a raspberry turnover. I did sample Brady's delicious meal. Don't remember what it was but it was good. He also got a piece of lemon pie which Hailey and I ate half of too!

Views from our hotel windows

The aquarium was a good one. I could have done without the gazillion tourists every square inch but I liked it. Hailey and I agree that the penguins were the highlight. It was also the perfect spot to get that tourist travel token trip gift. Grammy let the kids pick out something in the gift shop. Hailey immediately wanted a penguin but she searched for a bit until she found one that looked like "Penquino", her penguin she got in Santa Fe at good ole Ross. Hunter also picked out a penguin but his was a super soft one. I think he goes for feel.

Across the street from the Aquarium was an interesting talkative man who was hoping we wanted a horse ride. He kept going on about how the Tooth Fairy owed Hailey some money. Apparently $2 isn't enough. Anyway Hailey rarely talks to other people she doesn't know very well. She had no problems talking to this guy. Why? He had a horse. It is still one of Hailey's dreams to ride on a horse in the open by herself. 

Since it was about to rain some more we stopped and ate at one of the Cheers restaurants. I still wasn't that hungry and the Boston creme pie looked yummy and it didn't disappoint! 

From there we toured the dock areas and then headed back to the hotel so the kids could swim. Hailey was looking forward to this even before the trip started. I had to pack her floaties for fun! The kids had fun with Grammy, Kelsey, Michael and Brady swimming but I think us adults were quite shocked at the group of unsupervised children/teenagers who were swimming in their underwear. Lovely site. Hailey had already warned me that I was to film her swimming across the pool and back. She was so proud of herself even though she did it in her swim floatie!

I bathed the kids and tried to put Hunter to bed but he was still mad from being denied by me of going back out with Brady and his family to the  hotel restaurant to hang out. When Brady came back, we wound up getting room service. I am pretty sure that even though we were hungry, the steak and potatoes were delicious as well as that 2 person chocolate cake. Hunter dug right in and helped himself to the entire outer edge of the cake before he called it quits!

I went and picked up a pizza and salad last night and when I returned home I saw and heard the kids through the open front windows and saw a card on the doormat with an apple on it. I picked up the apple and read the very awesome homemade card with Hailey and Hunter. I love those kind of cards. Then we went inside and I found the picnic blanket set up all cute ready for our dinner.  Hailey made some place cards. So cute. Then Brady asked if I wanted my Mother's Day gift now or after dinner. I said something like "Sure. Now." Thinking why not.  I was then escorted into the computer room and told to open my eyes. I found the ipad with some extra goodies on my laptop! I never guessed from the cute apple on my card clue or thought I would have one of those BEFORE BRADY! I never wanted an iphone but the ipad looked like something I would want. I am still shocked that I have one and feel very lucky and loved. We then went and ate dinner but I told them to wait because I wanted a picture first. Brady shocked me again and had already taken pictures. Awesome. So we ate and then played with the ipad. The kids got super tired of waiting on us and fell asleep in the chairs.

Thanks so much for my Mother's Day present Brady, Hailey and  Hunter. I really love you all!

On Sunday, Hailey asked Brady to yank out her other very loose tooth at his office. It was out in a matter of seconds. She was thrilled. The Tooth Fairy left her $$ and she was yet again happy. Here is her TOOTHLESS SMILE!

A couple weeks ago, Hailey said they planted some seeds in class. I loved doing that as a child and she seemed pretty excited too. Yesterday, Hailey showed me her plant journal in the car. 

PAGE ONE:

PAGE TWO:

Ummm. Why did her teacher send home this journal? It isn't finished.

"Hailey. What is this? Where is your plant?"

She gets annoyed and says "IT'S NOT GROWING!!!"

"Oh yeah" I reply. I forgot she sprayed it and killed it. She did tell me that her teacher told the class that some plants might not grow as she spayed it with what she thought was water but wasn't. Sad. At least she got to see that plants really do need air, soil, light and WATER! Lesson learned.

So wish me luck as I try YET ANOTHER YEAR to grow pumpkins to full term. I get them all happy and as the summer rolls on by the wither away. If you know me, pumpkins are right up there in the love category as 4-leaf clovers. I hope by actually mounding them this year they respond and do well. I roped Brady into planting them for me this time. I am sure it will be the magic touch!

Pumpkin Seeds:

Watermelon Seeds:

Some Corn Mixed with Grass :)

Almost Red Ripe Strawberries!

When Hailey was around 3 she learned how to open and shut her mouth. It made this noise that she thought was funny. She would happily walk around snapping away at us and other people. She was quite the character. Well those miniature teeth over time wore down and super flat. She has since learned that isn't such a good idea. She has lost her bottom 2 middle teeth already. One of her top middle teeth has been loose for about 2 1/2 weeks. I took her into the dentist today because it just wasn't coming out and it appeared to be cracked. It wasn't but he took care of it for her. Hopefully the loose one next to it will come out much easier. She was a trooper and actually likes going to the dentist. She didn't even flinch when they were doing the initial checkout and the tool made her bleed some. They just numbed her up and took care of that darn little tooth.  I am excited to see a pretty little new tooth. Hopefully this one won't get ground down to nothing too!

* I couldn't help but take a picture of her x-ray from January. Cell phones are so handy.

Hunter was sad in the car a few weeks ago. I tried to cheer him up with the simple peek-a-boo game. It worked. Here is proof.

I love seeing my plants that have been in a dormant state start springing back to life. I began weeding a little bit over the weekend and preparing the herb bed and garden spot. The strawberry patch is happy and my teeny tiny rose bushes are getting bigger finally. The berry bushes are much larger and spreading. They may overtake the grapes. I hope to plant a few things in the upcoming week or so. Gardening at this time of year makes me happy. Everything is so green and fresh - unlike the middle of summer which is hot, sticky and full of mosquitoes. So I thought I would snap a few pictures of a few of the things that are springing back to life that I have already planted.

STEP ONE: BOIL SOME WATER (preferably in pots bigger than I own). ADD the HOT WATER TO THE KITCHEN SINK WHICH IS FILLED WITH HALF COLD WATER...

STEP TWO: ADD H2 (smallest child should be added first), LATHER and RINSE...

STEP THREE: DRAIN SINK AND ADD MORE BOILED WATER...

STEP FOUR: ADD H1 (very carefully wash that bigger child), LATHER and RINSE...

TA- DA!!! YOU SHOULD HAVE CLEAN CHILDREN.

THIS METHOD ALSO WORKS FOR WASHING DISHES AND MOPPING THE FLOOR. HOWEVER PLEASE USE COMET CLEANER IN BETWEEN EACH USE. OTHERWISE THAT IS JUST PLAIN YUCK.

We spent Easter weekend at the lake house. Grammy and I took the children to an egg hunt sponsored by the local volunteer fire department. It was held in a field that was sectioned off with yellow caution tape. They hunted by age groups. Hunter needed a little coaxing at first but enjoyed it. When Hailey's bucket was full she simply stopped and returned. I think I might have tried to stash some in my shirt or even try to over fill it! The goat walking around with purple painted horns cracked me up too. Funny people.

I usually make my lamb cake every Easter. I didn't this year. Hailey made cupcakes instead and served them to us after dinner on Sunday.

COLORED BEAUTIES!

Easter isn't complete unless you color eggs in my book. Brady made a special one for me - a green clover one and Hunter got a chugga! Hailey even decorated one for me.

Easter Morning

Hailey and Hunter enjoyed looking through their baskets. Their excitement is precious. Hunter lined up his candies and Hailey eventually sorted hers too. It runs in the family!

Grammy gave them Easter surprises too. I love Hailey's face as she is looking at one of them in the picture below. She's got crazy eyes. Hunter loves his new train too!

OUTSIDE EGG HUNTING TIME!

A note was left to look for two special eggs - a gold and a silver one by the door. Once it was open, Hunter sprinted for the ball he spied. He was one happy boy. He also found the first egg. The gold one. Hailey quickly gathered eggs and only one crash occurred over an egg. Hunter at one point even handed her a pink egg.  We found them all - and even one from the year before. It was a good morning. I loved hearing the belly laughs from Hunter as he played ball with his daddy and watching Hailey play with her new mermaid.

We came inside and relaxed while they went through the eggs and goody stash. It was nice having Michael there too.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out with family, feeding ducks, touring boats and watching the kids play. It was a nice weekend.

When I came home from church Sunday, the house smelled yummy. I found Hailey and Brady in the kitchen making pancakes - except Hailey was doing it all. I have let her help me cook before but it is hard for me to let her do EVERY ENTIRE STEP. She did a great job and her pancakes turned out great. She poured perfect round ones and flipped them over carefully. She asked me if I could sign her up for cooking classes. It was really cute. She also wanted to make dinner by herself. She made spaghetti for us. I love that she wants to learn more. I will have to take the time to cook more with her so she will want to do it when she is older!

Brady has pictures of her pancakes. Will post those later.

* I did catch her thinking out loud and she said "What am I? Adventure Hailey or Cooking Hailey?"

A storm came through and dumped some pretty white stuff on Saturday and Sunday. I didn't mind much because I am dreading the heat of summer. Mr. Sun came out late Sunday afternoon and warmed up things a bit. Hailey noticed the snow starting to melt some. So we all went out to play in the most likely last snow of the season. We rolled some balls for snow people. I was impressed that Hunter got his ball rolling for a long time. Determination! He also really wanted to leave his ball in the street and smash everything up but he was denied our objects and had to resort to kicking and stomping on his own. Hailey rolled several and made a cute little snow dog - complete with a wood stick collar. She loves the snow so much. I am glad she noticed and we all went out when we did. It for sure is going to melt away today!

* Hailey's hat cracks me up. It kept moving and falling off when she was rolling snow. She however can't stand for hats to cover her ears. It really bugs her. Something about not being able to hear.

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HAPPY 10 YEARS of MARRIAGE BRADY & 22 TOGETHER! I LOVE YOU.

VERY YOUNG PHOTOS OF US!

These pictures don't do it justice of the sight I found this morning on the deck. Wild cat spray marks on snow are so colorful on the melting snow. Yuck. Yuck and double yuck! I used to be an indoor male cat owner. I loved my cat dearly and we were buds for a long time BUT when he began his marking spree, things changed a little. I never ever wish to have an indoor cat AGAIN. But then there is this side of me that can't stand any wild thing to go hungry or be too cold. It is mating season right now and all the toms are visiting my house marking territory, etc. The famous female cat hasn't even showed up to hang around in a couple of months too. They must be waiting for her or all the leftover scraps I throw out the back door. I guess I need to stop. That visual was just gross. 

Five years ago my mother passed away. I have purposely blocked this day out in my head over the last year. Her birthday and memories have become more vivid in my mind. However I do not wish to forget.  I still miss her terribly. She would do anything for anyone if they were in need. She loved being a grandmother too. One day she will get that opportunity again.

HAPPY FIVE YEARS IN HEAVEN MOTHER!

Hailey brought home a tea set that was in the toy bin at Brady's office. She wanted to fill it up with water and play but I wouldn't let her do it at his office. Today we had yet another snow day so we had a tea party in the Atrium. It was a welcome change even for just a bit. I voted for this area as I had just mopped the floor and I told her that pink lemonade would be much better for a tea party. We made some sugar cookies together and I surprised her with the pink icing and sprinkles. She loves that stuff. Hunter woke up from his nap and asked me if the cookies were for Santa because he saw me icing them. I rarely ice the cookies we make! Hailey put the picnic blanket down that my mother-in-law made for me and set up the area. That blanket gets used several times a week. We practiced using our manners and sipping from our tea cups with our pinkie finger in the air. Hopefully tomorrow Mr. Sunshine will come out and we can go window shopping or something else!

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This morning Brady wanted to take the children out to make a giant snowman in all the untouched snow in the front yard. They got all bundled up and went outside to find out that the snow was just too powdery and not "roll-able"! Hailey immediately plopped herself smack in the snow in the 5 seconds it took her to go from the front door to the yard. We made do and enjoyed ourselves anyway. Hailey decided to make a snowball fort for all her snowballs. It turned into a snowball castle when Brady added a few icicle touches from the front porch. Hunter played more today and he likes being hit with snow (in the back of course). He giggles. We need Mr. Sun to come out and melt the powdery stuff just a wee bit so we can make that snowman!

Here is Hunter facing backwards as Brady throws snow at him!

Turkey  Snow Track!

This morning the snow that had fallen all day yesterday looked absolutely beautiful covering the many trees in our backyard. It was a sea of white and an overnight transformation! The birds are still happy with their pot of birdseed gold. I think I have stared out the window all morning!

 

School was canceled for a second day in a row. Once the ice stopped and snow began to fall at a steady rate, I told the children they could bundle up and go play out in the snow for awhile. It was the perfect time as baths were planned right after our snow adventure.

Hailey had plans to eat an icicle. Whenever she sees snow, she immediately sits, lays and eats it. It is extremely difficult for her not to eat it especially. Funny girl. She made several beautiful snow angels too.

Hunter walked right out but soaked it all in more or less. He walked around exploring and watching his energetic big sister. He did have fun on the swing set and checking to see if the John Deer Gator was okay in the little shed. He was worried about it.

Since the snow was falling I attached an umbrella to my coat so I could take my camera outside. When you walked you could hear the ice underneath crunch. So much more snow has fallen since we went out just awhile ago. I love how peaceful and pretty snow looks on the trees and yard. It was a nice little snow outing!

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The ice has stopped and snow is falling at a steady rate. I saw that the birds were searching for food so I went out and sprinkled some bird seed on the ground and filled one feeder. They were so happy. I already need to go sprinkle more out as the snow fall has covered it all up. The wild cats are happy too. They are hoping to get yet another snack! The cardinals are especially beautiful to see in the snow covered white trees.

Our sweet little boy turned THREE years old on Saturday. We thought we would make his day extra fun and bought tickets to ride on the Amtrak from here to Gainsville, Texas. He is just a wee bit obsessed with REAL trains.

Birthday Invitation

The train departed at 8:25 so we had to wake the children up much earlier than they rise in the morning. It was bitter cold outside but we were all excited. The temperature in the car at one point said 5 degrees so I took a picture of it with my phone camera. Then it read zero degrees. That is crazy cold!

The plan was for them to ride on the train and I would drive southward and pick them up at the train station in Gainsville so we could have a vehicle to come back on Sunday night.

Brady said Hunter was thrilled and enjoyed looking out the window taking in all the sights. Hailey enjoyed the experience but doesn't quite have the love Hunter does for trains. They both fell asleep for about 30 minutes but Brady woke them up so they could soak it all in while they could. They went and visited the snack car when it was open and had some breakfast. Hunter had a strawberry cream cheese bagel and Hailey of course had a plain cream cheese one. I love the fact Brady took a picture of the meal for me. For some reason, I like to take pictures of my meals on planes if I ever get served one!

