Such fun...............

Addy has pretty much been scared to death to go anywhere near the teeter totter. That is until Daddy helped her get on and held onto her. I love this picture because she looks SOOOO happy!

Week of May 21st, 2012

Monday Hailey had dance, one of her last couple of days before her upcoming recital. Other then that, we didn't even leave the house. We did some fun things, like built a tent and did mom school. When Jaren came home he did the lawn while us girls sat outside and had popsicles since it is SO hot! Tuesday and Wednesday not much went on either. Well, one thing worth mentioning happened on Wednesday. Addy stripped off her diaper and did some finger painting with her own you know what! Ewwwww it was everywhere. Wait til I tell her this when she's sixteen! On Thursday Hailey had a dentist appointment. She was so cute and giggled the ENTIRE time she was there, like she didn't stop at all, until we left. The girls in the office thought it was so funny. Before we left they told her to go pick a toy out of the treasure box. I was checking out and turned to look at her and she literally had her head and shoulders in the box, digging for the best toy! It was so cute and made me wish I was five again and could experience the excitement over something so simple. The dentist said her teeth looked great with no cavities. Yeahhhh!!! Thursday night Addy woke up crying at 10:30 and did not go to sleep until 3AM! She was literally up that entire time. She was acting fussy at first, so I gave her Motrin and ear drops, just in case. Once that kicked in she was chatty Kathy and would not sleep. I was extremely frustrated, and Jaren took over and got her to sleep. Needless to say, Friday we were all VERY tired and did not do much. Saturday Jaren worked while us girls hung out around the house and did some cleaning. When Jaren got home he went swimming with the girls and then he went to his brother Jim's house for UFC night. I put the girls to bed early and did some exercising and watched a movie. We went to bed late Saturday and Jaren's work phone rang numerous times during the middle of the night, so it made for another exhausting day on Sunday. We just hung out around home, did some gardening, cleaned house a little and swam. Hailey was invited to stay the night at her cousin's house, John & Reagan. I didn't think she was going to last the night, and she didn't. She was already starting to change her mind on the way over, so I told her she could call me and say goodnight, and have girl talk. Girl talk is something we started the night Chester died. Right before bed, her and I talk about our day and tell each other our two favorite things from the day. We have been doing it nearly every single night for the past year and a half. I love this part of our day! Anyhow, she called to say goodnight and started getting emotional over the phone and ended up coming home. She comes rightly by it, because Jaren and I both got homesick when we were younger. I was actually happy to have her home, all snuggled in her bed.

Our first corn

We were outside playing and decided to check some of the corn to see if it was ready to be picked. Hailey was so excited to see "actual" corn. We picked about seven of them, and unfortunately every one had a little worm or two in them when we pulled back the husk. They were totally munching on the corn at the tops. It is still edible, but I can't bring myself to eat it. We are still excited that our corn actually grew!!

So Sweet............

I took these pictures of Addy while we were playing outback the other day. She is just the sweetest little girl. I love how her little personality is really starting to come out.

Preschool Graduation.......

Our little Hailey Bug graduated from preschool this week. I have mixed emotions about the whole thing. I am excited for her to start this new adventure, but sad that she is growing up :( Sometimes it feels like we just brought her home from the hospital. That sweet little baby girl. I can't believe she is now five years old and about to start school with the big kids. Graduation was fun. The kids sang a song about kindergarten and did a little skit on the alphabet. They each got up to introduce themselves and tell everyone what they wanted to be when they grew up. Hailey was so cute, she said "I want to be a pet store lady." She loves loves loves animals. We are going to try to make this a great summer, and keep her busy with some fun activities. Then after that......let the kindergarten adventures begin!

