Our new place...

A few friends have asked for pictures of our new place...so here they are. There aren't many, but that's OK. We're in a cute little two bedroom/two bath apartment here in Waco. We are loving it! Hallie loves having the freedom to go wherever she wants to go. :o)

View from front door

Hallie's hallway

Hallie's room...we still need to put
a few things on the walls.

Living room view from kitchen

Cute little kitchen

Monkey in a bag...

OK...this is Hallie's latest thing. It is HILARIOUS. She brings us this old laundry bag and holds it up above her head. Jonathan puts it on the floor and Hallie steps into it, arms raised as if to say, "I'm ready!". :o) The loves for Jonathan to pick her up in it and swing her back and forth. It's their little game! She giggles in delight as he swings her back and forth. She mimics us as we say "wee"! I'll try to post a video of it soon. For now, click on the picture to enlarge it and see her smiling little face. :o) Believe me, this is not torture! lol.

Daddy caught one!!

Our little monkey

Our little climber

Hallie found a new hiding place...

Fun times with Uncle Jeremy

Charley's interested in what's going on...

Hallie and a monkey's uncle

Sunday Mornings

...and other days, too. If Hallie is awake while Mommy is "getting ready", she has to be in on the action. She sits on the edge of the sink with her feet in the sink. Sometimes she stands up and looks at her cute little friend in the mirror. She watches me closely as I apply my make up, brushing her face with the little blush brush I let her use. She also takes our toothbrushes hostage on occasion.

I got tagged...so this post is (obviously) not about Hallie!

My friend, Lindsey, "tagged" me so now you're about to know some useless information about me! I actually got tagged by my friend, Joy, last week...I was supposed to list 100 things. So sorry, Joy. Since this blog is pretty much heavy on the Hallie...I just couldn't do it. :o) This one I can do, though! :o)

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago, 1998...I was finishing up my junior year of college! I had changed my major from Architecture to Education. I was living in Auburn, AL in Concourse 2A with some fun girls! I was working at Anders Bookstore and enjoying college. :o)

2. Five Things on my To Do List Today (since it's Saturday night, I'll do tomorrow's list.):
*It's not a "to do", but I'll be going to church with the fam and having lunch. :o)
*Fold the mountain of laundry that's in my bedroom floor
*Start cleaning up the apartment for my parents' arrival Tuesday (YAY!)
*Take boxes to our storage unit
*Get the state inspection for my car

3. Five Snacks I enjoy
*Sweet Tea (not as hard to find in Waco as it was in San Antonio)
*Fried Pickles with Ranch (me, too Lindsey!)
*Cereal (morning, noon, and night)
*Wheat Bagels with Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese
*Kit Kats (yummy!)

4. Five Things I would do if I were a Billionaire
*Give to our church
*Pay off all our debts
*Buy a beach house
*Stay home with Hallie instead of going back to work
*Fly to AL/Fly my parents and friends to TX anytime we wanted

5. Five Bad Habits
*Not folding laundry as soon as it comes out of the dryer
*Laying things down and not remembering where I put them
*Biting my nails
*Drinking too much sweet tea
*Freaking out over little things

6. Five Places I've Lived
*Heflin, AL
*Auburn, AL
*Stockbridge, GA
*San Antonio, TX
*Waco, TX

7. Five Jobs I've Had
*Baton Instructor
*Dance Instructor
*Cashier at Anders Bookstore
*Office Manager with World Changers
*3rd grade teacher

Now, you're IT! :o)

Let's see...I tag Kristen and Dana...if you want to play, that is. :o) And I'll tag whoever else got tagged by the 100 things and just wants something easier!

Tuesday's Ten

I think I might start listing some of Hallie's little accomplishments or sillies that happen throughout the week in a more fun way. I'm not sure I'll have TEN every week, so this might turn into Friday's Five or Wednesday's One! :o) But I think I can come up with ten right now.

1. Walking backwards
2. Blowing bubbles (real bubbles...with a bubble wand!)
3. Turning herself in circles
4. Chewing up her food and then raking it out of her mouth onto the floor (I wouldn't really call this an accomplishment...more of a new disgusting habit)
5. Stacking her nesting cups
6. Sweeping with her broom (this is SO cute)
7. Saying "Da-dee", "Ma-Ma", "Uh-Ah" (for "Uh-Oh"), "Dig" (Dog), "Ah" (for outside while pointing to/beating on the door), "Ligh" (Light)
8. Following simple commands (Go get your shoes.)
9. Putting our flip-flops on our feet...we haven't been able to go barefoot around here the past few days...our feet must have shoes on them!
10. Giving kisses to just about anyone who asks for one!

Bonk!