They stopped at a few train stations briefly, saw lots of wildlife and were even treated to an eagle who flew in to hunt for a meal at the river. Brady kept me informed so I wouldn't feel left out and texted me the entire trip. I felt like I was chasing a train several times. I pulled over in Davis, OK and found the perfect spot to watch them come by on the train. There was this neat little museum right off the tracks. I toured it briefly but was too anxious to actually enjoy it more. (I did see a 100 year old casket, a large geode and a perm machine that were fascinating.) I didn't want to miss them passing through that town. The lady said I would know when it did come and that it would come by fast. She unlocked the back door for me so I could stand closer to the building. She was right. It zipped through super fast! I stood out there waving at the train like a nut all bundled up. Brady saw me but it went by too quick to capture me on camera. It was fun seeing them though!

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I greeted the birthday boy with his balloon when it reached Gainsville. I went to use the restroom and they thought it would be funny to move the car and trick leaving me! We then headed to get me a bite to eat because I was starving and then headed to the lake. We made a quick trip to see Smokey at the Tackle Box before going to the lakehouse.

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THE TRAIN CAKES!

I made Hunter two cakes actually. One with a windup train on the top and one in the shape of a train. Hunter loved them and Hailey enjoyed eating the m&m car the next day! I gave Hunter first dibs and he said "Uh - the caboose!" like I was crazy for asking him in the first place. He ate off the engine for breakfast one day too. Birthday's are special. I declare you can do that. 

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PRESENT TIME!

SILLY PICTURES!

We braved the bitter cold and walked down the dock so Brady could take pictures of the cool ice formations for his mother.

Pizza on the grill was for dinner and Hailey enjoyed making smores with Grammy.

Hunter fell asleep for the night right after 7:00. He wound up sleeping 14 hours!

Enjoying birthday cake the next day and the following morning for breakfast!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUNTER LEWIS! Hope you had a great day. I know we all did.

 

We spent New Year's Eve in the comforts of our home all decked out in our pajamas! I was tired but got a second wind the closer it came to midnight. We passed the time watching tv and playing games on Brady's new Wii system. Brady entertained the kids more than I did. I played a few games but really enjoyed relaxing under the warm blanket on the couch. He went as far as getting out scraps of wood and nails out of the garage so Hunter could use his new real tools he got for Christmas.

We rang in the new year by blowing our horns, yelling Happy New Year, sipping bubbly and shooting off a few fireworks from the front porch. I saved our blowers from last year and the one good hat that was left. I made another one for Hunter so he wouldn't feel left out. He was happy with it. Aunt Tessa called at exactly midnight so she got to hear some of our ruckus. We then called Grammy to wish her Happy New Year.

About 12:30 my night owl of a little girl said she was bored. She has Brady's night owl genes. I had already tried to suggest she go to bed but knew that wouldn't please her again so I told her something random. I told her to go play out in the snow.  She looked at me like "Are you serious?" I told her I meant it so she put on her snow boots and quickly went out the back door. Hunter followed her. It was funny to see them in just their pajamas and boots in the dark playing in the snow. They only lasted about 5-7 minutes before they were back inside. Too cold!

Hunter lasted until 1:00 before sleep overcame him. Hailey played a zhu zhu pet game on Brady's phone for a long time. We moved the party to the bedroom. Hailey told Brady she was going to stay up longer than him. She lasted until 1:53. Brady teased her and told her he won. She smiled at him and went back to dreamland. I was already mostly in that zone.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL MY PEEPS AND FRIENDS!

The kids and I spent New Years Day cleaning and organizing stuff from Christmas. Brady went to work. I also got dressed for the first time in street clothes since Sunday night. I had been sporting pajamas all week. We then made a quick run to Target. The highlight was when Aunt Kelsey and Zivi came for a visit. Hailey told me earlier in the day that she wanted a visitor to come. I asked her who she wanted to come. She said someone from the lake house like Kelsey. She was happy to have them here and we were too. Thanks for letting them jump and hang all over you guys. Love you!

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Brady moved the couch out of the way for fun when we returned from the lake. The kids spread out their Christmas toys and played away for a few days. I love seeing the white snow outside. Somehow the color white makes everything less dreary. I also love not having to drive anywhere and staying in our pajamas. I might get dressed tomorrow. We keep bathing and putting clean pj's on ourselves!

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I decided I was going to make some super hero capes for my children because they are fun and who doesn't like to pretend? I always pretended to be Wonder Woman and made lots of wrist bracelets! I remember my mother sewing many things for us children. She had some skills. I have just about close to zero skills in the sewing department but did manage to sew these capes for my children late one night at our home!

On Christmas Day, we took the children to our room at the lake. Hunter was cranky at the time but when he saw that his cape came with a plastic sword, he cheered up. They are reversible. Hailey's is yellow and pink. Hunter's is green and blue. I even found some vintage buttons in my button collection that worked perfectly. I hope they enjoy playing with their capes!

Hailey's came with a cheap wand (still looking for a real one) and a small wrapped box from James Avery. I was crying in the pictures as I told her about her new jewelry piece. She is now the proud owner of a charm bracelet. I never had one when I was younger and always wanted one. I received one a few years ago and I love it. (I have however been gifted many loved pieces from James Avery from Brady over the years!)

This charm bracelet is special because it is from three people. My mother gave the bracelet to my sister Tessa when she was eight years old. Tessa passed it along to me along with the ballet charms that were never soldiered onto the bracelet. I had those placed in the middle and then picked out two more charms for Hailey. One charm is a cupcake because this was the year I actually broke down and made her a birthday cake for the first time. The other charm is of a horse because she loves horses. I love you Hailey. Hope you enjoy adding to your charm bracelet. We love you!

UGLY SWEATER WARNING!
(I sported this red thing on Christmas morning. It belonged to my mother.)

I also received a butter box in my stocking. Thanks Santa! (It has monies in it.)

Hunter liked getting to play with the large train set that Smokey bought a few years ago. He saw it last year in the box but it never got out. He was thrilled to get to use the controls!

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Hunter was very hungry for dinner and apparently climbed up into the highchair but lack of an afternoon nap won!

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I think I am going to enjoy learning how to play SOME games on the Wii. I like bowling so far and smashing these plates!

This is the quilt Grammy made for Hunter's bed. Thanks Grammy. It is wonderful as usual!

The children woke up and found the note from "Hermes" the Elf. Then they went to check the rooftop to see if those reindeer made a visit. They did! Hailey remembered that last year Rudolf bit the food bowl. Silly deer! 

Then Daddy went downstairs to tell the people's we were coming down. We waited in the hallway with Michael, Kelsey and Zivi. Over the past few weeks, we have been retelling stories of our childhood Christmas memories to Hailey. She liked the waiting in the hallway stories and me telling her about when I woke up early one Christmas morning, took a peek and then went back to bed. I was about 8 years or so!

Taking a Peek!

CHRISTMAS SNOW!

HERE THEY COME!

Santa left Hailey a cardboard house you can color on with a Wow Wee Alive White Tiger inside, Zhu Zhu Pets, the Tag Reading Pen with Books, a doorbell for her room in a purse, a stroller and bed for her pets, a cute shirt and fun stuff in her stocking!

Santa left Hunter a cardboard castle, the Geo Trax airport and barn to add on to his train set, a Yoda pillow, an emergency vehicle play set and fun stuff in his stocking!

Santa has always left our children an orange in the toe of the stocking (memories of my own childhood), a new fun tooth brush and their favorite candy at time.

We had a very enjoyable time at the lake this Christmas. Brady's parents, grandmother, brother, sister and her boyfriend Zivi were all there. I had a great visit and I know my children loved spending bunches of time with their family. (The day before, we all went and did a little shopping. I took Hunter and Brady took Hailey. They went with the kids and were gone the whole day. Hailey loved it and I am glad she was able to tag along. She loves them all so much!).

Brady surprised me by making delicious fudge. I had been wanting some and he got a recipe from a lady he recently was helping. It was yummy but then again just about anything that uses sweetened condensed milk has to be!

I made him take a picture of it before he could cut it!

The house was all festive when we arrived. Smokey took the kids out back and showed them the new decorations on the hill. I think Hunter liked the tractor display the best. I wish I would have pictured it! This year Santa was sporting some sunglasses. Hunter liked watching Santa sing and dance. This is only his second Christmas even though he will be 3 shortly. He was soaking it all in and it was just as fun for me to watch my children enjoy.

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Hailey and I got busy and made our traditional sugar cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. She liked removing them from the pan this year. Next year I bet she will be able to do the whole process and I will be watching!

Reindeer food was made and set aside and it began to snow! I was super excited about this as I knew we would have snow in Edmond.  Hailey enjoyed going out and playing in the first snow falling.

Check out Hailey's new coat from Grammy. She went into a store looking for gloves for the kiddos and came out with new coats for the kids. This one was supposed to be for Hunter but it was a little large. It is so 1980's and we love it!

Snacks were made and then we set out to unwrap the 8 zillion presents under the trees! Hailey was most excited about handing out her gifts she picked out at the school store. She asked me several times since we arrived at the lake as to when she could do it. I loved watching her hand out her gifts. She told me that was the best part of the evening. I love that about her. I think she picked out pretty good gifts for each of us too!

Hunter finally got to open his gift from Hailey. It was his only gift under our tree at home and he knew it was HIS present. She gave him a gas pump for his ride on vehicles. Hunter cracked me up as he opened up his gifts. He had to completely unwrap and take care of the paper trash before he would actually look at his gift. He didn't even seem to notice what it was until it was all taken care of properly. He would even say "Don't tell me." We would ask him stuff like "What is it Hunter?" and he would reply "A present."

Brady does not like to wrap presents and neither do I but for someone who doesn't like it, he does it very creatively every year. He turned Hunter's tool box into an animal and my new well-needed broom got wrapped in a fun way!

Hunter's tools were a big hit. He cracked us all up as he even took them to the restroom with him. I think he thought we were going to take them or something. The presents got measured too!

Cookies for Santa were set out and Reindeer food was placed on a rail near the roof top.

The children were nestled, all snug in their beds...

And Santa came to the lake to the GOOD little BOY and GIRL...

The Advent Calendar was of course brought along and "Hermes" (Elf No. 4276) left a note saying "Merry Christmas Hailey and Hunter! I have enjoyed visiting you. Keep being good children."

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I ordered tickets the first week of December to ride on the Christmas Train in Oklahoma City. The year before we rode on the Polar Express in the Grand Canyon and it was so enjoyable. I knew Hunter would really enjoy getting to ride on another train and HE DID!

We arrived just as the previous train was returning. Hunter was thrilled. It was bitter cold outside and the wind was blowing a little bit. We took cover as best as we could until we were allowed to board the train. We boarded a train car but after sitting on it for a bit switched because the caboose was open. We had to sit on that one! When we went on the Thomas train, we were in the same one and I think those are the best seats. 

BEFORE SWITCHING TO THE CABOOSE...

We were given some hot cocoa to enjoy (it was very lukewarm) and some cookies compliments of McDonalds!

The Polar Express Story was read, Christmas Carols sung and Santa boarded the train. Hunter loved all of it. I liked watching him look out the windows, hearing him sing along to the songs and being curious about everything. He also liked waving to people out of his window and watching the engine car move from one end of the train to the other so we could turn around. The little guy even told Brady he did not want to get off the train. He would have stayed there all day I bet. It was a good morning!

Here are a couple videos I took. Try to ignore the horrible singing in the background from the other folks!

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When I was little, I loved this little wooden house that was put out on top of the television stand or somewhere high. It had tiny Christmas things in it. I wonder where that thing is now. It was fun to look at and admire. I don't recall ever having an Advent calendar in our home but I do remember my mother doing fun stuff with us. When Hailey was old enough to understand things more, I wanted an Advent calendar to mark down the days until Christmas. I saw these beautiful wooden ones that had doors you could open but I never could bring myself to buying one. Then my mother-in-law gave me this sweet hanging calendar. Hailey remembers how fun it was to do it last year. I gave mine a little twist and simple notes or items are left each night from the elves. The elves watch over them during the day to make sure they have been good for Santa. One day, they weren't so good and the elf didn't come! Hailey has blocked this from her memory apparently because she remembers all too well the ONE night the elves couldn't come because mommy stayed up too late and the pocket was empty - but actually the elf just forgot! It is fun for me watching how excited Hailey gets and seeing her head straight for the calendar when she is barley awake in the morning and Hunter saying "The elf gave this to me!".

Hunter observes everything and will repeat or try to perform what he saw. Brady keeps a certain screwdriver on his desk in his pencil holder. For over a year now whenever a toy isn't working, he heads straight for the battery drawer (which gets raided often and I would love an endless supply of them) and for that special screwdriver. Hunter loves to try to fix whatever he says is broken and it reminds me of Brady. He's a handy fellow.

Hailey brought home a gift for Brady and I yesterday from school. When Brady came home, she had us open it up together. It was an ornament that looked like a bunch of snowmen but after further inspecting it, her hand print was turned into super cute snowmen. It came with a cute little poem. I love this gift and the fact her teacher had the children do something special for their parents. (I also love the fact that it was done on a plastic ball and not a glass one. It will last longer!)

The bag the ornament was in... She accidentally spilled sanitizer on her name in the car on our trip from school to home. She edited it when she was home. Then she told me she messed up the reindeer antlers at school. She said they were not supposed to be sticking out of it's body!

This month Hailey saw the Macy's commercial where the little girl comes in to mail her letter to Santa and is lifted up to mail her letter. She loves this commercial and of course wanted to do the very same thing. Last Saturday, we went to the mall so Brady could see his eye doctor for new glasses and I had to pick up something at James Avery. I brought along her letter to Santa. There was actually two letters. One was her wish list and the other was a picture for him. When Brady told her there was a Macy's, she immediately asked about her letters and was super happy when I told her I had them. The mailbox had two slots at different heights which was fun. There was even a desk nearby to write a letter right then and there if you wanted too. Here is a quick picture we snapped of her fun moment!

Here is what her letter to Santa said and the translation for me. She is working on sounding out words and writing them if she doesn't know how to spell them. They are all run together but if you separate them out, you can tell what she was trying to spell. Love it!!!

She did leave off an item off her list because she told Santa that one in person. She wants a blow up pool. (A super large one where you can climb the stairs and slide down. You know the kind that are like 600+ dollars!!!).

On Saturday December 5th, we drove to the Christmas tree farm here in town. It was about 25 degrees outside and it felt like it! The trees we usually get are at the very back of the property - lot 4 to be exact. We walked around for a bit when I found one I liked. I didn't want a super large one this year and Brady refuses to go for one that is shorter than he is tall. This is the smallest tree we have had in years and I love it - just like all the ones in the past. They are like pumpkins to me. All are unique and fun in their own special way!

