Some Random Things

Just some random stuff today. No rhyme or reason to my thoughts today. Not that there usually is...... Anyhoo-

About a week ago I posted about my dad getting a buck while he was hunting. I posted about it here. I had said that I would post a picture if anyone wanted to see it and there was a request to see a picture. Here is my dad smiling proudly next to his buck.

This picture is here just because I think it's cute. I put Hailey's hair in pig-tails and thought it was cute and wanted to share it with you. I probably won't be doing her hair like this very often though because she did not enjoy the experience very much. (Actually if you click to enlarge the picture a little bit, you might be able to see some left over tears.)

In other exciting Happy Happenings news- I have joined another mommy group. So, Hailey and I now belong to three mommy groups- MOPS, MOMS, and our latest group which I can not share the name of because it would give away where I live and I like to try to keep that a secret. But, there are activities for us to be a part of 2-3 times each week with our newest group. We won't participate in everything as some things happen during Hailey's naps. But, between the three groups we will certainly be able to get out of the house at least a couple times each week. I still think that time at home is important but I don't want to feel like I did last winter when I thought I would certainly lose my mind if I didn't have some adult interaction (you can only talk to the cashiers at Target for so long).

With our new busy schedule and Christmas shopping, wrapping presents, working on Christmas cards, baking cookies, and all that stuff- plus the regular every day stuff- I might not be around quite as much as usual. Oh and I plan to start walking on my treadmill during Hailey's afternoon nap, which is when I usually visit everyone's blogs. So, please forgive me if I miss a day now and then.

And so, that is all for now. Come back tomorrow for another thought provoking post.

Our Happy Thanksgiving

Our trip last week to my parents house for Thanksgiving was wonderful! We drove down on Wednesday night. Remember the post where I said that Hailey slept almost all the way home the last time we were there? And, also, I said I knew I shouldn't be mentioning it, lest I jinx myself. Well, guess who was awake for the entire trip? Well, unless you count the last 5 minutes of the trip when she finally fell asleep. But, actually she was pretty good and I shouldn't complain.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday (and also- Christmas is my favorite holiday). And this year did not disappoint. We had a blast. I was a bit sad though, because my sister-in-law Ellie was not able to come. Ellie and my brother Matt both attend Virginia Tech (remember my recent post about VT? Well, it seems that I made an error. Matt and Ellie are not working on their masters degrees, but rather on their PhDs. So, I just wanted to clarify that- not that anyone told me that I had to or anything.)

Anyhoo- Ellie has a couple of really big exams this week as she is working towards her PhD in economics, so she stayed in Virginia where her dad (an economics professor) was able to help her study for the big tests. We missed her, but understand why she couldn't come. She knew how much Matt had been looking forward to coming, so she insisted that he go on without her.

There were also other aunts, uncles, and cousins who were unable to come this year for different reasons. So, I missed all those people too.

But we still had some great times.

Here is everyone (except for me) at the table saying,
"Enough with the pictures already. Let's eat."

This is after dinner- my parents laughing while
talking on the phone to some of the missing relatives.

And these are the missing relatives. I copied this picture from Beka's blog. I hope she doesn't mind.
I also copied this picture from Beka's blog. Apparently this
is supposed to be my Aunt Ruth dancing on the table.
I don't know who she thinks she's fooling because I
can clearly see that she is not on the table.

This is my sister-in-law Ellie. I didn't want her to feel left out, so here she is last year at Thanksgiving- meeting Hailey for the first time.
And here are the dogs after the feast. Murray, my parents dog, is
on the left and Dottie is on the right. Of course my mom prepared special bowls of Thanksgiving food for the dogs.

My Aunt Gladys and Uncle Dave were able to come to my parents house on Friday. We had a great time with them as well. On Friday and Saturday we did some shopping and Hailey did really well. While shopping on Saturday Aunt Gladys had a craft show that she wanted to go to. Rich griped and complained about going, but we all to wait for him to finish shopping.

On Saturday night as we were playing a rowdy game of Domino's we all laughed so hard that our stomachs hurt and we had tears in our eyes. We weren't laughing at the game, but I can't tell you what we were laughing at because my dad declared it "locked in the vault." And that's all I'll say about that.

So, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with way too much delicious food (made by my mom- an excellent cook), and great times with family.

Happy Happenings Last Weekend

Last weekend we spent the weekend at my parents house- and had a wonderful time as always. The ride there- with Hailey- not usually so much fun- but the fun times we have once we arrive make it worth it.

We have recently started letting Hailey watch a DVD while we travel- it's amazing how mesmerized she is by Baby Einstein. At home we have a no TV rule for Hailey. I did a lot of research on this topic (AAP recommends no TV for kids under age 2) and we decided this was a good rule for our family. Once in a great while she will watch a couple minutes of Sesame Street on a Saturday morning but for the most part we are pretty consistent with this rule.

But I digress.

Hailey usually only sleeps for a little while in the car, no matter how carefully we plan the trip with her nap or bed time. So, letting her watch a DVD in the car has helped quite a bit.