One of Hallie's favorite things is to bonk heads. I'm not sure who started this, but it is a favorite past time of Hallie's. She's not gentle about it either, and often hits where it hurts (in the nose)! She finds it absolutely hilarious. Jonathan and I invited Jeremy (Jonathan's brother) and Kevin (a great friend) over for dinner last night. Jeremy didn't get to stay long, but Kevin got to visit with us for a little while. Hallie got to do a full performance for him--the bath, getting on the pajamas, playing those last few minutes before bedtime. She really took to him and had fun initiating him into her "Head Bonk Club"!

Mommy's little helper

Hallie is quite the little "helper" these days! She is pretty cute! She loves to throw the laundry into the washer. She doesn't quite have the understanding that the clothes need to stay in the dryer once we put them there, though. Soon enough, right? Hallie's new favorite thing is to accessorize using...well, unfortunately, Mommy's undies. LOL! She wears them on her head, around her neck, and over her shoulder. It's pretty funny, I think. She even chooses the right color to go with her outfits!

Yesterday as I was sweeping, Hallie was watching curiously. She was careful to not step into the pile of "yucky dirt" that I had swept up. I leaned the broom up against the counter and turned to get the dust pan. When I turned around, Hallie had gotten the broom and was sweeping up a little on her own. Precious!

One little cutie...

Hallie's Zoo-bilee

We took our first family outing today as residents of Waco! We took Hallie to the Cameron Park Zoo. We all had a blast! We all enjoyed seeing all the wonderful animals. Hallie really enjoyed the fish, otters, and apes! By the end of our afternoon, we were all tuckered out. This blog is slightly heavy on pictures...but I mean, a picture says a thousand words, right?!

Two little lady bugs!

Galapagos Turtle (these guys were HUGE!)

The majestic Bald Eagle

Daddy & Hallie watching the Gibson apes swing
in their little habitat

Gibson Ape

Hallie loved watching the Sea Otters swimming around...
they were so playful! They would swim in circles and then
push off of the glass when they got to a person!

Hallie and the Big Black Bear (can you see him?)

The fishies

I loved this guy--a Sloth! He was so lazy...he would
sit snuggled up in a ball and then every now and then
he would lean over backwards to drink water!

Our little butterfly

Beautiful Tiger!

Ooh...these were some of my favorites...the
Lemurs were SO cute!

Beautiful!

So sweet!

Cute little Meerkat

Fun family outing!

Sleepy Hallie

Ready for bed after a fun afternoon!

Caution! No grippers!

This is just a cute, little story I feel the need to share about our little pumpkin head. Side note: whenever we call her pumpkin head, Hallie begins to pump her tiny little fist in the air for us to chant "Pumpkin Head! Pumpkin Head!"...it's pretty cute. :o)

So while Hallie and I were in Alabama, my mom bought Hallie two new pairs of pajamas...with cute little grippers on the soles of the feeties! This is useful as Hallie is walking now. During our move to Waco, Jonathan and I stopped at the outlets in Round Rock (FABULOUS!) and ventured into The Children's Place outlet store where we bought Hallie four new pairs of gripper, footie pajamas (two for now, two for later). Our new apartment has hardwood floors and tile throughout except in the bedrooms, so these grippers are quite needed.

On to the story...

Last night, I pulled out some pajamas that did not, in fact, have grippers on the bottom of the feet. Jonathan asked why I had chosen them and I simply replied that she'd be outgrowing them soon and wanted Hallie to get more use out of them. He agreed and put them on our little pumpkin head. After Jonathan put Hallie's pajamas on her, he stood her up on the floor of the living room and told her that she needed to be careful because her pajamas were slippery on the floor.

Here's what happened...

Hallie took two or three cautious steps. The movement stopped...she pointed down to her feet and looked over at her daddy. She then proceeded to take a seat in the floor. She studied the bottoms of her feet disapprovingly, looking up at Jonathan like she could not believe he had put these pajamas on her. I mean, what was he thinking?! As if this weren't enough to let us know that she was not happy with these pajamas, she started pointing at the bottoms of her feet and doing her little "uh-uh, da da da" to let us know that she was not happy! I fully believe she was getting onto us! I guess Hallie can't walk anymore unless she has grippers on the bottoms of her pajamas, because she held her arms up and wouldn't walk the rest of the night!

She never ceases to amaze me. :o)

Jeni's Shower

Hallie and I got to go to a shower at Grammy's yesterday...Hallie was so excited when we pulled up to the house. She toddled up the sidewalk, cautious of the step up where she took her emergency room fall. She climbed up the front steps (with my help), and I opened the door for her. She didn't know what to think when she saw a room full of ladies whom she didn't know. She would not go in the house...I had to carry her in. It didn't take her long, though, to warm up to the house full of strangers and quickly take center stage...as you'll see in some pictures.