We were offered a ride back on a golf cart. Hailey and I took him up on it but Hunter was a little nervous to go with the strange man. After you cut it down, a cart seems to instantly be there to haul off your tree to the front. We have never been offered a ride but we think the man just liked little Hunter because he was carrying the saw and a big ole stick. So Brady walked back to the front with Hunter in the freezing cold. In the meantime, I picked out a wreath for my front door. I just love a fresh wreath on my door at Christmastime. We paid for our items and then sat on a bench for a bit. The kids sipped hot chocolate and Brady had some cider. They make yummy cider. 

When we got home, Brady set up the tree in the stand and Hailey cut the plastic wrapping off of it. She really enjoys this part and watching the bundled up tree spring back out again.

After the tree was set up, I made some salt dough.  (An elf left a note for the kids to make some the night before.)  Brady, Hailey and Hunter sat at the kitchen table rolling out ornaments. Hailey did a great job on hers this year, Brady got super creative and Hunter had fun squishing the dough and being temperamental. He made a few with help but formed a tall tree on his own.

Hailey's finished masterpieces!

Hunter's masterpieces!

Brady's masterpieces!

We then set off to decorate the tree. I strung the lights and then Brady and I officially declared the tree could be decorated after we placed our first ornament we received on our honeymoon on the tree. Hailey enjoyed looking in her ornament box and placing all the mostly non-breakable ones on the tree. I have followed suite and purchased a special ornament for my children every year like my mother did. The one I chose for her this year was a cute ball ornament with Tinkerbell on it. Hailey and I found Hunter's in Santa Fe. His was a little train. Mine was a glittery dragonfly and I haven't found the perfect one for Brady yet. Still searching...

At one point Brady asked me if I had any popcorn. I purchased some for him for Christmas and broke it out early. It looked like fun because the kernels were blue, red and white. So then a popcorn stringing session began and Brady taught Hailey how to string popcorn. Popcorn pieces were everywhere but they clean up easily and were delicious too I heard. The house smelled of pine, popcorn and fire as we also had a roaring fire going on as well. I tend to camp myself by the fire in the winter time. I love to get super warm and fall asleep. All in all, it was a good day.

Our tree this year turned out to be a fun - kid festive one. I didn't feel like un-wrapping and putting on my special ornaments either.  I even broke out the tiny glass balls I purchased on sale last year for Hailey's small red tree and used those instead of my usual ones. I put out the few things that make me happy and it is perfect this year. I love that Hunter wants to turn on the Christmas (lights) every day too. I hope they remember this magical time as I have very fond memories of my own.

We drove to Santa Fe, New Mexico to spend Thanksgiving with Brady's family. They rented a house there for fun. It was a beautiful house in a nice spot. Our children loved climbing the hill across the street and playing with family the most. We took many walks, visited the square, went sight-seeing, ate a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, played in the snow and drove to Bandelier National Park to see some caves. This was a major highlight for Hailey. She loves exploring.

I took some photos. Brady took a lot of photos and I am sure Kelsey and Michael took many as well. I am going to spare everyone the mass picture posts this go around. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your friends and family.

On Thanksgiving morning, Kelsey speared up some drawing with Hailey. Everyone joined in on the action at some point - even Penquino sitting on the table. She is the newest $3 stuffed animal compliments of Ross. 

Placemat Hailey made at school for Thanksgiving

Bandelier National Park was a lot of walking and climbing but it was worth it. It was a beautiful park. I stayed behind on the last cave climb because it was too risky to take Hunter. Brady told me Hailey was awesome and climbed up all the stairs. It was a one way up thing about 4 flights of stairs if I remember correctly. Scary but she did it!

I liked looking at this guy!

Hailey also collected a bunch of rocks while we were in Santa Fe. One night, she set up a pretend store by the fireplace. Grammy, Michael, Kelsey and Brady were her customers. They gave her real cash for her rocks. When it was over she went to go return their money and was shocked that they didn't want it back!

When we went to tour the caves, she brought her purse along. She refused to leave it in the car and said she needed it just in case. Smokey did take her into a store in the square and let her browse a dollar type store with her money prior to her "rock store". I think she needed to borrow some cash as I was sure she only had about 2 or 3 dollars in it - counting change. Thanks Smokey and everyone for playing with Hailey. She loved every minute of it.

* Side note: A few days ago, Hailey went to her room to go get Hunter a wallet he could borrow and pulled out a $20 bill. I knew it wasn't mine. At some point Brady must have given her the money to play with and forgot all about it being in there!

Hailey did use some of her earned money to buy Christmas presents for her family at the Christmas store at school. She was tickled to get to use it. I am so excited to see what she picked out for everyone!

 

Here is the cute birthday girl at her party. We sang Happy Birthday to her and she blew out the candles on her cake. My mother in law helped pass out drinks, cupcakes and even cleaned up the crumby mess after. Thanks!

After cake, we moved into the living room for presents. I had the girls sit in a circle. Hailey was sweet to thank each one and give out hugs. Thanks to all for the super cute gifts. Hunter spied one he really liked and even got up to go check it out. He wanted to snag it right then but he was denied. I love his expression. It was a disk launcher with a catch net!

When parents started arriving, Hailey handed out her favor bags and the balloons she decorated with a sharpie yesterday. Something else that was super sweet was when she was helping me the day before set up for the party was that she went and got my party name list. She wrote all their names on a scrap of paper towel. She was making sure all were accounted for. She also saw that we did not have enough chairs and she went around the house finding stuff they could sit on. She used 2 beanbags, the cat food can and Hunter's stool to make do. She also decided she was going to give away some clothes pins and small colored sticks. She was so excited to hand out her balloons but forgot about her pins and sticks. I love that she is so thoughtful. It was a good party!

On Sunday, we sang Happy Birthday to her and enjoyed her giant cake. Love you H1! Hope you had a wonderful party and 6th birthday.

* Scroll back or go to my main page for all the birthday entries if you are interested!

This year I decided I was going to make Hailey's birthday cake. I felt a little guilty about not having made any of her birthday cakes thus far. Can I make a cake? Yes. In the past I just wanted them to look great, match her theme and I didn't want to mess with the time it would take. So I can officially check this off my list. I haven't decorated a cake in years. Hailey loves cupcakes and sprinkles. I saw this giant cupcake and thought it was so cute. I spent half the day baking cupcakes, the main cake, then icing and decorating them. It was super simple but I stressed about it. There was definitely a "better side" to the giant cake! I don't think that side got captured in the photos but here is proof that I made her a birthday cake. The stop and start marks in the icing bother me but o-well. I will just have to try my hand at it another time. My sister was on the webcam watching me decorate it at the time. I felt like I was on a cooking show. In the end, Hailey loved it and that is what mattered. I was happy because it tasted good too!

Here is a picture of the giant one and the small ones in the background prior to decorating them. I also had more cupcakes. These are just the ones Brady helped put on the cake plate for me. The pink ones and blue ones were in high demand but it helped when one little girl said "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit." Made me laugh because I say that too sometimes.

Hailey's 6th birthday party was on Saturday, the day before her actual birthday. We made some invitations last week and sent some to school and church. She loves the idea of a party because she loves having friends over to her house. Every year that we have had a party, I have centered it around what she is interested in or loves at the time. This year she knew she was having a party but I had something else up my sleeve. I saw an advertisement in a magazine for the OK Tumblebus. She loves going to gymnastics weekly and I loved the idea of a self contained party in a bus. So it was a complete surprise to her when it showed up at our house. She had been invited to a party prior to hers and still didn't catch on to the surprise even though it was mentioned. A sweet little girl in her class at church was also born on the 8th. This year I failed to call and plan ahead but in the end it worked out having our parties back to back!

Here she is peeking out the front window...

Nine girls showed up to her party. The two coaches did a great job working with them and rotating through the activities. Three of her classmates from school also came. She wanted to invite the whole class but I limited it to just girls since there are only 5 in her Kindergarten class! It looked like they all had a really good time for the hour long session. At the end, they gave them awards and a goody bag. The birthday girl got a heavier medal and a t-shirt to remember her day.

Here is the whole gang before going inside for a well needed drink and then birthday cake!

GOODBYE TUMBLEBUS!

Today our little girl turned SIX years old. It seems like every year she turns over another year I say, "I can't believe it!" Well today I believe that she is older now. She looks the part. I told her she just has to be our little girl and love us forever though! We love her very much.

She had a great morning hanging out with her brother going through the goody bags from yesterday's parties and then took a balloon bath! She asked if she could blow up the left over balloons and I said yes. When it was time for her bath, she asked if she could take a few "babies" (2 small balloons). She loves to pretend and play in the bath. I told her yes. Hunter decided to add to her collection and went and got all the rest of the balloons!

After church, we lounged around for a bit and the she opened up her gifts from us. Brady gave her a DVD player with pink headphones for the car. We haven't had one since she was 3 when she got sick on it and ruined it. She is good on our trips and hasn't needed one but she will enjoy it when we take longer ones in the future. (Hunter will enjoy it too. Daddy got him one too!) Hunter gave her some Tinkerbell shoes and I gave her the Swim To Me Puppy she has been desiring. She is excited for her next bath!

Hailey's initials are HRT. Whenever I think about them I think of a HEART and how much my life has changed since she was born. I have a lot of love for her. I could name a lot of things I love about my spunky, beautiful girl but I will just name a few that start with her name for fun. I am glad she is still youthful and loves to talk and do things with me.

H- Happy Go Lucky! I love this about her. She is content and easy to please.

A- Accepting! She finds the good in most people.

I- Imaginative! She thinks out of the box usually and can make situations work for her.

L- Loving and Loud! (The loud part is missing at school. She's quiet there.)

E- Energetic! This is apparent from the constant bruises on her shins and forearms.

Y- A Yapper! She talks and sings nonsense when she is working or extremely happy. Sometimes it can drive me nuts but I love that it genuinely makes her happy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS HAILEY RAE TUCKER!

I wanted to compile a post for myself so I would remember quickly what my children have been for Halloween every year. Pics coming soon of this year's costume fun!

This week is Red Ribbon Week at Hailey's school. Everyday they were invited to do something fun to support drug awareness. Yesterday everyone was supposed to wear red and I even pinned a red ribbon on her that I had left over from when I taught school. I just had too! Today's theme was "We'd rather do our hair than do drugs!" also known as CRAZY HAIR DAY! I asked her what she wanted to do for it yesterday and she said she wanted to put spiders in her hair. She got a glow in the dark spider from gymnastics. I thought I had a lot of black ring spiders in my Halloween stash but I must have let the children play with them last year and they wound up getting thrown away. Too bad. So after school I had to make a trip to the store. I also picked up some green hairspray. She wanted the white spider to be the mom so we placed it right in the front. The only spiders I found were colored ones but they are fun too. So we had a little bit of fun making her hair all crazy. Brady wound up spraying her hair. It came out all crazy out of the can at first but then it started to do great. I took these pictures as she was sitting in the bathroom waiting for her hair to dry. Her hair wound up being bright green by the time she left for school. I even had to walk her to her class line for fun. I usually drop her off. It was raining so her raincoat hood was on her head. When we walked up the children were admiring a cute up-do of a girl nearby and the bright colors in the boys hair. After a minute, I removed Hailey's raincoat hood. Then one little boy said, "Look at Hailey!" They all rushed over. Hailey didn't say a word. Just smiled. I took a few pictures with my phone camera and kissed her goodbye. She's going to have a good day at school!

 

Here is a short clip of her in the bathroom waiting on the spray to dry. The first joke she learned was when she was three and it is the famous one of "Why did the chicken cross the road?" Her answer then was "To pick some apples". She has recently discovered that the real one is... "To get to the other SLIDE!" We had to capture that on film. I wonder when she will learn that isn't it either? I just love her crazy self. This day suites her very well.

[video:www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTXwBGM3Ios 500x500]

For fun!

Here is another short clip of her singing. She didn't know I was recording her. It is dark as the lights we dim. She was playing with play dough at the lakehouse. I was waking up.  She sings songs she knows but mainly she makes up stuff and adds crazy noises to them all the time. This video is pretty tame. She is singing something about taking someone to dinner to show them how much she loves them. I need to capture the other versions so you will understand. It is usually high pitched, off key and makes no sense but she is one dang happy girl doing it!

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S63zaRG47TE 500x500]

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After School Hair Washing Pics!

We spent Hailey's Fall Break at the lake house. I managed to not take a single picture. That is okay though because it was well documented. Brady's brother and his two friends flew in from California to document a fishing tournament because my father in law was the main sponsor for the event this year. They are putting some stuff together and asked Brady, the kids and I to pose for the camera. The even took video. I am not camera friendly so I am not sure what they were thinking. I now know how it might feel like to have a camera crew follow you around and record your daily moves. I am sure you would get used to it over time but I felt like a dork! I hope they actually got a few good pictures and takes for whatever they are working on. I am glad I got to see Michael. Hailey loved seeing her uncle but didn't care too much that he had work to do. She told me that his friends kept taking us and Michael away from her. She gets super excited to see her extended family and all she wants to do when they are around is hang on them and make them play with her constantly! I told her that this was a special occasion and next time it would be a little different. A young child has a different perception of things!

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This past weekend we went back to the lake house because one of Brady's friends wanted to take his two boys camping on the property. After waking up Saturday morning, we found out that it was off because of one of his kids got sick. I was okay with that since shortly after we arrived the night before, Hunter turned to me and told me he was going to get sick and he did. I think he must have had too much food and drink at dinner. Who knows. He was fine the next day and continued eating like he has never eaten food before. This kid really can pack it in sometimes!

Brady's grandmother was also there so it was nice to see her too. We had to make a run to Wally World to pick up some tennis shoes for Brady since I failed to pack his and all he had was dress shoes. When I was there I picked up a $2.88 cent pumpkin for Hailey to have a go at carving on her own. She liked this idea. Every year I love to pick out pumpkins but this year hers is the only one we have. Weird. We haven't even taken them to the pumpkin patch yet either. This month has gone quickly for me.

* She wanted her pumpkin to look scary. This is her creation. She insisted it be filled with some chunky rocks too. Worked out as a nice base for the tea candle too!

I did go to the Boot Scootin' Ball with Brady and his father last minute Saturday night. Brady's mother kept the children while we went. She was even gracious enough to lend me a nicer shirt since all I packed was camping type clothes. The Ball is an auction to support and benefit the volunteer fire department in that area. This was the first time I have been to this one but they have been several times before. We walked around and browsed the items. I put a bid on a few and was tickled that I won this rock necklace that I loved. I like auctions and love my new necklace. My winning bid was $40. Not too bad and supporting the fire department at the same time. The food was good too! Thanks Grammy for watching the children for us so we could go for a bit. They had a good time with her as always.