Week of May 14th, 2012

Monday was a normal Monday, dance for Hailey and doing laundry. I must be weird, because I actually enjoy doing laundry. I think I just enjoy the accomplished feeling of getting it done. Addy took a two hour nap, then us girls headed off to Sam's club and Fresh & Easy for fruit and vegetables. I am trying to incorporate more fruits & veggies into our diet, we eat pretty bad, it's embarrassing. Hailey actually told me the other day "mommy, we need to eat more vegetables, like every day, because we almost never have them". Yikes. I'm pretty sure she just wanted to make me proud of her that she wanted to eat more vegetables, because getting her to actually EAT them is a whole different story. I did manage to walk three miles on the treadmill and eat healthy, which felt great! Tuesday was water day for Hailey at preschool. She was SO super excited. While she was at school Addy & I went for a walk with the neighbors, the Wigleys. It was 95 degrees at nine o'clock in the morning! After preschool Hailey played at cousin John's house for a couple of hours, and then with Makenzey when she came home. Those girls are so cute together and are really into playing school right now. Wednesday was gymnastics and visiting Nana & Papa for a little bit. Thursday was Hailey's preschool graduation, and then we took off to Pindale to cooler weather! While at Pinedale Jaren prepped the house for painting, which will hopefully get done in the next couple of weeks. It was so windy there the first day, Addy was knocked over a few times. Jaren worked so hard scraping the house for painting, replacing some wood and some other odds and ins, while the girls played. This is our second time up with the girls, and I slept awful both times. Awful like waking up ten times a night! We came back Saturday night. We had fun, but it was nice to be back in our own beds. Sunday was spent doing five loads of laundry and cleaning and organizing the house. 

 Girls loved the new porch!

 Cute little sisters!!

 Sweet Hailey Bug!

 They loved walking around the area. 

Playing in the Jungle.......

Playing in the jungle......AKA the corn. They had a blast walking through it.

Girls........

I absolutely LOVE having girls! I would love a boy too, but having girls gives me an excuse to play with dolls again......haha. Today Hailey & I decided to have a Barbie salon. They had some massive tangles and we brushed them out & gave them some new hairdos. I love the look on Hailey's face in the second picture. Such concentration while she decides where to put which Barbie. Times like this make me realize that I need to take more "timeouts" and really play with my girls, and enjoy these moments!

Week of May 7, 2012

Back from Pindale and back into the swing of things this week. The morning started off great, Addy slept until seven...SO HAPPY! We enjoyed some of the morning weather and went for a walk with the neighbors. After that Hailey had dance, then we came home and had lunch. Addy woke up crying hysterically from her nap, so we got out the bounce house and they girls jumped & played while I made salsa with the tomatoes from the garden to go with dinner tonight. It is so exciting to eat the food from our garden. After dinner, Hailey, Mackenzie & Addy played in the baby pool. We also discovered more tomato horn worms in the garden. We plucked out 14 of them, and Hailey convinced me to let her keep four as pets......ewwwww. Tuesday we dropped Hailey off at preschool and Addy and I ran some errands. When we got home from running errands Addy had fallen asleep in the car. She almost NEVER stays asleep once you try to move her out of her car seat, but today she did. She slept while I held her for an hour.....I LOVED it. She looked like a little angel. We went to visit Nana & Papa in the evening and then the kids went to bed early while Jaren went and played basketball at the church. Wednesday not much went on. We did get an awesome thunderstorm. Lots of wind and rain, and even some hail. Thursday Hailey had her last official "learning" day of preschool. Next week she has a water day on Tuesday, and graduation on Thursday. I can't believe my little Hailey Bug is going to be a kindergartner......sniff sniff. She is starting to get more and more excited though. Friday we went to visit Nana & Papa and Aunt Katie, hit the grocery store and did some swimming. Saturday we didn't do much, hung around the house, took Hailey to get her dance pictures taken for her upcoming recital, and made coca-cola cake for Grandpa Cleiburn's 86th birthday party. In the afternoon we went to Kohls with Nana and did a little shopping. Hailey was excited because we decided to go ahead and buy her school clothes for kindergarten. She just needs a couple pair of pants and we are done. Sunday was Mother's Day. I woke up early with Addy and we put a french toast casserole in the oven that didn't end up turning out.....bummer, so Jaren got up and made yummy pancakes. Then they had me go into the office to give me two cards Hailey had made. She told Jaren what to write and one said " if you touch me I will turn into an ice cube, that means I'll love you forever." So cute! Then they had me look at the screen saver on the computer. Jaren bought me a camera I have been wanting for a LOOOONG time, a Canon Rebel. He put a picture of it as the screen saver, and told me it would be coming in the mail in about a week! I love love love him. The rest of the day was pretty relaxed. Us girls went to visit Nana & Papa while Jaren did the yards and cleaned the pool. When we got back Addy took a nap and I got to relax a little and start a good book. In the evening we had a Petersen get together for Cleiburn's birthday/Mother's Day. It was a great week.

Awwwwww..............