On Saturday my dad went hunting and shot a lovely buck. I took some pictures but I will spare you the goryness (is that a real word?). Unless of course there is a high demand in the comments section from people who would like to see my dad smiling proudly next to his deer.

The main reason for our trip this last weekend was that Brooke lives in the same town as my parents and she was in a play at school. So of course, we wouldn't miss that for anything. We feel that it is very important to try to attend events like this. Before we had to move out of the area we always went to all of Brookes activities. Even though we live a bit of a distance away now and can no longer attend everything she is a part of we try to make sure we are there as much as we can be.

The play was excellent- one of the best high school plays I've ever seen- and I'm not just saying that because Brooke was in it. Hailey was not quite as impressed as I was. During the first half of the play Rich and I took turns letting her run around in the school hallways. Hailey thought this was wonderful. After the intermission my mom took Hailey so that Rich and I could watch the rest of the play (Thank you mom!!).

I wasn't able to take any pictures because of the no flash photography rule, but my dad was able to get some with his camera.

Brooke is the in the middle of the row that has the five girls in it.
This was part of the court scene.
Brooke is on the left end of the row here at the end of the play.

We came home on Sunday afternoon and while I know I shouldn't tell you this, lest I jinx myself- Hailey slept almost the whole way home. I slept too- for an entire hour. I can't tell you the last time I had an hour long afternoon nap.

So, we're home for now. But, tomorrow we will leave once again to head back to my parents house for Thanksgiving. I probably won't be around much while we're there because I'll be busy doing important things like eating and shopping. And of course- visiting with our families.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Beka and Bill on the arrival of Anika Lisbeth! Anika arrived on November 7th at 4:22pm. She weighed 8 lbs 11 oz and is 20 1/2 inches long. Here are some pictures of the beautiful baby girl! (Oh, and of her parents too.)

Anika
Happy mommy and Anika. (Doesn't Beka look good??

Oh my goodness- I think she looks fabulous!)
Mommy & Daddy with Anika.

I was going to wait to announce this after Beka had a chance to update her blog so that you'd be able to go there and see more pictures and leave a congratulations note for her and Bill. But, I am just too excited to wait.

When I talked to Beka last night she sounded great- very happy to have Anika finally here (Anika was due on Nov 3rd, but wasn't quite ready to be born). Beka said she was supposed to have internet at the hospital, but it didn't seem to working correctly so she wasn't able to post any pictures on her blog. As soon as she gets her post up I'll let you know so you can stop by. I'm sure she'll be doing it right away, since she didn't just give birth or anything like that.

Anyways- when Beka and I were younger we had lots of fun together. (She's my cousin, by the way, in case you are new to my blog.) Anyhoo- we know that Hailey and Anika are going to have loads of fun together, just like Beka and I did. Of course, we will be one step ahead of them since we did like to get into a bit of trouble. Well, not get into trouble really because mostly we were never caught. Come to think of it, I can't remember ever getting caught during any of our fun adventures. Anyhoo- I should not say anymore about our fun teenage years.

PS- Pictures are courtesy of my Auntie Ruth!

Hailey's First Birthday

I have been a bit busy this week, but today I have finally had some time to sit down at the computer and decide which of the 400 or so pictures to share with you from Hailey's first birthday.

Since all of our family lives out of town we had decided to celebrate Hailey's birthday in the town where most of our family lives. We're nice like that- we made the long trip so that they wouldn't all have to drive to see us. (Then they would have all wanted to stay at our house. And we wouldn't want that to happen. I'm kidding! Kind of. )

But I digress....

Since you can never be sure what the weather will be like during October we decided to be safe and plan an indoor party. So, Hailey's party was on Saturday afternoon at Chuck-E-Cheese. And, I'm sure you know that Rich was not disappointed in this choice. (See Where A Kid (or A Dad) Can Be A Kid).

Here are some pictures of the celebration (with a special thank you to my dad, who took most of the pictures).

Here's the birthday girl!
Hailey was quite excited to meet Chuck-E-Cheese.
She went right for his nose, of course.
Hailey gets a look at her cake.

"You want me to do what to the cake?"
"Here, would you like some?" Hailey's friend Arianna enjoys some cake too.

Hailey with big sister Brooke,

and cousins Dayna, David & Joel.

Hailey enjoys a ride.
Already falling asleep, as soon as I put her in her car seat.

Since the party was a bit overwhelming for a one year old, we decided to wait until we got back to my parents house and Hailey had a good nap before opening her presents.

Hailey clapping her hands at her presents.

Hailey LOVED her birthday cards.

Normally I think that greeting cards are a bit of a waste of money. But, not with Hailey. She still spends lots of time looking at all of her cards and carrying them around the house with her. And, of course she loves all of her presents too.

Thanks everyone for making Hailey's first birthday so much fun!

And, since I'm not doing my usual monthly posting of pictures of Hailey, I figured I'd just post our monthly pose of Hailey with Tigger today. Hailey is 12 months old!