Here is a little snip-it of the auction:

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMZSCtRn-Es 500x500]

Can't leave out my little Hunter guy. Here he is fast asleep after munching down most of his hamburger in the car on the way back to the lake house.

And lastly since we never made our camping adventure, Brady made me a Smore. Hailey and Hunter enjoyed theirs with Grammy while we were at the ball.

 

I haven't blogged much lately because not much has happened. Haven't been anywhere exciting and no one has visited. Same ole stuff around here lately. The weather has turned cooler and it has been rainy/drizzly for a long time now. I don't mind that at all as I love this weather - except I would like it to dry out some so I can use the blower and try to clean up the 8 thousand acorns that have dropped. So far the leaves are not that annoying yet. I think they look pretty when they blanket the yard for awhile. The acorns just make a mess though. The squirrels are doing their best but I have noticed quite a few dead ones on our street. The outside cat has taken care of a few lately too. She keeps leaving me squirrel and mole presents!

The children are doing well. Hailey is doing fine in school and brings home things almost daily. She has picked up on a lot in the past month. Next week she will start back in gymnastics at Oklahoma Gold. She is excited to get to go again. Hunter has been talking my ear off this week and complaining about everything. He is starting to not want to take his nap but I know he still needs one. He is packing on a little weight and his clothes are fitting better. He still is tall and lean but I have noticed he has grown!

I haven't done much besides taking care of the kiddos and regular mommy duties. Brady did order me some new toner for my printer. Thanks! Now I can print out a nice copy of the directories I need to get started on for church! I have also been working on continuing to weed out all the unnecessary junk we own. We cleared out a small section in the garage. Hooray! I have also been enjoying my time with Hunter for about 30 minutes in the parent pickup line at Hailey's school. We chat about everything, he plays around and I read articles on my phone. I am grateful for technology!

Hailey has off from school today and tomorrow for Fall Break. The upcoming weeks hopefully will be blog worthy.

Until then - enjoy my dead animal pics!

I wasn't going to post about this but I need to tell my hubby THANK-YOU for replacing the kitchen faucet, the kid's bathroom faucet and for fixing the lovely leak from parts underneath the dishwasher leaving a moldy, stinky mess in the storage cabinet next to it. I am happy to say that the darn things don't leak anymore and delighted about the new faucet in the kids bathroom. Water actually pours into the basin like it was meant to do.  When you would turn on the water before, it would hit the edge and water would back up onto the counter.

He also tackled the leaky faucets outdoors. It was kind of frustrating because even though we measured before we purchased parts, they are ALL different sizes. Apparently they don't make the size we need in a few anymore so they have to stick out farther than we would like. I am not exactly caring though - at least they are not leaking all the time anymore!

The bathroom tub, bar sink and roof/skylight are all that is left to fix. They are more intensive and he is not looking forward to those. I am happy he has the skills to fix what he has done so far though. I am sure paying someone to do it would have been pricey.

* I still have to deep clean the carpet by the back door. Since it has been raining for two weeks straight, rainwater made its way into the house through a faulty seal. I have a heavy rug there and didn't know until I moved it to remove crumbs.

* I also was pleasantly surprised that the kitchen utensil drawer was fixed too when I was putting up utensils this afternoon. Brady fixed that too. So happy I don't have to worry about that heavy thing falling on my foot or the kids anymore.

SO MR. FIX-IT-MAN... Thank-you for the fixes. I love them and appreciated your time spent doing it!!!

My Simple New, Not Leaking Kitchen Faucet!

The kid's new, handy functional faucet! This is actually the second one we picked. The first was awesome but was too large and had to be returned.

Today was a lovely, cool day to open up the first day of Fall (better known as Autumn)! It is my favorite time of the year. I opened up the windows to let in the coolness right after I woke up. I was reminded of what I found last week when I opened up the windows for the first time all summer. Seems like a few June bugs have perished! I am excited about more days like this when I can enjoy the cool breeze and keep the AC off. I don't enjoy cold weather though - the kind where your bones get frozen. I could skip over winter except for the fact winter clothes are fun to wear, snow is pretty and I love sitting in front of a blazing fire in my house being super lazy. So welcome Autumn. I am ready for you!

Enjoy my lovely June Bug pics! Want to clean this up?

Hailey's Halloween costume arrived in the mail today. Can you guess what she wants to be? Tessa- you can't guess because you know already!

When we were browsing a catalog that came in the mail a few weeks ago, she decided originally that she wanted to be this:  The Tin Man!

I was fine with that but was dreading the face paint she wanted to have to complete the look.

Then we looked online and she saw this: A Sleestak!

She loved this Sleestak costume from the Land of the Lost. She loves watching that show.

Then we came across what came in the mail today. It is a favorite character of hers. I am happy with her final choice. Not sure if they can wear costumes to school or not for fun but I know those will be kinda odd at school but then again I don't really care that much. These characters do make her happy. She passed up all the girly costumes but did think this one "nice" witch costume was pretty cool. The dress had lights in it. I liked it too.

Hunter is going to be a pirate. My mother in law gave me some dress up clothes last year and it fits him just fine. So we are all set. I love getting ready before the mad rush reaches stores.

SO CAN YOU GUESS WHAT SHE WANTS TO BE?

Today while Hailey was in school, Hunter decided he was going to take off his clothes and put on his sisters pajamas from last night - twice. The second time he went to her room and got her white church shoes out to put on. He also was making an odd rattling noise. I noticed he filled his underwear with the plastic counting bears Hailey was playing with - silly boy!

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnv2Cqu_EOA 500x500]

Hailey had Monday and Tuesday of this week off from school so we went and did a few of the things she wanted to do on those days. First stop was Mitch Park. She hasn't had too many opportunities to ride her bike long distances and be free. This park has the perfect riding space for children. We did the whole course. She only wound up walking her bike 3-4 times near the back where it gets hilly. I was very proud of her and she did great. We stopped halfway for a drink and a snack. That is also where her little brother decided he needed to use the restroom and just did it by the side of the pathway before I had any say so in the matter. Glad no one was coming! We also saw a cute little bunny as we headed back out.

BEFORE... (Notice her bent left arm. Her being double jointed grosses me out sometimes!)

AFTER...

After the park, I took them both for haircuts. I would do this myself but I know I have no talent in this area and they would be messed up for months. Then we headed for lunch and off to Hafer Park. She had a great day on Monday!

Tuesday we played around a lot at home and then headed out for her music class. She has been going to Kindermusik since she was 3 1/2. She is now in the Young Child part of the program and will be finished with it next year. She loves going and it has been good for her in a lot of ways. At home or around people she knows, she is herself. Here and at school she is quiet and shy. So opposite but I am glad she has her good manners on! She really wanted to go swimming but I couldn't find a place that was open to take her. It is so crazy that all the public places are closed already during the week. She hasn't had too many opportunities to swim this summer. We even tossed around the idea of taking her to a hotel - which we will do sometime soon just for fun. 

So instead of taking her swimming, I let her get Bendaroos. She has wanted them for a long time. We also picked up Paperoni. Bendaroos are great. Not so sure about the Paperoni yet!

I have finally completed documenting our Yellowstone trip. Took me long enough.

And... I saw these yesterday and had to go check them out today. I have a serious love of pumpkins. I don't really like yard art. Sometimes it can be too tacky. But after seeing these gigantic pumpkins I might like them close to my door - UNTIL I checked out the price. Who pays $159 to $214 for those? I went in to see if they had any smaller ones. They did but all were way over priced. Just crazy but I bet I see them in a few Edmond yards! O-well. They would just wind up junking up the garage more...

We returned our rental vehicle and made our way to the busy SLC airport. I love how small our airport is here. You are in an out in a reasonable amount of time. Love that.  The children first busied themselves by thoroughly reading the safety precautions booklet. Hunter fell asleep during takeoff. He was already exhausted. Hailey busied herself with her bag of activities and of course going to the restroom twice. I like to fly because of the convenience factor but the whole flying after all these years still gets to me. I do enjoy resting my eyes, looking at all the different types of clouds and landscapes below. I of course had my token beverage of a Ginger Ale. This time it was accompanied by a Biscotti cookie.

You can tell we were getting closer to home. Plenty of farm land!

We are HOME! Hunter decided I was him mom again and for the first time came over and loved on me. Whenever Brady is around all day, Hunter ignores me. I used to be sad about it but I am mostly over it now. I took this really long video of Hunter because he was actually awake to see a landing or a takeoff! Skip it if you want. It is rather boring.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92gh9yzcelk 500x500]

We were not at all excited to go home. Usually we are ready to get back home but not this time. We drove a different way home and we spotted some wild peacocks in a business complex. We think they escaped from the zoo a long time ago because there were so many of them. They were fun to watch and so weird to see outside the zoo!

Our flight left the next morning and it was getting late. We decided to keep driving to SLC instead of stopping somewhere for the night and then getting up early to continue the drive. I wish we could have stayed at my brother's home in Idaho Falls and hang out with him some more but we were pressed for time. We did stop and let the children exercise for a bit but they pretty much kept getting on each others nerves until they fell asleep. Hunter was more vocal about it than Hailey. She would pester him silently with a poke or something like that. This afternoon/evening was the first time in the entire week that we pretty much heard from them after being in the car so long each day. They had hit their limit. 

I enjoyed looking at the sunset and trying to take pictures of it while moving. I also loved the change in the surroundings. Right before you get into Idaho Falls you come across massive Lava Fields. They were impressive.

Passing time in the car... Hailey made creations with fruit rollups.

Hunter kept on bugging Ms. Hailey... He winds up saying  a "daddy word" and it gets caught on tape. It made me laugh at first because after I got on to him he started talking about chuggas (trains). He got a talking to after that. Grrr to a lot of reasons!

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKvXSyvJ258 500x500]

We pulled into our hotel at...

And crashed on our comfy beds at...

It was a long but memorable last day!

We continued our drive through the pretty land, when the noise level from Hailey and Hunter was annoying both Brady and I. Their car seats were next to each other. Hailey had enough of Hunter bugging her every other minute. They were both becoming restless and had eaten snack after snack. We arrived in this area called Swan Valley. There were so many grand log cabin homes among all this farm land nestled by a river. Brady pulled off the road into a farm road. It was just wide enough for one car and no room to turn around so we followed it up to the very top. Brady got out to take a peek at the view from on top of a hay bale while the kids got an earful from their mother. We tried to tell them we were going to leave them there jokingly but that didn't phase Hailey. She knows better of us. This was their first official car pullover! Hailey did get out and enjoyed the view with her daddy while I tended to Hunter, the backseat mess and those car seats.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpNZAaxxkhQ 500x500]

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9l_ZtYJMFk 500x500]

 

We continued making our way out of Yellowstone and got caught in some lovely construction traffic for a bit. At times it wasn't so scenic and quite dusty. We did see an Eagle flying by but our picture was blurry as we were moving and couldn't stop at the time. Hailey enjoyed riding in the car with her cousins though. I am glad she was able to play and get to know them better. I am sure 3 yappy girls in the car drove my brother insane but they loved it. Thanks for having her!

Then I caught sight of the Grand Tetons. How pretty. I would love to come back and tour this area someday and camp there. I saw lots of inviting areas! I took some pictures as we were driving.

There were lots of turnouts to view the Tetons. We chose this spot...

We continued driving and made our way to Jackson Hole, Missouri. We made a quick stop at the visitors center there which was really quite nice. We took a driving tour of the town and then found a park and made some PB & Honey sandwiches with some yummy bread I purchased earlier in the day. I would like to come back and visit this part again someday without the kids. It is a tourist shopping spot. I am not really into that but it would be fun to browse all the fancy smancy stores and check them out! This is also where we parted with my brother's family so we could continue on our drive. They were headed to stay overnight at a friends home.

The girls were trying to hide Hailey in their car being silly. I wish we lived closer at times like these. Parting is sad.

Funny thing is that we wound up driving the exact same way for a long time. We went up and down a mountain range. This part of the country is beautiful. I wish I would have made our flight back home for Saturday because we would have stopped for fun at a lot of places just to soak it all in... I think I would enjoy moving someplace like this one day - until it snows way too much.

After getting ready and packing up the car, Brady, the kids and I went down to the area below our cabins. Brady had a feeling that if we were quiet enough we might see something. Sure enough a mommy deer and her baby crossed through the clearing. So cute to see the baby with the spots!

We checked out of Canyon Lodge, ate breakfast and then walked over to the gift shop and stores. Hailey found me a dragonfly necklace that I love. They had a bin full of colorful polished rocks that tempt little people and big alike. I remember getting some when I was young so this was her other token Yellowstone purchase.

We made a few pit stops on our journey out of Yellowstone taking in the sights. One of them was the Fishing Bridge. I stayed in the car because Hunter was asleep. Jennifer came back and watched Hunter so I could admire the yummy trout swimming below. On my way to it, this huge Bison seem to come out of no where and was walking down the middle of the road. He was on his way to get a drink of water. We were all so close to it. 

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwJiaDeiv1Y 500x500]

Another stop was this lake area with a cool hotel that Jennifer loved the architecture. We made a pit stop at the restrooms and happened upon two  payphones. Those are almost non-existent anymore. Jennifer loaded it with money and let her girls call her brother. Too fun. It was fun telling Hailey about them anyway. Cell phones are so common now!

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi9cHLdVTGA 500x500]

Hunter was cracking us up at one point and would say my brother's name over and over telling him to stop because he saw something. It was funny. I think he just liked saying my brother's name.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsRzP4dqHHk 500x500]

Another Hunter video...

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y954D-EKM3Y 500x500]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to drive back to Old Faithful to have dinner in the lodge and so that Brady could check on his business.  Cell phone service inside Yellowstone is limited and only the larger areas have reception. As we started nearing our destination, his phone started going off like crazy. So many messages were coming in and it was beeping away. We got there just as they were shutting things down but we quickly grabbed some food and sat down. We were also kinda in a rush because one of the roads back to our cabin closed at 9 or 10. Once we realized we weren't going to make it in time, we tried to relax. Brady and I both got trout which was super yummy but we didn't get to enjoy it at all. He was busy checking messages and scarfing down food and so was I. The cleanup crew started in on their business and eventually we finished and left. We did spy a little mouse roaming around on the floor which tickled Hailey. She said she saw a trap in the fireplace.

After dinner, we checked out the gift shop and I let Hailey buy something. She chose a cute little deer which she named Rose. Hunter picked out a really soft brown bear. I wanted something with a bison on it and found a shirt I liked. Brady got a better looking jacket. Token gift items checked off!

Then we made the long trek back to our cabin the other way. It took us over an hour at dark which was bummer. Sorry Daenon and Jennifer! We all had our night eyes on preparing for potential crossing wildlife. We saw some and happened to see some deer crossing the street right after they crossed a river/stream. They were all wet. The kids fell asleep and we eventually arrived. Hailey woke up and shared a snack with us though. Brady bought a salad and didn't want it to go to waste so we just took the plastic bowl with us!

