Easter - Thoroughly Celebrated!

This video is kind of long, and I apologize in advance if it messes up your computer.  I am still trying to learn the best formats to convert my video to, and as my technologically advanced husband is rarely home, I am doing it without his help!  ITs a good thing I am taking these videos though, because as Hailey phrased it the other day, "Daddy misses EVERYTHING!"  Poor daddy...

This picture is at Hailey's Easter Party at school, and the two other little girls are Caroline and Anna, who are her BFF's.  I like their moms a lot, so that is working out well for us! 

 The school has these chicks that the kids have been watching hatch and getting to hold this month.  I feel kind of bad for the chicks, but H loves them.  Aubrey went nuts when she saw them and wanted one  for herself.

 In general, Aubrey is happy to shake the easter eggs.  Hailey finds them and eats the candy.

Skip ahead a few days, to Saturday - after our race I came home and whipped up these cupcakes for the squadron kids easter party.  I was pretty impressed with myself, considering I had planned on taking fruit until I got an email that morning requesting desserts.

 Aubrey at the party shaking eggs - before her daddy gave her an open juice box to play with

 Our Hailey monster - who was just itching to get in the pool, so this is the only picture of her in her birthday/Easter dress

 Only at an Air Force Easter Party would there be planes taking off and dropping eggs from the air

 Me and my girls

 Daddy and his girls hunting for eggs

Hailey and Mama's Big Race

Running has become my link to sanity on many a day.  Fortunately, both girls love going running with me, so just about every morning I strap them into my super awesome Schwinn Arrow Double Jogger and hit the road.  When Hailey was Aubrey's age, she would immediately go to sleep, but Aubrey is way to curious about the world to sleep.  She looks at everything, straining to sit up more, and is sure to talk to every dog we see along the way.  Hailey, my constant chatterbox, talks to me the entire way about anything that comes to mind, and I have to periodically stop to collect wildflowers for her.  When we get to the end of my run, she gets out and does her run while I cool down.

I started running about 5 years ago, but have never run a race.  I decided to sign up for a 5k the Saturday before Easter - mostly because it said strollers were welcome and it would give us something to do while Jon was at his masters class.  I really had no idea what to expect, but a 5k is 3.2 miles, which is about what we run every day, so I figured it would be something different.  Hailey was very excited to be in the race and cheered me on the whole way.  There was a very large Great Dane dog that was running by us for a good portion of the race and Aubrey talked to him incessantly.  I am not sure what my official time or finish was, but it was somewhere between 26 and 27 minutes and lots of people were amazed that I did that with my giant stroller full of baby girls:)  

After my race there was a 1/2 mile Bunny Hop race for the little kids.  Hailey really wanted to run it, so I  signed her up, even though she was wearing flip flops.  She was so excited and did soooo well!  She took it very seriously and out ran lots of kids twice her size.  She got a wind up chick toy at the finish line which she tells everyone is her trophy and that she won. 

Be sure to watch the video at the end - it is super cute! Its very short and quick, however, because the whole thing happened a lot faster than I was prepared for!

It is kind of hard to get this video to play, but it will work if you keep trying...and its worth it!

She's 4

What can we say about this amazingly complex little person who took over our lives four years ago?  We love her to pieces, and while I look forward to bedtime for a good part of every day, I am excited to see her when we wake up, and feel so very fortunate that I am able to stay home and watch her grow.

There were a LOT of changes in Hailey's life this year, and the most monumental was becoming a big sister.  She is a wonderful sister, and loves Aubrey more than anything.  She runs to her crib when she hears her stir, and  can't let me leave her school if she hasn't given her a hug and a kiss.  She is very tolerant of her, and is happy to let her play with most of her toys and have whatever she wants.  She wants to be a part of everything to do with caring for the baby, and is a big help to me.  

Moving to Florida was another big change - which she handled like a true Air Force kid.  The move was a big adventure for her, but a bigger change was having me home with her instead of going to work.  I think a combination of that, our new neighborhood, and the sunny Florida weather have convinced her that Florida is the best place ever, and she has asked both Jon and I if we can live here "forever till we die."

