A Day with Family

 A couple of weekends ago, we went to Jonathan's aunt's birthday celebration on the lake.  Hallie got to several of her cousins that we only see once or so a year.  It was a wonderful time with wonderful company!  I am certain I have never laughed so hard in my life as I did that Saturday!  Hallie had so much fun playing with her cousins, and they all got along so well.

Hallie climbing the ladder to the tree house.  She was such a big girl!  Daddy helped her one time and that was all she needed!

Hallie and C playing in the treehouse.  Those two are fearless and make me just a little nervous!

Hallie LOVED the AirPogo!  If we ever have a place for one, we'll have to get one of these!

Jonathan amidst the girls...Suzanne (black jacket) kept us in stitches!

These two were best buddies!  So cute!

I don't think I've ever seen a group of cuter cousins!

Love my Hallie girl!

Hallie getting to feed the deer!

As we were leaving, a group of deer came up.

RahRah, Gramps, and Hallie

Hang on Tight! Christmas 2010 Recap!

Alright, y'all. Here we go with a recap of Christmas 2010! Hang on tight! :o)

Christmas 2010 with The Echols Fam...this was a very quick gathering before we left for Alabama. I wish I had more pictures!

Hallie opening an electronic US states puzzle puzzle from Aunt Charlene.  She loved it!

RahRah and Gramps got Hallie a "dance with me" ballerina!  A definite hit!

And with her ballerina, her very own ballet mat and barre! :o)  She loves being a ballerina!

Christmas 2010 with the Morris Fam in Alabama...we drove in the middle of the night and it was the best thing we have ever done!  Hallie fell asleep around 9:30 or so and didn't wake up until the sun began rising!  Of course, when the sun came up, we still had about 3 hours before being at Nonna and Pop's house, so those three hours were packed with A LOT of "are we there yet"! :o)

Whitney made the trip to Alabama so she could catch her ride with Santa...and she and her elf cousin, Tatum, got into a lot of trouble one night! :o)

Christmas Eve...Jonathan read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to the girls

One last picture with their sweet elves!

Hattie Grace with Jenna

Abby with Tatum

Hallie with Whitney

Santa stopped by! :o)

Hallie must have been a little overwhelmed with everything...she just wanted to sit down and paint before looking at everything Santa brought! :o)

Ha!  Hallie in the middle of it all!

A view of all the damage...

One last gift for Hallie...Daddy gave her her very own James Avery ring with a little heart on it.  This was the only thing she asked for..."real jewelry like Mommy". :o)  Love her!

And after we read the Christmas story, ate breakfast, and opened presents...it began to snow.  There was a LOT of snow!  We were surprised...and Hallie did her typical thing--began eating it!  Ha!  

After our family Christmas, we loaded up and headed to my Aunt Becky's house for the Morris Family Christmas.  It was a wonderful time of visiting with family!  Hallie got to see her sweet cousin, Nora.  These two are SO silly together and just love being around each other--I love it!

This is my parents' house the day after Christmas!

Hallie had a blast playing in the snow!

Covered in snow!  She was SO cold!  

After eating a few hands-full of snow!

Nonna, Hallie, and Bitty Baby...notice Hallie's holding open Bitty Baby's eyes!  LOL!  She had lazy eyes, so we had to send her back to North Pole and do a quick exchange. :o)

Sweet friends!  Aren't these two pretty girls! 

Hallie and Cailin

Sweet friends--just like their mommas!

The whole bunch--Noah (my godson), Hallie, Mason, and Cailin

Goodness gracious, these kids are cute!

Love this!

A MONTH?! OH MY!

OK guys, I apologize. If I could just link to Facebook to show you pictures, I would. I had no idea that I hadn't actually posted to the blog in over a month. It is my promise to have the blog updated by the weekend! Whew. I'm going to need a few reminders from y'all (all three of you).

So...until then...well, I have nothing for you. I'll give you a few "Hallie Moments"...

*One night a couple of weeks ago, Hallie was absolutely WILD. I don't know what it was, but she was off the charts excited. We laughed so hard at her as she bounced around the room, completely unable to contain herself. At one point, Jonathan said, "Hallie...you are H-Y-P-E!!" Hallie stopped mid-track, looked at him in her most serious expression and simply said, "Nuh-uh. I'm H-A-L-L-I-E!" And without giving it another thought, she bounced off the walls like one of the rubber bouncy balls Jonathan got for Christmas (yes, he did). :o)

*Charley got in trouble earlier tonight. He was being super bad, growling and showing his teeth (really, he's getting old and crotchety). Jonathan put him out in the garage until he could settle down. Hallie said, "Charley is being REALLY bad! I think he REALLY needs to go back to Gramps and RahRah's house." :o)

We continue to be amazed at how quickly Hallie learns everything, how sociable she is and just how incredibly sweet she can be! She is such a little helper. Now, does that mean she never shows her sassy side? Absolutely not! Ha! But we embrace her sassiness and giggle alongside her. She is our sweet girl and we love her greatly! :o)

More updates to come...

Jamming John 3:16

Now...hopefully you saw the sweet version of Hallie reciting John 3:16.  This video will tickle your funny bone!  She is a mess!  She made up her own tune to John 3:16...so cute!  I later asked her teacher if they had been singing a song to John 3:16 and she said they hadn't...so that told me that Hallie had completely made up her own song!  Love my little girl!

John 3:16

Hallie has been practicing the verse John 3:16 in her preschool class.  They are going to recite it at Chapel Service on Friday.  I had no idea they were even learning this verse...and one day driving down the road, she started reciting it.  It was PRECIOUS!  I got her to recite it for me so I could video it.  The quality isn't great since it was taken on my iPhone, but it's still adorable!

It's Beginning to Look a LOT Like Christmas!

 The tree is up and decorated!  The white dress is back...I thought I had it hidden, but not so much!  Ha! :o)

Our Christmas card picture attempts...

With Charley (per Hallie's request)...looks like I'm choking Jonathan!  Ha!

 Jonathan's not smiling!

Cute! :o)

Cute...but Hallie and Charley were moving...thus blurry!

I think we might have to do some retakes.  Sigh.

Cookies!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...so it's time to make CHRISTMAS COOKIES! :o)  This is one of our very favorite traditions.  When we put up the Christmas tree (in this case, just Hallie's tree), we bake Christmas cookies.  Yummy!  Hallie and Daddy were in charge of the cookies this time.  I can't wait to make some more because these were quickly gone!

Oh, a quick costume change. :o)

Delicious!