trying something new

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Halli's Bike

Halli got a bike for Christmas. We weren't sure if she would really like it. Once all the snow melted and it got a little bit warmer, she wanted to go for a ride. She loved it! She rode around our little neighborhood a couple of times. I am so proud of her. Riding bikes as also been a little bit of an issue. Something about steering and pedals at the same time seem to always be an issue. It's mostly the steering that is the issue. So, right now the bike riding is going great! We can't wait till summer!

Look at that smile!!!!!!

Christmas @ Sunriver w/ the family

We finally got to celebrate Christmas with Andy's family. Andy's brothers and family and Andy's parents all traveled to Sunriver a couple of weekends ago. It was so nice to see everyone. Halli was so excited to see her cousins. As you can see below, they were just as excited to see her.After playing and eating dinner Halli wanted to have some quiet time and watch a video. Her cousins thought that sounded good too. They all crawled up on the bed and watched "God's Little Princess" video. They were all so quiet. It was very cute.

Aunite Heidi made cookies Friday night. Halli couldn't wait to have one Saturday. As you can see it was as big as her face. I think we all enjoyed a cookie or two that weekend.

Auntie Marena and Megan having some play time. Megan is such a sweetie.

We also finally got to meet Annika. She is about 8 months old. I just love her hair! She had the cutest smiles.

Hope did so well this weekend. With all the new people and the noise of the kids, she did better than I thought she would. I guess as long as you have your thumb, you can sleep anywhere. :) Isn't she adorable!

We brought the Wii so everyone could play. It was so funny to watch the boys. I think Uncle Josh enjoyed it the most. :)


There wasn't much snow the weekend we were at Sunriver. If had been two weeks before, there would have been plenty. Oh well, the kids still had fun. Halli and Kellen enjoyed rolling around and beating the snow with sticks.

Halli and Kellen were inseperatable the whole weekend. It had been over a year since they've seen each other. It was so cute to see them play together. Kellen is so sweet. He takes very good care of Halli. We thought there would be tears when everyone went home. But there wasn't. I think it helped that everyone plans to be back in March for Great Grandma's 100th birthday.

Silly kids! Kyle loves his cousins too.



The kids enjoyed opening their gifts. One of Halli's gifts was a Paula Dean Kids Cookbook. She loved it! She has already gone through and put post-its on all the recipes she wants to make. We all enjoyed our weekend together. Even though it was very loud and we know each year its just going to get louder. It's still good to spend time together. With all the cousins being close in age, everyone has someone to play with. It is nice that we do enjoy being together. We look forward to seeing everyone soon.

Tea Party

Halli was invited to a tea party birthday. She was so excited. Once we got there she was a little nervous. As long as I was close by, she did fine.

Halli picked out a nice red dress and hat. She wanted red because that is mom's favorite color. She wanted a shaw because it was a little cold in there. She even picked out a red necklace, red shoes and a red purse.

Here's a picture of some of the girls at the party. They look so cute. I personally think my Halli looks the cutest. :)

This is after her hair, nails and make-up have been done. She got to chose all the colors. She chose blue finger nail polish. I see bright colors in our future.

Halli waiting for the food. It was very cute. They all got a ring and a braclet to wear. They were told that the glove was their napkin. They also got their own teapot. They were served lemonade. They could pour it themselves. Halli really liked that. Also, if they needed anything they were to let the birthday girl know and she would ring a bell for service.

All the guests putting their jewelry on.

Maia making her birthday wish. The girls didn't get to have cake. The birthday girl gets to take that home and enjoy with her family. The kids get another goodie.

This is what they got instead of cake. They were all excited to get gummy worms. Most of the girls didn't eat much of the candy. We did get to take it home. Halli even got to keep her flower. She wore that in her hair. It was a very nice party. We were there for two hours. I see a tea party birthday party in our future for Miss Hal. :)

tag

My friend Jena picture tagged me awhile ago. If I remember correctly I was supposed to pick my fourth file and the fourth picture and tell about it. I don't keep many pictures on the computer, but this is what I had. This was Halli's first day of pre-school. She was two years old. She went to school one day a week for two hours. These are her teachers. Teacher Kris and Teacher Kathy. They where wonderful. Halli had so much fun at school.

Pre-school has been good for Halli. Being an only child for so long she needed to be around other kids. You can only play with mom and dad for so long. :) Sonshine has been the best. I don't think I could have asked for a better pre-school. We will miss it next year.

Doesn't my little girl look soooo cute? I forget how little she used to be. The years are flying by.

Christmas

Halli and Hope enjoying their Christmas gifts. It was so much fun being a family of four this Christmas. Next year Hope will probably be more into her gifts. If not, Halli will help again opening presents. Aren't my girls the cutest?

Halli enjoying her tiger. She wanted this soooo bad. It was her favorite. It meows and blinks its eyes at you. She carried it around for the whole day. She still will carry it around and does love to sleep with it.

This year Halli got a bike. We are hoping that this spring she will be able to learn how to ride it. She's not that crazy about it, but we are hoping when she sees all the other kids riding their bikes she will want to be out there riding hers.

The famous Easy Bake Oven. I always wanted one when I was little and now I can live my child hood dream through my daughter. :) We haven't had time to bake anything yet. I see brownies in our future this weekend. You can also see in the back ground Hope's pink chair. I wasn't too crazy about these chairs, but since Hope keeps trying to sit up I thought we would give it a try. Hope loves it!!!!! I plan on getting the tray so we can put her toys on it. She is now reaching for toys and playing. My baby is growing up. Not pictured is a blanket I made for Hope. I ran out of time, so I was up really late Christmas Eve sewing away. I was supposed to make burp cloths also. I'm still working on those.

Our Pet Lover

My sweet Halli. She loves animals. Yesterday she was watching t.v. and a commercial came on for the Humane Society. It was showing pictures of animals. I have to admit the dogs pictures did look really sad. Halli covered her eyes and said she couldn't watch it.

I turned the t.v. off and Halli started crying. She sat in my lap and cried and cried. Andy asked how she was feeling and she just said, "I'm sad. I feel bad for the animals." She just couldn't stand that the animals don't have homes and she is afraid that they will be put to sleep. After a long talk, she still wouldn't calm down.

Halli and I went upstairs, crawled in bed, turned on a cartoon and then had a very long cuddle. It took about an 1/2 hour to get her to calm down and be ok. She kept saying that she couldn't get the commercial out of her brain. She has such a caring heart for animals.

So, in the next week or so we will be making a trip to the Humane Society and making a donation. She doesn't want to see the animals locked up, but wants to help them some how. I can see in her future living on a farm with a ton of animals.