Middlekauf Family Thanksgiving

Jonathan, Hallie, and I ventured to .... with Gramps, RaRa, and Uncle Jeremy for a Middlekauf Thanksgiving celebration (that's RaRa's family). We always enjoy getting together with everyone to eat lunch and visit. Last year was Hallie's first Thanksgiving there. This year, she really had a blast playing with the kids and all the "new" toys there. Here are a few pictures of her from the day with some of her cousins (3rd cousins, that is...but cousins nonetheless).

Uncle Jeremy teaching (not really!) Hallie how
to shoot a water gun that's as big as she is!

Uncle Jeremy with Hallie and Karston

Playing in the dirt

Hallie with cousins Kara and Karlie

Hallie spent most of her day at this little
piano. She was so mesmerized by it! She
especially loved that it had a microphone she
could sing into! :o)

20 month old sweetie!

Books books books!

Reading is still one of Hallie's favorite things. She loves to get new books! Below she's reading an "oldie but goodie" one and has a new one beside her that Nonna got her at my school's book fair a couple of weeks ago. Speaking of the book fair...Hallie had a blast! Mom and Dad brought Hallie to my school one day while they were visiting. We had lunch and then Hallie took Nonna to the book fair. haha. She picked out a book and a little stuffed elephant, Ellie. And she was very adamant about which elephant she got! Too cute! :o)

Hide and Seek

Hallie has really started to enjoy playing hide-and-seek! I love watching her cover her eyes and wait patiently before going to seek out RaRa! When it was her turn to hide, she went to her closet (where RaRa had previously hidden...so she's trying to figure it out!). So cute!

More pretending

Oh, this little girl makes me giggle! Hallie and I were playing last night after Jonathan and I got back from emptying out our apartment--she had been with Gramps and RahRah--and she brought over her little fairy tutu and wanted it on. So we put that on and she twirled around. Then she found her baby's bottle and started asking for her baby. When we found him , she sweetly said, "Baby need bottle." For whatever reason, she took him into our bathroom and laid him down on the bathmat and gave him his bottle. Then she patted his tummy and said, "nigh nigh". After all that sweetness, she went and found one of my shirts to cover him up with, patted him on the tummy again and said, "nigh nigh". She is so sweet! :o)

Now...the outfit. After we twirled around, she found her swim cap and put it on (herself) and swished her hips around--this is quite amusing! She wore this get-up the rest of the night up until bath time! I've gotta say...she has the tutu and hat on again now...more pictures of that to follow! :o)

Marshmallows

RahRah and Hallie had a few marshmallows for a little sugary snack. When they were all gone, RahRah began eating pretend marshmallows. Hallie caught on pretty quickly. They were throwing them in the air, catching them in their mouths! Then RahRah threw a few across the kitchen for Hallie to find...and she did. She'd look on the floor for the "marshmallow" and then she'd scarf it down! haha. She had been doing this for about 5 minutes before I braved going to get the camera (she usually stops whatever cute thing she's doing when Mommy gets out the camera!). She kept her performance up a minute or so for me. :o) Hallie was also throwing them for Jonathan and me to find and catch in the air! She is so funny and so much fun! She already has a cute little imagination. :o)

Sunday Fun

We awoke Sunday knowing that Nonna and Pop had safely gotten back to Alabama. We began the day with questioning calls from Hallie..."Nonna? Pop?" When she realized they weren't anywhere to be found (I wish we had've found them hidden in Hallie's hiding place!), Hallie moved on to something entertaining...climbing on one of the many boxes filling our house at the time. Just as we had sat down for breakfast, Hallie quickly scarfed hers down and asked "Down, peese". She had spotted a box to climb on. To her surprise, she climbed up and saw herself in the toaster. The first sight was the best! Of course, she kept popping up and saying "boo!" to herself. Luckily the camera was close by!

After church, we headed to Gramps's and RaRa's for lunch--yummy grilled hotdogs that we got to enjoy on the patio in the wonderful fall weather. Hallie kept us entertained pushing around her (empty) doll stroller in the crunchy leaves.