Hailey and I liked the bear soap they left for us in the cabin!

The girls mirrors they painted...

We arrived at this location right at sunset. The remaining sun shining on the pools of water and on people's faces was beautiful. Some water spots even looked like they were made up of gold. The hot water splashing into the river below was also fascinating to watch. The river on one side looked like a pretty fishing and picnic spot too.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p1lKQyurbk 500x500]

 

Hailey started Kindergarten today! She has an afternoon Kindergarten class so sleeping in is still an option for her and us. After she ate her breakfast, I painted her piggies pink and then sent her to the bath to make sure she was nice and clean. She watched some morning television and then we got dressed. Then we took a few photos on the porch and headed out for her big day. I had butterflies. She did not. Yesterday she made me a special necklace to wear so I would remember her while she was gone. This morning I wrote her a little message on a paper heart and she put it in her pocket. Sometimes she is extra sweet.

It rained almost all night and was still raining when we left so she got to wear her raincoat!

I wanted to add a tag to her backpack in case it got lost or heaven forbid she did. She wanted a bunny so I found some cute clip art and colored it in the paint program like she wanted. Then she laminated it for me. You like? We only put her initials because I am against names on the outside of backpacks in school settings.

I walked her to the front of the school with Hunter where her teacher was waiting for her students to arrive. Hailey was asked to sit in a line until they were ready to leave. I noticed that her class has more boys than girls. Hailey was one of 3 that I counted. Wow! She waved goodbye to me and off they went into the school. Once all the classes went inside, the parents followed so I did too. They were sitting on the carpet listening to instructions. I snapped a few quick blurry photos and off we went.

IGNORE the lady talking about the little girls hair that is last in line. She apparently cut it and FOCUS on the cute little girl waving goodbye to us!

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DMYLEeaV-Q 500x500]

Once we got in the car Hunter told me "Let's not leave Hailey." He was a little confused and said it again. Then he said, "Be back in little while Hailey."  He loves playing with her. We came home and I messed around. It is strange not having her here but the time went by very quick. I fed Hunter some lunch and shortly after that he tells me "I need to go back to Hailey." I said, "You do?" He said, "I need to kiss Hailey. Class. I need to go back." I told him we would pick her up in a little while and then he walked off. He loves his sister can you tell?

Dismissal is at 3:30 and we live about a mile away so I left at 3:20 not wanting to seem like a crazy first time parent that can't wait to pick up her child again. I was shocked to see that the parent pickup line extended out into the main part of the street and I was in it. It took me a few minutes to calm down about being worried about my child's safety after school. By the time I got through the line, it was 3:50. That is a crazy long time to wait not knowing how they dismiss them. I did spy her teacher and fortunately for me Hailey has red hair and I spotted her in the distance. In the car, Hunter was holding Hailey's snack I promised her - cookies with the holes. Then he said, "I miss Hailey." Isn't that so sweet? I turned on the camera but he was being quiet then so I had to ask him what he said. He told me he missed Hailey bad. I love that little guy. Hailey spied me finally and just about bolted up but she was prevented until the lady with the speaker phone called out Hailey's name (it was on a sentence strip on my car window) and then she was told to go to the yellow square and wait for me to pull up. She was happy to see us and we were likewise. Hunter handed her the cookies and off we went. The first thing she told me was "I like Kindergarten!"

It was hard to get her to tell me everything they did but I know she listened to a story on the carpet, she made a raccoon puppet that was perfectly cut out, ate a snack and played a game where a ball was thrown and if it landed on an animal or something else you said stuff. Hers was a pet and she told the class about Castle Cutie and that her dad calls it a Rat but it really is a Hamster. Thus begins the telling the whole world your families business! She told me they got to choose where to put their backpacks and where they sat at the table. I am anxious to go to back to school night now so I can get a better feel. I am not sure she is going to fill me in. I did see that there was another little girl with red hair too so that makes 4 girls total I counted so far in her class. I am excited for all the new things she will learn this year. Happy First Day of Kindergarten Hailey. I Love You!!!

Oh - and it looks like her teacher has an assistant. She is one lucky teacher if she does!

Waiting in the parent pickup line...

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rZWpxb-V-g 500x500]

This area started off on a long hike through the trees on a dirt path and then turned into a pathway up a pretty steep incline. Hunter was put in the stroller for this one and Brady had the pleasure of lugging him up the ramp and steps for a bit. The view at the top was spectacular and those bubbling pots were fun to look at and photograph. One bubbling pot was thick and the other blew thinner bloops of clay looking stuff.

One view from the dirt pathway...

View from the top of the Artist Pots...

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsOq6EEP97g 500x500]

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zTdzOPIKbc 500x500]

 

On the opposite side of Pinwheel was Steamboat. I would love to witness this one erupting in person. When it erupts, it can rocket 90-120 meters in the air of scalding water and is supposed to be two to three times the average height of Old Faithful. It was blowing steam and gurgling a little when we visited. Jennifer and I were hoping that we could make this one go off too. This area had more pine trees and was a beautiful walk.

Pinwheel was a really large site that required a lot of walking to see the areas. Hunter was napping so I opted to stay behind. Jennifer and Kimber hung out with me until he woke up and then we went on our trek. I wish I would have brought the stroller along on this one because I had no idea it would have covered so many areas. Carrying a waking up child for a bit gets tiresome but I lived.

I thought the trail continued on and wrapped around in a big loop. I wasn't too keen at this time to lug Hunter along so we sat on this bench and enjoyed the views for a bit. After a few minutes, the geyser named Constant erupted right in front of us. We were not expecting a large spray to come up straight up out of the ground. It was an awesome experience! I think we had some lady luck - or something...

Brady took pictures of us from way up on the hill after it erupted and we departed back up the hill.

As we were driving, a grizzly bear was spotted on a faraway hillside grazing. Wish he would have been closer to capture a better shot. Cool no less.

Wildflowers were abundant in Yellowstone. I really should have taken more pictures of them. They make pretty computer backgrounds!

Fun rock area with some random girl I didn't know was there until after I snapped the picture.

The other side of the rock area...

This really large Elk wasn't so far off and had friends! We stayed in the car and enjoyed it while Brady took some photos. I saw some people taking their little ones up close for a peek. It made me nervous. They are larger than you think!

 

Front doormat greetings compliments of a cat I am sure...

Mommy cat and her latest 4 babies...

Turtle eating bread I threw out for the birds... And my Wild Things!

We decided to picnic and headed towards the Visitor's Center area in Mammoth. There were some elk just hanging out in the lawn grazing and resting. It was fun for Hailey to get out and walk over and see them. You have to observe the distance rule. Hailey just didn't quite get it that you couldn't just go up to one and feed it. She wanted too real bad but seeing them this close was very cool. The visitor's center was good too. They had lots of animals on display. Hunter liked that. They had a documentary movie going on that Hailey wanted to check out but it wasn't so good after all. We enjoyed our picnic and were off again for more sightseeing. The temperature dropped a little but overall our jackets were enough. 

My camera didn't quite capture the beautiful YELLOW color of this piece of rock on display but it was nice to see what Yellowstone was named after!

This next area reminded us all of Ice Age. It definitely looked like snow and ice. I am sure viewing this place in the winter isn't as spectacular either. You wouldn't be able to see the contrast of color! It was overcast in the distance and made the area look even better. It is also one of my favorite Yellowstone spots.

This is the view from the road and this large upright rock was nearby.

On the 8th, Hailey noticed that another tooth was loose on the bottom. Tonight it was super wiggly and bugging her so she asked her dad to pull it out. They seem to go from solid to slightly wiggly to BAM very loose! Tomorrow she won't have to eat so cautiously. She has already placed her tooth in the pillow and anticipating the Tooth Fairy. She'll be going to bed pretty quick. She's enjoying some dry cereal right now. I think she is going through another growth spurt. I can always tell because her little chin gets fatter. So cute!

THE NEXT MORNING:

Hailey woke me up at 7:40 and had already looked in her pillow. She was excited to show me that the Tooth Fairy left her a piece of bubble gum and money! Last time she waited for me to look inside. I told her it was too early to wake up and we went back to sleep until after 9:00. Then we both got up and went into the living room. She admired her money and gum and we talked. She wondered if the fairy might have left pixie dust again and went to check the window in our bedroom by her bed. Nothing there. Brady told her she must have come in a different way. This sparked some interest. Hailey and I went to double check the windows in our bedroom. Then she went to check her window sill in her bedroom. Sure enough she found pixie dust. She had a smile that said she was satisfied. She then went and got her ziplock bag of previously collected pixie dust and collected this round. She was one happy girl.

This one was in velvet. We were coming down the mountain and it blended into the scenery. We stopped briefly but needed to keep going because it wasn't such a good place to stop. Brady and I also spied something laying on a flat rock as we were rounding one curve. I think it might have been a fox. Wish we could have stopped to see. 

This black bear was wasn't enjoyed long enough but we did see it. Apparently we got there too late. Crowds were forming and traffic was backing up. We parked but after some time she moved too far away. Bummer.

This wolf was really far off in the distance but it kept looking back according to Brady. I stayed in the car with Hunter and the rest of my peeps took a walk some distance to view it. Hunter was cranky at the time and I knew he would have been loud and scare it off. I also didn't feel like getting out and walking so it worked out well for us both. We got out and viewed some horses who were being groomed and put back in their truck by some rangers.

Then I made everyone stop because I saw a sign for a petrified tree. I remember going to the petrified forest when I was little and loved it. I wanted to show Hailey. Unfortunately this is also where Jennifer lost hold of her new camera she was taking out and broke the zoom, etc. All I could think of was it probably wouldn't have happened had I not wanted to see it. It wasn't that spectacular either. Apparently there used to be three trees but over time people walked off with pieces of them. Sorry Jennifer. I hope you get it off to the repair shop soon.

 

I woke up at 6:30 in the morning to Hunter pulling on my hair. This has always been a calming thing for him since he was a baby. I have a love/hate relationship with it depending on how tired I am. I couldn't go back to sleep so I just got up and took a shower. Since it was still way to early, I opened up the lodge information book and read all the details. Brady woke up at one point and found me sitting in the chair across the room reading. I think it shocked him. Shortly after, we all got up and went to breakfast and headed out to see more sights.

This large waterfall was cool.

LOOK. You can sort of see that my hair used to be red in this accidental picture I took!

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wsB-EqcIuo 500x500]

After checking in at the front desk, we walked over to the lodge diner. The food was really good and we were hungry. Then we went and checked out our cabins. They don't look like much from the outside but I loved them and where we were nestled. Right outside our cabins down the hill was an open clearing in the woods. Sticks were gathered for walking and we took a brief walk. It was beginning to get dark. We found a t-pee someone had built back in the woods. Guess it pays to explore a little! It was a fun find for the kids. We hung out in our cabin for a bit, the girls painted some mirrors Hailey and I found at Hobby Lobby for fun and then we all went on a night walk around the cabin block area. It was a very good day of sight-seeing!

* We were very lucky to score any lodging at Yellowstone. Stuff gets booked way in advance. Some months back, Jennifer, Daenon and I began looking at properties. They found these and I recommend the F-9 section. It was a good price too. Thanks guys!

After visiting Old Faithful, we drove towards Canyon Lodge where we would bunk for the night. Saw lots of pretty sights along the way - Lake Yellowstone and a river otter were among them. I wasn't quite sure what I saw at first and frantically told Brady I saw a seal!

We had seen bison here and there along our drive but then we found a ton of them in two large beautiful pasture areas. Traffic came to a complete stop as they made their way across the road. These creatures cracked me up when they talk. They are so large and odd looking and I fell in love with them. It was fun to have the windows down and watch Hailey and Hunter look at them passing right by our vehicle. 

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYbIYYH3a30 500x500]

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hH_hMjfVqM 500x500]

The famous Old Faithful was our next major stop. Here we all are waiting for her to erupt.

Then she began.It was worth our short wait to see.

I love this picture of my brother Brady snapped. Daenon was waiting for the rest of his family to join him. The hat and the thumb in pocket - love it.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6GL5G9Eo7w 500x500]

We then took a tour of the Old Faithful Inn. It was a happening place full of people lodging there, spectators, diners and such. I am sure when it was first built, this was the grand of all places to be on vacation. The fireplace was huge and I am sure it is well needed in the winter. The logs are massive and everywhere. I would have loved to have a glimpse of life back then for a short moment. The time I live in now suits me just fine!

Two handsome fellers!

 

 

After leaving my brother's home, Daenon, his family and ours drove to the West Entrance of Yellowstone Park. The drive from Idaho Falls was okay but as we started nearing the entrance, it began to change. I even saw some prong horns grazing in a field. We saw some great fishing spots we would like to come back to someday.

Just past the entrance of the park, we spied a Bald Eagle family. The male was sitting in another tree and the mom would fly off to go get food for her baby. The nest was huge! Brady and I have watched Bald Eagles before but I have never seen a nest up close. 

Right after the eagles, I began seeing many places I would have loved to just park by behind and sit for a really long time. The scenery was awesome and picturesque. Throw in some protected animals you get to view and it becomes even more enjoyable.

We saw some bison with their baby near a body of water so we stopped the car and went for a little walk and checked them out from a safe distance.

Then we toured our first Geyser area. It was here that I think I felt officially like a tourist. I have seen bus loads of people on television touring Yellowstone and now I actually got to witness it myself. There were lines and people but it really didn't bother me. They were there doing the same thing we were! * It was also here that Hailey began her stubborn streak of not smiling for the camera. If the sun is in her face, she gets annoyed (even with sunglasses). If she just plain doesn't want to do it despite our pleas, it matters not to her. One day hopefully she will understand. We were in some very beautiful areas and I would have loved several family photos if she would have just cooperated. I love my little stinker very much though and I am glad we were able to take her to this beautiful place. She loved it too.

Every Geyser area was unique to itself it seemed. They could be loud, steamy, stinky, hot, colorful, bubbly, etc. No wonder why this place fascinated people long ago. Oddities exist here.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0Q3j5_x-Tk 500x500]

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVKceyj5py8 500x500]

After gassing up our vehicles and grabbing a bite to eat, we traveled to my brother Ryan's home in Idaho Falls. The drive was quite scenic. I was amazed by the different landscapes and how pretty the lava fields were to see. Wish we could have made it to his home earlier in the day. The dairy we passed by on the way to their home was really inviting!