Starting preschool was a huge deal for Hailey.  She loved her school in Virginia, and I stressed about moving her in the middle of the year.  I shouldn't have, because her new school is fantastic and she has flourished in the few months we have been here.  She knows all her letters AND what sounds they make and can count to 39 with no problem.  She colors in the lines - most of the time and teaches us the songs she learns at school.  I love when in the middle of playing or eating, or just riding in the car she will tell me something she learned about God and Jesus from Mrs Dawn (her teacher).

Eating her breakfast birthday cake in her new jammies
that the birthday fairy brought her (she really believes 
in the birthday fairy)

Using her new Bilibo as a chair, while playing a recorder and watching her new movie all at the same time

Haileys current favorites:  snacks and treats - she will do pretty much anything for ice cream, and we use this to our advantage.  She loves to be outside - especially out front so she can look for her friends.  She would prefer to always be in a dress and without shoes, and if we didn't have to comb her hair, that would be great.  She loves to "help".  She helps Jon with projects, she helps us with the baby, she feeds the dogs, and she helps me in the kitchen.  Barbies are her favorite toys, and her favorite books are Pinkalicious, Fancy Nancy, Ladybug Girl and several Dr Seuss favorites.

The picture above is of her big girl carseat - which we have had for awhile, but she was not big enough or heavy enough to use.  Jon measured her on her birthday, and miraculously (seriously - she just had a physical and was not even close) she was 38 inches tall and weighed 30lbs.  I knew she was growing, but that was a big spurt.  She still wears her size 3 clothes quite comfortably and is not even close to the size of most 4 year olds, but she was ecstatic to get to use this carseat.  She told everyone about it, and also that she was four.  

The picture below is of her new big girl bike that we got her for her birthday.  I took her to toys r us and walmart and let her try out lots of bikes to make sure we got the right size - given how tiny she is.  She rode MANY 16in bikes just fine in the stores, but the bike we picked out ( I wanted to get one that wasn't barbie or disney so it would last a bit longer) is just too big for her and she can't reach the pedals.  BAD MAMA!  She loves the bike though, and doesn't want to get a different one, so we are still figuring out what to do about that.

If You Want to be a Pirate, Say ARRR!

When Hailey decides she wants or likes something, she throws herself into it.  Her latest love is pirates - specifically Jake and the Neverland Pirates - which is a new show on Disney Junior.  She wants to be a pirate when she grows up, and truly believes that if she had some pixie dust she would be able to fly.  As her birthday approached, she informed me that she wanted to have a pirate party.  The Jake and the Neverland Pirates show is very new and there aren't party supplies available, so I had to be a bit creative.    

I would not say that I am creative, and I am definitely not artistic.   I do not excel at (or even like) crafts, cake decorating, party planning, or planning at all for that matter.  Not to mention - we just moved here and I didn't really have all that many people I could invite to the "big"pirate  party Hailey had her little heart set on.  This would be her first birthday that we weren't able to travel to Erie to see her cousins and have a party with them, and also the first birthday her Nana and Papa had to miss, so the pressure was on to at least create a fun time for our little pirate.

We have some great neighbors in our new neighborhood.  One family has three little girls and another family has two little girls.  That would have been a party itself, but Hailey really wanted to invite her three little friends from her preschool class, and two of them were able to attend as well.  I excel at surfing the internet, so with a little internet inspiration I came up with some cute pirate games and had the girls "earn" their pirate swords, pirate caps, and beads.  We also dug for hidden treasure (fake gems and gold doubloons) in the sand box, and Daddy was the star when he produced the cannonballs (purple water balloons).

Her birthday cake was another challenge, as she wanted Izzy to be on it, and then when we went to the store to look at what we could get she decided she wanted the strawberry shortcake theme cake.  With a little persuasion, I got her to choose a cute flip flop beach theme cake that we pretended was a pirate island.  With the exception of when one of the little girls "smelled" the candle and burnt her nose, it turned out very well, if I do say so myself!

Aubrey enjoyed herself as well, and is pretty sure that she already IS a pirate.