Hailey has been talking about a Mother's Day surprise she was making at preschool for about a week now. She has been super excited, and to my surprise, been able to keep it a secret. I even tested her to try and get it out of her but she kept quiet! Well today she came home from school with it, wrapped in a little pink box. She could not stop grinning while I opened it. The little saying on the card said "My dirty little fingerprints I've left on every wall, and on the drawers and table tops, I've really marked them all. But here are two that won't rub off, I'm giving them to you, because I'm thankful for a mother just like you!" Awwwwww. The necklace is made of clay and she made a heart with her thumbs, and her picture is on the back. So cute & it totally made my day.

Rainy days.......

During gymnastics we got a HUGE thunderstorm. It was super windy, and we even got some hail. When we went to Nana & Papa's to pick up Addy, Hailey found a puddle :) 

Our garden.........

We planted our second ever vegetable garden about two and a half months ago. The first garden we planted at our old house was a huge flop, and the birds ate almost everything. This year we planted & covered everything in bird netting. So far our tomatoes and cucumbers are doing great. At first we had blossom end rot on some of the tomatoes, but they are doing much better now. We also had a bout of tomato horn worms....ewwww. Luckily we discovered them while they were still small, so they didn't eat too much of the plants, and Hailey got to keep some as pets! The corn is growing like CRAZY. When we were gone for two days to Pindale it literally grew two feet. We have been telling Hailey to look for the "hairy" looking part, because that is what the corn looks like at first. She's been looking for awhile now, and today she spotted the first corn! She was SO excited. We also planted carrots & radishes but forgot to thin them out, so they didn't really take off. We have a jalapeno plant that hasn't produced anything yet, so we'll see. We are just having lots of fun with our first productive garden.

Big Sister Helping Out.....

I heard Hailey calling Addy into the kitchen so I went in to see what she was up to. Sweet big sister made Addy a snack all by herself. She even opened the banana and cut it up for her! So cute!

Girly girls......

So cute! Went to change Addy's crib sheet and found this.......I love finding random, cute things my girls have done.

Dumb Mom Move...

This was Addy about three minutes after she had a bath! Haha...guess I should've given her the yogurt BEFORE her bath! 

Week of April 30th, 2012

Wow I cannot believe tomorrow is May 1st already! Time is just flying by, I wish the summer would fly by already, I am not liking this heat, and it's only going to get hotter! Although it's going to be fun swimming with the girls this summer, I am already looking forward to fall weather. Monday we went over to Nana & Papa's house before Hailey's dance class. The girls had have so much fun over there. Hailey loves playing, and Addy loves following Aunt Katie around EVERYWHERE! She LOVES her Aunt Katie. The rest of the day we hung out at home. We took Addy swimming in the big pool for the first time this summer. It was freezing at first, but she didn't care at all. She had a blast! She was laughing the whole time, and trying to get me to let her go the whole time. I'm going to start calling her Miss. Independent, she wants to do everything by herself and will throw a MAJOR fit if you try to help her. Silly girl! The evening ended with dinner and ice cream...MMMMMMM. Tuesday I wasn't feeling great because of a sinus infection so we just hung around the house. The girls were bored silly! That night I cut Jaren's hair for the first time with the clippers. We were laughing so hard. Jaren was TERRIFED, which made me laugh even more. But...he said he liked his haircut better then the ones he gets at the barber...GO ME! Wednesday us girls headed for the park for awhile, then went to Chic Fila for lunch. Lunch was great, but then we went and played in the play area. Hailey took Addy up a place in the jungle gym that she was WAY too little for. Once she got to the top, she FREAKED out. Hailey couldn't get her to go through a tunnel to get to the slide to come back down. Then there was a little boy who was pulling on Addy, while she was screaming her head off, trying to get her to go through the tunnel. Hailey was terrified and told him through tears "she's my sissy, and I will take care of her". It was so sad, but cute. I had to end up crawling up, in an area marked three and under, to get them. Ughhh....we left after that. The evening ended with gymnastics and playing outside. Thursday we left for Pindale so Jim and Jaren could add porch railing to the cement porch. They worked hard for two days straight. The porch looks awesome, and I am AMAZED that they are so handy and can just put something like that together. Lois & Cleiburn came up too, and the girls and I just hung out and did some visiting. Hailey had fun collecting caterpillars. She found four and named them Mary, Maryn, Zoey and Casey! She's so cute! She tried catching a lizard but didn't have any luck. I can't believe I have a little girl that LOVES bugs! Lois and the girls and I drove into Taylor to see her Dad's old wagon that is set up in someone's front yard. It was so neat seeing it. All in all we had a fun trip, other then Addy waking up at 5AM two of the days! Sunday we got up early and cleaned up and drove home. It was a fun weekend.