You can check out the older postings by clicking on the month you would like to see. 11 months, 10 months, 9 months, 8 months, 7 months, 6 months, 5 months, 4 months and 3 months .

Vacation- Days 7, 8 & 9

On our seventh day of vacation (sixth day at Disney) we decided to do a bit of relaxing. We started out with a nice big breakfast at our hotel. We relaxed in our room for a while and let Hailey take a morning nap.

We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon at Downtown Disney doing some shopping. When we finished there we went back to our hotel for lunch. Then we all took a much needed afternoon nap.

After our nap we headed over to MGM.

We stopped to pose for a picture with Jafar. Hailey loved Jafar and thought he was hilarious. She couldn't reach his nose to bite it, so she just kept rubbing his arm and laughing at him.

Hailey and Rich watching The High School Musical show.
We had dinner at the 50's Prime Time Cafe where all of the waitresses dressed and acted like they were your mother. When we were seated the waitress gave us our napkins and silverware and told us that we were expected to set the table. Rich got in trouble several times during dinner for putting his elbows on the table. "Mom" also had to speak to Rich about wearing his hat in "the house." (And for those of you who know Rich you know he always wears his hat. Well, except to work and church, of course.) Rich also tried to hide his vegetables under his napkin so that he would not have to eat them. "Mom" did not fall for this and once again, Rich was in trouble.

After dinner we went to Epcot for the rest of the night. Hailey slept while Rich and I took turns going on some of the rides that Hailey was not able to go on. We got back to our hotel late and stayed up until 2am packing.

We left the next morning and flew back to the town where our parents live arriving later that evening. On Sunday morning we slept in a bit and tried to recuperate just a little before we left for the drive home on Sunday afternoon. We were exhausted as we arrived home on Sunday evening but we had a wonderful vacation. We're already talking about our plans to go back!

If you missed my previous vacation posts you can click here, here, or here to see them (or just scroll down a little bit).

Vacation- Days 5 & 6

On our fifth day of vacation (and fourth day at Disney World) we started out at MGM.

We stopped to pose for a picture just after we entered the park. And then we were off to have breakfast with characters from The Little Einsteins and JoJo's Circus at Hollywood and Vine. Hailey enjoyed watching June, Leo, JoJo and Goliath from a distance but she wasn't too sure about them when they stopped to visit her at our table.

Hailey and June
Hailey looked at Goliath for a minute and then started to cry.
Hailey was a little concerned about JoJo as well.
She watched her for a minute and then started to cry.

Hailey wasn't too sure what to think about Leo. He could tell she was a bit worried and tried playing peek-a-boo with her. It didn't work and she ended up crying again.

We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon at MGM.

Hailey and I watching a parade.

After the parade we left to go to Animal Kingdom, where we spent the evening.

We stopped to pose for a picture soon after we arrived at Animal Kingdom.

Each of the four parks had an air conditioned baby center. They had places to change your baby, highchairs for feeding, rooms for nursing mothers, and various baby items for sale. They also had a room where Hailey was able to get out of her stroller and crawl and walk around for a while.
This is a picture of the Expedition Everest ride- a roller coaster that Rich and I both went on. Disney has a thing called Rider Switch for people with young children. One person gets to go on the ride and the other person gets a pass to skip the line after the first person is done with the ride. This way we were both able to enjoy the rides that Hailey could not go on without waiting in line twice. Anywho- I loved Expedition Everest- Rich did not.

On the sixth day of our vacation (fifth day at Disney) we spent the day at Magic Kingdom.

We stopped to pose for a picture right after we entered the park.

Hailey and I on a train ride.
Rich posing as Mickey Mouse.

We had reservations to eat dinner at the Crystal Palace with the Pooh characters. After breakfast with the characters from The Little Einsteins and JoJo's Circus the day before I was worried about how Hailey would do with these characters. But, she absolutely loved all of the Pooh characters and laughed and clapped her hands when she saw each one.

Hailey meeting Winnie the Pooh.
Hailey patting Eeyore on the nose.
Hailey reaching for Piglet's nose.

Hailey laughing while meeting Tigger. I'm not sure if Hailey is giving Tigger a kiss or a bite? At the time I thought she was giving him a kiss, but later on when we met Mickey Mouse- she definitely bit him on the nose. So, now I'm not sure if she was also biting Tigger.

Hailey cried after Tigger left our table.

Here we are posing in front of the castle.
We are meeting Mickey Mouse. Hailey grabbed right a hold of his nose and would not let go.

And, now she is biting poor Mickey Mouse on the nose.
Still biting and hanging on. I know for sure this was a bite and not a kiss because I had to pull her off of him and I could tell her little teeth were sinking into his nose.

Surprising we were not asked to leave the park after Hailey's attack on Mickey (and possibly Tigger) and we continued to enjoy the rest of the evening at Magic Kingdom. I have just a few more pictures left to share with you. So, be sure to come back to see those. If you missed my previous vacation posts you can scroll down a little to see those or click here and here.