Coloring Fun

After I saw Hallie enjoyed "writing" so much, I dug out some crayons from my school pile in the garage. She was so cute with the crayons. She watched me carefully as I wrote her name and then drew a few shapes. As I wrote or drew a shape, she would put her own little scribble over it like she was drawing the same thing. She is just so cute and so much fun!

Daddy joined in on the fun when he got

home from work!

Homework already...

Today I was trying to write out a list of things to do in preparation for Hallie's first birthday. Miss Priss crawled right over, took the pencil out of my hand and began her own little list! The past several days, I've been trying to get Hallie to hold the pencil and scribble, but she wouldn't take it from me. She was content to watch me writing. Evidently she was "taking it all in" because I think she has the hang of it! HA!

I'm not sure what this face is! HA! She was

probably fussing at me for having the
camera out again!

Picking Flowers

Hallie and Mommy went on an adventure in the backyard. She saw these lovely "flowers" and pointed at them, doing her little "I wan that" grunt. (It's really cute, by the way!) We bent down and picked them. She carried those two little "flowers" around all day long!

Right after we picked them...look at how
fresh they look.

Almost night time...she still has the "flowers",

though they're looking a little wilted.

Cutie Cutie

Hallie spends a little time at our back door every day. Perhaps she's thinking about where she'll put her first swingset or maybe she just likes the sunshine. Either way, it seems to be one of her favorite places.

Get your jammies on...

The night time ritual of getting Hallie's jammies on is just not a favorite. She is a wiggle worm who tries to get away the entire time! Once she's free from that mean old daddy who's trying to put clothes on her (how dare he?!), she's happy as a clam!

Our Little Ballerina

We were getting ready for church and before we put Hallie's dress on over the undershirt, we thought she looked like a little ballerina. We just had to snap a picture of it! Of course we couldn't get it on camera, but she was standing on her tippy-toes! It was pretty cute.

Hallie loves watching her daddy play the guitar. She also loves trying to play the guitar. It's pretty cute! Of course, we seem to think everything Hallie does is just too cute for words. Jonathan is playing the chord while Hallie strums in the beginning...then she notices me with the camera and stops (of course!). haha. She's still pretty cute, though!

Just fortin' around...

So...Hallie and I were adventurous today and built a "fort"! She had so much fun crawling through this thing! I got to snap a few pictures, but she really was more interested in playing, so I put the camera down and chased her in and out of our fort all day long! We had so much fun! Every time she would go "out" of it, she would stop and make her little Laugh & Learn Stage play music. I guess she felt like we needed a theme song for our playing!

Playing around

Thinking about the safety of this man-made
structure. She sent Charley in to check it out for her.
He's giving her the "tails up" go-ahead!

Fortin' around makes a little one thirsty!

Miss America 2027?

Hallie has been "working on" her beauty queen wave and blowing kisses to her adoring fans! HAHA!

Going to visit Daddy

I knew there might be a chance of Hallie wearing her grumpy pants today, so I had to get out of the house! We went on a little adventure to visit Daddy. I wish I had taken the camera with me because she was too cute in his office. We realized, as she was exploring, that it was her first visit to his office as a mobile baby! She had so much fun exploring Jonathan's office this afternoon! She found a binder clip that became her best friend. haha. She was cute scooting around under his desk and chair, pulling up to his desk, and trying to pull everything off of his desk! One thing is for sure, Hallie can always find something to entertain herself! :o)

Our little cupcake
(I'm lucky she was still long
enough to take this picture!)

Using my watch as a teether...yes,
she left her signature slobber behind!