We got there just about sunset and it was beautiful. Their was also a huge temperature change and I welcomed it. Something about cooler air and a lightweight jacket is calming. Their front lawn is so green and pretty too. We toured the inside remodeling work, the kids played, then set out sleeping bags for the kids downstairs and they watched a movie while us grown ups chatted away. After all the kids fell asleep, Hailey Rae joined us. She is like her father and has an amazing ability despite being tired to stay awake. She was super tired but wouldn't just go lay down in an unfamiliar place without us. Silly girl. We crashed for the night in the boys bedroom downstairs. I love the setup they have. It is a cute house and I can see why they like living there in Idaho Falls now. 

"One Not Tired Little Girl!"

Alice and Brady cooked yummy pancakes for us for breakfast. The children played some, we rummaged through a box of pictures and said our goodbyes. We had plans to spend a few days in Yellowstone National Park. Thanks for letting us crash at your house. Next time we will stay longer - promise!

Beautiful Caroline!

Hailey talking to one of Alice's relatives on the side porch...

After saying goodbye to Papa and Rhonda, the girls had their picture taken in front of a potato field that was to the side of our hotel. They were wearing their shirts Rhonda made for them.

Then Daenon, Jennifer, their girls and us drove to the farm. We visited with them for a bit inside and then we took a riding tour of the property in Cal's truck. Brady, Daenon and Hunter followed behind in the rental car. Hailey got another taste of farm life from the large flies to the smell of money. 

Before we got in the vehicle though, the girls spied a cat and loved it all up!

After the property tour, we went and visited the horse, cows, trampoline and the farm equipment! Hunter had fallen asleep in the vehicle but I woke him up. He just couldn't miss the sights!

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB2uMr2xUe0 500x500]

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3mhVq_4ywY 500x500]

Then came Hunter's favorite part - the TRACTORS!

Then we headed back to grandmother's to police what was left and say our goodbyes. Brent had some workers lined up to check out the plumbing that started to show signs of possible trouble a few weeks earlier. Grandmother's caretaker told Brent that when she cleans the bathtub there is dirt in it. They thought she must have been out digging or something. This is what I checked out while they were assessing the problem...

After hanging out for a bit, I gave my grandmother a hug and some loves. I hope to be back again soon. Seeing her makes me miss my mother a lot.

THANK - YOU BRENT FOR HELPING MAKE OUR REUNION GREAT. LOVE YOU!!!

After family pictures, Ryan and his family departed for their home in Idaho Falls. Papa and Rhonda took Maxine home and the rest of us went to the cemetery to visit grandfather's grave. I  actually went there with grandmother, Papa and Hailey a year after he and mom passed away. It is a pretty little cemetery and he is buried next to relatives.

We cleaned up some back at grandmother's with plans to return tomorrow and headed back to the hotel to do laundry, bathe and sleep. I had one load of laundry to do and Jennifer was gracious enough to let me go first. Hope you got some sleep Jenn. Thanks!

Princess Bunny dressed for the night...

Hailey doing her color by number book...

Brady and Hunter checking on things. Thanks for leaving the business for a few days and helping make this reunion possible for us Brady. I thank you.

Sunday was spent enjoying each other and good food. Kaelee had an idea before the reunion started that she wanted to make a quilt for grandmother. Jennifer made a cute quilt that each of the grandchildren put their hand or footprint on a square with their name and age. It turned out very cute and she loved it. She actually admired it the day before it had everyone's prints on it.

Daenon helped set up the traditional candy jar guessing game and the guessing began.

My Uncle Cal and Aunt Raeola arrived. Raeola is a sister of grandmother. Hunter admired Cal's hat. They are just plain good people.  Love them.

Alice made some pound cake for dessert from a recipe that was mother's. Mother got the recipe from a lady friend when they lived in Biloxi. 

Daenon showed the kids the cellar/space underneath the house and told them that is where we were put as children when we were bad with a candle! It always fascinated us growing up so some actually believed until I had to confess the real truth. 

It was getting too hot outside so the kids took a break and watched a movie in grandmother's family room. Here is proof of how Hailey watches television most of the time. She seems to always be upside down!

Yummy shish kabobs were prepared and cooked on the grill. It was a nice treat instead of hamburgers. Hamburgers are way over used. I did have half a hot dog though. I love those horrible things and eat them at occasions like these. I made Hailey try the other half. She hated it and threatened to gag but she survived.

The kids played in the water more and Hailey got to feel what it was like to have a water balloon explode on your body. She was surprised that it hurt some. She got over it though because throwing water balloons is fun!

Candy jar winners were announced and we ate pound cake and strawberries for dessert!

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWfmbWEyCGs 500x500]

Maxine came over again and joined us for dinner and dessert. It was windy and her plate kept blowing over. She wound up getting mustard on her pretty pink dress. Hopefully it came out.

We took our traditional family picture in front of grandmother's house. I missed my sister Tessa and her family being there and in it.... sad but it worked out to be the best option.

We tidied up the area from our day of play and the kids watched some fireworks Daenon bought for the kids to enjoy. 

Brent left grandmother and locked the house up while he took Maxine home. We were all headed to the hotel to swim! When we got to the tractor store, I realized I had left my phone inside grandmother's house. So we turned around. I knocked on the door but no answer. The kitchen window was open so I called out to grandmother and told her what I was up too. She was already undressed and the lights were out. I felt so bad. I knew Brent was going to come over to the hotel with us and I wasn't sure if he would come back to the house first or not. So once she came to the door, I gathered my things and then she decided that she was just going to sit on the porch in the dark and just wait for Brent. I tried to encourage her to go inside but she refused. I couldn't leave her on the porch alone. So I told Brady to take the kids to the hotel because I didn't want them to miss out on swimming. Brent did arrive and found us on the porch. He convinced her to go back in after a few minutes of explaining why. She says she does it all the time but we didn't want her to have an accident, etc. Brent drove me to the hotel. Hailey was in the pool already but he and Hunter were not. He was waiting on me. Brent wanted to talk to Daenon, Ryan and myself so we chatted in the doorway. Brady just decided to jump in with his clothes on. Hunter was thrilled. They were exhausted after such a long day and fell asleep fast.

Hunter and Caleb made a connection this trip. It was fun to see them talk and play together.

Here they are together attempting to eat mulberries off the ground before I stop them. Bird poop was too prevalent.

If there is a stick on the ground, you can be assured that Hunter will pick it up.

Then it happened. Hailey got stung by a wasp. 

I was in the shed at the time when Jennifer came and told me she thought she was stung by one. There was a little cute bird house that was hanging on a pole that was home to some wasps. The boys were planning on taking care of it in the evening so as not to disturb it too much and get more of the killed when they returned home. Hailey forgot about this area and got too close and became a victim. This was her first sting ever. She did shed a few tears but she wasn't wailing. I scooped her up and put her on grandmother's counter and applied some baking soda mixed with water to give her some relief. My brother found some toothpaste with baking soda in it and we then put that on her. He had read where toothpaste can do the trick as well and what a better combo than toothpaste with baking soda! She was back playing pretty quick. I am glad it didn't swell like they do on myself. Hopefully she has her father's genes when it comes to bug stuff. Daenon went and bought her some Benadryl and was given a dose for good measure. Funny thing about the Benadryl is that I usually carry that and either Tylenol or Motrin every time I travel. I had limited space so I just packed the Motrin. I think I jinxed myself from the beginning because stuff like that always seems to happen.

The area right in front of where they are standing is where the little bird house was hanging. It is in a cute little triangle cut out section between the shed and the house.

Water balloons were filled and the children attempted to toss balloons from one cloth to the next with the assistance of Alice, Jennifer and Brady. I love seeing my children experience things for the first time.

Since Hailey was wearing her sundress and we hadn't been to the hotel yet, I pulled out her play clothes when the kids were told that they could play in the water sprinkler. It looked like they all had a good time running and jumping through it. Hunter liked helping Brent get it set up. He manages to get the hose and sprinkler functioning here at home. He was a little bummed at first when he set out and no water was coming out. I think the valve is in the shed.

Before the sprinkler was put on, the water was turned on and Hunter darted for the hose. He decided all four posts for the clothes line needed a good watering. 

Leave it to my kids to stick their bums in the spray! (She did tell me when she saw the picture on my computer at home that she was pretending to be a peacock. Love her imagination!)

A mini trampoline was also brought out and put to good use. The children played and played and eventually dried out.

We played a family trivia game with Alice. It was called Crap or Fact. It was fun to hear some of the trivia questions and also fun to just say Crap. We stopped the game when Kent brought Maxine over. Maxine is one of grandmother's sister's daughters. She calls grandmother regularly and has been a very good friend to her forever. She is a funny lady to talk too. She is a lot like my grandmother and says stuff straight out - no sugar coating!

We had a dinner and enjoyed some delicious raspberry ice cream that Alice made.

 

 

When Hailey needed to use the restroom, I took the opportunity to take her and Hunter on a super fast tour of grandmother's home pointing out things I remembered and liked as a child. I wish I would have taken pictures of every room.

I found out later that the seahorses that have been above the bathtub forever were given to grandmother by my Uncle Brent. Never knew that. 

I remember sleeping on this bed on the front porch with the windows open. The other side has bookshelves and many books!

Grandmother loves dolls. I remember getting many homemade ones from her and looking at several with her at the county fairs. When Hailey and I visited after mom passed away, she let Hailey put her baby doll in the doll highchair in the background. Hailey loved this at the time and even tried to sit in it herself! I love the fact that she always makes her bed. I can't say I do that everyday.

I also wanted to show the kids the outhouse grandfather put in years ago in the back of the shed. There was a working door that lead out to the backyard to the left of the picture. I remember using this and putting some powder in after that. Fun times!

 

 

This is the home where I spent my summer's growing up, where my Grandmother Wilson lives now and where she used to live as a child. Over the years, the properties around hers have changed some but it still brings back memories of being there. Grandfather Wilson had a huge garden out back and fruit trees. His workshop and inner food storage were always fun to go in with him. He had a place for everything and saved just about everything. I can still remember him removing labels off glass bottles to save and admiring his nut seed and dried fruit collection. He loved to eat all kinds of nuts and dried fruit. I remember loving to play in the irrigation water, looking into the cellars, viewing all grandmother's pretties, playing her organ, watching her cook and getting lessons on how to wash dishes properly, taking baths in her old tub and using her seashell soap holder, getting money from grandmother to go buy groceries at the store across the street that no longer is there and sitting in her living room listening to grandfather play the harmonica while grandmother rag tied my hair. I can think of a million more things that I remember but I will save those for a later entry. I am glad my children were able to come to this place that has become special to me over time. I think they had a great time exploring just like I used to do.

Brady, the children and I arrived at grandmother's home first. I was greeted by Brent with a cold cup of root beer. Grandmother was sitting in her comfy chair on the porch. We exchanged hugs and hellos. Brent had set up some tables with some nice table cloths and put out some munchies for us and had a delicious watermelon on ice. So sweet!

Then we spied a mother hen and her chicks in the back yard. They were thoroughly harassed and chased around by some excited children later on.

Then the rest of my family started arriving and greeting grandmother. Wish I would have snapped pictures of everyone greeting her. Here is what I have though...

The kids began enjoying the cold root beer that was in this really neat old container amid dry ice. I want one now. I loved the look of it.  Root beer on dry ice is yummy.

Uncle Brent entertained the grandchildren on row of blue church chairs on a pretend trip. They loved it. Grandmother wasn't so sure. She thought they would get ruined and went on to tell Brent this. You can hear some in the video. Hunter was still adjusting to everyone and didn't want to sit on the chairs but he enjoyed watching.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aBCiKX_7X0 500x500]

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k9DBuQS4v4 500x500]

By this time my awesome brother Daenon has finished his assessment of the property and declares that there are wasps in the area and to be careful - foreshadowing Hailey's first encounter with a wasp sting. You can hear this on video 1.

Then my Uncle Brent began playing with the kids out front. Uncle Brent is a good man and seeing him run around with the kids made me smile. He has always had a knack for making people smile and have fun.

 

 

 

 

I woke up around 8 to prepare to leave our hotel by 9. Hailey was dressed and pretty. She went to the bathroom and apparently didn't see that the lid was down and needless to say she made a mess. First time that has happened to her and hopefully it will be the last. Then Hunter came to me and told me he wasn't going to throw up yesterday. I took one look at him and knew he was going to throw up because he was pale faced. He did but it was just bile. He hadn't had a thing to eat or drink yet. I took his cute shirt off and put on a simple gray t-shirt just in case he decided to throw up again. We then moved to Papa's room where all the grand kids and mommies got some really cute travel bags she made. She filled the kids bags with some fun stuff to do in the car. They were all potato themed and included a matching t-shirt! Hailey loved the little stuffed dog and purse that was in hers and wanted to carry it around for the rest of the day. She loves stuff like that! 

Hunter wound up getting sick in the parking lot with Brady while loading up the vehicle to depart for the museum. We made our way to the museum and put Hunter in the stroller. He was game for this option. We toured the outside first. There were many large airplanes on display. The kids had fun walking around and the weather was perfect. Hunter finally perked up and got out of the stroller on his own when we were almost ready to go inside. He ate a smidge of the Ritz cracker we gave him to calm his tummy and had some sips of dew. Right after we entered the museum, we watched a short film. He ate 3 or more crackers. I think he might have had some altitude sickness because he recovered quickly after getting some sugars in him.

Joshua entertained Hailey and Hunter with his grasshopper catching abilities!

We toured the rest of the museum. I was a big museum and done nicely. They had a great kids area but it could have used a bit of cold air. I was hot in there. It had been long enough so I gave Hunter his juice box - which he downed and kept down!

We all left the museum separately and made our way to Burley, Idaho to see grandmother.

Since we missed getting breakfast, we were hungry so we stopped and ate at Denny's. The kids ate well and got balloons at the checkout counter. The drive was nice and relaxing. Hailey enjoyed writing in her new composition book and Hunter bugged her with his dinosaur. I have always loved driving on the highway from SLC to grandmothers. It is so peaceful and quiet. This is where I learned that corn fields can run. Not knowing how far behind or ahead we were of the rest of our clan, we headed to grandmother's home instead of going to the hotel.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDNVW3aaGZs 500x500]

 

 

 

Hailey showed me the places they went on their walk yesterday and I took a few pictures of it. Hunter was excited to see the "invisible water" and he wound up scraping his side when he lost his footing. Like Hailey, he is a tough kid. 

We visited with Papa and Rhonda in their room for a bit and then drove to Union Station where we met up with Daenon, Jennifer, Kaelee and Kimber, Alice, Scott, Benjamin, Joshua, Caleb,  Xela and Caroline. My Uncle John and Aunt Sandi met us there also but I didn't get to talk to them long. It was too hard to coordinate being in one place for too long! We toured all three museums. The train, Browning and car museums were good. I think the children liked the trains the best though inside and out!

Hunter enjoyed talking to baby Caroline. He loves little babies.