We are so thankful to live closer to town! After lunch, we headed home. Hallie got a late nap, Jonathan ran some errands, and I got lesson plans written. After supper and playing, Hallie was ready for bed. But not before doing her homework! Hallie really loves to write lately. She has moved from scribbles to circles and is starting to draw lines. It is so amazing to see her grow and learn so much every day! What a little (BIG) blessing she is! I just hope she doesn't always hold her "pencil" in the manner she does now! Yikes! That's painful for a teacher to watch. :o)

The Many Faces of Hallie

We've been working on expressing emotions with Hallie lately, and she is really into the making faces part of it all. She is really good at them! Her sad face is pretty cute; she usually lowers her chin to her chest and makes a little whining sound. Such a sweetie!

Sad Face

Mad Face
(She says "grr")

Happy Face

Surprised Face
(although it's usually accompanied by perfectly
raised eyebrows!)

Sweet-I'm-into-Something Face

Operation Christmas Child

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to volunteer for Operation Christmas Child. This ministry is one that is very close to my heart. Our church partnered with another church and Chick-fil-A to have an almost all-day event for the ministry. There was food, music, and fun! K-Love radio station had a tent, Operation Christmas Child had a tent, and then there was popcorn, a bouncy castle, and the wonderful Chick-fil-A cow!

If you don't know, Operation Christmas Child collects shoeboxes filled with neccessities, toys, candy, love. After Samaritan's Purse receives shoeboxes from many places, they get them ready to be shipped overseas to children in many different countries around the world...children whose eyes light up at the very thought of receiving something so incredibly special. The most wonderful thing is that each shoe box will be packed with a Bible in each child's native language! What an incredible ministry!

After I got Hallie down for her nap, I volunteered for a couple of hours until Jonathan brought Hallie to me to enjoy some of the festivities. And enjoy them, she did! She danced to the music, jumped in the bouncy castle and even braved climbing to the top of it to slide down! Her favorite part (although you can't tell by the look on her face) was getting to see the Chick-fil-A cow! She LOVES the Chick-fil-A cow. She really likes giving him high-fives and "talks" about giving him high-fives for days after seeing him. I'm glad I finally got a picture of Hallie and the cow, even if she wasn't smiling. The one of her hugging the cow is probably my favorite.

It's So Hard to Say Good-bye...

We had such a wonderful visit with my parents! Hallie misses them very much...we all do! They were such a huge help in getting us moved into a new house and out of an apartment, and Hallie was excited to not have to go to "school" all week long! We wish they could have stayed another week; but thankfully we will see them in just a couple of weeks. Yay!

After much pleading, Mom and Dad decided to stay until Saturday morning and head back to Alabama after breakfast. We got up, got ready, and headed to a favorite for all, IHOP. Thankfully, the wait wasn't too long since Baylor had an away game (the IHOP is right by Baylor's campus). We were sad to say our good-byes to Nonna and Pop. Hallie almost refused to say bye until right before they were leaving. Then she gave lots of hugs and kisses. She didn't want them to go. At one point, she was telling Jonathan and me bye, wanting to get in the car with them! HA!

Thanks, Nonna and Pop for all your help last week! We love ya'll and can't wait to see you soon!

A little blurry, but such a great picture of
my sweet mom and dad!

It's hard to get everyone to look at the camera
and actually smile! Here's Hallie filing her
fingernails. Cute!

Giving the menu a once-over. Hallie decided
on the Create a Face pancake. Yum!

More with Nonna and Pop

I don't know what she was looking at...
but check out her cutesy slippers from
Nonna! Too cute!

Nonna found this chair for Hallie...she
just LOVES having her own chair!

Daddy surprised Hallie with some new
shoes--even play shoes are OK with Hal!

Nonna and Pop visit!!

We had a very special visit from Nonna and Pop this week! Hallie was SO excited to have them here AND to get to stay home with them every day. They were very helpful in helping us get things moved and in order (although we still have a long way to go!) and we are so thankful for their visit! More pictures from the week to follow!!

Stealing smooches.

Hallie loves her Pop!

Breakfast with Nonna

Playing Hide-and-Seek

Baylor Homecoming

We took Hallie to her first Baylor homecoming parade, and she was not disappointed! We got a late start and thought we might miss most of the parade. Thankfully, that was not the case! RaRa and Gramps met us for breakfast after the festive events. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon moving things from our apartment to our new rental house. We also anxiously awaited Nonna and Pop's arrival! Here are a few pictures from the parade.

The Baylor Bear

Hallie snagged some candy!

One of the many extravegant
sorority/fraternity floats.


Hallie was SO excited!
Check our her pocket--it's
housing her Tootsie Roll!

Sweet smile...and the Tootsie
Roll is in the other pocket.
Hallie LOVES pockets!