This IS the most interesting stuff I've got !

We have become really boring around here, but it should pick up a bit in the near future with some fun upcoming events like Hailey's birthday, Easter celebrations, and a much anticipated visit from Marsha, JJ & Jace!

But until then, this is the best I can do. 

 Look!  I taught Aubrey to give herself a bottle!  Hailey did not hold her own bottle the entire time she required one, so this is an AMAZING development for Jon and me.  She still prefers for me to hold her and her bottle (and I prefer that too) but out of necessity (like when I am putting groceries away and the ice cream is melting) she will happily feed herself. This picture is of the second time she did it, but it was the first time Hailey saw it.  Hailey was very concerned and said she would sit right there just in case Aubrey needed her help.  And of course, Lucy was right there too. 

For those who haven't has the pleasure of meeting Lucy, here she is.  Lucy is Hailey's favorite doll, and she has been through a lot.  Recently her head exploded and Hailey's Nana had to sew her brains back in.  Shortly thereafter she somehow got covered in candle wax and syrup, so I put her in the washing machine.  She survived that only to be attacked with some Tinker Bell lip gloss.  Poor, poor Lucy.

A big deal in Hailey's world right now is "Playdates".  She plays with all the neighborhood kids on a daily basis, but that doesn't compare to when a friend comes over to her house to play.  Last week I watched a little girl from her school for a day, and also this little guy who is the son of one of the guys in Jon's squadron.  I really enjoy having an extra 4 yr old around - they entertain themselves for the most part which gives me a break from Hailey's constant needs!

Aubrey loves dogs - any dog big or small and she starts talking to them.  She has special love for Rolo, and he just soaks it up.  Roxy runs from her and spends a lot of time hiding in the bathroom.  This video is a normal day in the life of Rolo and Aubrey - this goes on all day.  Unfortunately Rolo currently has an ear infection and got ANOTHER ear hematoma from shaking his head, so he is a lot of pain.  Its being treated and I got the hematoma drained today so he is feeling better.  Its good, because Aubrey has no mercy.  

Some Florida Fun

I have 3 excuses for not producing any new material.
1.   I have WAY less free time now that I am not working.
2.   Jon hasn't done anything that I feel the need to vent about.
3.   While the girls and I have been very busy, we aren't doing anything overly interesting or remarkable.
 - I love reading my friends blogs and keeping up with them through their pictures and stories, and currently I have several friends who are experiencing amazing and life changing events, so my picture of Aubrey playing in her own spit up doesn't seem that pressing! ( check out the blogs I follow "The Skinny on the Mini" which is my high school friend Mandi's story about her new baby and "A Seat at the Table" which is our friends Kevin and Angela's story of adoption.  They are currently in Thailand picking up their little girl and it has been amazing to see it through them.  Another I am addicted to is "Rockstar Ronan" which is the story of a little boy fighting cancer and his mom is so real and honest it is painful to read at times.)

Fortunately, our families back home always think we are interesting, and because "back home" is in cold and still snowy Pennsylvania, I am sure our beach pictures will be especially appreciated.

So here is what has been happening.

Hailey and Aubrey hanging out in our new backyard

She loves her swing - Thanks Grandpa!

Hailey is playing school with her animals, dolls and Aubrey, who couldn't crawl yet, so she had no choice but to listen to Hailey talk about her pajamas

Yup, playin in her spit up and happy about it.  This was the day of her six month vaccinations ( she is 8 months old) and if I had only known that about an hour after this was taken she would turn into a feverish puddle of mush for the following 48 hours, I might not have thought this was so funny.

Hailey, LOOK!

Now Aubrey, LOOK!

K, now SMILE!  

the joy of having more than one child and trying to get a good picture

Its a beached whale!

We really need to invest in a sunshade of some sort.  Don't worry, she could breathe.

We have every back yard play item a little girl could want, but I think we might need a bigger pool

She was in about as good of a mood as she looks like she is in.  It was a long day at the air show and she had thoroughly wore Nana and Papa out

Our extremely happy baby (this is today)