Hailey enjoyed talking to Kimber at lunch. Hunter was exhausted and slept through it!

Getting to climb on large trains was definitely a highlight!

This was also a highlight for Hunter... After being in the playroom exploring the inside of a train pushing buttons and having fun, he found the lever that made the train whistle. This new discovery quickly called in all the boys!

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTScCT-c_Fs 500x500]

After resting in the soft green grass out front, we decided to go to Farr's Ice Cream Shop. Mom used to take us there when we were little and she used to go there herself. My mom liked black licorice and it rubbed off on me. Black licorice is not a favorite among many people but I really do like it. I got myself a scoop of black licorice ice cream and enjoyed it - even if I payed for it later! Hailey got mint chocolate chip. They were out of lemon so Brady opted for another flavor which I don't recall at the moment. Hunter enjoyed sharing his!

Check out Hailey's crossed eyes!

After the ice cream shop, we headed to Walmart so Brady could pick up some white t-shits. I forgot to pack those in the suitcase. The drive was so pretty along the mountainside so we followed it for a bit. We found this neighborhood up the hill and toured it. There was this large rock that spoke to us and said "Climb Me!" So we did. We enjoyed the pretty overlook of the area.

We met back at the hotel and played around for a bit outside with the kids. I also met up with my brother Ryan who needed to finish up his work assignments before joining us that evening. Hats off to his wife Alice for taking their children to the museums! I am not sure I could do that and be sane. I would have probably  made them walk with a rope or something bizarre. They are well behaved kids though. Anyway, the hotel was supposed to have a pool but it was covered up with dirt. So we went on an adventure to find pizza and somewhere to eat it. We went looking for a park and found it but it was free of people and in a really shady part of town. On the street before it, there was a tree stump with a mannequin head on it. We all decided not to picnic there! Brady directed us to a state park that was beautiful. We walked over to some tables by a river. The people there were quite cranky and apparently you have to pay - so we did. Then the kids spied some canoes and a whole bunch of life jackets. So what do we all do? Go canoeing until we get yelled at again. Apparently you have to pay for those too! One cousin didn't get his turn so that was a bummer. Otherwise it would have been perfect! Hailey enjoyed rowing with her daddy. Brady forced me to go with Hunter. I wasn't too crazy taking him out there but I am glad we went. 

We all ventured back to the hotel for showers and some rest. It was a long, good day!

Playing is hard work!

Thursday, July 23rd we left the OKC airport and flew to SLC on Delta airlines. The children were great on the airplane. Hunter loved being on the airplane and took a nap. Hailey enjoyed chewing her blue gum, taking care of her bunny, coloring and listening to music on the Zune. The plane was smaller than I thought it would be but it was a smooth trip. I like the convenience of flying but despite how many times I have flown, I still get a little nervous.

I had the lucky pleasure of taking Hailey to the bathroom twice and Hunter once. All three of us were in the very cramped stall for Hunter's diaper change. If his diaper was just wet, I would have made him wait!

After our arrival in SLC, we got in our rental car and drove to Ogden where we met up with Papa and Rhonda at our hotel and went to dinner. After that, Rhonda and I went to Walmart to pick up a few things. Dad, Brady and the children stayed at the hotel. After about 45 minutes of being in the hotel room, Brady and the kids toured the hotel, picked up some fliers and went outside. When they were out back, they found a hidden concrete trail which they followed. Hailey made a prickly discovery, saw "invisible water" in a tube, saw lots of dragonflies in dragonfly valley, went past buggy forest, crooked corner, secret garden and then found scary water at the end of the sidewalk. They said they walked so far that they needed a motorcycle to come back. On their way back they saw more dragonflies, climbed a big rock, found reeds and a pretty yellow flower which they picked just for me!

"Invisible water" in a tube

Prickly Discovery and a Dragonfly!

After Rhonda and I got back to the hotel, we retired to bed pretty quick.

Hailey has always enjoyed office supplies but hasn't cared too much for crayons until the last 6 months. She seems to enjoy using them now. I have also noticed that her drawings are getting very good. Her people are not blobs anymore. I don't have much of a drawing talent and I can honestly say her deer drawing would be better than any attempt I make. She was allowed to get a little souvenir in Yellowstone. She picked a little deer stuffed animal and named it Rose. This is her drawing of Rose. I also liked her drawings of a dream she had the other night of a penguin surfing! I hope she continues to develop her drawing skills.

Hailey told me this morning she wanted her own blog so she could publish her own pictures from her computer. So I set her up this morning. Her blog is called H1 and will be bookmarked on my frontpage for easy access. She drew a picture using the paint program on her computer. I am looking forward to seeing what she wants to post and having her learn how to do it!

I will also be fixing the broken link called Hailey's Journal as soon as I figure out how to do it! Brady made me this handy journal spot and I have used it for years now. I hope to link their journals pages from their websites to this one.

Sportsman's Warehouse went out of business here a few months ago and I got this wooden thingy for Hailey. I thought it would be perfect to hang dress up clothes on, purses, etc. It was my 3 dollar purchase. I thought I could just spray paint it and be on my way. Well then I was reminded of my horrible spray painting ability. I tend to over spray and somehow I manage to get drips and make something so pretty look dreadful. I usually have Brady spray paint stuff for me. I picked out a light yellow color for it because her room walls are pink and a touch of yellow would be welcome. So after I realized the spray paint wasn't going to work, I went back for some cheap paint. The only yellow they had was a bright yellow canary color. It could stand to have another round of paint on it but it was a little loud for me already. We jeweled it up a bit and are searching for the perfect topper for it. I would have loved this when I was young. Girls like to put their stuff places!

I don't have a zoo pass for the kids and don't take them regularly. So when I heard that the zoo was offering free admission as a thanks for passing a sales tax to benefit them, I packed up the kids on Friday morning and headed to the zoo. It was actually cooler which was a nice bonus. I took them to see the sea lion show. They loved every minute of it. Hunter especially liked it when the sea lion made noises. I need to take them to Sea World someday. That would really impress them! We rode on the train and got off at various stops to see the animals. I love the chimpanzee and gorilla areas. Hailey and I thought one of them was having fun just standing there blinking at us and not moving at all. We arrived just in time to watch them eat their afternoon snacks. We rode on the carousel of course and visited a few water mist stations. I even caught a lady with a big, nice camera taking photos of children who came to play in the mist. The water droplets on the children's hair looked cool. Before we left the zoo, I got Hailey some Dippin Dots ice cream while Hunter enjoyed his brief nap. She loves that stuff! It was a good day at the zoo.

After the zoo, we went home and changed into our bathing suits and went swimming at a friends home. Hailey had a blast and Hunter was nuts in the water.  He just jumps in and tries to swim. He doesn't want anything on him and kept saying "I'm swimming!" It wasn't so relaxing for me because I had to make sure he wasn't gulping down the water but they loved it. After such a long day, they went to bed an hour earlier. We need to have more days like this!

* I brought my camera but didn't have the memory stick in it so I just took a few with my phone camera. Silly me.

 

Hailey and I went school supply shopping today! The stores have started to put out the back to school supplies on their shelves. I wanted to make sure I had them before all the craziness begins of gathering them near the start of school. As a teacher, supply shopping was always fun. I wanted to do it with Hailey minus all the shoppers. She wasn't too excited when I told her what we were doing because she didn't really know what it meant. So when I started piling lots of fun stuff into the shopping cart, she got really into it. On Saturday, I let her pick out a backpack at the office supply store. I was surprised she picked out a pink one out of all the color choices. I liked it because it was free from a character and labeling and she liked it because of what was in the zippered pockets - a pencil case, lunch bag and a wallet! The reality that she will be entering Kindergarten is setting in now.

* This is what was on her school supply list to pick up!

9 large glue sticks, 10 #2 pencils sharpened, 5 boxes 8 count crayons, 1 box 24 count crayons, 1 set of water color paints, 1 bottle of hand sanitizer, 1 pkg non toxic dry erase markers, 1 quart size Ziploc bags, 1 large backpack, 1 red folder, 1 green folder, 1 yellow folder, 1 blue folder (all with brads), 1 ream of white copy paper, 1 box tissues, 1 box of baby wipes, 1 bottle of white glue, 1 box washable markers, 1 small student markers

All for a grand total of $50.65 plus tax at Wally World

The $20 school supply fee where I taught sure seems like a better deal! The most annoying thing about it all is that the backpack is the only item that completely belongs to her. All other items are not to be labeled and has been the case in public schools for many years. I sure hope she gets her fair share of the supplies. From my experience as a Kindergarten teacher, children do not like not having their own scissors and having to wait to complete an assignment because someone else was busy with the few scissors in the classroom. But I did teach in low income schools so I picked up the slack many times if needs were not met. I just hope all the parents in her class actually bring the required school supplies! It was fun shopping with Hailey for these supplies anyway regardless. Yeah for new supplies!

We went with Brady on Saturday to a warehouse so he could do some work on their computer for them. They have this huge area full of computer stuff. No one was there. For fun, he turned on their fork lift and took the kids for a spin. Big machine = happy kids! I told him he was a rule breaker or something like that because I would be too afraid of getting caught, etc. They loved every minute of it. I actually enjoyed my "encouraged" rise in the air on one of the forks too!

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzkkBaoTWUk 500x500]

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovnke5iwWYc 500x500]

 

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq016MGd2os 600x600]

Hailey had another round of private swimming lessons last week. Her teacher had an unexpected engagement on her Friday lesson and she wound up canceling her lesson on Wednesday due to the brief rain shower. I was bummed a little because she only had 3 lessons this year. But she did really good in those three lessons. She learned how to do "windows". That is where she was supposed to swim from one side of the pool with her hands clasped together in front of her and her face in the water. Did she like it? Not one bit but she did it. I found out she can swim better than I thought. She just needs a "kick start" as her teacher said. Now we just need to get ourselves to the pool so she can practice!

Rewards work really well for Hailey. I asked her what she might like after completing her lessons. She told me she wanted little colored chocolates with sprinkles on them, a breakable picture of Heavenly Father (glass framed one), and a large cardboard box that she can turn into a hotel (with a promise that I won't put it outside for it to get rained on and then I smash it up and put in in the trash. Cardboard boxes in the the house annoy me after awhile and that is usually where they end up!) We have the chocolates covered and she has really enjoyed them. Her aunt Jennifer had some in a candy dish at Thanksgiving last year and apparently she has wanted them ever since. She saw them in the candy aisle last week at Walmart and that triggered her memory of the delicious little treats! Still working on gathering the other two items!

Hailey's great grandmother came to visit the lake for the Fourth of July. I found Hailey talking to her a lot. I am glad she had the chance to visit with her again.

Hailey enjoyed going to the firework stand with Brady and Michael to pick out fireworks. She was super sad that I did not let her take home a free cat though. She really wants an indoor pet like a cat or a dog. Brady and I do not want another cat - EVER! We told her someday we might get a dog. I am not crazy about having a larger pet inside again though. They make messes and I get too attached. I can live with a fish dying. Sad but being honest!

Lighting fireworks with Brady is so much fun for Hailey. She loves it. We never wound up lighting the sparklers oddly enough. Will have to save those for the New Year!

Hunter liked this tank!

My favorite firework selection - SNAKES! These have always made me smile.

Firework Watching!

Hunter enjoyed spending time with his Uncle Michael and Aunt Kelsey!

Brady, Hailey, Hunter and I took a boat ride over to see the bridge we always cross when coming to the lake. It rained for a bit but not for long. I like riding in a boat on cloudy days!

We met up with the rest of the family at the marina and got on the big boat for awhile.

Boat Talk!

Hailey needed to "relax" a bit. She was too hyper for me. So I told her to make some faces. These are shots of her happy, sad, excited, etc. looks. She has a million more too!

Pretty evening sunset!

It was a very nice, relaxing (and hot) Fourth of July. I am glad I got to see everyone again!

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er4197pVcfU 600x600][video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJtAF5ljI6A 600x600]

Yes, she is not wearing any clothes. Typical for Hailey! I also like how you can hear Hunter saying "nasty" in the video and talk about blood. Funny kid.

 

 

 

Hailey has had a loose tooth since last Tuesday. This is her first tooth to come out. She was so excited when she woke up on the 23rd. She couldn't wait to spread the news. We made a call to her daddy but it went to his voice mail. So we made other calls. Smokey was the first to hear all about it and it was his birthday too! We eventually caught up with Brady but he had already heard. We ran errands and went out to dinner. Everyone got to hear about her loose tooth. I loved seeing how excited she was about this. She has dreamed about losing her first tooth since seeing episodes on Little Bear and Arthur. Brady asked her last week if he could pull it out and she was willing - pliers and all. It needed more time though. Tonight it was loose. Not hanging by a thread loose but loose. She showed us and Brady asked her again and she wanted him to yank it out. I always disliked that feeling. She knows the next step is the Tooth Fairy! Brady told her what he was going to do and she was good about the whole deal. It didn't seem to phase her a bit. A paper towel was put in and she went and checked out her new smile in the mirror. After taking pictures, the tooth was placed in a little ziplock bag and placed in a pillow. Brady and Hailey found this pillow in the attic months ago so I washed it and set it aside. I think it was Kelsey's. We will have to pass it along now!

Before going to bed, we talked a lot about what the Tooth Fairy is like, where she keeps the teeth, how she gets the tooth out without you knowing, etc. It was fun to hear her ideas and Brady's. She wanted to make a wish on the brightest star but she couldn't see one from the window. So we all trekked out to the street at 11:30 pm and found the brightest star. She made her wish. I wish I knew what she wished for. She keeps a mean secret. She knows if you tell they won't come true. She does tell me once in awhile they haven't come true yet. I wish I knew what goes through her head. After our nightly routine, she fell asleep fast. After all, it was pretty late. Time passed by really quickly tonight! 

BEFORE PICTURES!

 She really didn't need the paper towel. It didn't bleed that much.

Tooth all safe and under the pillow! She is actually asleep in the last picture.

The Tooth Fairy Pillow! I put her tooth in a tiny zip lock bag that buttons come in when you buy clothes. Glad I saved these!

 The Tooth Fairy Came! She brought 5 quarters (because she is 5) and 1 dollar bill (because it is her first tooth). That is what we all deducted!

After talking with her daddy, Hailey went to the bedroom to look for evidence of if she came through the roof or the window. Hailey found PIXIE DUST! She loved the sparkles and tiny foot prints.  Love you Hailey Rae!