Napping + Teething = Tears

OK...warning: this post is a little sad. Sweet Hallie is teething...badly (if you can teethe badly). She has been working on her top teeth for a few weeks now, and one of them has finally broken through the gum. She is gnawing on everything in sight and leaving a puddle of slobber behind! Her naps have been cut short the past couple of days because she seems to be waking up in pain. Today she had been soundly asleep for about 30 minutes when she woke up crying (OK, screaming). Below is the sad, pitiful (but still oh-so-cute) face that greeted me when I opened her door (don't worry, the camera was close by--she wasn't screaming forever). Thankfully, the sight of Mommy or Daddy calms her rather quickly. If you're wondering...no, Hallie did not drift back off into dreamland. After this fiasco, we got dressed and went to visit Daddy! :o)

Our little explorer

We have this little step stool in our kitchen because I am so short! Hallie absolutely loves this little stool. Her newest thing is to peek under it and through the hole in it. It's hilarious! We absolutely love watching Hallie explore and learn about her world...it is truly amazing! She is such an incredible blessing to our lives! Here's our little explorer!

Mommy's Little Helper

Hallie is interested in everything we do these days. It's a lot of fun! Hallie was trying to help me cook supper last night...I held her while I was cooking the chicken. She watched closely as I turned the chicken and listened to each crackle and pop! When I put her down, she was still interested in what I was doing. She lost interest pretty quickly when she "found the baby" (saw her reflection) in the oven door! She is so much fun!




Hallie is interested in everything we do these days. It's a lot of fun! Hallie was trying to help me cook supper...I held her while I was cooking the chicken. She watched closely as I turned the chicken and listened to each crackle and pop! When I put her down, she kept tryin

The Tiny-Weight Champion...

That's right..."The Tiny-Weight Champion of the World...Hallie Echols" has a new bath towel. Thank you, Nonna and Pop, for making our little fighter the cutest one in the ring!

Our little helper

Hallie is interested in everything. I absolutely love this stage she's in. Jonathan was putting some cabinet locks on and Hallie needed to "help" him. She emptied out the box of locks for him. A few slid underneath the dishwasher door, and when I held the door up for her to get them, she gently reached under and got each one of them and handed them to us. It was SO sweet! We praised her for being such a good little helper. I was emptying the dishwasher, and Hallie helped me unload the utensils. She is learning so much in her little world. I am so thankful that I'm getting to stay home with her and watch her grow!

Hallie's 7 course meal...

Our little inspector has had quite the "meal" today. She is so curious about everything...the smaller the object, the better. It seems for her, the best way to learn about an object is to just pop it in her mouth! Evidently pursing your lips together as tightly as you possibly can so that the object cannot escape (no matter how hard Mommy or Daddy try to get it) is a great exploration technique as well. It's so much fun to see Hallie exploring her world, and she keeps us on our toes! She is so quick to pop things into her mouth. It's almost like she knows she's not supposed to. This is a fairly new thing. She has always explored things by putting them in her mouth--that's just what all babies do. She has since moved onto finding the tiniest things to put in her mouth for a little taste. Her most recent quest has been for Charley's dog food. She finally accomplished that today...even though both Mommy and Daddy were watching her. She's sneaky! Charley was eating, dropped a piece of his food, and Hallie snatched it up before anyone blinked. She was chewing on something...I noticed...Jonathan pried her mouth open...a piece of dog food was discovered. Even though her victory was short lived, she still outwitted the parents! (And I'm sure she knows it! HA!)

Here's her list of delicacies for the day (disclaimer: she didn't actually swallow any of these items--not today anyway, so don't worry!):
*Dog food--how she began her day (I guess her cereal and fruit just didn't hit the spot for her!)
*Grass (we were outside exploring)
*A rock (again, outside...and thankfully it was fairly big)
*A leaf (outside)
*A roly-poly (I just swept the kitchen yesterday!)
*A piece of cardboard
*And she ended her day with a lady bug (this grossed me out!)

She's an adventurous little thing! I know it's a good thing that she's curious, but my goodness...I need eyes in the back of my head! LOL!

Ten Month Pictures!

We think Hallie grows more beautiful every day. She adds so much joy and laughter to our days with her never-ending curiosity and sweetness. Here she is at 10 months!

A visit with "Aunt Jen"

Hallie had a very special visit today from her "Aunt Jen"! It has been a long time since we've gotten to visit with her. Hallie amazed her with all her new tricks. HA! It was a great afternoon with a very fun friend! We can't wait until we get to see her again!