As we pulled away from a drive thru tonight, Hailey told me she hasn't seen very many dark people around. Anyone with a different colored skin she calls dark. She knows there are different types of people on this Earth and has never made a big deal about it. She said she has seen like about 180 of people like her but not so many dark people. Then she asked me what color we were called. I told her we were white. I didn't want to throw in the word Caucasian just yet. She didn't like that and she told me she wasn't white. I told her again and she told me "Why do I have to yell at you. I am not white!" Then she tells me, "When you're tan you're hot and when you're not, you're not".  This then makes me laugh because Hailey has seen way too many commercials. This little slogan is for Tan and Tone America. She asks me how you get tan. I tell her the sun can do it but for people with skin tones like ours the sun can burn instead. She tells me she just wants to be a little tan then. I agree Hailey. Me too! The whole what color thing is so confusing for little children. When I taught school, it bothered so many children when they pulled out those crayons to color their bodies. I don't blame them. The white crayon isn't acceptable. We are not bright and brilliant colored. The flesh tone colored crayons just don't cut it either in my opinion. They seem too yellow or pinkish. So tomorrow I am going to tell her she is a Caucasian American!

Yesterday I posted a little about Hailey's messy room and that getting new stuff is off limits. Today we straightened up the room and mostly everything got put back where we keep it. Then she reminded me yet again that I made her a promise. I always strive to keep my promises. They may not always be immediate but I do try to keep them. Saturday I took the kids to Norman to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform. I received some free tickets and I really wanted to go. Normally people don't take little ones to events like this but I knew they would be good plus Brady was out of town. I am going to have to try to find a good babysitter. They are used to me packing them up and hauling them everywhere though. Hailey really enjoyed them perform and I am glad she got to experience it with me. I had to remind them a few times to try to keep those folding type chairs meant for heavier people down but on the whole they were pretty dang good. Bribes and sandwich bags full of lots of little food items work well to keep my kids quiet! I did leave our seats and moved to the top and out of the way when the announcer was doing a final little talk 3 songs before the end. Hunter thought it was over because he was talking so long and announced loudly "Let's go home!" We stayed until the bitter end and they enjoyed being at the tip top anyway.

So my whole point to this was that I told Hailey that if she was good I would let her get something from the store as a reward. So we went to Build-A-Bear Workshop this evening. Princess Bunny now has a cute outfit to wear for the Fourth of July and some silky panties. They let you take free bows at the counter. Hailey chose two she wanted but they helped her grab more because she was too shy and polite about getting more. Now her bunny will look extra cool! Now I am probably have to buy Hailey her first pair of silky underwear. She really liked the bunny's pair plus it had a cute rose flower attached to the elastic in the front. She didn't get cute underwear until she was over 3 1/2. I always had her in those thick toddler training ones. Pajamas are another thing too. Decent- age appropriate ones are hard to find. Last month I finally purchased her some new ones for the season. I like the dress kind because they can last more than a year! So now that I have made good on my promise, I will (try) to stick to the no new things rule! I can overlook boy stuff quite easily. Boys are much easier to take care of, simple and so loving. Girls require more stuff!!!

 

Me to Hailey: "Hailey why is there string across your doorway?"

Hailey's response: "It means no boys allowed."

She has closed the door, put the cradle in front of the door, mentioned no boys allowed to Hunter in the past month or so but today she decided to just put up string. Personally I think she should just say NO ONE ALLOWED due to how messy it is!!! She loves to play by me but I seriously can't handle toys in the living room anymore. We often go through her toys and donate them but they have multiplied again. I need my sister to come and de-clutter her stuff. I can only think of a few items Hailey does not play with often. The kitchen and baby stuff are still hot items and boy do they multiply when out. You have to have this item and then this item. She has a great time playing which I love but until we donate again, new stuff is off limits. I often look at how much has been collected between the two and think that it looks like a toy store threw up in the house!

* I am partly to blame as I love finding girly discounted stuff! Like the new dress up rack I found at Sportsmans Warehouse. Pictures coming soon. I am going to spray paint it tomorrow!

 

 

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIZWBx2QxjU 600x600]

Look how tiny Hunter is dancing and check out that pacifier. Strange to see that in his mouth!

The video and these pictures were found on the internal memory of our camera. Fun finds. The pictures are from Hunter's birth. Brady and Hailey slept in the hospital and they had fun playing on the pull out bed. The picture of Nathan is when Tessa came to see me after Hunter's birth. 

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv_YjP0QBXE 600x600]

I have misplaced the little Sony camera charger I like to use. My little Sony fits in my purse nicely and takes a larger battery. Without a charger, the camera is now dead. So this afternoon, I pulled out the larger Sony camera that we have. I have taken many pictures with it and it works great. It is just that I seem to have to charge those Double AA's way too often. I think this is because I just need to buy a new set. I think the batteries have lost most of their charge even though they are rechargable. I wish it took the newer square batteries like Brady's nice Canon and that one I can't seem to find! So as I was getting re-aquainted with my camera, I snapped a few photos of my cute little boy. He was willing, posing and smiling with his eyes open. Lately he closes them with a cute little smirk. Then he announced, "That's enough. No more pictures!". I kept snapping but he meant business. So I turned on the camera. He no longer says "Pic-ers" for pictures. It is now just plain ole pictures. Sad. I liked hearing him say "Pic-ers"! He also got another haircut the other day. She cut it too short. He looks like an older boy. Since he has naturally curly hair, I like it somewhere in between long and short. That way I can still play with his tiny curls and pretend he really isn't two and a half!

Brady likes Snickerdoodle cookies if he is going to eat them. So I made him a batch for Father's Day on Saturday. I also got to test out my new Bosch machine. The cookies turned out yummy if I do say so myself! We wound up leaving for the lake and in my gathering of items I accidentally left the second half of the batter on the counter. Bummer - but another great excuse to make more cookies!

We stopped off at Dairy Queen in Texas to eat before we made it to the Tackle Box. We needed to leave so I just let them eat their treats in the car and was expecting the consequences. I had to take a picture of the kids. Hailey is notorious for making a mess when she eats. Shockingly the entire ice-cream sandwich made it into her mouth. She only left a small trace of chocolate on her cheek. She absolutely loves ice-cream sandwiches! Hunter did pretty well himself and only ate about a third of his Dilly Bar.

Hailey was super excited to give Brady his card. She saw a Hallmark commercial on TV and wanted to get him one of those cards that sings and you can leave a message. She was so excited to speak into it that we wound up doing it in the parking lot and her first attempt was perfect. She said "I love you daddy and I always will." Brady does not like cards and thinks they are a waste of money when purchased. I know he'll keep this one!

We gifted our daddy and then headed out to get some eats on Sunday. I tried out the Hot N Creamy finally. This donut shop has absolutely they worst name and we have avoided it for 5 years. It wound up being delicous and I would go there again! 

Happy Father's Day Brady. We love You and are very grateful for you!!!

Hunter has thoroughly enjoyed himself lately. He has been entertaining himself by filling up cups of water or any other container he can get his hands on, flicking his wet toothbrush on us, putting his hands underneath the faucet until is sprays everywhere, climbing up into the sink just to play, tormenting Hailey by squeezing full and almost empty juice boxes on her or the carpet and in general is fascinated by liquids and manipulating them. Hailey wasn't too crazy about him sitting next to her on the couch the other day so he dumped  his water on her and my couch. Grrr and double Grrr! Brady said he was probably trying to just sit on the couch and it spilled but Hailey was way too wet! He got sent straight to take a nap after he ran around the entire living room chasing Hailey with his juice box spraying away. Even though he has been told and gotten in trouble numerous times, I caught him again today. This better end soon.

When I got home late Sunday night from Arizona, I toured the garden and plants with a flashlight. I was so shocked to see a big fig on my 1 foot tall new fig tree. I thought it would take much longer for it to fruit. It must have been the Miracle Grow I put on it! I also was delighted to see that the lima bean plants have begun forming baby lima beans. Things are taking shape in the garden! I missed seeing my first magnolia flower out though. It was ready but the winds must have torn it to shreds. It is very happy this year and has put on a lot of growth. Gardening has been fun this year. More pics to come...

Ever since we moved into the Edmond house, Brady has told me he smelled gas. He would even have me come out and smell for it.  On occasion I would smell it. But not strong or like he was describing. When Brady's father came on my birthday, he immediately smelled it. When you are in the oil business for so long I suppose you develop your senses much better or that I really am almost over the hill and my sense of smell is gone already! Last month our gas bill was $300. Fun bill.

Thursday morning, Brady's dad showed up early to fix the leak. Brady removed the wood planks from the deck and they set out to fix it. After some digging, the problem was found. The pipe had rusted out and a good sized hole was found. They went to several stores to find the right pieces. It didn't take too long but Smokey had to get all dirty doing it. Sorry Smokey! We appreciate you fixing the leak - especially because at this point any spark would have caused some damage. Love you Smokey. I can't wait to see our next bill!

 

I purchased a ticket late Wednesday night and flew to Arizona Thursday afternoon to go visit my sister Tessa. She was scheduled to be induced to have her baby on Friday morning at 9 am. The kids stayed with Brady and Jessica part of the day on Saturday. I have never left my children before so I was quite anxious and happy all at the same time. I absolutely love my sister and being there was pretty amazing. I am glad my sweet husband let me go and get away. I know the children had a good time as well. They love their daddy and I am glad they got to spend more time with him. I think it did me some good to be away as well. 

WAITING TO GO

Tessa was scheduled to be at the hospital at 9 am for her induction. We all got up and got ready when she received a call at 8:30 telling her to wait until they called her back. Her neighbor arrived promptly to take care of her boys but we sent her home to rest until it was time. The hospital had patients coming in like crazy. So we took before pictures and then went to Fry's grocery store. That was a pretty cool store. It has everything in it! We were getting anxious so she called to check. She was told to go ahead and eat lunch. Her neighbor brought lunch over. Just when Tessa decided to go lay down and talked me into taking a nap with her, the call came. We should have done that earlier. Stuff like that always happens to me! 

OFF WE GO

Tessa, Rob and I left around 3 for the hospital.  Her new car seat is so fun. I love the colors. She has a matching stroller too. Baby stuff is fun to play with!

ENTRANCE

Here are the parents to be arriving at the hospital. An attendant escorted us to the right area and we skipped over registration. Yeah! From my experience, I despise registration. It takes so dang long and what is even more annoying is that you are already in the system and they still ask you to fill out paperwork.  

PREPARATION 

They quickly got her into a room and went and pulled paperwork. It was quick and easy because they can! Then she got into her lovely hospital gown and left one more sample for the nurses. I left that picture out Tessa!

LABOR AND DELIVERY ROOM NUMBER FIVE

They brought along their laptop, which was good as it helped pass the time for them. It cracked me up at first seeing her all nestled in her bed typing away.

SILLY PICTURES

Her feet were not as swollen in this picture as they got by the time she had so much fluid pumped into her from the IV's and medication. 

THINGS I LOOKED AT A LOT

The nurses prepped the table quite soon and covered it up. Her labor was 20 hours. I found myself looking at this table a lot. It was kind of disturbing as it reminded me of not equipment but someone under it! Directly across the hall was surgery where they did c-sections. The sign on the wall for the stretchers cracked me up as it was all smushed together. I also looked at her vitals and contractions records on the monitors about a zillion times and of course Rob. Her liquid food tray (which was denied) the cafeteria brought even looked inviting at one point!

STADOL, ICE CHIPS AND THE EPIDURAL MAN

Since the hospital was crazy busy, getting her epidural when she was ready for it took just a bit of time. The stuff was on the cart and ready to go since she asked for it earlier which was a bonus. Some women didn't get theirs! In the meantime, Tessa got to enjoy Stadol for the first time. She totally cracked me up as she went from laughter to immediate sleep. It did it's job and she got some relief though. I called her ice chips "Distractant Chips" in my head. I have never seen anyone consume as much ice as she did. They helped keep her mind off things. She received her epidural at 11 pm. The man who did it let me watch and even gave me a step by step tutorial of the whole process. It was pretty cool to see as I have always been on the other side! He was a fun man. 

A NINE!

Tessa was put on pitocin when she arrived but after being on it all night her body became saturated. It helped but they had to take her off of it after so long. Once it was back on, she progressed again. Then when she was a nine, they came in and turned it off. A lady had to have a c-section and lucky Tessa got bumped again. She would have had her baby sooner at this point but she had to wait for over an hour. The anethesiologist came and gave her 2 injections in her line because at this point her epidural wasn't as effective anymore. When she was in the clear to push, baby Landon was born! This was her first baby that didn't have to go to IC. She was so relieved and happy about this. I also got to witness the event in between filming and pictures. Thanks for letting me come Tessa. 

MEASUREMENTS

Landon was absolutely perfect. Born at 12:45 on June 13th, 8 pounds 10 ounces and 21 3/4 inches long. When the nurse was measuring him and doing those first few tests, he lifted his head up like he was going to crawl away!

FIRST BATH IN HOSPITAL

After hanging out with his mommy and daddy, Landon went and got all clean in the nursery. He came back wearing a cute yellow hat. 

IT IS A BOY!

BROTHERS - BIG & MIDDLE!

Landon's brother's arrived to see him. They were wearing cute t-shirts. Michael gave his mommy loves and Nathan wanted to do flips with his daddy. They missed their parents. Nathan did everything Michael did and even went as far as crossing his arms like Michael was doing at one point. 

 MEETING LANDON

Michael was so anxious to hold the baby and ever so sweet about it. He has always been a great big brother. Nathan crawled up to look at Landon but didn't want to hold him just yet. He quietly observed. I wish I would have been able to stay longer because Nathan is so fun to play with!

MICHAEL

Michael loves being a big brother. He is very helpful and loving. His younger brothers are lucky.

CECILIA

This is the sweet neighbor friend that helped take care of the children. She has children of her own and 10 grandchildren I think. I want to adopt her too. Her mother was in town visiting and they hung out together. Nathan and Michael love her too. The minute they stepped through the door, she had them washing their hands. She even brought snacks and clothing items to the hospital just in case. I am sure she was tired (she wakes up mid morning normally due to her work schedule) but she was so willing and volunteered to keep the children another night. They didn't use her again but she is one sweet lady. I am glad Tessa has such a great adopted grandmother!

PROUD GRANDPARENTS

I  didn't capture a picture of Rob's mother holding the baby but Tessa has one. Here is Rob's dad. He looked so sweet holding the new baby.

ROOM 12

Tessa was moved to another room for the night. I got to hang out with her again. Rob went home to relieve Cecilia and get some rest. I raided the late night vending machine and we had a sandwich, banana pudding and cake. It was actually good!

PACKING UP

After enjoying a nice shower, Tessa ate and then the family came back and helped pack up to go home. Landon had his last test run and Tessa was in the clear to be dismissed. Normally they like you to stay another day but since both were doing so well, they went home after the 24 hour mark. Rob needed to report to work the next day and it worked out for the best. The baby has to report back for a follow up check-up just to make sure all is A-Okay. I know he will be just fine. He is a great eater already!

GOING HOME

Congratulations Tessa, Rob, Michael and Nathan! Loves to all.